"Global Brand Memorabilia" is a regular research project of the Brand Alliance Development Research Center. From March 2022, the Brand Alliance observed, sorted out and summarized the global brand events that occurred in that month, and jointly compiled and announced them with Sino-Singapore Jingwei.
"Global Brand Memorabilia" aims to help people understand the development trends of global brands, learn from the experience of international brand development, enhance the international influence of brands, and promote the birth of world-class enterprises with global competitiveness.
Summary of the world's top 10 brand events in April 2024
01. Beijing Auto Show New Energy Becomes the Focus, Domestic Multi-brand Attracts Overseas Observation [Exhibition Brand]
02. Hayao Miyazaki's "Farewell Work" was a hit and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Animation [Character Brand]
03. McDonald's multi-country turnover declines and will buy back all Israeli stores [corporate brand]
04. Apple CEO Tim Cook visited Vietnam with an investment of more than 100 billion yuan in five years [corporate brand]
05. The annual list of the world's richest people was announced, and AI fever gave birth to "technology upstarts" [brand list]
06. Google's parent company's market capitalization hits a record high, joining the $2 trillion club [corporate brand]
07. Tesla announced its first-quarter earnings report, Musk announced a global layoff [brand crisis]
08. The U.S. technology stock market collapsed across the board, and Nvidia plummeted by one trillion yuan overnight [corporate brand]
09. L'Oréal released Q1 data "3S" strategy to increase investment in China [industry brand]
10. Netflix announced its first-quarter financial report, and all performance indicators exceeded expectations [corporate brand]
New energy has become the focus of the Beijing Auto Show
Domestic multi-brand to attract overseas observation
[Nature of the event: exhibition brand]
On April 25, the 18th Beijing International Automobile Exhibition opened at the China International Exhibition Center in Beijing. This is the first time in four years that the International Automobile Exhibition has been held in Beijing. As the first international A-class auto show in China this year, this year's auto show is themed "New Automobiles, New Era", and well-known domestic and foreign auto brands will participate in the exhibition with new products with high specifications. It is reported that 117 cars were launched in the world at the Beijing Auto Show, the highest in history; There are 278 new energy models and 41 concept cars, which can be described as "a hundred flowers competing for beauty"; Nearly 500 well-known parts companies and technology companies from 13 countries participated in the exhibition, and more than half of the exhibition area of the intelligent network and new energy sector was exhibited.
At the auto show, a press conference was in full swing, and car companies were vying to show off their real kung fu. The foreign faces that can be seen everywhere have also become a highlight of this auto show. The figure of the "overseas observation group" that Chinese brands are studying intently in front of the exhibition cars is embarrassing. In terms of the popularity of the scene, Xiaomi, a new car-making army, can be said to be far ahead, and "following Lei Jun to the Beijing Auto Show" has dominated the hot search list on social media for several days. BYD's "New Energy Vehicle World Champion" in the exhibition area is particularly eye-catching, and it will be proud of the world with a delivery of 3.024 million units in 2023. In addition, Geely, ZEEKR, Feifan, Jiyue, AVATR and other independent brand booths, there are also a number of new energy blockbuster new cars that are vying for the audience to experience. As an independent brand of multinational car companies that has played a supporting role for many years, it has successfully stood in the C position.
Hayao Miyazaki's "farewell work" is a hit
He won the Golden Globe Award for Best Animation
[Nature of the event: character brand]
On April 3, Hayao Miyazaki's new work "What kind of life do you want to live" was released in Chinese mainland, only three days after its release, with a cumulative box office of 350 million yuan, and a box office of more than 500 million yuan in 5 days, becoming the box office champion of this year's Qingming file. Toshio Suzuki, Miyazaki's longtime colleague and chairman and producer of Studio Ghibli, also came to Shanghai to stand up for the film, and a video of Miyazaki's greeting with him was shown at the premiere. And before its release in Japan, it adopted a completely "zero publicity" model, except for the poster, there was not even a trailer.
This film is another "sealed pen" work brought by the 83-year-old Hayao Miyazaki, which has been widely recognized by the industry. At the 81st Golden Globe Awards held in the United States earlier this year, "What Life Do You Want to Live" won the Best Animation Award, the first time a Japanese director's work has won the award since the award was established in 2007; At the 96th Academy Awards held in March this year, the film won the Best Animated Feature Award. Animation giant Hayao Miyazaki has continued to produce masterpieces throughout his life, including "Spirited Away", "My Neighbor Totoro", "Castle in the Sky", "Princess Mononoke", "Howl's Moving Castle", "Valley of the Wind" and so on.
