Marketing Strategies of Museum Culture and Creative Industry in China

Media Convergence

The concept of media convergence was first proposed by the communication scholar Ithiel De Sola Pool (1983) in his book Technologies of Freedom in 1983. He pointed out that the development of digital technology is the cause of the communication patterns convergence. Nicholas Negroponte of Massachusetts Institute of Technology founded the Media Lab in 1985 and published the book Being Digital, which played an important role in the study of media convergence (Baldwin et al., 1996). Negroponte (1996) considers media convergence as "all kinds of technologies and media forms are brought together". American media scholar Dominick (2003) also defines media convergence as the mixing of various communication technologies. Gerham Murdoch, a British communication political economist, extended his research to media products, media operating systems and organizations. He believes that there are three main ways of media convergence: the integration of media cultural forms, the integration of communication systems, and the integration of media company ownership. With more in-depth research on media convergence, more elements have been included in the research scope (Wang, 2005). The integration of media business and the media itself, the integration of regulations and rules, and the integration of users’ interaction and participation of media are all included (Fidler, 1997). American scholar Kevin Maney proposed the Mega-Media concept, which includes not only the original media industry, but also the telecommunications industry, IT industry, and electronics industry. Some of them does not originally have media significance (as cited in Wang, 2007).

Cai (2009) was the first scholar to conduct media convergence research in China. On the basis of previous research, she concluded that media convergence mainly includes three contents. The first one is the convergence of media content. In the context of digital technology, content produced by different media can be applied to cross-media and cross-platform. The second is about the integration of communication channels. Different media product forms’ communication channel can be interconnected. The last one is the convergence of medium terminals. Integrating multiple media functions in one terminal allows users to easily access the open information platform to obtain information and services.

Cultural and Creative Industry

The definition of “Cultural Industry” was first proposed by Horkheimer and Adorno in the Dialectic of Enlightenment (Adorno & Horkheimer, 2007). The meaning of modern “cultural industry” originated from the economic revitalization policy proposed by President Roosevelt during the Great Depression in the United States in the 1930s. The UK is the first country to successfully use public policies to promote the development of creative industries and is regarded as the birthplace of the world's CACI. In 1997, the Blair cabinet of the United Kingdom put forward the concept and development method of CACI. Since then, the West has gradually recognized that “cultural creativity” can also be used as an industry to bring economic benefits. In China, the concept of CACI was first proposed in Taiwan. CACI is defined as industries that originate from creativity or cultural accumulation, which can create wealth and employment opportunities, promote the aesthetic literacy and living environment of the whole people (Cultural and Creative Industries Development Law, 1999, as cited in Zhang, 2016). In 2002, Taiwan put CACI in the government's key development plan. Subsequently, Hong Kong, Beijing, Hangzhou and other regions also promulgated relevant policies to promote the development of regional CACI (Li, 2020a).

There are many similarities between the traditional cultural industry and the modern CACI in terms of content, but there are also some differences. Xu (2015) defined in the Basic Theory of Cultural Industry that the cultural industry is a combination of creation, production and commercial sales of intangible and cultural content. Compared with the cultural industry, CICA includes the process of transforming culture into commodities, and integrates creativity into it, making traditional commodities more fashionable, modern, and valuable. At the same time, more scientific and technological methods have been applied to marketing operations (Shu, 2015).

Museum Cultural and Creative Industry

The museum is one of the public places which have the most powerful cultural functions in society. "Museums are a dominant part of our cultural landscape, they form our most basic vision of history and ourselves” said museum theorist Donald Preziosi. In the context of rapid technological development and media convergence, the museum industry and CACI have opened up new development spaces with the help of digitalization (Marstine, 2005). The museum CACI combines the museum’s traditional exhibition culture with the modern CACI, which gives the museum a new communication style. It can use the profound cultural connotations of museums as inspiration for cultural creativity and spread cultural concepts through products and services to implement the basic function of promoting the development of public undertakings and society (Zhang, 2016). In 2020, Peng further pointed out that the final form of the museum CACI should include two major levels: cultural creative content and expression carriers. Expression carrier can be divided into hardware carrier, digital carrier and activity carrier.

