Brand has existed for centuries, and its emergence marks the maturity of the concept of commodity exchange. It can be said that the appearance and development of brand is a social and economic phenomenon and the product of the development of commodity economy to a certain stage.

1. Development history of foreign brands

Brand development in western countries has roughly experienced four periods:

(1) primitive period. Before the invention of movable type printing in 1450, the brand developed in a primitive and unconscious state. However, people have unconsciously applied the concept of brand in business activities. At that time, with the prosperity of economy and the increase of business activities, people began to spread brands by word of mouth.

(2) the germination period. Before the industrial revolution, brand development was in its infancy. At that time, it mainly paid attention to the labeling of products or producers, so it was also called the labeling period. For example, in the western United States, the earliest entrepreneurs (that is, big farmers) branded the company’s logo on the buttocks of animals, and used such an indelible mark to show his ownership of the assets of animals. Since then, the brand has the function of distinguishing from other people’s goods.

(3) growth period. At the end of 18th century and the beginning of 19th century, or after the industrial revolution, western countries experienced rapid economic development, increased products and intensified competition, and brand development entered the growth period or trademark period. The biggest feature of brand development in this period is that enterprises generally attach importance to trademark registration.

The industrial revolution made the machine industry replace manual production, and the manufacturing industry was more developed. In order to strengthen the protection of brands, the trademark system came into being, and brands in the modern sense came into being. Starting with the first car with horizontal bar engine made in Germany in 1886, Coca Cola was born in 1886, Gillette shaver appeared in 1895, Kodak brand was born in 1898, Ford Model T came out in 1908, Boeing brand quietly landed in 1917, Marlboro brand came out in 1924, Nestle coffee came out in 1938, and a number of brands gradually developed and grew.

At the beginning of the 19th century, the earliest legal provisions on trademarks appeared in France. Subsequently, Britain, the United States, Germany and Japan have also promulgated their own trademark laws. Trademark system is popular all over the world, and brands have been recognized and guaranteed by law.

(4) maturity. At the end of 19th century and the beginning of 20th century, the role of brand as an important means of competition gradually emerged. Especially after the Second World War, with the rapid development of science and technology, high technology is widely used in production, enterprise groups are maturing, consumer demand is changing with each passing day, and enterprise competition is unprecedented fierce, thus ushered in the so-called "brand economy" era, and brand development has entered a mature period or brand period. The globalization trend of brand communication is obvious, but it has national characteristics. A large number of brands with unique connotations and advanced concepts have been born, and the research on brands has been deepened day by day. During this period, famous brands such as KFC, McDonald’s, Disney, Toyota, Hitachi, Panasonic and Sony appeared, which has entered the era of brand competition.

2. The development stage of foreign brands

Looking at the development history of foreign brands, it can be summarized into four stages, namely, the formal brand stage, the legal brand stage, the famous brand stage and the commercialized brand stage.

(1) The formalization stage of the brand. In the stage of brand development, the first is the formalization of the brand. From a formal point of view, a brand is a symbol. Since ancient times, people have marked their own livestock with unique marks to distinguish them from other people’s livestock. In English, the word "Brand" means to stamp, indicating the origin and manufacturer of a product or service. In the early days, people widely used formal brands, which started with all kinds of craftsmen marking their products to distinguish them from those made by others. At this stage, when people understand the brand, they only regard it as a form of symbol and mark, so that consumers can distinguish the origin and source of the product through this symbol. This symbol ensures that the product is provided by the same supplier with the same quality and characteristic level, and after the product is sold, it can make the buyer identify the manufacturer of the product and facilitate repair and replacement. This kind of formalized brand also has certain binding force on other product manufacturers, and to some extent, it has played a role in preventing its own products from being counterfeited by others.

