Author brief introduction Cheng, lecturer of School of Journalism, Fudan University, Huang Jianxin, Ph.D. student, majoring in advertising, School of Journalism, Fudan University.
"Don't be a president, be an advertiser"-former American President Roosevelt said. Now more and more people in China can understand the meaning of this sentence: advertising is really an attractive and challenging industry with great economic and social benefits.
On February 28th, 1978, Shanghai Liberation Daily took the lead in resuming commodity advertisements, marking the recovery of China advertising industry after years of silence. At this point, the advertising industry in China is booming and in the ascendant. One end of the advertising industry is connected with the developing economy, and the other end attracts more media, more employees and more audiences. From a specific aspect, it embodies the colorful features and attractive prospects of China's four modernizations.
First, the development of economy and media has become the forerunner of the start and take-off of advertising industry.
Reform and opening up have brought great impetus to China's economy. With the opening of the country, China's economy began to connect with the world economy. "Investing in Chinese mainland" has also become a long-standing topic in western developed countries. A large number of powerful multinational companies have invested in China, bringing capital, advanced technology, management concepts and methods, as well as thick advertising orders. During the period of 65,438+0,990-65,438+0,995, foreign capital invested in Chinese mainland reached US$ 65,438+0,600 billion, and these foreign-funded enterprises (including Sino-foreign joint ventures) entering Chinese mainland took the lead in becoming China. 1A survey conducted by Shanghai Liberation Daily, Wen Wei Po, Xinmin Evening News and weekly radio and television in June 1995 showed that the top eight advertisers in that month 12 were all foreign-funded or Sino-foreign joint ventures, such as Panasonic, Sharp, Australian Foreign Trade Bureau, Philips, Shanghai Volkswagen, Pepsi, Sony and Shanghai. Foreign capital and Sino-foreign joint ventures have given China's advertising industry a shot in the arm. It shows the aggressive competitive situation of the advertising industry in the world today, and has formed a shock wave to the advertising industry in China.
At the same time, China's economy has experienced unprecedented rapid development and prosperity in a short time. In the last five years, China's gross national product has grown at an average annual rate of 12%, including 17.3% for industry and 9.5% for tertiary industry. Economic development has naturally promoted the improvement of living standards of urban and rural people. According to the authoritative research data of the National Bureau of Statistics, from 1980 to 1984, the consumption pattern of residents changed from food and clothing to food and clothing, and the consumption expenditure mainly concentrated on subsistence materials such as food and clothing, and the Engel coefficient basically changed between 56.5% and 59.5%. From 1985 to 1989, the consumption pattern changed from subsistence to quasi-well-off, and the per capita living expenses increased from 1984 to 126 1 yuan. The change of consumption pattern is mainly reflected in the decline of the proportion of subsistence materials such as food and clothing in the consumption structure. From 1990 to 1996, the consumption pattern of residents began to change from a quasi-well-off type to a well-off type. People generally emphasized the quality of life and began to care about investment. The mass media summarized the five major investment hotspots of residents as "investing in housing for comfort, investing in communication for quick information, investing in entertainment for good leisure, investing in medical care for health, and investing in culture for children's wisdom". At this point, the largest consumer market with the most purchasing power in the history of China has been formed, which provides a powerful matrix for the development and maturity of the advertising industry in China. In the face of such a big market, how can entrepreneurs in China sit idly by? They improve packaging, introduce products, strengthen brands and guide consumption. In just 17 years, China's advertising industry has made unprecedented development, which is the inevitable trend of economic growth and improvement of people's living standards brought about by reform and opening up.
