Canton Fair: Decline in brand influence and its reasons Wang Xianqing published on 2006-11-30 1:03:11 Nationally speaking, as major cities across the country have developed the exhibition industry as an important industry, a number of new exhibition brands have

Rising rapidly, for example, Xiamen, Nanning, Shenzhen, Changsha, etc. have a number of large and famous exhibitions, while Beijing and Shanghai are constantly becoming world-renowned exhibition cities.

However, the influence of the "Canton Fair" as "China's No. 1 Exhibition" has been declining.

The reason why the "Canton Fair" brand influence continues to decline, in addition to the lack of major actions to maintain and update the brand, is that it has not continuously absorbed and integrated new exhibition resources as the exhibition market changes.

So, what is the reason for the poor brand integration of the "Canton Fair" and the slow improvement of its brand value?

The author believes that there are five aspects: 1. The government’s idea of ??integrating the “Canton Fair” brand is unclear. The exhibition industry is essentially a commercial service industry that promotes the prosperity of the trade circulation industry.

Since Guangzhou's convention and exhibition industry was developed under the guidance of the "Canton Fair" that was created under the traditional planning system, its nature as a commercial service industry has been abstracted and blurred, and it has become a government function and a tool to serve production.

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It is precisely because of the unclear strategic positioning and business philosophy of the convention and exhibition industry that Guangzhou still has no clear development strategy and operational ideas for the convention and exhibition industry. Furthermore, there is no systematic understanding of the true state of the linkage effect between the "Canton Fair" and Guangzhou's business and urban economy.

Description and in-depth analysis.

At the same time, there is a lack of scientific and effective research on the advantages and disadvantages of how Guangzhou builds a convention and exhibition city, as well as the development space and possibilities for establishing a new convention and exhibition brand.

As the leader of Guangzhou's convention and exhibition industry, the "Canton Fair", the business philosophy and operating model of the government and its competent authorities have a profound impact on Guangzhou's convention and exhibition industry.

However, the Canton Fair originated in the era of planned economy. At that time, exhibitions could not become a market-oriented industry and had unquestionable monopoly. Against this background and basis, it was difficult to breed the theory and theory of modern brands.

thinking.

Overall, the vast majority of conventions and exhibitions in Guangzhou are currently conducted under the leadership of the government. Administrative promotion force is far greater than marketing promotion force. Basically, major conventions and exhibitions have not conducted targeted market research and brand planning.

Theoretically, since the "Canton Fair" is a "business card" of Guangzhou, Guangzhou has reason to better protect and package this well-known "brand" and carry out more systematic branding and promotion around this "golden signboard".

Market operation planning.

But in fact, when the influence of this famous brand is increasingly "fatigued", Guangzhou has proposed that the top priority is to create a number of local exhibition brands in Guangzhou, that is, to cultivate and expand the Guangzhou Expo, International Food Festival, International Fashion Festival, and International Students Festival.

The influence of the Science and Technology Exchange Conference and the Guangzhou International Automobile Exhibition will improve the scale and level of professional exhibitions such as jewelry, leather goods, building materials, flowers, etc., and strive to create a number of local Guangzhou products with industry characteristics and local characteristics in a short period of time.

Exhibition brand.

Obviously, Guangzhou has taken a path that deviates from "brand integration" and creates multiple brands. When the existing exhibition brands have not yet been refined, it has to create a "batch" of new brands to shape its own exhibition brand.

capabilities are overestimated.

For example, although Guangzhou has good conditions for hosting an international food festival, the brand influence of the "Eat in Guangzhou" food festival is quite limited in depth and breadth. Not many people come to eat and not many people know about it.

Moreover, such a potential exhibition project does not have a long-term development plan and marketing strategy. Temporary venues are built at Tianhe Sports Center for each session.

This situation is mostly caused by the lack of brand awareness in government departments.

2. The "Canton Fair" brand integration means are lacking and the methods are scarce. Brand integration in the exhibition industry can be carried out in both vertical and horizontal directions. However, whether it is vertical brand extension or horizontal brand expansion, the "Canton Fair" brand integration means

There is nothing grand in terms of methods and techniques.

The brand is seriously overdrawn and lacks construction and improvement.

Some commonly used methods for brand integration under modern market economy conditions, such as capital listing, brand extension, off-site exhibitions, mergers and acquisitions, joint-stock reform, franchise chains, image packaging and brand promotion, e-commerce, etc., are almost rarely used.

As a result, the brand building and expansion of the "Canton Fair" lacks capital, market and industrial support, but is "empty" by the hotel, tourism and other exhibition service industries. Therefore, the "residual value" of the "Canton Fair" is becoming increasingly thin.

What is lacking in the development and expansion of Guangzhou's convention and exhibition industry is not convention and exhibition resources and hardware conditions, but a lack of capital concepts and brand thinking under modern market conditions. What is lacking is the government's all-round attention to its strategic influence and status.

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More importantly, the hardware and software construction of the "Canton Fair" lacked the introduction of soulful means such as "market operation" and "capital operation" and the confusion of strategic orientation, resulting in unclear thinking, unclear direction, improper use of force, etc.

question.

3. The government’s measures for brand integration in the exhibition industry are ineffective. An important way for brand expansion and construction is to continuously integrate new elements, resources and forces as the market changes.