(2) The legalization stage of the brand. The significance of brand legalization lies in brand trademark, and brand has become an integral part of intellectual property rights. According to the development of commodity economy and fierce market competition, many western countries have promulgated and promulgated trademark laws and related brand protection regulations, which makes the concept of brand clearly defined in law. Therefore, the brand of goods and services can be protected by law, and the word brand is also reflected in relevant laws. Legalization of brand shows in the legal sense that after the brand is registered, the owner and franchisor of the brand get the protectable property, and can also prevent others from impacting, counterfeiting and hurting. In 1803, France introduced the world’s earliest brand-related law, the Law on Factories, Workshops and Workshops, which defined counterfeiting other people’s trademarks as the crime of forging documents without permission and punished it. The United States began to implement the Federal Trademark Regulations of the United States of America in 1870; Germany also promulgated the Trademark Protection Law in 1874, which made the brand development enter the era of legalization. Brand-related laws that have been recognized and implemented around the world mainly include the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Intellectual Property Rights, which was promulgated and implemented on March 20th, 1883, and the madrid agreement concerning the international registration of marks, which was promulgated and implemented on April 14th, 1891. China is also a member of these two conventions and agreements.

(3) the brand-name stage of the brand. After World War II, great changes have taken place in the world economy, scientific and technological progress has promoted the rapid development of productive forces, people’s material and cultural living standards have been greatly improved, consumers have changed from meeting basic physiological needs to pursuing higher psychologically and spiritually, paying attention to the expression and development of individuality, and there are abundant commodities in the market, and the differences in quality, performance and price of commodities have gradually narrowed. At the same time, due to the joint action of various modern media, the spread and diffusion of commodity brands are more effective and fast, which promotes and influences consumers to form the concept and value trend of brand-name consumption, and the outstanding performance of brand-name products in the market has brought rich super-value profits to enterprises. The demonstration effect of brand-name consumption is to cause people to chase brand-name goods all over the world. During this period, brand has become the focus of market competition among enterprises.

Brand-name brand has become the goal and direction of brand development for all enterprises. Brand-name brand is an outstanding brand among many brands. Brand-name brand goods are symbols of high-quality products and services. They occupy the market and conquer the high-quality goods of users and consumers with their outstanding performance and the appearance of appealing to both refined and popular tastes. From the market performance, the famous brand indicates that the enterprise’s labor is highly recognized by the society, reflects the trend of consumer psychological preference and cultural taste, is the unity of social material and spiritual values, and is the biggest feature of modern social consumption concept and cultural value orientation. During this period, many famous brands began to appear in various markets around the world, such as Coca-Cola drinks in the United States, Kodak films, Ford cars and Toyota cars in Japan. Famous brands have become a powerful weapon for enterprises to participate in international market competition in this period.

(4) the commercialization stage of the brand. When the world began to pay close attention to intellectual property rights, enterprise merger and brand export, and the implementation of franchising and other management, the formal meaning, legal attributes and branding of the brand could not fully explain the true meaning of the brand. It can be said that the nature of the brand has changed suddenly, that is, the brand has the characteristics of general commodity value and exchange function, and the commodity attributes of the brand have emerged. A brand is a commodity, which has the general attributes and characteristics of a commodity, and its development has entered the era of brand commercialization. Enterprises with brands pay more attention to the connotation of the brand and the intangible assets value of the brand itself.

When marketing activities are carried out, brands are integrated into business assets as intellectual property and intangible assets of enterprises. When enterprises merge and expand, brand assets have become an important asset composition of asset merger and reorganization. Even the brand can be auctioned as an independent asset when the enterprise goes bankrupt. For example, the famous British car brand manufacturer "Rolle Period-Roy Period" was transferred to the German Volkswagen Company at a price of hundreds of millions of pounds during the merger of the enterprise. Developed countries make use of the commodity characteristics of brands to export brands to developing countries in the international market, and adopt the way of licensing brands as an investment in local enterprises, implement franchising and realize the brand expansion strategy. For example, in many Coca-Cola production plants and filling lines around the world, the Coca-Cola Company has no direct investment, but only provides licenses for the use of Coca-Cola stock solution and Coca-Cola brands, and enterprises that use brands have to pay a considerable amount of brand use fees every year. Another example is the licensee who uses McDonald’s brand. In addition to the initial cost of about 600,000 US dollars, he will also pay McDonald’s brand service fee and brand use fee, which account for 11.5% of its operating income. It can be said that the era of brand commercialization has arrived. (The author is a member of the writing team of Brand Innovation)

Sydney: From the first day to the fifteenth day, every day is the taste of New Year.

Sydney Opera House

New year’s goodsYou may not believe it, but in Sydney, the Spring Festival is very strong. In Sydney’s Chinatown, there are all kinds of Chinese restaurants, pastry shops and handicraft shops. Whether it’s Spring Festival couplets, lanterns, Chinese knots, or traditional China cuisine, you can basically buy them, so don’t worry about the new year.

