The electronic screen promoting China in Times Square, New York, is just one of the attempts by China's local and central governments to use media networks such as television stations, online video sites and airplane screens. Provided to China Daily

Chinese cities keen to promote their images globally beyond tourism

While images of China beam out from an advertising screen in New York's Times Square, individual Chinese cities are also busy promoting themselves.

They are using whatever media outlets they can, from television, through websites and even airplane screens.

The publicity shots were initially created to boost tourism and so show beautiful landscapes and places of cultural or historical interest. They were originally only shown to domestic audiences on China Central Television (CCTV). Now they are going global and expanding their remit to cover invitations to invest.

Soon after authorities in Chengdu, the capital of Southwest China's Sichuan province, released an overseas version of an advertising video in December on the United States Cable News Network (CNN), Hangzhou, the capital of East China's Zhejiang province, took its first step in its Europe-oriented city marketing strategy with a video of its own. It was first broadcast by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) on Feb 21 and is aimed at attracting overseas tourists.

Another city in Zhejiang province, Ningbo, has benefited from a publicity campaign through TV.

"We began putting our city image video on (the international channel of) CCTV as early as 2003. In addition to our city's tourist attractions, we also showed scenes of urban construction," says Yang Jin, director of the publicity department in Ningbo, Zhejiang province.

"We did benefit from the video. When our mayor went to South Africa to woo investors his counterpart there told him that he had watched our video and was impressed with it."

Rising cost

The total cost for a video to be shown on CCTV was about 15 million yuan (1.65 million euros) for a year in 2003. Now it costs 5 million yuan for the first term which covers just a couple of months, Yang says.

"The rising cost of broadcasting a city image advertising video on CCTV forced us to consider other broadcast channels," Yang says, adding that they have aired it on airplane screens and online video sites.

Southwest China's Chongqing carried out its marketing campaign in various forms at different locations.

A weeklong cultural exchange featuring Chongqing traditional and folk culture is launched every year in different countries. These activities include performances of Sichuan Opera, acrobatics and folk music. Between 2006 and 2010, the delegation visited Russia, the Philippines, South Korea, Thailand and Australia.

"Our performance is highly praised by overseas audiences, and they showed great interest in our traditional culture, especially the folk handicrafts," says Huang Zhenwei, director of Chongqing Municipal Party Committee press office.

Oddly, free performances are less popular than those that charge fees, he says, probably because foreigners believe that if they have to pay for something it must be better.

"We hope that through international cultural exchange activities, Chongqing's culture finds a way to go global as well as promote the city's image overseas," Huang says.

This year, Chongqing plans to introduce its cultural delight to Hong Kong and Taiwan, seeking more communication with residents there. Other activities are being conducted in the first half of the year.

The municipality is also considering penetrating global markets with its films and drama productions, publications and animation products, Huang says, adding that these products will exert a sustainable influence on the promotion of the city's image.

Research and survey

The city marketing campaign contains many elements and requires research both before and after the video is made so it can be positioned and tested by the market.

"Conducting market research before shooting an advertising video is of great importance because the findings will provide much useful and practical information as reference points for the decision makers," says Yang Hongshan, associate professor of urban planning and administration at the School of Public Administration, Renmin University of China in Beijing.

"The problem is that most cities neglect tracking surveys after they release the advertising videos, which costs them a great opportunity to learn from their mistakes."

Ningbo realized the importance of market research early on and commissioned the International Public Relations Research Center of Fudan University to conduct it in 2008, Yang says. The new video released this month is the fruit of their hard work.

To better understand audiences' demand, Chongqing used to gather public opinion from an online platform before rolling out its publicity campaign, a detail which proved to be quite effective, Huang says.

Opportunities

In the past, local governments played a dominant role in the whole process of city advertising. But with fierce competition, governments also began to work with professional public relations agencies.

In the aftermath of the May 12 earthquake in 2008, Chengdu, one of the cities hit by the disaster, established a partnership with Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, a subsidiary of the Ogilvy & Mather Group, one of the largest marketing communications companies in the world, to start its city marketing campaign.

"Some municipal government leaders really took to heart the values of media planning from the cooperation," says Zhou Xiaojun, vice-president of public affairs at Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide.

Miles Young, chief executive officer of Ogilvy & Mather Group, says that the spending of Chinese governments of different levels on marketing campaigns is "quite small at the moment", but "the government is just starting to experiment in this area". He emphasizes that he is referring to a complete strategic marketing and branding campaign rather than just an advertisement.

He adds that communications agencies such as Ogilvy are benefiting substantially from governments embarking on marketing campaigns and believes the market holds great promise.

Other voices

When cities are in a rush to shoot advertising videos to invite investors and boost tourism, they should also keep an eye on their backyard.

"These advertisements could stimulate the flow of visitors to cities, but whether there will be a good result is determined by the impressions the visitors garner, which largely depends on the city's economic growth and social public service system," Yang says.

Hao Yuan, vice-governor of Northwest China's Gansu province, says his province does not plan to start a publicity campaign.

"There aren't funds specially earmarked for our province's advertising campaign right now. I think we should focus on economic development at the moment," he says.

If a province really intends to launch a publicity campaign, the key point is to showcase the characteristics of the province. For Gansu, it lies in its unique silk culture, which was developed centuries ago from its connections with the Silk Road, Hao says.

Wang Xiaotian and Chen Limin contributed to the story.