Recently the World Brand Lab unveiled its list of  'China's top 500 most valuable brands.'  Topping the brand list was the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, more commonly known as ICBC.  Rounding out the top five were China Mobile, China Central Television, China Life Insurance and State Grid.  As far as the top brands distribution around China is concerned, Beijing was first on the list with 91 of the 500 brands located in the capital, followed by Guangdong and Zhejiang provinces respectively.  Meanwhile, a recently conducted survey shows that as far as international brands are concerned, Chinese consumers most prefer German brands.  Popularity of US brands slipped from 2nd to 4th.  So what makes a brand popular among consumers?  And how well are Chinese companies using and developing their brand image to bolster their bottom lines? 

Ni hao, you're listening to   People In the Know, your window into the world around you, online at crienglish.com here on China Radio International.  In this edition of the show we're talking about brand development.  So let's get started.

(Music)

First we'll hear from a Chinese expert.  Mr. Lin Hai is the Chief Branding Officer of the China International Association of Quality Brands.

(Dialogue with Lin)

And after a short break, we'll talk to a foreign branding expert.

(Promo)

Ni hao, you're listening to   People In the Know, your window into the world around you, online at crienglish.com here on China Radio International.  I'm Paul James in Beijing.  In this edition of the show we're talking about brand development among Chinese companies.  For more on this we're joined on the line now by Mr. Shawn Rein, Managing Director of the China Market Research Group.

(Dialogue with Rein)

And with that we close out this edition of   People In the Know, online at crienglish.com here on China Radio International.  As the saying goes, Rome wasn't built in a day.  And the same analogy can be used when it comes to developing a quality and trusted brand name.  Questions or comments for us can be sent to people@cri.com.cn.  For Executive Director Zhao Yang, Producers Chen Mo and Xu Yang and Intern Li Ximeng, I'm Paul James in Beijing.  We'll talk to you tomorrow.