McDonald's turnover declined in many countries
All Israeli facades will be bought back
[Nature of the event: corporate brand]
On April 2, McDonald's headquarters reached an agreement with the Israeli group Alonyal, which owns McDonald's franchise in Israel, under which McDonald's headquarters will buy back the brand's 225 restaurants in Israel. On April 4, Alonya Group announced the news in an announcement on its official website. Up to now, Alonya Group has been operating McDonald's in Israel for more than 30 years. Previously, due to the impact of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, McDonald's franchise store sales in several Arab countries fell by 50% to 90% month-on-month, and the company's stock price has fallen 10% so far.
On April 4, McDonald's also announced on its official website that it would buy back all 225 McDonald's restaurants in the country from Israeli distributor Alonyal, and retain the latter's more than 5,000 employees. "Thanks to Alonyal for building the McDonald's business and brand in Israel over the past 30 years, McDonald's remains committed to the Israeli market," McDonald's said in a statement. According to the statement, the agreement is subject to certain conditions and is expected to be completed in the coming months.
Apple CEO Tim Cook visited Vietnam
The investment in five years exceeds 100 billion yuan
[Nature of the event: corporate brand]
On April 15, Apple CEO Tim Cook posted multiple photos of "people in Vietnam" on social media. At the time of Cook's arrival in Hanoi, Apple issued a statement on its official website in Vietnam, announcing that it would increase investment in Vietnam's supply chain. According to the data provided in the announcement, since 2019, Apple has invested more than 400 trillion VND (equivalent to more than 112 billion yuan) in Vietnam through its supply chain partners.
What's more, Apple is also investing at an accelerated pace in Vietnam, doubling its annual investment in Vietnam since 2019. At present, Vietnam's "Apple Chain" has brought more than 200,000 jobs to the local area, including employees of Apple and local suppliers, as well as local IOS ecosystem app developers. Since 2017, the number of local software developers has tripled, and Vietnam is now among the top five producers of mobile games in the world.
The annual list of the world's richest people is announced
AI fever gives birth to "tech upstarts"
[Nature of the event: brand list]
On April 2, Forbes released the 2024 list of the world's richest people. The top few on the rich list are still familiar faces. The richest man in the world, as last year, is still Bernard Arnault, the founder of LVMH. Next in line are Elon Musk of Tesla, Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Zuckerberg of Facebook, and Larry Ellison of Oracle. According to the data, the number of billionaires worth more than $1 billion in the world will reach 2,781 in 2024, 26 more than the previous record in 2021.
One of the major phenomena worth paying attention to is that the AI boom has given rise to a number of "tech upstarts". In the past year, the combined wealth of 10 people in the world has reached about $507 billion, and 8 of these 10 people are US tech tycoons, and 6 are related to the current US tech giants. Among them, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is the person who has seen the most increase in wealth in the world over the past year. After mass layoffs and big bets on AI and the metaverse, Meta's stock price has soared over the past year, increasing Zuckerberg's net worth by $112.6 billion, and he has risen sharply from 16th on the Forbes rich list to 4th this year. Another thing that should not be overlooked is Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang, who has benefited from the surge in Nvidia's stock price, and this year he has become one of the world's 20 richest people for the first time, with a wealth increase of nearly $56 billion from last year. In addition, there are more than a dozen technology upstarts in the field of artificial intelligence who are worth more than $1 billion this year.
The market capitalization of Google's parent company has reached a record high
Join the $2 trillion club
[Nature of the event: corporate brand]
The market capitalization of Google's parent company, Alphabet, has crossed the $2 trillion mark for the first time due to better-than-expected financial results and a new capital allocation plan that has been welcomed by the market. On April 26, Alphabet's stock price jumped nearly 10%, bringing its market capitalization to $2.15 trillion, second only to Nvidia's $2.19 trillion. On that day alone, Alphabet's market capitalization increased by $195.93 billion, making it the third-largest single-day increase in market capitalization in history. Alphabet became the fourth company in history to reach a market capitalization of $2 trillion, the others being Apple, Microsoft and Nvidia.
After the U.S. stock market on April 25, local time, Google's parent company Alphabet released its financial report for the first quarter of 2024 ended March 31. According to the financial report, Alphabet achieved revenue of $80.539 billion in the first quarter, a year-on-year increase of 15%, higher than the $78.57 billion expected by analysts, and the fastest quarter of revenue growth since the beginning of 2022. Non-GAAP net profit was US$23.662 billion, a year-on-year increase of 57%; Diluted earnings per share came in at $1.89, beating the consensus of $1.51.