In the recent 17 years, the mass media in China has also experienced a process of rapid recovery, expansion and innovation, forming a huge network covering the whole country, which provides an objective guarantee for the extensiveness and density of advertisements. Take radio and television as an example. By the end of 1995, the coverage rate of radio and television in Chinese mainland reached 78.7% and 86.4% respectively. In Shanghai alone, there are two large local TV stations with four program channels, in addition to four programs of CCTV and five programs of cable TV networks covering all districts of the city, so there is plenty of time to broadcast TV advertisements of various price grades. At present, the total amount of advertisements put in by Shanghai TV and cable TV every month has reached hundreds of millions of yuan. With the development of communication industry, the TV media in China has jumped into a more advanced and faster development stage. The government plans that by the year 2000, the national coverage of radio and television will reach 85% and 90% respectively. At the end of 1995, CCTV, the leader of China TV media, added four programs overnight and launched satellite channels, which made the daily broadcast time of CCTV surge to 150 hours, of which the advertising time reached 15 hours.
In recent years, the newspaper industry in China has also developed vigorously. Advertisers can freely choose to publish advertisements from many daily newspapers, evening newspapers, weekly newspapers, professional newspapers, trade newspapers and even books and periodicals of the central and local governments. In the streets of major cities in China, you can see electronic screens, light boxes, neon lights, street signs or signs and other advertising media; Advertisers can also post advertising materials and broadcast advertising audio-visual information on subways, buses, taxis, trains, ships and planes; You can choose the national postal system or manual communication agencies to distribute advertising materials; You can also choose electronic communication network to spread advertising information.
Various advertising media have formed an organic network, which makes the advertising industry even more powerful. At the same time, the income of the advertising industry also strongly supports and promotes the renewal, development and growth of the media.
Second, the start, development and maturity of the advertising industry in China
If we look at the history of advertising development in various countries, I'm afraid there are few as dramatic as the development of advertising in China in recent years 17. After nearly 30 years of silence, it has rapidly risen to the position in the national economy, and great changes have given people a sense of vicissitudes.
From 1978 to 1982, it is the initial stage of advertising industry in China. 1979, after the commodity advertisement of Jiefang Daily was released, CCTV broadcasted the first TV advertisement, and soon after, Shanghai TV broadcasted the first foreign-funded enterprise advertisement-radar watch advertisement. 65438-0982, China Advertising Association was founded, which marked the industry consciousness of the advertising industry.
From 1983 to 1992, China's advertisements took off. During this period, the first laws and regulations on the management of advertising industry were promulgated. The forms of advertisements are further enriched. The Casio TV Song Grand Prix started the first shot of China's advertising public relations and social welfare activities, showing how the propaganda strategy of foreign-funded products when they entered the China market was combined with China's media power and national traditions, which provided useful experience for China's advertising industry. During this period, the personnel of western advertising companies began to follow the products into the China market. Around 1989, some UA companies began to open offices in big cities in China. 1992 is a landmark year for the great development of advertising industry in China. This year, the national advertising turnover exceeded 6 billion, an increase of 93.4% over the previous year! Advertising investment accounts for 0.282% of the gross national product; In this year, the per capita advertising fee in China rose to 5.79 yuan, an increase of 91.09% over the previous year; This year also marks a significant improvement in the quality of advertising practitioners: advertising practitioners with college education or above account for 39% of all employees.
The period from 1993 to 1995 is the mature stage of the development of advertising industry in China. In the past three years, the advertising turnover has increased from 1993 to 107 billion yuan and 1994 to 273 billion yuan, with an average annual growth rate of 40%. In these three years, the structure of the advertising market has also changed. The advertising volume of the means of production has decreased, while the advertising volume of the means of production has increased. 19941Oct. 27th, and1Feb. 27th, 1995, the Advertising Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) re-standardizes the advertising behavior, maintains the market order, and makes the advertising market more standardized and mature.
Looking back on the development of 17, we can clearly see several remarkable features of China's advertising industry at this stage, which vividly constitute the uniqueness of China's advertising industry.
