Hyundai-Kia Ties With Microsoft For “In-Vehicle Entertainment” 8 May 2008
Posted by Michael in Branding, Innovation, Korea, News, Products, Services.add a comment
Bill Gates, after meeting with Korean President Lee, announced Microsoft will invest $100M+ in setting up the “Automotive IT Innovation Center” jointly with Hyundai-Kia Motors, the nation’s premier auto company. According to Reuters, the first product under the partnership would be a voice-controlled system linking mobile devices to car stereo systems; Later versions are expected to include multimedia and navigation-related features. In plain English: the US-bound Hyundai and Kia vehicles will soon have Microsoft-powered gadgets and interfaces inside the cars. As evidenced by Ray Ozzie’s “Mesh” plan, Microsoft is working hard on its new corporate vision to provide ubiquitous connected experience across all devices and environments, including the driver’s seat. Meanwhile, BMW has begun offering on-board internet access. Other companies like Nissan and Apple should also be looking at similar opportunities.
[From Web 2.0 Asia]
China’s Own Auto Brands Moving Up in Satisfaction 27 April 2008
Posted by Michael in Automotive, Branding, China, News.add a comment
Market research shows that China’s self-developed automobile brands are gaining wider recognition due to their competitive prices and improved products and services. The first batch of Tianjin FAW vehicles -2,500 of its Vita and Xiali-N3 models - were exported through Tianjin Port to Mexico in December 2007. Ratings by domestic and international institutions show that Tianjin FAW is one of the shining stars among domestically designed and produced brands. According to a sales satisfaction index (SSI) released by the Asia-Pacific branch of J. D. Power, an authoritative US researcher, Tianjin FAW was rated No 1 last September among China’s self-developed automobile brands. Beijing Benz-DaimlerChrysler ranked first among all automakers in China with a score of 829 points on a scale of 1,000. With 813 points, Tianjin FAW shared the same score as joint ventures Shanghai Volkswagen and Shanghai GM. The J. P. Power SSI survey covered 40 brands, both homegrown and joint venture, produced in China. A 2007 passenger car customer satisfaction survey by the China Association for Quality also ranked Tianjin FAW at the top - for its Vita model, rated No 1 in its category of compact cars. In the past two years, sales of self-developed cars have seen rapid growth in the domestic market due to their price advantages and improvements in product quality. The intense competition in China has actually helped domestic brands sharpen their competitive edge in the international market. Tianjin FAW has closely tracked the latest global trends to further develop its manufacturing processes and products, improve quality controls, and enhance sales and service to meet international standards. Product quality is something that Tianjin FAW is keen to show domestic and overseas customers.
[From China Daily]
Taiwan Wants To Build Their Own Brands 15 April 2008
Posted by Michael in Branding, Innovation, Observation, Opinion, Products, Services, Taiwan.add a comment
Huang Der-Ray, director general of the Hsinchu Science Park Administration, said companies in the park had steadily increased spending on research and development from 4 percent of total revenue in previous years to 7 percent in the past three years.
Companies have also begun to focus on innovation and building their own brands. Mediatek, a chip design company that initially focused on optical storage drivers’ chips, has ventured into other areas, including designing chips for wireless communications and high-definition digital televisions. The company is one of the most profitable in the science park and is considered a pioneer in its designs.
Several companies in the science park have focused on research into new technologies, including solar energy. Just in the past two years, more than 15 companies in Hsinchu have invested in solar research, Huang said. One, Gintech Energy, has been successful in designing solar panels, which it sells to power companies around the world.
More companies are also moving toward design instead of just manufacturing. A decade ago, only about 20 or 30 companies in the Hsinchu Science Park were chip design companies, with most being contract manufacturers. Now, there are 80 companies whose focus is IC design, Huang said.
“This is Taiwan’s Silicon Valley,” Huang said. “This park is not just a manufacturing base. It wants to design new products. We are now going toward this direction, creating Taiwan’s own brands.”
Analysts said one of the biggest challenges Taiwan companies faced in developing a global brand is overcoming the label-consciousness of consumers here, who prefer internationally recognized brands rather than domestically designed products. Other than Acer and ASUS, which are laptop brands of Taiwan, few homegrown Taiwan high-tech products are known around the world, unlike in South Korea.
[From the IHT]
Global Cities Advice For India 15 April 2008
Posted by Michael in Branding, India, News.add a comment
“The mayor of London, Ken Livingstone was in Mumbai recently, along with a delegation to discuss how global cities are built. The discourse called ‘London and India: Partners in Globalisation, discussed what the two countries could learn from each other in their emergence as powerful cities in the 21st century, and more so what India could learn from London as the most rapidly expanding European city. Interestingly, it was seen that infrastructure, an efficient transport system, social and economic development, and city planning were highest on the list when it came to maintaining a city’s position as a world class city. These factors contributed to enhancing the overall image of the destination. This also becomes the base on which cities are built and then subsequently branded. Demographics also play a significant role in the emergence of powerful cities, as it has been seen throughout history that all great cities developed around the sea.”
