Taiwanese prefer to sip Starbucks coffee, jog in Nike sneakers and wash their hair with Dove shampoo because of the marketing prowess of these products' parent companies to create strong brand awareness, an industry watcher said yesterday.
"Foreign brands dominate the local consumer market, with more than 57 percent of Taiwanese's favorite products being imports," said Frank Hung (
Hung made the remarks after revealing the results of brand-preference survey.
Conducted between Oct. 15 and Nov. 15, the company polled respondents in person. To identify consumer brand preferences, respondents were asked to select their favorite brands in 102 categories, ranging from daily necessities to commercial services.
In his 18th year of conducting the survey, Hung said that according to his observation, foreign brands have dominated the local consumer market since 1989.
The lack of marketing know-how and thin budgets has undermined Taiwan companies' brand-building success.
"Most local firms are conservative when it comes to spending on marketing," Hung said.
Companies prefer to "invest a fortune" in building factories rather than in advertising or marketing campaigns, he said, making Taiwanese good at making products for others, but bad at creating their own brands.
"Branding is a long-term investment and companies should have the vision as well as the patience to make global Taiwanese brands a reality," Hung said.
Marketing concepts are largely a Western creation and most Taiwanese have not mastered the necessary skills. The best lessons have come from "multinationals," Hung said.
Notable exceptions
to the rule
Several local companies, however, have developed internationally recognized brand names.
"Acer and Uni-President, for example, have put a lot of effort into marketing," he said.
According to Simon Hung (洪士民), public affairs director at Uni-President Enterprises Corp (統一企業), the company will spend about NT$1.2 billion this year on marketing, or 3.4 percent of its estimated NT$35 billion in sales.
Uni-President's instant-noodle products have topped the annual survey as Taiwan's favorite instant-noodle brand for the last 10 years. About 44 percent of the respondents named the product as the No. 1 brand.
There are still plenty of opportunities for Taiwan brands to become global players, Hung said.
"China is a big enough market to propel local brands onto the world stage," he said.
If Taiwan-based companies can create a significant brand presence with a strong market position in China, it won't be difficult to make the leap to the global marketplace, he said.
"Local companies should not just build factories and outsource manufacturing in China ... they should create a brand and sell it in China," Hung said.
Marketing Magazine was established in 1979, and focuses on marketing and business-administration information.
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