Leverage Brand Value By Design Strategy-Comparative Research On The Design Strategy In Brand Corporation

Since China's entrance into WTO, Chinese companies have been facing great challenges and fierce competitions. In this instance, how to build a strong brand is a common issue for Chinese companies. Today's understanding of brand takes it far beyond the somewhat simplistic view of brand that prevailed a decade ago, when it was viewed as a representation a business or brand logo or tagline or advertising message. It's now more commonly defined as a set of expectations and associations evoked from experience with a company or product. It's all about how customers think and feel about what the business or product actually delivers across the board.It is no doubt that we are living in an era of brand and brand has become the focus in business competition. Brand has been discussed much in marketing, advertising etc. But many successful cases have showed that branding has a close relationship with other activities within a company, such as NPD or design. Branding is an integrated concept, a crossover of different areas and different knowledge.As a method of creation, design has its own features and values in leveraging brand value. Design strategy advances design activities in a strategic level in a company and ensure design be well integrated into other business activities. In this case, design strategy can bring competitive advantages and more brand value for a company.In China the study in design strategy is still at the beginning stage. Internationally, whatever in industry or in academe, there is no general view of point on this issue. This paper centers on deeply research about design strategy and brand value integrated with theatrical research and case studies. And put forward new standpoint on how to leverage brand value through design in brand companies. Thus, the author hopes to offer constructive suggestions for Chinese companies when they are going to use design as a strategic tool to highlight their brands.