The world''s next Coca-Cola or Starbucks is more likely to emerge from Asia, the Middle East or South America than the US or Europe as global economic wealth shifts eastwards.

In research prepared for the Financial Times, Wolff Olins, the consultants behind the London 2012 Olympics logo and the Product Red campaign, has tipped five food and drink brands from emerging markets to become global brands.

They comprise Juan Valdez Café, a Colombian coffee chain; Almarai, a Saudi dairy and fruit-juice company based in Riyadh; Patchi, a Lebanese boutique chocolate chain; ChangYu, China''s biggest wine producer; and United Spirits, India''s largest liquor group, which owns Scotch whisky Whyte & Mackay.

“It used to be possible to be a global brand by dominating the US market,” said Melanie McShane, a strategist at Wolff Olins. “That''s changing rapidly. Now you have to be number one in Asia.”

The findings echo research by US business consultancy Bain & Co, which estimated that one-third of the FT Global 500''s companies could come from emerging markets by 2015 thanks to what it calls a “seismic shift” away from developed markets.

Satish Shankar, a Singapore-based partner with Bain & Co, said that established western consumer goods brands were being forced to “battle it out” with emerging market brands as they moved eastwards to take advantage of rising demand for branded products. Some are acquiring local brands, with PepsiCo paying  $1.4bn last year for Lebedyansky, Russia''s largest juice company, and Unilever acquiring Inmarko, the country''s biggest ice cream brand.

Coca-Cola''s attempts to buy Huiyuan, China''s biggest juice group, for  $2.4bn this year were less successful, with the deal blocked by Chinese regulators.

Others are taking minority stakes or forming joint ventures. UK-based distiller Diageo is in talks with United Spirits over acquiring up to 15 per cent of the Indian company, while PepsiCo this year formed a joint venture with Almarai in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

(Source: FTChinese.com By Jenny Wiggins in London 2009-07-20)