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New life for time-honored national brands? By staff reporter LIU QIONG When 45-year-old Yu Li was in her youthful prime in the 1980s, so was the Shanghai skincare brand Maxam. Nowadays Maxam resides in the lower end of a Chinese beauty market flooded with myriad brand names from around the world. For Yu Li though, the local brand is still her favorite. The best is what fits you personally. I prefer to stick with a product I know and trust instead of venturing into a new product and risk impairing my skin. Founded in 1962, Maxam reached its zenith at the end of the 1980s, when annual sales exceeded RMB 300 million. Besides its financial might, the enterprise that produced it was a forerunner in Chinas nascent cosmetics industry in terms of both product development and marketing. It produced Chinas first hairspray, sun-block cream and hand lotion, opened the first beauty school and beauty salon, and introduced marketing tactics to China such as consultation with a specialist. It even sponsored the nations first beauty contest, aborted under pressure from the government after the event ignited fierce controversy. After the enterprise entered a joint venture with SC Johnson Wax in 1991, its fate took a surprising turn. Sales suddenly plummeted to RMB 6 million a year and its products seemingly evaporated from stores overnight. Yu Li recalls for a long time she could only find Maxam in the biggest malls. In September 2004 the old brand came back into Chinese customers sight just as abruptly, with commercials across six channels of China Central Television (CCTV), the most viewed media in the nation. It made big news again that November at the stations annual advertising bidding conference by securing two prime-time spots with a staggering RMB 50 million. These moves triggered expectations of Maxams resurgence after a long period in the doldrums. Booming Markets, Dying Brands The golden days for Chinese brands of the 1970s and 80s are gone forever. At that time all consum