Red envelopes for lucky money

Old customsIn addition to the official Spring Festival series in Sydney, there are many activities in major Chinese areas. Since the 25th of the twelfth lunar month, various activities have been staged in Sydney. On New Year’s Eve, the Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge will become the most beautiful red, followed by New Year’s Eve and grabbing red envelopes.

On New Year’s Day, you can listen to a free China concert brought by the Sydney Conservatory of Music and famous tenors. You can enjoy a difficult lion dance performance; During the Spring Festival, Sydney also invited some calligraphers to show off the charm of calligraphy. On the second day of New Year’s Day, there are special events in the Art Museum during the Spring Festival. On the fourth day of the first month, there is a red envelope distribution activity at the Sydney fish market. It’s time to start exercising your hand speed. On February 8, there was also an LED lion dance show at the Circular Pier. The China Cheongsam Show on February 9th can take you through time.

[New Year’s Eve]On New Year’s Eve, in order to tie in with the Spring Festival, many restaurants in Sydney have launched "New Year’s Eve". No matter western food or buffet, China elements are added to their menus. Families who don’t want to do it themselves at home can go to the restaurant to have a look.

Singapore: Preparing New Year’s Eve dinner at home is even more delicious.

Singapore Chinatown Plaza

[new year’s goods]】 In the Spring Festival, the legal holidays here are two days, that is, the first day and the second day. Chinatown in Singapore is called Chinatown. When the Chinese New Year is coming, there are many people selling New Year’s goods there. You can see Spring Festival couplets, lighting, desserts, preserved ducks and dried fruits.

Chinese knot with auspicious meaning

Old customsOn January 26th, in Chinatown Square, the lion dance competition has already started. There are more than 10 pairs of top lion dance teams, who show their talents on the plum blossom pile and try their best to compete for the plum blossom award. Next, at Xinqiao Road and Yudongxuan Street, local and overseas art groups will jointly perform, which is the highlight of the New Year every year. You can also see the lighting display for seven weeks in a row, which is very suitable for taking a concave photo.

People go shopping in Chinatown Square to buy new year’s goods.

At the Spring Festival party in Chinatown, you can see the atmosphere of Chinese New Year singing and dancing. At the New Year’s Eve party, you can also see new media artists interacting with the audience through Chinese New Year songs, short videos and games to welcome the arrival of the New Year. On the evening of February 17th, there will be a large-scale street performance famous in Asia, which will be staged in Chinatown on the weekend of Lantern Festival. Float parade and makeup parade will bring the New Year celebration to a more joyful situation. According to local people, fireworks can be set off at mbs on the night of the Spring Festival, and many people will go to see it.

New year lion dance custom

[New Year’s Eve]As for the New Year’s Eve dinner, many Chinese will want to eat it at home, buy food and cook for jiaozi. On the one hand, we respect China’s traditional customs; on the other hand, it is difficult to change our living habits for so many years. The whole family gathers together to cook and eat, which is more festive.

Vietnam: Chinese New Year is still a celebration.

New year’s goodsThere is not much difference between Vietnamese new year’s goods and Chinese’s new year’s goods. In addition to selling New Year’s pictures and oranges, there are all kinds of red envelopes and gold-lettered Spring Festival couplets on the street. For the families of the Yue nationality, there are three kinds of decorations during the Spring Festival: a bunch (or a big one) of budding peach blossoms, a bonsai of kumquat and a "five-fruit pot" filled with fruits of various species. It is said that these three things indicate good luck, peace and prosperity in the New Year.

Wuguopen

Old customsVietnamese people have the custom of standing up banners and eating zongzi on New Year’s Eve. They use a bamboo pole, trim the top bamboo leaves, and hang red banners and wind chimes on it. It is said that the noise made when the wind blows will scare away ghosts. With regard to zongzi, it is necessary to be round and square. The so-called round place is considered as a symbol of joy. Interestingly, this kind of zongzi is very big, usually weighing 2 to 2.5 kilograms.

On the morning of the first day of the lunar new year, every family should worship their ancestors, and at the same time, they should also worship the land, the kitchen god and the ancestors of the hundred artists. Generally, there are zongzi and braised fish as sacrifices. Children should pay New Year greetings to the adults and the elderly at home, and adults will give them lucky money.

