From gateway to growth engine: Rethinking HK’s role in Chinese brands’ global expansion

Financial Secretary Chan Mo-po recently announced in the 2026 Budget that Hong Kong will launch a five-year plan to help mainland enterprises “go global.” This signals a broader shift in Hong Kong’s role in China’s outbound growth story — from enabling market entry to enabling sustained global expansion.  

Historically, Hong Kong has served as a functional and infrastructure-driven hub, supporting exports through capabilities such as logistics, financing, and regulatory efficiency. Today, that role is evolving into a strategic and capability-driven platform. As Chinese companies move beyond product exports toward brand and technology globalisation, Hong Kong is no longer just facilitating transactions — it is increasingly integrating data, media, and marketing capabilities to help brands build presence, differentiation, and long-term growth in global markets. 

This evolution raises a new challenge for marketers: Help Chinese brands not just enter global markets, but build lasting relevance and sustainable growth within them. 

In this context, marketing itself must evolve. A future-ready approach is no longer about isolated channels or short-term conversions. It is about building a true full-funnel strategy — one that connects every touchpoint across the consumer journey, strengthens storytelling, and enables brands to engage audiences in more meaningful and measurable ways. 

For mainland brands using Hong Kong as a launchpad, entering a new market means focusing heavily on measurable performance outcomes such as app downloads, website sign-ups, and purchases. Yet many advertisers measure “performance” primarily via last-click attribution. According to eMarketer’s The Last Days of Last Clicks 2024 report, nearly 80% of marketers still rely on last-click attribution and web analytics to measure media effectiveness, highlighting a widespread reliance on outdated measurement methods.  

While this approach may help brands gain traction, it also creates blind spots. Last-click attribution captures only the final step in a much longer consumer journey, often undervaluing earlier channels and impressions that shape awareness, consideration, and conversion. This challenge becomes even more apparent in non-clickable and cross-device environments such as connected TV (CTV), music streaming, and premium media sites. In any case, brand influence happens long before a consumer converts through search or an app store.  Over-crediting the final touchpoint may lead marketers to concentrate spending on a small number of “performance” platforms, limiting reach, and reducing incremental audience growth over time. 

This is why full-funnel thinking is increasingly important. In a full-funnel approach, every stage of the customer journey — from awareness and consideration to conversion and loyalty — contributes to measurable business outcomes. Performance is not a single moment. It is built cumulatively through multiple touchpoints that shape consumer perception and decision-making.  

Yet many marketers still view branding and performance as separate—or even competing—objectives. In reality, the two work best together. Performance tactics capture demand efficiently, while brand strengthens preference, trust, and long-term market positioning. As Chinese companies become increasingly sophisticated in lower-funnel execution, brand strength is emerging as the true differentiator — turning first-time buyers into repeat customers and giving performance campaigns a stronger foundation to convert. 

Seen through a full-funnel lens, different marketing channels play complementary roles. Upper-funnel media expand reach and shape brand perception; mid-funnel engagement deepens consumer interest; and lower-funnel tactics convert demand into action. When these stages work together, the result is not just stronger branding or better performance metrics, but stronger overall business outcomes. Research such as WARC’s Multiplier Effect suggests that shifting from a performance-only approach to a more balanced brand-and-performance strategy can significantly increase revenue returns.

For Chinese companies expanding internationally, including those using Hong Kong as a gateway to overseas markets, that shift in mindset should start early. Brands should pursue immediate sales while simultaneously building longer-term customer relationships from day one. 

A full-funnel strategy also requires a broader view of media. Many Chinese brands initially rely heavily on familiar performance-focused walled gardens because they offer closed-loop attribution and easy optimisation. But this approach can overlook where consumers actually spend their time across the open internet, including CTV, over-the-top (OTT) platforms, music streaming, online gaming and premium media sites. These environments often play a critical role earlier in the consumer journey, where attention and brand connection are formed long before a click or conversion occurs.  

Leading global brands are already putting this full-funnel approach into practice. Recently, Coca-Cola in Hong Kong leveraged personalised omnichannel strategies on The Trade Desk platform to engage audiences across multiple touchpoints, ultimately lifting sales by 6%. This success underscores how meaningful engagement across the open internet can drive measurable business outcomes beyond the lower funnel.   

As Hong Kong goes from a gateway to a strategic growth engine for Chinese brands, marketers have a critical role to play. Those who embrace a full-funnel marketing mindset today will be best equipped to turn international ambition into sustainable success for Chinese brands. This approach drives measurable outcomes at each stage and ensures insights feed back into the overall marketing strategy, enabling continuous optimisation. 

This article was written by Stella Leung, SVP, North Asia, The Trade Desk.