Executive Summary of the Survey on “The Relationship between Consumers’
Beloved Lifestyle Brands and Innovative Design”
How branding help enhance the competitiveness of products and services of acorporation? How branding adds value to a brand and eventually becomesconsumers’ preferred brand? How branding helps engage the consumers and bringmore appealing brand experience? These topics have long been on the agenda oflocal corporations.
The Hong Kong Design Centre is a non-profit organisation dedicated to raising theawareness of design value and application among local business and industrial
sectors, as well as enhancing the business sense and design skills of both designers
and design students. Hong Kong Design Centre and Hong Kong Ambassadors ofDesign commissioned Asian Centre for Brand Management of Hong Kong
Polytechnic University to conduct a survey on “The Relationship between Consumers’
Beloved Lifestyle Brands and Innovative Design” in order to understand theconsumers’ preference on local lifestyle brands; the roles that design and creativity
played in consumers’ choice of brands; to investigate the key factors contributing arecognized good brand and the definition of branding; as well as to know theconsumers’ most recommended local brands to their overseas friends. This survey
aims to provide valuable information to local corporations in brand building andultimately promote brand development in Hong Kong.
More than 2,500 consumers aged between 15 to 70 were interviewed in bothresidential and commercial districts in Hong Kong for the survey this May to June,
52% of the interviewees were female consumers and 48% were male. With regard
to age distribution, majority were between age 25 to 34 (42%), 22% were between
age 35 to 44.
Most of the interviewees had completed secondary andpost-secondary education (96%). 43% of the interviewees had a monthly income
below HK$10,000 while 41% of them had a monthly income between HK$10,000 to
HK$20,000. In terms of monthly income, all interviewees are major local consuminggroup.

1

The survey covered lifestyle brands in 13 categories including groceries, beverage,
bakery, catering, jewellery/accessories, telecommunications & consumer electronics,
transportation, shopping malls, health and beauty retail chains, department
stores/supermarkets/living and household, fashion apparel, leisure/entertainment andmagazine. The covered brands are selected based on the following criteria:
 Brands that were awarded by brand awards of professional organisations ormedia in the past three years
 Academic and professional advices
 Relevant surveys and studies of local retail brands
 Brands that are established by local enterprises
The survey shows that besides quality and pricing, brand image is the key factor forconsumers’ in making their purchase decision. Other factors affecting their choices
are: word-of-mouth, brand feeling/visual and the relevance between the brand andconsumers’ lifestyle. Thus, we can see that brand building is crucial in promoting
products and services.
Innovation and design are essential to brand success as consumers would determine
if the brands are innovative by its product function design and product packaging
design. Advertisement design, long-considered as important, was rated as the thirdkey factor. Product appearance design was rated as important as advertisement
design. For retail brands, shop environment design is also essential.
It is interesting to note that both male and female consumers shared similar views in
key factors determining innovative brands. Female consumers emphasised more on
appearance as they rated product packaging design and product appearance design
as the second and third key factors while male consumers rated product appearance
design as the fifth key factor. Besides female consumers considered the brandfeeling/visual more when they made their purchase decision while male consumers
considered brand image and word-of-mouth as their priorities.
Another interesting finding is that consumers rated the reliability of products andservices the least important factor in making their purchase decision. They believedthat a good brand with good functions, design and quality guaranteed the brand’sreliability.
Consumers
wouldrecommend
Ocean
Park,
Broadway
andI.T./i.t./b+ab/http:www.izzue.com to their overseas friends amongst all local brands inthe survey showing their consuming pattern: leisure & entertainment, electronic
products and fashion apparel. These brands are dynamic and innovative with new
ideas, thus innovation and design help relate these brands with consumers preferred
lifestyle brands.
2Choice 1Choice 2

Choice 31.

Groceries

Four Seas

DollAmoy2.

Beverage

Vitasoy

Dairy Farm

Hung Fook
Tong,
Healthworks

3.

BakeryMaxim’s

Arome, KeeSaint Honore

Wah
4.

Catering

Cafe de Coral

Honeymoon

Hui Lau Shan

Dessert5.

Jewellery/Accessories

6.

Telecommunications/Consumer

Chow Sang Sang/

Chow Tai

Luk Fook

Just Gold

Fook/ ctf.2

Jewellery

Broadway

Fortress

HGC/3
HK/HGCElectronics

broadband.com
7.

Transportation

MTR

KMB

Cathay Pacific/
Dragonair

8.

Shopping Malls

9.

Health and Beauty Retail

Langham Place

APM

Festival Walk

Mannings

SaSa

Bonjour,Watsons

Chains/ Chinese Herbal Shops
10.

Department

CitySuper

PARKnSHOPStores/Supermarket/ Living and/ Taste/

HouseholdGreat/

G.O.DInternational
11.

Fashion ApparelI.T / i.t/ b+ab/

Giordano

EspritLan Kwai

Broadway

Fong

Circuit/

http://www.izzue.com
12.

Leisure/ Entertainment

Ocean Park

Neway
13.

Magazine

Milk

Ming Pao

Jessica/

WeeklyJessica Code/Esquire3