Building an Event Brand Requires Time and Persistence

People can't help but ask: why doesn't China have such strong branded events? Doesn't Chinese society or the Chinese people need them? Of course they do.

In fact, building a good event brand requires a long period of accumulation. Not to mention events, many of China's time-honored brands and century-old shops, such as Quanjude, Ruifuxiang, Wangzhihe, Yangyuxing, etc., are rich in cultural connotation, and it is this cultural connotation that has allowed them to persist tenaciously.

In addition to time, building an event brand requires a force of persistence. In China, whether it's enterprises or the government, the initial intention behind organizing events is often somewhat short-sighted and profit-driven, with a relatively narrow vision. The former focuses on short-term sensational effects and impressive appearances, but the objective result can only give people a feeling of self-entertainment. The reasons for this are complex, even related to the assessment and appointment of officials. For example, if a leader is promoted and transferred to a new place, the first thing he might think of is building a landmark building or a road. Besides that, he might organize an event, just to make some noise. After two or three years, when this person is transferred away, the existing event is hard to continue and is very likely to be killed off, because the new leader is unwilling to continue what the predecessor left behind, as continuing the old would neither show his achievements nor demonstrate his talent. But festivals and events must be held, otherwise he would bear even greater responsibility. In such a case, his rhetoric might be: the previous festival events were not rigorously planned, not refined, not professionally designed, and not comprehensively planned, so they need improvement, reform, and a fresh start. This leads to a lack of continuity in government-run events: each new leader brings a new style, just like our urban planning, where previous plans were not comprehensive or perfect, so buildings are demolished and rebuilt, and rebuilt and demolished again. Under this inertial thinking, events cannot become a symbol of local culture, a tourist landmark, or a classic, inheritable, value-creating, attention-grabbing event brand that can become a tourist hotspot. What about entrepreneurs? They might think that brand building is intangible, spending money without hearing a sound; they need to know how to immediately boost sales through one event.

Furthermore, brand building must overcome a mindset of instant gratification. Otherwise, it is impossible to think about related issues from a long-term strategic planning perspective, to concentrate on making events a government undertaking, or to incorporate them into the overall government budget. This is the crux of why events cannot be sustained and brands cannot be formed.

One should not hold events for the sake of holding events; one must consider what can be left behind after the event and whether it can be sustainable. Many events are one-off, and although they may create a sensation, their cost-effectiveness is very low. For example, flying through Tianmen Mountain: if you fly a plane through it today, the world will watch, but you have to consider what such a huge investment brings you, and are you prepared to do it every year? If you keep doing it repeatedly, people will get tired of it long before you do, and no one will play with you anymore. Another example is Adili walking on a tightrope at Nanyue. It might create a one-time sensation, but doing it a second time would lack novelty and certainly not attract attention, so it is hard to become a brand. Such events have a certain function in spreading a place's fame, but their effect on enhancing the local cultural brand and attracting investment for long-term development is not obvious, so they are not what we advocate.

Abroad, this situation basically does not exist. When a local government abroad wants to hold a branded festival event, the government will first make a complete strategic plan for the event, and then hand it over to a professional event operation company. The social division of labor is relatively clear. In this way, even if the leadership changes, the event has already been incorporated into the government's work system, and the government naturally has the obligation to promote it, because it can bring huge economic benefits and brand awareness to the local finance. This is also why the Brazilian king personally attends the opening ceremony of the Rio Carnival every year.

Understanding the current situation is not to give up eating for fear of choking or to belittle ourselves. With the increasing concept of the global village, the growth of China's comprehensive national strength and national income, China's event operation industry is also gradually improving and maturing. Those relatively well-done branded events, such as the Hunan International Tourism Festival, Hainan Happy Festival, China-ASEAN Expo, Dalian Fashion Festival, Qingdao Beer Festival, etc., have already formed a system and have been incorporated into the government's annual work plan. That is why they have been able to persist to this day and are most likely to become event brands with worldwide influence.