Stayed in China: a domestic-brand boom
The Intelligence from The Economist
The Economist
4.6 • 3.6K Ratings
🗓️ 25 June 2025
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Western brands used to define cool and luxurious in China. No longer. Now consumers are turning to homegrown brands, some of which are becoming global tastemakers. Across Africa the Christian conservative movement is gaining ground fast—with a little help from American brethren. And why Britain is such a locus for the nuts and bolts of Formula 1.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Economist. |
| 0:10.2 | Hello and welcome to the intelligence from The Economist. |
| 0:13.4 | I'm Jason Palmer. |
| 0:14.4 | And I'm Rosie Bloor. |
| 0:15.7 | Every weekday, we provide a fresh perspective on the event shaping your world. |
| 0:25.2 | Thank you. provide a fresh perspective on the event shaping your world. Across Africa, the influence of the Christian right is growing. Part of that is down to support |
| 0:31.4 | from Brethren in America, and you can already see the effects in the form of intolerant national |
| 0:37.2 | legislation. |
| 0:38.3 | And these days, Britain doesn't have a good reputation for efficiency, innovation or glitz. |
| 0:45.3 | But one industry that embodies brilliance in all three is Formula One, where the country has long been dominant. |
| 0:52.3 | The question is whether other sectors can copy the success of the races. |
| 1:00.6 | First up, though. |
| 1:07.2 | Last week I dropped in on the flagship store of Potmart. |
| 1:15.6 | Don Weinland is our China Business and Finance Editor. |
| 1:20.4 | It's in this really central location in downtown Shanghai. |
| 1:23.5 | When you get inside, it's like the interior of a cartoon spaceship, and it's packed with people. |
| 1:30.8 | Everyone is there trying to get their hands on a Labubu doll. |
| 1:35.6 | These weird, smiling, elvish-looking creatures that come in what's called blind boxes. |
| 1:42.5 | So when you buy one, you don't really know what you're going to get when you buy it. |
| 1:46.7 | There is cheap as $20, |
| 1:48.0 | but they can also |
| 1:49.7 | sell for crazy amounts. |
... |
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