Some Asian brands are becoming successful well beyond Asia. But with two-thirds of the global population, growing economies, a rapidly growing middle class with an increasing disposable income, Asia still boasts only a handful of powerful brands which is a cause for concern.

Despite Asia's historical focus on manufacturing and trading activities, the global landscape could potentially face a wealth of new Asian brands in the coming years. Every country in Asia has its own list of aspiring brands just waiting to cross the local borders. In literally every industry sector, many companies are realizing the potential value creation that they might be forgoing due to lack of branding. These companies are gradually making a mark in the region having been inspired by the industry leaders. But yet not many have managed to attain international recognition.

To create iconic Asian brands true to their roots and origin, Asian managers will have to become trendsetters to a much larger extend than today. The future perspective for Asian businesses is that, in order to be successful, Asian brands need to capture the spirit of the region, but they also need to lead the way by creating that spirit. It is time for Asian boardrooms to rid of the inferiority complex and focus more on what Asia actually has to offer when it comes to brand building.

This new perspective must be steeped into a more acute perspective on the consumer behaviour patterns. Asia is not a homogenous entity. Even more importantly, Asian countries are more and more traversed by cultural flows permeating the region: cinema, music and fashion trends that are present extend beyond national borders to capture the imagination of millions. Moreover branding and brands do not operate in vacuum, but are closely linked to developments in society, to people and to cultures.

The defining aspect of any brand is its identity. Brand identity is a brand's calling card to its customers. The identity of a brand not only differentiates the brand from the many other competing brands in the market but also offers the brand the distinct opportunity to create unique experiences that would entice the customers to the brand and build lasting relationships.

As such, the identity of a brand is very important. Given this, it would seem very obvious that Asian companies would benefit by maintaining their unique Asian identities when they expand globally. Companies will have to be carefully here not to generalize this too much. The level to which Asian brands maintain their Asian identities also depends on the type of industry the company belongs to.

In the hospitality industry, Asian players such as The Shangri-La, Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts and Mandarin Oriental Hotels are classic examples of brands that have gained immensely by leveraging on the unique Asian service mindset. This also goes for Singapore Airlines which is truly Asian and have successful become the most admired and profitable airlines brand in the world.

As such, it makes sense not only to maintain the Asian identity but also to emphasize it in this case. It will be crucial for companies to weave their brands into the social fabric and make them a part of the community to ensure enduring success. Tapping into popular culture and society are two main drivers of successful branding.

On the other hand, consumer electronics is a sector where cutting technology and world-class designs are more crucial than the degree of Asian origin and culture of the company. As such, companies such as Sony, Samsung, LG, and Creative Technologies have emphasized the technological aspects of the brand more than the cultural aspects of being Asian companies. But moving forward, these brands will have to emphasize their Asian origin to create brand personalities that truly differentiate them from other global players.

Therefore, companies will have to make a careful examination of the relevance of maintaining the Asian identity of their companies in the context of the industry sector that they are in and then accordingly emphasize its importance.

Asian consumers and Asian manager have for long not valued Asia and its heritage and instead tried to emulate everything from the West. The Asian inferiority complex is diminishing and Asia will grow in importance as the key ingredient for brands over the next 10-15 years.

An important segment that marketers cannot ignore in Asia is the bottom of the pyramid and those Asian consumers living in rural areas. The challenges that marketers face in trying to address these consumers are high and risky due to the fragmented nature of the rural market and the low margins of this trade. There is no denying though that rural consumers want to access brands, if only because they are a promise of quality. For Asian marketers interested in tapping the huge rural markets in Asia, there are important issues to consider,

First, rural consumers have less purchasing power. In China, the income gap between urban and rural residents, which is around 5 to 1, greatly restricts rural people's consumption of products. There is also a significant difference in the way wages are earned with a majority of the working population in rural markets being paid daily instead of weekly or monthly wages. This means that consumers in rural markets will generally spend their daily wage on necessities such as food, and have little left to spend on items for personal care and other relatively luxurious items.

This has driven companies like Unilever to sell sachets in rural China and India, instead of the normal sizes of detergent and shampoo. One-third of India's shampoo sales comes from sachets in rural districts, with Unilever, the British-Dutch company accounting for 70% of those sales of sachets. The company is increasingly relying on Asian rural markets to drive its sustained growth. Hindustan Lever, Unilever's Indian subsidiary, is now a major force in the Unilever network of subsidiaries with many strategies emerging from India.

For example, the company used the expertise of its Indian managers in the rural markets to help develop the Chinese market for shampoos and soaps. Another example is Coca-Cola which began to sell 200-milliliter bottles of Coke in India in 2003 to increase demand among consumers who cannot afford bigger portions.

The income disparity between rural and urban consumers can therefore drive companies to innovate to answer these differences.

A second element of difference between rural and urban consumers is density. The number of villages in countries across Asia is extremely high, pushing companies like to develop extensive distribution networks.

In the Indian market, the detergent maker Nirma adopted a strategy of developing a base in the hinterland and the rural areas before attacking the big metropolises. Nirma's founder knew chemicals well enough to develop an effective low-priced detergent of good quality but did so starting in his home state of Gujarat before launching in other regions. He called the yellow powder detergent Nirma after his daughter. He started by selling to his neighbours for a small profit and built his consumer base slowly. Because a strong distribution network is so important in emerging markets like India, he concentrated on widening his distribution network. Nirma began surfacing all over Gujarat, in small shops in the remotest villages.

Another great example of a company with rural expertise is the Indian company Asian Paints. The company has almost 50% of the market for house paints in India, despite the presence of major foreign multinationals. The company has succeeded among other things by developing a very extensive distribution network in the rural market. Its products are priced low and as such, have been very successful in other developing countries such as Nepal and Fiji. Asian Paints has developed an expertise in dealing with low-income, often illiterate consumers who only buy small quantities of paint that they later dilute to save money.

Companies like Asian Paints and Nirma have understood that the key to succeeding in markets like China and India is a good understanding of the rural consumer and a vast distribution network.

Overall, while Asian countries are very diverse and need to be understood in their own context, there are similarities and threads that cut across the region. Companies like Unilever, Asian Paints or HSBC have captured some of these similarities in the development of brands that address segments with similar needs in different countries. Consumers in rural China and India buying small doses of detergent or shampoo. Rural consumers in Fiji and India buying low-cost quality paints. Muslim consumers turn to Islamic banking.

As Asian companies venture into new markets and try to appeal to consumers from other Asian countries, an understanding of these similarities as well as the specificities of Asian consumer psychology, remain essential.