China: most valuable Chinese brands according to BrandZ 2024

Tencent was China’s most valuable brand for two years in a row. According to Millward Brown’s BrandZ Global Top 100 in 2024, the tech giant’s brand value was estimated at over $135 billion. Alcohol producer Moutai replaced Alibaba with $86 billion. The former perennial champion Alibaba fell one place to third place, with around $70 billion.

Changes in the Chinese brand portfolio

The rise of Chinese brands is impossible to ignore over the past decade. In 2013, Western brands Apple, Google and IBM topped the global brand rankings. Only two Chinese candidates – China Mobile and ICBC – made it into the top 20, ranking tenth and sixteenth respectively with a brand value of less than $60 billion. In 2023, three Chinese companies appeared in the top 20, with Tencent ranking seventh and Alibaba ranking fourteenth. In 2024, only Tencent and Moutai made the list. Overall, the most outstanding Chinese brands have shifted from the finance and banking industry to the internet and technology industry.

The rising stars: TikTok and SHEIN

Some fast-rising Chinese brands have taken the internet world by storm. TikTok is the first successful case. The short-video pioneer recorded the highest number of downloads of any mobile app in the world in 2022. In the online shopping scene, Temu and SHEIN dethroned Amazon as the world’s most downloaded shopping app in 2023. This year, ultra-fast fashion company SHEIN rose to become the world’s second most valuable clothing brand.