Local brand fervour high in SE Asia, India

The study found that while international brands are welcomed asa sign of increasing prosperity in markets such as China and Vietnam, many people in Southeast Asia and India are concerned that buying foreign brands damages the local economy. Over eight in 10 Thais interviewed for the agency said that Thai people should always buy local products, with over two-thirds saying it is not right to purchase foreign products because it puts local people out of work. By contrast only 26 per cent of Vietnamese considered buying foreign-made products unpatriotic, and only 12 per cent of people in Hong Kong felt it was not right to buy foreign goods. "There really is a low level of brand patriotism across the markets we looked at," commented Stephen Drummond, Lowe's regional planning director who oversaw the agency's Faces of Asia study, based on interviews with more than 20,000 people in nine markets. Asian brand patriotism is more sophisticated than similar sentiments in the West, Drummond pointed out, where feelings that foreign brands were responsible for downturns in the economy in the 1980s triggered numerous 'buy local' campaigns. By contrast certain sections of society in Asia, such as a Filipino strata Lowe identified as 'Wais City Parents', a well-educated streetwise middle class, felt the presence of international brands had helped improve local products, even though 60 per cent of people in the Philippines thought buying foreign brands was unpatriotic. Likewise young affluent educated Asians, such as a group from Thailand Lowe termed 'Tung-Jai Eager Rookies', saw foreign brands as symbols of success that they aspire to while still regarding themselves as patriotic, Drummond remarked. Even in markets such as Indonesia, where many people see the growth of Western brands running hand in hand with the erosion of traditional values, certain groups display a healthy appetite for foreign names. "Judging from the stupendous growth of premium fashion brands aiming at the wealthy there is little evidence of brand patriotism at the top," Drummond said. While there was little hostility to international brands among Asian consumers, marketers need to be aware how different groups within countries feel when positioning their brands, Drummond said. Although affluent young educated Asians are more willing to buy foreign brands to stand out from the crowd, the survey also discovered that most Asian shoppers do not feel international brands automatically deserve a higher price tag. "The assumption that foreign brands are status brands worth paying for is just not true," Drummond said. "There are a lot of pragmatic middle class segments throughout Asia who don't believe in paying any more than they need for foreign brands," he added.