Although all of these insights seem completely reasonable, the last one, “around the sea”, strikes me as firmly outdated…
[From Express TravelWorld]
Doraemon Steps Up For Japan Post 15 April 2008
Posted by Michael in Branding, News.add a comment
Japan has created an unusual government post to promote animation, and named a perfect figure to the position: Doraemon.
Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura appointed the popular cartoon robot cat as “anime ambassador”, handing a human-sized Doraemon doll an official certificate at an inauguration ceremony, along with dozens of “dorayaki” red bean pancakes — his favorite dessert — piled on a huge plate.
Komura told the doll, with an unidentified person inside, that he hoped he would widely promote Japanese animated cartoons, or “anime.”
“Doraemon, I hope you will travel around the world as an anime ambassador to deepen people’s understanding of Japan so they will become friends with Japan,” Komura told the blue-and-white cat.
[From the IHT]
Toshiba innovates ‘invitation-only’ mobile phone 22 March 2008
Posted by Michael in Branding, Innovation, Japan, News, Products, Services.add a comment
This set of handsets from Toshiba targets the ultra-luxury segment who want to be seen with the rarest of personal devices. Although Toshiba brought some interesting things together, none are terrifically unique. A high-profile designer, a long wait for exclusivity factor, some concierge services and a hunt-for-it availability. The ‘invitation-only’ is a bit misleading as it is available to people who seek out a special code in a magazine. What could have been more interesting, and perhaps even more lucrative, is to make it truly invitation only.
[From InventorSpot]
Hong Kong’s own brand turns tipsy 20 March 2008
Posted by Michael in Branding, Hong Kong, News.add a comment
Little success has sprung from Hong Kong’s efforts to rebrand itself since it lost its exclusive status as the only gateway into a closed and secretive China, and some of its East-meets-West allure departed with the British in 1997. The development of Cyberport to attract innovative high-tech industries turned out to be a classic Hong Kong real estate deal dressed up in gobbledegook. The much ballyhooed Disneyland turned out to be, well, Disneyland of a sort. Other ideas for keeping Hong Kong a world class city by making it a centre for contract arbitration services, gold futures, education and — the flavour of the moment — carbon trading have all failed to achieve altitude. But in his latest budget, financial secretary John Tsang has come up with a much more earthy and credible drive for municipal fame. Tsang wants Hong Kong to line up along side London and New York as a global centre for trade in fine wines. To that end he has dumped the tax on imported wines, which were 80 percent of the price last year but only brought him about HK$500 million in revenue. Tsang reckons this loss will be outweighed by the new jobs and income as Hong Kong becomes the “gambay” capital of Asia.
[From The Vancouver Sun]
Taiwan’s Acer keeps three brands, but should they? 20 March 2008
Posted by Michael in Branding, News, Opinion, Products, Strategy, Taiwan.add a comment
Taiwan PC brand Acer conducted a splashy, first-ever US press conference last week while also announcing the acquisition of Packard Bell. Last year Acer picked up US PC-maker Gateway. Now, with three challenger brands with footholds in different regional markets, Acer is pushing a strategy of supporting all three. Additionally, they announced they would keep the designs relatively the same. Although they certainly reviewed the optional brand strategies extensively, it seems like viable alternative approaches are to: One, make a clear bold investment in building a single, world-class brand leveraging the IP and assets of all the brands or Two: Better addressing design, performance or usage segments using the different three brands. More from PC World.
“Brand China” moving up the quality ladder 20 March 2008
Posted by Michael in Branding, China, Observation, Products, Strategy.add a comment
For nearly two decades China has been the world’s low-cost factory. Although this remains a strong component of the world’s economic dynamic, China is beginning to see that fray at the edges. Energy prices, increasing wages and protectionist posturing from trading partners is putting pressure on certain industries. Especially vulnerable among these are many light industry areas which are seeing new direct investment and existing production moving to even lower-cost markets like Vietnam. This trend will increasingly spread across the production spectrum forcing Chinese manufacturers to move up the quality ladder rather than being a pure quantity/cost play. When they move in this direction it will be an even more tempting opportunity to properly develop and export Chinese brands. More from Xinhua.
Thai hospital strengthens international brand 16 March 2008
Posted by Michael in Branding, Services, Thailand.add a comment
Thailand’s Bumrungrad International Hospital has been in the news a couple of times this week and has got a “first”. Already known throughout Asia as a first choice for medical services ranging from dental services to breast implants to sex changes, the hospital is further building the brand to international markets.
The hospital will operate a complete packaging, storage and dispensing system that barcodes unit-dose medications onsite. This state-of-the-art, fully-automated drug management system by Swisslog — often called a ‘Pharmacy Robot’ — is the first of its kind in Asia. Bumrungrad International will use it to improve care and safety for its patients. [From PRWeb]
Secondly, the hospital increasingly receives international patients, including from the US, as insurance companies there resort to “patient outsourcing” in the face of the stratospheric cost of surgical procedures. A heart by-pass in the US goes for around $125,000 while at Bumrungrad it can be a reasonable $16,000. [From Businessweek]