Burn incense and worship during the New Year.

In addition, there are many recreational activities, such as singing and dancing, performing plays, dragon and lion dances, etc. However, there are many taboos on the first day of the lunar new year, such as not borrowing things, not collecting debts, not doing farm work and so on. If a family travels, they can choose to visit the New Year’s Fair, such as Guangbo Flower Market, Grapefruit Market and Xingjie Ma Antique Market.

A lively dragon and lion dance team in the street.

[New Year’s Eve]This year’s New Year’s Eve dinner is just eating out. It’s basically the same in recent years. Book a private room in a hotel, and then the family will be happy. Usually, everyone is very busy at work. When taking advantage of the New Year’s Eve dinner, exchange more feelings.

Malaysia: New Year’s Eve hot pot is booming.

New year’s goodsIn Malaysia, the Lunar New Year is a legal holiday for all citizens, and the annual flavor is very strong. Malaysia is a country with relatively complete preservation of Chinese culture in the world, and the celebration customs in cultural festivals have inherited the beauty of Chinese culture for 5,000 years. New Year’s cakes are cakes used by Malaysian Chinese in the New Year. They are essential for offering sacrifices to the gods in the New Year, almost equivalent to the symbol of the New Year, and are essential new year’s goods for the New Year. In addition, Malaysia’s Jiabi, shaped like an egg roll, was originally a traditional cake food of Malays, and later it was subtly integrated into Chinese families and became a necessary festive food for Chinese New Year.

【Old customs]Speaking of Malaysia’s distinctive Spring Festival activities, the first one is of course "fishing for a living". Fishing for fish is a popular New Year custom of Han nationality in Nanyang area, especially in Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. Colorful raw fish have colorful and brilliant intentions, and the name "fishing raw fish" also means "wind and water" and "fishing more and more prosperous"

Laosheng

Under normal circumstances, local people will also eat potted vegetables, which are made of more than a dozen raw materials through more than a dozen cooking methods, such as frying, frying, burning and boiling. These specially treated potted vegetables are packed in a round basin, which represents round and round.

On the first day of the lunar new year, many relatives will have dinner together. If you are unmarried, you can get a red envelope from your elders.

On the Lantern Festival, people will throw oranges to find a good match. This is the custom of Fujian beauty looking for a husband. Now it has evolved into a New Year’s festival for all people to entertain. On the Lantern Festival, people throw fruits at the sea and lakes, while women throw oranges and men throw bananas for people who are destined to salvage.

Hotpot New Year’s Eve dinner

[New Year’s Eve]In Malaysia, it is a trend to eat hot pot on New Year’s Eve. Putting a burning stove under the table means a prosperous family and a reunion. Put money by the fire and hope everything goes well. The family sat around eating steaming hot pot, expecting a prosperous new year.

If you spend the Spring Festival in Southeast Asian countries, you can talk about your Spring Festival customs, New Year’s Eve dinner and delicious new year’s goods ~

    The State Council Information Office will hold a press conference in the press room of the State Council Information Office at 10 am on Tuesday, January 13th, 2015. Zheng Yuesheng, spokesperson of the General Administration of Customs and director of the General Statistics Department, will introduce the import and export situation in 2014 and answer questions from reporters.

    [Zheng Yuesheng, spokesperson of the General Administration of Customs and director of the General Statistics Department]2014 is the first year of China’s comprehensive deepening reform. In the past year, the world economy was still in a period of deep adjustment after the international financial crisis, and domestic economic development entered a new normal. Under the correct leadership and unified deployment of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, various reforms in the foreign trade field were steadily advanced, and various regions, departments and foreign trade enterprises conscientiously implemented policies and measures to promote the stable growth of foreign trade. China’s foreign trade has continued to grow steadily and its operation has remained within a reasonable range. At the same time, China’s foreign trade import and export has also made positive progress in improving quality, improving efficiency and optimizing structure.

According to customs statistics, in 2014, China’s total import and export value was 26.43 trillion yuan, an increase of 2.3% over 2013. Among them, the export was 14.39 trillion yuan, up by 4.9%; Imports were 12.04 trillion yuan, down 0.6%; The trade surplus was 2.35 trillion yuan, up 45.9%. In dollar terms, in 2014, China’s import and export, export and import increased by 3.4%, 6.1% and 0.4% respectively.

