Our reporter Zhang Jiazhen reported from Wuhan
(Cheng Hong, dean of the Institute of Quality Development Strategy of Wuhan University, explains how to build a regional brand.) Interviewee/Photo)
In recent years, with the popularity of Zibo barbecue and Tianshui Malatang, as well as local delicacies such as Shaxian snacks, Yangcheng Lake crabs, Qianjiang lobster, and Liuzhou snail noodles have swept the country, how to build a regional public brand and maintain the popularity continues to be out of the circle has also become the focus of local governments' exploration.
"What to do with the regional public brand of China's agricultural products?" It has also become a key research topic of the Institute of Quality Development Strategy of Wuhan University and Cheng Hong, the dean of the Institute. On June 28, the institute held a seminar on regional public brands and released a new book on "How to Do Regional Public Brands of Agricultural Products in China", which introduced the structural relationship between regional public brands and corporate brands, and created an "umbrella model" of regional public brands, while providing research basis and scientific support for answering the major proposition of "how to do regional brands".
The reporter of "China Business Daily" learned from the on-site interview that Cheng Hong combined Wuchang rice, Shouguang vegetables, West Lake Longjing, Gannan navel orange, Yangcheng Lake crab, Qianjiang lobster, Shaxian snacks, Liuzhou snail noodles and other typical cases, dissected the successful law of building regional public brands of agricultural products, as well as how the government and enterprises in the regional public brand management division of labor and cooperation.
"The importance of regional public brands of agricultural products to rural revitalization and improving the high-quality development of the regional economy is self-evident, but there are also many regional brands that are not satisfactory." Cheng Hong said that this is the fundamental reason why he wrote a new book "How to do China's "regional public brand of agricultural products". "I hope that through this book, we can provide an in-depth analysis of the reasons for the success of many regional brands, and meet the needs of more places to learn the general rules and common methods of regional brand building from cases."
Create a regional public brand with an "umbrella model".
According to reports, the regional public brand is under the common evolution of the natural conditions, production technology and product characteristics of a region, the formation of a market signal that represents the market value of a certain agricultural product, is jointly owned by all groups of people in the region, and is operated by the government entrusted by the industry organization, mainly with the "trademark" as the carrier of the market signal and a set of symbols specifically composed of logos.
In Cheng Hong's view, many places in China have created many regional public brands in practice, which play an important role in promoting rural revitalization and high-quality development of local industries. At the same time, West Lake Longjing, Gannan navel orange, Qianjiang lobster, Shaxian snacks and other regional public brands that have emerged in various places are not the same to build models and success factors, such as Gannan navel orange relies on the promising government, Yangcheng Lake crab mainly relies on the high-quality market near Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai, Qianjiang lobster mainly relies on technological innovation to expand the national market, and Shaxian snacks are mainly to control the terminal to compete for consumers with a unified image and standards.
"Only in practice can we refine and discover the scientific principles and application methods of regional brand building, and the rich practice in various places urgently needs scientific regional brand theory." Cheng Hong said that "how to do China's "regional public brand of agricultural products" on the major topic of "how to build a regional public brand of China's agricultural products", from the scientific theory, underlying logic, structure and function, operation methods and implementation paths, etc., carried out a comprehensive research and answer.
(Umbrella-like structure and function created by the regional public brand.) Interviewee/Photo)
It is understood that the book systematically expounds the definition, conceptual connotation and functional positioning and role of regional public brands at the county, municipal and provincial levels, and also introduces the structural relationship between regional public brands and corporate brands, puts forward the "umbrella model" of building regional public brands, and conducts in-depth analysis of successful cases at home and abroad.
According to the umbrella structure and function of the brand, Cheng Hong pointed out that the regional public brand plays a leading role, and the corporate brand generally plays a role under the guidance of the regional public brand. In terms of the structural relationship between the regional public brand and the corporate brand, the county brand, the municipal brand, the provincial brand and the enterprise brand have their own functional positioning, the most fundamental is the county-level regional public brand, just like an umbrella, the county-level regional public brand is the "umbrella rod" of the umbrella, which controls the switch and structure of the entire umbrella, and is the soul of an umbrella.
"There is only a 'umbrella rod', the function of this umbrella is still not comprehensive, and about 8 'umbrella bones' are needed to form the function of this umbrella." Cheng Hong further explained that this "umbrella bone" is the corporate brand, and the corporate brand uses the "umbrella bone" to support the "umbrella surface", and only with the support of the "umbrella bone" can the product truly face consumers.