First, the advertising industry in China has gradually formed three centers: Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai. From 65438 to 0995, the advertising turnover of the three cities reached 6 billion yuan, 4.4 billion yuan and 3.7 billion yuan respectively, accounting for 22%, 1 1% and 13.6% of the national advertising turnover respectively. The total advertising business of these three cities accounts for more than half of the country, reaching 5 1.65%. Beijing is the political, economic and cultural center of China. The main import and export channels in China are concentrated here, and the advertisements of imported products are generally placed in Beijing first. On the other hand, Beijing is also a gathering place of national mass media. Relying on media advantages, Beijing has become the city with the largest advertising turnover in China. Beijing's advertising creativity is influenced by the traditional styles of North China and the Loess Plateau, and it has a strong national flavor. Guangzhou developed rapidly around 1992, relying on the policy advantages of early opening up and the geographical advantages adjacent to Hong Kong and Macao. Many multinational advertising companies have entered Guangdong through Hong Kong and set up branches or offices in Guangzhou, such as GWT Company and Sache &; SACHE company and so on. Guangzhou is deeply influenced by Hong Kong and Taiwan in advertising creativity. Shanghai developed late among the three major centers, but the advertising industry has developed rapidly since Deng Xiaoping 1992. The annual growth rate of advertising business is 70% 1992, 254.2% 1993, 40.5% 1994 and 48.55% 1995. With its solid economic foundation, superior geographical conditions and rich talent pool, Shanghai has surpassed Guangzhou, which developed earlier, and become a rising star of the three centers. Since 1994, multinational advertising companies have rushed to Shanghai and set up headquarters or branches in the Asia-Pacific region, such as A &；; M and Leobena, etc. Due to historical reasons, Shanghai's culture is mostly influenced by Europe, America and Japan, and advertising creation also presents an eclectic and diversified style.
Second, the diversification of advertising enterprises. The company system is widely adopted by advertising enterprises. At present, among the advertising enterprises in China, public enterprises account for 62.4%; Foreign-funded enterprises account for1.8%; Private enterprises account for 21.47%; Joint-stock enterprises accounted for 7.64%; Joint ventures account for 3.9%. It has formed an advertising pattern with public-owned enterprises as the main body, diversified investment and competition among enterprises with various economic components. Under this premise, a number of backbone enterprises with good relationship with customers, complete service functions, high creative quality and good market reputation have emerged. At present, the comprehensive strength and advertising turnover of China advertising industry rank in the top 50, as shown in the following table:
Table 1 top 50 advertising companies in terms of turnover
(attached {Figure})
Thirdly, a team of young, eager to develop, knowledgeable and highly educated advertisers has been formed. With their creativity and daily business activities, they are building an advertising culture with China characteristics and international fashion. Nowadays, scholars have begun to study this kind of advertising culture. Xu Baiyi, a professor of advertising at Shanghai University, concluded that the most common appeal points of China's advertising creativity are: children, beauty, family, filial piety, thrift, work, study, savings, success and gifts.
Three. Problems and Opportunities in the Development of Advertising Industry in China
We should be soberly aware that the advertising industry in China is a young industry after all, and it is still relatively backward compared with the advertising industry in developed countries. The unbalanced development process has led to some obvious defects and many gaps to be filled.
① The regional development of advertising industry in coastal areas and inland areas is unbalanced. The advertising industry develops with the economic development, and the economic prosperity in coastal areas leads to the relatively rapid development of advertising industry. At present, among the three major advertising center cities, Shanghai and Guangzhou are both economically developed coastal cities except Beijing. Therefore, how to cooperate with the development of the mainland economy and promote the development of the mainland advertising industry in the future has become a concern of people inside and outside the industry. It is worth noting that in the Ninth Five-Year Plan issued by 1996, the government has put forward the problem of coordinated regional economic development, pointing out that it is necessary to break through administrative regions and establish seven economic regions on the basis of the existing economic layout, relying on central cities and traffic arteries: Yangtze River Delta and areas along the Yangtze River, Bohai Rim, southeast coastal areas, Yunnan and South China, Northeast China and Northeast China. Therefore, it is reasonable to expect that the advertising industry in China will move towards regional balance with the development of regional economy.