Tesla reports first-quarter earnings
Musk announced a global layoff
[Nature of the event: brand crisis]
On April 23, Tesla released its financial report for the first quarter of 2024. Tesla's total revenue in the first quarter reached $21.301 billion, the first year-on-year decline in revenue since the beginning of 2020, a decline of 9%, and the largest decline in 12 years. Among them, the main business automobile revenue decreased by 13% year-on-year to 17.378 billion US dollars. Despite the performance falling short of expectations, Tesla's stock price still rose more than 12% before the U.S. stock market opened on April 24. On the afternoon of April 28, Tesla CEO Elon Musk made a surprise visit to China and left less than 24 hours later, and on April 29, Tesla's stock price soared, with a maximum stock price of $198.87, a one-day increase of more than 15%.
Previously, on April 15, in response to sluggish growth, Musk sent a letter to all Tesla employees, announcing that the company would lay off 10% of its employees worldwide. As of December 31, 2023, Tesla has a total of 140473 employees worldwide, and a 10% layoff means that 14,000 people will be affected. In order to boost global sales, Tesla has recently frequently staged the usual drama of "price reduction-price increase-price reduction". Taking the Chinese market as an example, since the beginning of this year, Tesla China has started to cut prices, but as the "price war" intensifies, it is becoming more and more difficult for Tesla to boost sales through the price reduction effect.
The U.S. technology stock market collapsed across the board
Nvidia plummeted trillions of yuan overnight
[Nature of the event: corporate brand]
On April 19, U.S. stocks crashed, and technology stocks plummeted across the board. The S&P 500 fell 0.88% to 4,967.23 and the Nasdaq fell 2.05% to 15,282.01, marking the sixth consecutive day of declines for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq. Among them, AI chip leader Nvidia fell 10%, the biggest decline since March 2022, closing at $762 per share, with the latest market value of $1,905 billion. In just one day, Nvidia's market value evaporated by about $210 billion, or about 1.52 trillion yuan, and its market value also fell below the $2 trillion mark.
The collapse of Nvidia's stock price has become a hot topic in investment circles. The reasons for Nvidia's collapse are generally believed to be as follows: First, it was dragged down by its long-term partner Supermicro Computer. Second, the growth forecast of the global chip market has been lowered. Third, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's recent hawkish speech has brought a lot of shock to the market, resulting in a correction in the Nasdaq index, and Nvidia is not immune.
L'Oréal released its Q1 figures
The "3S" strategy increases investment in China
[Nature of the event: industry brand]
On April 19, L'Oréal released its results for the first quarter of 2024. During the quarter, L'Oréal Group's sales were about 86.722 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 9.4%. Among them, L'Oréal China's performance increased by 6.2%. In the challenging year of 2023, L'Oréal Group also achieved an 11% growth in performance, with sales exceeding 300 billion yuan for the first time, a record high in a decade. After 27 years in Chinese mainland, L'Oréal has grown into the largest beauty group in China and the second largest market in the world.
On April 19, at the L'Oréal Group's strategic communication conference, L'Oréal North Asia President and China CEO Bo Wanshang said that although L'Oréal has reached 100 million consumers, there are still 500 million potential consumers waiting to be reached, and their pursuit of beauty is more refined and diverse. As a result, L'Oréal needs to create a faster, larger scale and stronger advantage in the Chinese market. The "3S" strategy model will become L'Oréal China's development advantage in the next few years. Based on this strategic model, L'Oréal will continue to invest more in the Chinese market in the areas of innovation, society, planet and team, Bowanshang said. From the "HUGE" in 2020, the "Evolution of Beauty" model in 2021, the "Beauty: Co-Evolution" strategy in 2022, to last year's "5 Realms" strategy and this year's "3S" strategy model, L'Oréal's emphasis on China is obvious to all.
Netflix reports first-quarter earnings
All performance indicators exceeded expectations
[Nature of the event: corporate brand]
On April 19, Netflix announced its financial results for the first quarter of 2024, which exceeded expectations in all indicators: revenue of $9.37 billion, a year-on-year increase of 14.8%; operating profit was US$2.633 billion, a year-on-year increase of 54%, and the operating profit margin was 28.1%; net profit was 2.332 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 79%, and the net profit margin was 24.9%; In terms of subscribers, the number of subscribers jumped by 9.33 million in the quarter, beating Wall Street's estimate of 4.88 million, and the total number of global subscribers now totals 269.6 million. Among them, the number of advertising members increased by 65% quarter-on-quarter, maintaining the trend of continuous quarter-on-quarter growth of 70% in the third and fourth quarters of last year. 9.3 million new subscribers were added in the quarter, driven by ad-included packages (lower prices), bringing total subscribers to 269 million at the end of March.