"An umbrella is beautified by the fabric of the umbrella surface, and consumers mainly choose based on the beautiful design of the umbrella surface. This vividly illustrates the role of municipal and provincial regional public brands, that is, to inform consumers with a good image that this umbrella is very good and worthy of consumers, and plays a leading role in the image. Cheng Hong said.
Led by the government and supported by enterprises, the brand is out of the circle
Hubei Province, as the country's famous "land of fish and rice, China's granary", has a large number of lakes and rivers alluvial plains, lakes around the country are rich in fish and shrimp, Jianghan Plain is rich in rice, and the mountainous areas of eastern and western Hubei provide good conditions for the production of tea and mushrooms.
The Hubei Provincial Department of Commerce and the Department of Agriculture attach great importance to the construction of regional public brands, among which, the Hubei Provincial Department of Commerce has organized the "Jingchu Youpin" regional public brand construction promotion meeting for many times, and organized various cities, states and leading enterprises to jointly build the "Jingchu Youpin" regional public brand.
At the county and city level, many regional public brands such as Qianjiang lobster, Suizhou shiitake mushroom, Honghu lotus root, Xiantao yellow eel, and Wudang camellia have also emerged in various places. According to the previous report released by the Institute of Quality Development Strategy of Wuhan University, from 2023 to 2024, the regional public brand value of "Qianjiang Lobster" will be 42.229 billion yuan, winning the "Six Crowns" of the national crayfish brand, with a year-on-year increase of 20.4%.
As the main person in charge of the "Qianjiang Lobster" regional public brand value evaluation team, Cheng Hong expects that according to the existing brand development capacity of "Qianjiang Lobster", it is expected to exceed 50 billion yuan in the next year. According to the report, in 2023, "Qianjiang Lobster" will show the characteristics of innovation-driven enhancement, consumption scene expansion, and quality upgrading, and the total transaction volume of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries through shared brands will reach 876,300 tons, an increase of 95,300 tons or 12.2% over the previous year. In the next stage, "Qianjiang Lobster" should promote the formation of a supply chain brand sharing mechanism in the primary, secondary and tertiary industries.
It is understood that in 2023, the Hubei Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial Government will introduce the "Ten Shrimps", and "Qianjiang Lobster" will become the only regional public brand of crayfish in the province.
On April 22 this year, the data released during the 2024 Edible Mushroom Whole Industry Chain (Xiamen) Innovation Expo showed that the regional public brand value of "Suizhou Shiitake Mushroom" reached 17.628 billion yuan, once again topping the list of the national edible and medicinal mushroom industry. According to reports, there are more than 300,000 employees in the mushroom industry in Suizhou, with an annual planting scale of more than 300 million bags of mushrooms and an output value of more than 30 billion yuan in the whole industrial chain.
In the process of building a regional public brand, how can enterprises and social entities achieve "two-wheel drive"? What are the unique roles it plays? How can government entities play a key role in brand building in the process of brand positioning and industrial planning? Cheng Hong said that to build a regional public brand, we must play the leading role of the government, but also play the decisive role of market players. "Regional public brands will not take the initiative to run to the local market, and the government cannot directly operate brand products. Only the main body of the business can play out the government-led brands and products, pass on the brand value, and face the brand to consumers. ”
The circulation of regional agricultural products mainly depends on enterprises. For example, Cheng Hong said that the "Shaxian Snack" brand relies on more than 88,000 standardized stores across the country to become a big brand, and the Pu'er tea chain brand "Taetea" has more than 2,000 stores in more than 200 cities across the country. At present, Guizhou Province is making every effort to build a regional public brand of "Guizhou Sauce Liquor", which is inseparable from the efforts of Guizhou enterprises represented by Moutai.
"Government entities play a key role in branding. The development of regional public brands is one of the important main businesses of county officials. Cheng Hong also said that the development of regional public brands is not a short-term performance project, but back to the original intention of the government, it will be clear that this is a "moral and political project" that will benefit the sustainable development of the county in the next few years.
Cheng Hong suggested that the main body of the government should be good at gathering financial resources to build a regional public brand, systematically build a public resource platform to support the development of the brand, and at the same time establish a spirit of professionalism, conduct a comprehensive "pulse consultation" on the brand, and put forward a clear brand strategic positioning and industrial development plan. While carrying out product creative design for regional public brands, it is also necessary to build a corresponding support system in terms of land, talents, capital, infrastructure and policies.
(Editor: Quartz Jing Review: Tong Haihua Proofreader: Yan Yuxia)