How to make a good regional brand "umbrella"

During the national "two sessions" in March 2012, the main responsible person of the Henan Provincial CPC Committee affectionately introduced the context of Xinyang black tea to the media and shared the story of Xinyang black tea at the residence of the delegation. In recent years, with the improvement of people's living standards and quality of life, black tea has made its debut in our country with a long history of tea culture, and has been increasingly favored and respected by consumers. Green tea from Zhejiang and black tea from Fujian unwittingly dominate the high-end tea market, and even hold the pricing power. However, Xinyanghong, from the producing area of Xinyang Maojian Tea, the "king of green tea", is a bit noisy, not only rising as a new force in the black tea market in Zhengzhou, Beijing, Wuhan and Fuzhou, but also showing signs of catching up with Xinyang Maojian Tea. For thousands of years, Xinyang Maojian Tea, who made his life with green tea, has very high requirements for picking and craftsmanship. generally, he only picks spring tea, while summer and autumn tea is basically thrown away, and the annual utilization rate of tea is less than 60%. Picking summer and autumn tea and processing into high-quality Xinyang red not only put an end to the history of massive waste of tea, but also injected new vigor and vitality into the regional public brands of agricultural products.

In recent years, due to the particularity of agricultural production and consumers' special attention to the quality and safety of agricultural products, it is difficult for many corporate brands to leave a mark in the hearts of customers. Northeast Auricularia auricula, Jilin ginseng, Xinjiang cantaloupe, Yangcheng Lake hairy crab and so on can always make people stop, and the regional public brand with distinctive regional characteristics has become a symbol of the quality and reputation of agricultural products. Therefore, the registration of geographical indication products of agricultural products has been valued by the main agricultural producing areas and recognized by the general public. How to deal with the relationship between enterprise's own brand and public brand, and at the same time avoid "a mouse shit spoils a pot of soup"? it has become a very realistic problem, and it has also become a difficult problem for many local governments. In fact, this is indeed a rare development opportunity for agricultural enterprises that focus on building brands.

According to my observation, there are generally three models in the process of exploring regional public brand development of agricultural products: first, the enterprise-led Xinyanghong model. In fact, with the support of the local provincial and municipal governments and relevant departments, Xinyang tea industry plays an important role in breaking through the development idea of "turning around green tea". It can be said that the government sets the direction and policy, enterprises build brands and create markets. Enterprises have opened up a new way of brand marketing in the interaction with the government and tea farmers. The second is the Jiaozhou cabbage model dominated by the association. Chinese cabbage produced in Jiaozhou is not always called "Jiaozhou Chinese cabbage". With the support of the local government and relevant departments of agriculture, industry and commerce, public security, quality inspection, culture and tourism, the Jiaozhou Chinese Cabbage Association is responsible for cultivating and managing this regional brand and implementing the "production base certification system". The brand management model of "product quality traceability system" can only be affixed with the logo of "Jiaozhou Chinese cabbage" when Chinese cabbage is recognized and authorized by the association. Otherwise, it can only be said to be Jiaozhou's "Chinese cabbage", and it is never allowed to affix a logo without authorization. In terms of basic orientation, the person in charge of the association said that he still hopes that large households, cooperatives and enterprises can grow as soon as possible and "play the leading role" in singing brands. The third is the Luochuan Apple model led by the government. For the development of the apple industry, Luochuan County, Shaanxi Province, has specially set up a Luochuan Apple Industry Office at the sub-county level to co-ordinate a series of matters such as Luochuan Apple industry and brand cultivation, formulate policies, issue standards, coordinate, and promote marketing. In fact, they also rely more and more on local and imported agricultural enterprises. "when enterprises grow up in the market, our work will be easy to do." this is the mentality of managers. Therefore, no matter which way to develop regional public brands, local governments maintain a positive attitude towards enterprises and hope that with the growth of some agricultural enterprises, they can prop up the development of regional brands in the tide of marketization.

As the saying goes, it is easy to enjoy the cool under a big tree. Some people compare the regional public brand image to the umbrella, while the enterprise's own brand is carried and sheltered by this umbrella. And we must also be clearly aware that, in theory, if a regional brand is compared to an umbrella, then only one or two people can share the umbrella, and it is difficult for many people to hold the same umbrella. In the long run, for a regional brand of agricultural products to achieve lasting success, it must also rely on the support of one or a few core enterprises, which is also the path taken by some other countries in the world. Some people describe the confusion in the face of regional brands and say: listen loud, look confused, which one is authentic? From this point of view, it can also be said that at this stage, it is a good opportunity for visionary entrepreneurs to take advantage of the opportunity to build a big brand.

In order to share more intangible assets of regional public brands, basic agricultural enterprises must start with many aspects: first, with the mentality of striving to be the "umbrella" and "flag bearer" of regional brands, carefully analyze their own enterprise positioning and marketing strategy, make necessary adjustments in the allocation of human, material and financial resources, and formulate enterprise brand strategy roadmaps, implementation plans and important measures based on regional brands. The second is to improve the quality of agricultural products in a down-to-earth manner in accordance with the requirements of "legacies" and even "people in charge" of regional brands, and at the same time make efforts on packaging, marking and extension services to match perceived quality, market awareness and influence. The third is to give its own product characteristics to the brand, transform the brand characteristics into standards, and transform the standards into the spiritual core of regional brands, so as to create an institutional basis for leading the development of regional brands. Fourth, consciously organize regional brand forums, alliances, associations and other activities to build a carrier and platform to gather popularity, consensus and market for singing brands.