Tencent Scores #1 On China Brand Ranking, Next Global? Chinese tech companies are becoming more adept at marketing and brand image, and will become better known in the West as their products and services go global.

An annual survey of brand value has Chinese companies outpacing global counterparts when it comes to improvements in getting their messages out into the marketplace and creating a positive buzz.

Social messaging company Tencent takes the lead in this year survey of top 100 most valuable Chinese brands by ad agency WPP and marketing research outfit Millward Brown. Alibaba places second in the scoring. What interesting is to see Tencent and Alibaba overtaking long-time leader and state-owned China Mobile.

This shift underscores a trends by market-driven companies to dominate the rankings. Fives years ago the top five brands were all state-owned enterprises. This year, three of this year top five are consumer oriented “ Tencent, Alibaba and Baidu.

The brand rankings are compiled by analysis of financial data of publicly traded companies and interviews with consumers. How long will it be before Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi makes this list?

As Chinese companies improve their marketing strategies, the gap between Chinese brands and multinational brands in China is also narrowing. The survey finds that consumers increasingly see little difference between the two, selecting brands based on the value they offer.

China tech brand marketing is improving as competition increases, and more sophisticated, better informed consumers seek innovations.

Globally too, China tech brands are having an impact. Two brands in the top 100 “ Lenovo and ZTE ” derived over half of their revenue from outside China in 2014.