Wolff Olins tips emerging markets brands to go global

Wolff Olins -- the consultancy behind the London 2012 Olympics logo -- has picked five brands from emerging markets which it predicts will be the next Coca-Cola or Starbucks.

It argues that the days when dominance in the US market makes a brand global are numbered.

Melanie McShane, a strategist at the consultancy, told the FT: "It used to be possible to be a global brand by dominating the US market. That’s changing rapidly. Now you have to be number one in Asia."

The five brands tipped to become global are Columbian coffee chain Juan Valdez Café, Saudi dairy and fruit juice company Almari, Lebanese chocolate chain Patchi, China's biggest wine producer ChangYu and India's largest liquor group United Spirits.

US business consultancy Bain & Co came up with similar findings last year, estimating that thanks to a seismic shift away from developed markets one-third of the FT Global 500's companies could come from emerging markets by 2015.

Western consumer brands are reacting by trying to acquire local brands, taking minority stakes or forming joint ventures.

PepsiCo was successful in acquiring Russian juice group Lebedyansky last year, but Coca-Cola's attempts to buy China's biggest juice group Huiyan were blocked by Chinese regulators.

This article was first published on brandrepublic.com