The main situation of China’s foreign trade import and export in 2014. First, the growth rate of import and export is stable and positive. In the first quarter of 2014, China’s import and export value was 5.9 trillion yuan, down 3.8%; In the second quarter, the import and export was 6.5 trillion yuan, an increase of 1.7%; Import and export in the third quarter was 7 trillion yuan, up by 7.1%; In the fourth quarter, imports and exports reached 7 trillion yuan, up 4%. Among them, exports decreased by 6.1% in the first quarter, increased by 3.4% and 12.7% in the second and third quarters respectively, and increased by 8.7% in the fourth quarter; In terms of imports, it decreased by 1.3% in the first quarter, remained basically the same in the second quarter, increased by 0.8% in the third quarter and decreased by 1.6% in the fourth quarter.

2. General trade grew steadily, while processing trade grew steadily. In 2014, China’s general trade import and export was 14.21 trillion yuan, up 4.2%, accounting for 53.8% of China’s total import and export value in the same period. In the same period, the import and export of processing trade was 8.65 trillion yuan, up 2.8%, accounting for 32.7%.

3. Bilateral trade with the EU and the United States grew steadily, trade with Japan and Hong Kong declined, and trade with emerging markets performed well. In 2014, the European Union, the United States, ASEAN, Hong Kong and Japan were my top five trading partners. Among them, my bilateral trade volume with the EU and the United States was 3.78 trillion yuan and 3.41 trillion yuan respectively, up by 8.9% and 5.4% respectively. The bilateral trade volume with Hong Kong and Japan was 2.31 trillion yuan and 1.92 trillion yuan respectively, down by 7.2% and 1% respectively. In the same period, China’s bilateral trade volume with ASEAN, Africa, Russia, India and other emerging markets was 2.95 trillion yuan, 1.36 trillion yuan, 585.19 billion yuan and 433.55 billion yuan, up 7.1%, 4.3%, 5.6% and 6.8% respectively.

4. The import and export of private enterprises and foreign-invested enterprises increased, while the import and export of state-owned enterprises declined slightly. In 2014, the import and export of private enterprises was 9.13 trillion yuan, an increase of 6.1%, accounting for 34.5% of China’s total import and export value in the same period. In the same period, the import and export of foreign-invested enterprises was 12.19 trillion yuan, up 2.4%, accounting for 46.1%; The import and export of state-owned enterprises was 4.59 trillion yuan, down 1.3%, accounting for 17.4%.

5. Exports of mechanical and electrical products and traditional labor-intensive products grew steadily. In 2014, the export of mechanical and electrical products in China was 8.05 trillion yuan, an increase of 2.6%, accounting for 56% of the total export value. In the same period, the export of seven categories of labor-intensive products, such as textiles, clothing, luggage, footwear, toys, furniture and plastic products, was 2.98 trillion yuan, up by 4%, accounting for 20.7%.

6. Imports of consumer goods accelerated, while imports of major commodities increased in price and fell. In 2014, China’s imports of consumer goods reached 936.27 billion yuan, up by 14.9%, which was significantly faster than the overall growth rate of China’s imports in the same period, accounting for 7.8% of China’s total imports in the same period. In the same period, the import volume of major commodities maintained growth, including 930 million tons of imported iron ore, an increase of 13.8%; Imported crude oil was 310 million tons, up by 9.5%; 71.399 million tons of soybeans, an increase of 12.7%; 14.432 million tons of steel, an increase of 2.5%; 4.825 million tons of copper, an increase of 7.4%. In addition, imported coal was 290 million tons, down by 10.9%; Imported refined oil was 29.997 million tons, down by 24.2%. In the same period, the import prices of China’s imported commodities generally fell, with the average import price of iron ore falling by 23.4%, crude oil by 6.1%, coal by 15.2%, refined oil by 4.6%, soybean by 6.8% and copper by 6.1%.

Seven, foreign trade export leading index fell for the third consecutive month. In December, China’s foreign trade export leading index was 40.1, down by 0.7 compared with November, the third consecutive month of decline, the lowest point since December 2013, indicating that China’s export growth is still facing certain pressure in the first quarter of this year.