Qingdao is one of the cities that have launched brand-led strategies in China. It experienced three developing stages: product creation in the 1980s, brand-led strategy in the 1990s and the development of a brand economy and brand city at the beginning of this century.

The brand economy is gradually being updated. The brand product, brand enterprise and outstanding entrepreneurship have developed with this city. The Qingdao phenomenon has aroused widespread interest in the whole country.

So far, Qingdao has two “world-famous brands” of China (China identified three in 2005; Qingdao owned two of them), 15 famous trademarks of China, 44 Chinese brands, five National Quality Management Awards, nine of China's export brands, 122 Shandong Famous Marks, and 151 Shandong famous brands. Until the end of 2005, the famous mark and the famous brand of Qingdao breakthrough was 200 each.

Brand is the biggest characteristic of Qingdao. The honor “The brand capital of China” label won by Qingdao is the recognition and encouragement from the whole country.

The origin of “The brand capital”

The people of Qingdao have had brand awareness for a long time. Qingdao Beer is an example. In the eyes of experts, the brands of Qingdao are deeply rooted in two social backgrounds. One is Confucianism, which gave the locals the character of honesty, rule abiding and respect for knowledge. The other is the overseas culture. As a port city, Qingdao is receptive to different cultures, which led to lots of mixed-breed children, such as Qingdao Beer, Hisense, Haier, and Aucma.

The most important step during the step from Qingdao Brand to Brand Qingdao was the “visible hand” controlling the economy.

"The conduct and support from the government of Qingdao laid the solid foundation for the soar of brand economy of Qingdao,” said the governor when accepting the honor “the capital brands of China".

Over the years, this pair of “visible hands” has helped develop the equipment and the ability of production by making full use of national policy and their own fiscal systems.

It has also provided the key projects of the enterprises of Qingdao with one-stop service, from project to production.

Many people ask, “Why are there so many famous brands from Qingdao?” There is only one answer regarding the course of the development of Qingdao, “The right conduct by the government, the active efforts of entrepreneurs and the strong support from society promoted the development of the brand economy and the brand city.”

Then, many people ask further: “What is the character of entrepreneurs of Qingdao? How could the enterprises of Qingdao develop so fast?”

In a word, Qingdao entrepreneurs set their sights very high.

Since being introduced to technology, Qingdao entrepreneurs have been focusing on the top technology and facilities in the world. Haier introduced German technology, Hisense, Aucma introduced Japanese technology; Double Star Group cooperated with USA.

Once they achieved recognition, Qingdao entrepreneurs immediately expanded the scale, relying on the technology and advantages of management to implement asset reorganization. Haier's corporate culture with the intangible assets, the formation of a joint fleet, and setting up factories overseas to the world's top 500 was a hit. Hisense plans to expand their advantage through their investment. Double Star Group, with technology and brand, are constantly expanding their market space, increasing the brand's level of coverage and market share.

The bigger the enterprises are, the more they want to expand. Qingdao entrepreneurs continued to invest in technological innovation to create a dynamic R & D system. Finally, Hisense has "trust core", with many state-level key laboratories in Qingdao.