The logic behind the phenomenon of China's urban marketing boom leads to thought

The internal logic behind the phenomenon of China's urban marketing boom leads to thought

Beijing, April 4 (ZXS) -- Many places in China have opened the spring curtain of the cultural tourism industry with the image of "Internet celebrities", and a big war of urban marketing is continuing to deepen.

Mount Taishan, which is full due to free tickets, Weifang, where "everything can fly", Xi'an, which realizes "Hanfu freedom", and even Chengdu and Changsha, the old "Internet red cities" that young people's hearts yearn for, are not as popular as Zibo at the moment. Zibo barbecue has been on fire for more than a month, and its "phenomenal" urban marketing has caused deep thinking.

On March 3, a barbecue restaurant in Zibo, Shandong Province was full. Photo by China News Agency reporter Liang Ben

According to reports, in order to welcome a large number of tourists who "enter Zibo to catch up with the barbecue" on May Day, Zibo built a barbecue city covering an area of more than 20 acres in 4 days, and officially opened on April 28, and it is difficult to find a "barbecue seat" for <>,<> people. The Zibo Cultural and Tourism Bureau also issued a letter of "persuasion" a few days ago, indicating that the number of tourists has exceeded its reception capacity, and persuaded the "people who rushed to bake" to "retreat in the face of difficulties".

The location of the new barbecue city is obviously considered - Haiyue Longgong Logistics Port in Zhoucun District is the largest seafood, beef and mutton logistics port in Zibo and even Luzhong, and about 70% of the ingredients supplied by Zibo barbecue come from here. And its location advantages are outstanding, located at the intersection of Beijing-Taiwan Expressway and Jiqing Expressway, the surrounding five districts and three counties can be reached in half an hour, and the number of accessible bus lines is also increasing.

Zibo is on fire, netizens are anxious, and they have urged the local government to learn the Zibo model on the local leadership network message board. Recently, various places have "Huashan on the sword", hoping to get a piece of the cultural tourism marketing war.

On April 4th, the 15th Weifang International Kite Festival opened in Weifang, Shandong, and various forms of kite "kites" were beautiful. Photo by China News Agency reporter Li Mingrui

Shandong Weifang International Kite Club made Weifang's weekly travel orders (according to Meituan platform data, including hotels, homestays, scenic spot tickets, etc.) increase by as high as 382%, ranking first in Qilu. The director of Weifang Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism "struck while the iron was hot", and recently took the directors of cultural and tourism bureaus of seven counties and municipalities to Zibo barbecue stalls to "solicit customers", deliver kites and vegetables, and welcome tourists to spend another half an hour by railway to Weifang for a turn. This video went viral on the Internet.

Weifang also targets young people, shouting the slogan "Weifang with different youth", many cultural tourism activities such as the New Youth Music Festival and the College Student Tourism Art Season are full of youthful vitality, and there are also preferential activities such as "Tour Weifang Kite Delivery" and "100 Yuan Hotel".

Aba Prefecture, Sichuan, "applied to fight". Siguniang Mountain Roasted Cordyceps, Bipenggou Aba Burger, Dagu Glacier Cloud Barley with Coffee, Yellow Dragon Yogurt Love Blueberry... The promotional video was released on Weibo for 5 hours, and the topic of "Sichuan BBQ Cordyceps" received more than 1700 million views.

Jinzhou, Liaoning Province, which is expected to host a barbecue festival in July this year, seems to be a few beats slower. In order to seize the opportunity of the "May Day" holiday, Jinzhou, known as the "ceiling of the barbecue industry", is expected to issue 7.4 million yuan of tourism consumption coupons and 27,6 yuan of Jinzhou barbecue consumption coupons to tourists and Jinzhou citizens from April 30 to June 120. But compared with the Zibo model, consumption coupons are clearly just appearances.

From the cultural and tourism bureau directors following each other's example and successfully attracting traffic among "Internet celebrities", to the Zibo barbecue causing the crazy "involvement" of the industry, the internal and external logic of urban marketing has been paid unprecedented attention. In the past, chaos such as soaring prices after the popularity of scenic spots has recently been decisively curbed by Zibo, labels such as "government price limit" and "sitting on the ground to reduce prices" have brought more goodwill to tourists, and 207 party and government organs and institutions are "close to the people", and parking lots and toilets are opened to the public for free, which also adds connotation to the Zibo model.

Some commentators believe that barbecue technology, marketing know-how, and service details are just "tables" out of the circle; Service-oriented government, modern governance thinking, and people first are the "inside" out of the circle. How to modernize governance thinking, and how to improve modern governance capabilities with modern governance thinking, is a common proposition of local governments.

On March 3, in Zibo, Shandong, diners enjoyed a barbecue. Recently, with the "three-piece set" of barbecue soul of "spring onions, small cakes and small stoves", Zibo barbecue has become popular on major social platforms. Photo by China News Agency reporter Liang Ben

On the eve of "May Day," political circles and academic circles began to popularize Zibo seminars. Nanyang City, Henan Province specially held a seminar to analyze the social reasons, ideological logic and practical path behind the phenomenon of "barbecue out of the circle". The meeting called for strengthening the ability to reach the Internet, especially focusing on the youthful and energetic, self-directed and passionate youth group. At the same time, the meeting also pointed out that how to better tap Nanyang's excellent traditional culture, cultivate the humanistic qualities of citizens, and enhance the city's soft power is a major theoretical and practical issue that the social science community urgently needs to answer.

As Xie Liangbing, president of the Standard Ranking City Research Institute, said, the development of the Internet has made the rapid transmission of urban marketing concepts, reduced the cost of communication, and given urban marketing the opportunity to sink to second- and third-tier or even fourth-tier cities.

On April 4, Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, citizens wore ancient costumes to record beautiful moments. Recently, the Moon Bridge in Xi'an Ring Park has become popular on social platforms with its unique architectural style and beautiful night view. Photo by Gao Cheng of the China News Agency

However, since the beginning of this year, most cities have lackluster measures to create "Internet celebrity" phenomena, which has also raised questions about whether "Internet celebrity" cities can continue to develop. The old "Internet celebrity cities" Chengdu, Chongqing, Xi'an, Changsha, etc. have all captured the "Z generation" with a young attitude, and at the same time recruited talents for industrial development. When the boom in restorative tourism subsides, urban development will eventually return to industry, attracting investment and stimulating economic vitality.

The meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee on April 4 affirmed the beginning of China's economy this year, but also pointed out that the current economic improvement is mainly restorative, the endogenous driving force is not strong, the demand is still insufficient, the economic transformation and upgrading is facing new resistance, and many difficulties and challenges still need to be overcome to promote high-quality development.

This urban marketing war with Zibo as a sample may bring deeper thinking to China. (End)