② The development of internal agency companies and affiliated companies in advertising industry is unbalanced. The establishment of advertising agency system marks the standardization and normalization of advertising market. As a neutral organization, agents are between advertisers, media and the public, communicating and coordinating their relationship. In foreign countries, the advertising agency system has become the mainstream of advertising management. Well-known large enterprises and their product brands generally have relatively fixed advertising agencies. These companies represent the advertising business of large enterprises, participate in the marketing activities and other business activities of enterprises for a long time, and publicize information, products and corporate image for the development of enterprises. Even many new product development and promotion schemes are put forward by institutions after investigation and analysis. Undoubtedly, the agency system is conducive to the establishment of a stable cooperative relationship between advertising companies and customers, and to the communication of emotions, coordination and mutual promotion. At present, the statistics of China advertising industry in this respect are not satisfactory: agency companies only account for about 10% of all advertising companies. The main reason is that most media have the function of advertising business, and the turnover is huge, which makes the business volume and business ability of some small and medium-sized advertising companies not greatly improved in the short term, which naturally limits the business agency ability; In addition, there are many powerful large enterprises that support the advertising industry as subsidiaries in order to solve the resettlement problem of employees' children and idle talents. Advertising companies run by such enterprises are far inferior to professional advertising companies in seeking business information, attracting senior talents, comprehensive market research and product brand planning capabilities. But they carved up the advertising business that should have flowed to professional companies.
③ The development of creativity and technical support is unbalanced. Compared with developed countries and regions, China's advertising production equipment and materials are backward or even aging, and computer painting, computer lettering and other technologies have only been widely used in the past two years; The production of many large light boxes is still in the stage of manual pasting; The utilization rate of high-tech instruments such as laser drawing is extremely low in China; The TV shooting technology is immature and the lighting effects are rough; Making three-dimensional animation and using software are generally backward, staying at the level of advanced countries in the middle and late 1980 s, so many domestic institutions have to go overseas to find advertising producers.
④ The development of advertising forms is unbalanced. At present, our advertising forms are mainly concentrated in mass media such as radio, television, newspapers and magazines, supplemented by street signs, light boxes, advertising posters and so on. 1994 or so, home direct mail advertising began to appear and take shape, but this form is still only a supplement to newspaper print advertising, and it has not expanded into a direct mail ordering network; The commercial tendency of public relations agency activities is very obvious, giving people an immature feeling; Promotion activities lack professional organization and planning, so that the methods are the same, there is no new idea, and the reputation among consumers is not high; Classified advertisements are almost blank, and only a few major newspapers and a few industries have concentrated advertisements. 1995, Shanghai Wen Wei Po first appeared a special-page advertisement for real estate classification, but there was still no classified advertisement space for various media and products. Therefore, it is impossible for readers to form a reading mode of looking for classified advertisements to obtain relevant information.
⑤ Entrepreneurs' advertising consciousness is not balanced with the demand of market development. We must not forget that China was still an underdeveloped country with a unified planned economy only before 1979. Due to the influence of the long-term planned economy system and feudal small-scale peasant economy in history, people's advertising consciousness has not reached the height it should have to adapt to economic modernization. However, with the development of market economy, consumers' modern consumption habits are becoming more and more mature and need more commodity information; On the other hand, the increasingly fierce product competition forces entrepreneurs to face up to the unique role of advertising in marketing. 1995 The advertiser of "Kongfujiajiu", the winner of the TV Gold Award of China Advertising Award, was once an unknown brewery in Shandong. They have paid attention to product promotion in the past two years. By 1995, the liquor market share of this factory ranks first in China, which is really "the fragrance of wine is also afraid of the depth of the alley"! Therefore, the overall promotion of corporate advertising awareness is an important part of market development.
Fourth, 2 1 century: the development trend of advertising industry in China
In the short period of 17, the development of advertising industry in China is exciting. Although there are some problems, the development performance can not be underestimated. Looking back on this course, people can't help asking, at the turn of the century, what will be the development trend of China's advertising industry in 2 1 century?
