Hong Kong Top Brand elections
The Hong Kong Top Brand series, jointly run by the Hong Kong Brand Development Council and The Chinese Manufacturers' Association of Hong Kong. Six elections in 2026: Hong Kong Top Brand, Top Service Brand, Emerging Brand, Emerging Service Brand, and — new this year — Outbound Brand and Outbound Service Brand. Entrants must be Hong Kong-registered and hold exclusive manufacturing, sales or operating rights to the brand, and the brand must have been founded in Hong Kong or have a substantive close connection to it. Entries run July to 31 August 2026 — the only door on this site still open right now.
You own the brand (not making someone else's), your company is registered in Hong Kong, and you're pushing — or about to push — that brand into the mainland and overseas. The new 2026 Outbound Brand stream exists precisely for that.
You only do OEM/ODM and the brand belongs to the client; or the brand has no substantive Hong Kong connection. Both are eligibility lines, not scoring items.
- Entry / deadline
- Entries July to 31 August 2026 (open now); preliminary and final judging November 2026 to January 2027
- Who can enter
- Companies holding exclusive manufacturing, sales or operating rights to the brand entered
- Hong Kong link
- The entering company must be registered in Hong Kong; the brand must have been founded in Hong Kong or have a substantive close connection to it
Six elections, split by brand maturity and destination
How it's judged: three methods, weighted
Scoring combines expert review, public voting and on-site audit into a weighted total, against six criteria: awareness (Hong Kong, the mainland and overseas), business characteristics, innovation, quality, image, and environment / social responsibility / governance. Two implications: the public-voting leg needs mobilising in advance, and the on-site leg means your paperwork has to match your premises.
- 1
Clear the two eligibility lines first
Hong Kong registration plus exclusive manufacturing / sales / operating rights to the brand; and a brand founded in or substantively connected to Hong Kong.
Pitfall: Entering a brand you merely distribute — the exclusive-rights test fails.
- 2
Pick the right rung among the six
Younger brands take Emerging; outbound-focused ones take the new Outbound stream; service businesses take the service variant.
Pitfall: Going straight for the main Top Brand stream and getting pulled down on awareness.
- 3
Submit before 31 August
The 2026 entry period runs July to 31 August; preliminary and final judging follow from November 2026 to January 2027.
Pitfall: Two to three months sit between entry and judging; don't file and forget — the on-site audit is still ahead.
- 01It's August and barely three weeks remain — if you own a brand, get the form from the Brand Development Council site today.
- 02Using Hong Kong as your outbound base → go straight to the new Outbound Brand and Outbound Service Brand streams.
- 03Also moving from OEM to brand → look at the Upgrading and Transformation category of the Hong Kong Awards for Industries; the two corroborate each other.
Entry fees and the document checklist aren't stated on the official pages verified here — request the entry rules from the Brand Development Council or the CMA. Media report the ceremony and celebration dinner for this edition as 2 February 2027 at the HKCEC; that isn't confirmed on an official page and isn't relied on here.
Sources
- S104 香港名牌选举系列(品牌局 x 厂商会)