Arriving in Hong Kong for the territory’s annual Hong Kong Design Week, one of the region’s premier industry events for a discipline that still remains a little under the radar, Marc Gobé, co-founder, chairman and CEO of design and branding consultancy Desgrippes Gobé, wastes little time in making a couple of bold observations.
“Design has traditionally been dwarfed by traditional advertising, particularly television, but it is fast becoming the ‘new advertising’,” he notes.
“What we’re going to see is Asian economies, because of their lack of historical marketing tradition, compete harder. This is where we will see the most dynamic design, because there is such an incredible desire to improve and succeed. The speed at which it will happen is incredible, and China is where it will happen first.”
At first glance, Asia presenting itself as a hotbed of design innovation seems a little hard to believe. But multinationals clearly think there’s potential.
IBM, which recently divested its PC business, is placing a greater emphasis on positioning itself as a design consultant to some of the region’s most iconic, cool brands, most notably Sony and Nintendo, along with a raft of smaller local tech companies.
Lee Green, global VP of IBM’s brand and values experience business division, says the tech giant is evolving its offering, looking at user experience through design as part of the wider brand experience.
“Visual expressions are the initial ambassadors of the brand, even before you form an impression based on context and content. However, it is incredibly important to strike the right balance with other elements,” he explains. “We’re not competing with design firms, but because we’re experts in emerging technologies, we can help clients think about opportunities for their customers.”
The other elements Green mentions include cultural heritage, internationalism and brand quality, which are providing Asian brands with an advantage over their Western counterparts in the ‘cool’ stakes.
Japanese clothing brand Uniqlo, for example, is rising quickly up the value chain through its determination to create Japanese-inspired fashion lines which infuse Western elements. Luxury jewellery brand Qeelin is another which harnesses its Chinese heritage while blending an international identity and coding. GOD, Francfranc, A Bathing Ape and Muji also rate highly in the field of ‘sexy’ Asian brands which are becoming Western icons.
“One of the most interesting things is when Asian brands are fusing or being inspired by Western brands, yet still maintaining their cultural heritage,” says John Ford, CEO of Australian-based branding agency The One Centre. “Uni-qlo mixes its cultural nuances and language of Japanese society into a very modern, cool fashion context, which is becoming hugely successful overseas, and many others are following.”
Gobe notes that the burgeoning interest in design in Asia, represents what amounts to a paradigm shift. “The corporate model has traditionally been based on a manufacturing economy — so long as you could meet people’s basic needs, you succeeded, so the marketing was very dogmatic,” he says.
“But it’s the old model. Design is an expression of the value of a brand, the experience and the innovation. It’s favoured largely by the underdogs, which sits well with most Asian brands, as it means they have to be bold and take a risk.”