It is predicted that in 2 1 century, China's commodity economy will be more closely integrated with the world, its market development will be more mature, and its enterprise behavior and competition will develop at a higher level. By then, joint-stock enterprises will occupy an increasing share in the market, and the trend of large-scale operation and collectivization of enterprises will be more obvious. The competition among enterprises has developed from resource competition, talent competition and information competition to the competition of enterprise image as a whole. Enterprises will pay more and more attention to the design and packaging of their own image, and pay more and more attention to the intangible asset of corporate image.
This trend and characteristics of market economy development will inevitably lead to corresponding changes in advertising industry: with the rapid economic development in coastal areas pushing inland, the geo-economic development in central and southern China and northwest China will move to a higher level; Southwest and South China Economic Zones will further penetrate and influence the economies of Hong Kong, Macao, Singapore and Thailand. This momentum of economic development will greatly alleviate the imbalance in the regional development of China's advertising industry, and the overall development of the national advertising industry will also leap to a new level. The triangle pattern of the existing three advertising centers in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou will be broken. It is predicted that Wuhan, Xi, Zhengzhou, Chengdu and other regional economic center cities will rise to become national influential advertising centers; On the other hand, advertising companies in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou will penetrate into the mainland in terms of people, money and materials with the needs of customer business and their own business development. By then, there will be national advertising chain companies. Moreover, with the expansion of China's economy to overseas markets, China International Advertising Co., Ltd. has further stepped forward to a broader international market. It can be seen that China's advertising industry will become an international and export-oriented trend in 2 1 century.
With the accelerated development of market economy, the agency function of advertising companies is becoming more and more perfect, and a number of advertising agencies with high technical content, scientific management, complete talents and great commercial energy are constantly emerging, narrowing the gap with western advanced countries. Various advertising agency functions will be brought into full play. Advertising companies not only publish various forms of advertisements for customers in the media, but also extensively involve CIS design and promotion, information consultation, market research, investment feasibility and marketing performance evaluation, public relations and public welfare activities, product display and marketing, feedback and evaluation of advertising effect information, advanced business training for advertising practitioners and so on. There will be a large number of CIS designers in the advertising industry, and these brain planners will play a leading role in the business activities of advertising companies in the 2 1 century. The creative design level of China advertising industry will reach a scientific and intelligent level.
In addition, in the 2 1 century, the media release forms of China advertising industry will be more colorful, and the current blank will become a good opportunity for development, attracting a large number of far-sighted foreign investors and domestic pioneer advertising companies. In the communication with the international advertising industry, the advertising media will be further systematic and scientific, and some advertising forms that have not yet become a climate will be gradually improved and matured. For example, recently, Germany Guangli Foreign Company, the largest mail order company in Europe with an annual turnover of 70 billion, took a favorable view of Shanghai and settled in Pudong. In Germany, almost every family has advertisements for the shopping catalogue of Guangli Foreign Firm. The presence of Guangli Foreign Firm in Shanghai will not only improve the commodity sales system in China, but also bring a brand-new understanding to the form of mail-order advertising. With the expansion of advertising media, all kinds of social interest groups, interest groups, public welfare organizations and specialized organizations, as well as people of different sexes and ages, can obtain the advertising information they need and are interested in through various channels (wireless electronic media, wired media, print media and interpersonal media).
It is predicted that by 2 1 century, the traditional front-line operation form of advertiser → advertising agency → media release → audience will be broken; The real-time interaction between the four units on this operation line will be greatly enhanced. With the popularization of computer network and audio-visual communication system, the one-way relationship between advertisers, advertising companies, media and audiences has changed from active and passive to interactive and immediate feedback, which will greatly improve the quality of advertising companies and promote the improvement of the basic quality and skills of advertising practitioners. They must have some knowledge structures and qualities of information scientists, management scientists, marketing scientists, psychologists, economists, literary artists and sociologists.
In short, we can safely assert that China's advertising industry started and developed in the 1980s and 1990s, and in the first half of the 20th century, China became the largest advertising market in the Asia-Pacific region and even the world, and its own advertising business capability was struggling to catch up with the most advanced level of the world's advertising industry. There will be more Chinese and foreign investors, more advertising practitioners and more audiences to take part in paying attention to the soaring advertising industry in China!