The Development Process of China's Museum CACI

In the past 10 years, China's museum CACI has experienced a stage from inception to rapid development. In 2013, the cultural creative product I Know tape from the National Palace Museum in Taipei became a hot event on the Internet and an important milestone in the development of China's museum CACI (Li, 2020c). In 2016, the General Office of the State Council of China issued Several Opinions on Promoting the Development of Cultural Creative Products of Cultural Museum Units. The CACI has gradually received the attention of various museums, art galleries and other cultural relics units in China. In the same year, President Xi at the news and public opinion work seminar said, “we must promote integrated development and take the initiative to let new media give full play to their advantages.” Media convergence is becoming an important development strategy of China. With the support of the government, China’s museum CACI began to rise rapidly. In 2019, Tsinghua University and Tmall jointly released the “2019 Museum Cultural and Creative Products Market Data Report”. The “Report” shows that the overall scale of China's museum cultural and creative market in 2019 has increased by three times compared with 2017, which showing a trend of rapid growth (Institute of Culture Economy, Tsinghua University, 2019). At the beginning of 2020, due to the impact of COVID-19, most of the museums were closed. In that context, about 1,300 museums in China have created more than 2,000 online exhibitions (Miao, 2020). 360º holographic image, 5G+AR and other technologies have been applied. E-commerce platforms and social media have also participated. In the context of media convergence, China's museum CACI is showing positive momentum.

Product Homogeneity

Judging from the cultural and creative products developed by museums in recent years, it is easy to find that these products have insufficient personalization and low innovation. Cultural and creative developers lack a complete product development system, and most of them just imitate and copy (Li, 2020a). They simply copied the cultural relics in the museum and painting the pattern on other physical objects, such as mugs, umbrellas, and refrigerator stickers (Wang, 2021). This kind of products cannot show the artistic value and cultural value of the museum collections nor can they well reflect the cultural connotation of the museum. The brand image of the museum is even more impossible to establish. In addition, in the traditional development process, there is a lack of communication between consumers and museums. Consumers’ needs are difficult to understand. As a result, the products are slow-moving (Jin & Zhang, 2016).

Low-level Marketing Model

Most of the cultural and creative products are sold in the museum store, limited by time and space. At the same time, it also brings great limitations to the marketing work. The emergence of e-commerce provides a solution, but how to conduct online operations is still a big problem. Only a few museums sell cultural and creative products on official websites and e-commerce platforms. To make matters worse, their operations only stay at the initial level. Statistics show that there are 50 museums opening online stores on Alibaba’s e-commerce platform currently, and the monthly sales of most products are in single digits (data from www.taobao.com, author's last visit time is March 30, 2021). In the use of new media, most museums are only at the initial stage of using WeChat, Weibo and other online platforms, lacking comprehensive analysis (Tang & Li, 2019). Online consumers have limited channels for contacting and understanding cultural and creative products. In the absence of information, it is difficult to stimulate consumers’ desire to buy. And the market results will not be satisfied (Wang, 2021).

Find Museum’s Unique IP and Strengthen Brand Image

Museums need to accurately find the IP that contains their own culture, strengthen cultural symbols, and build a unique brand image. IP refers to "Intellectual Property”. In the field of culture and entertainment, the concept of IP specifically refers to results with long-term vitality and commercial value. Cheng Wu, vice president of Tencent, defines IP as a "market-tested symbol that can carry human emotions." In the contemporary consumer culture, the process of consumption can be regarded as consuming symbols. Consumers no longer aim at the use value of commodities, but pursue the special meaning represented by symbols, in order to show their personal status in society (Baudrillard, 1998). Cultural consumption is obviously symbolic (Gao, 2006). This requires museum cultural and creative marketing to strengthen their cultural symbols. Mining IP with its unique characteristics and communicating in different channels. So as to build a clear brand image, allowing consumers to form a unique brand recognition.

Elements and stories of well-known museum collections are the main sources of IP discovery. According to the number and sales volume of the museum's cultural and creative products, it can be seen that cultural and creative products inspired by the museum's well-known collections are more likely to be welcomed by consumers. The largest IP of the British Museum is the Ancient Egypt series, and there are 220 items on sale on the official website. Among them, there are 54 kinds of cultural and creative products related to the ancient Egyptian Gaia Anderson cat. Followed by Katsushika Hokusai’s Ukiyoe, 65 related products (British Museum shop, 2021). The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s best-selling product is a mug with Van Gogh elements (The Met Store, 2021). The most popular IP series of the Palace Museum are products with elements of "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" (Tmall…, 2021). In 2017, the Suzhou Museum launched a virtual IP image shaping and cultural and creative product research project. The idea is to refine the IP of Tang Bohu's character image based on the museum’s collections, and then make serialized products. And gradually evolve a single product into a series of cultural and creative services (Zheng, 2020). In 2019, Suzhou Museum combined Tang Bohu’s IP image with tea and launched a new product “2019 Spring Tea”. They also extended a Spring Tea Theme Party to provide offline experiential services about the life in Ming Dynasty. Attracted 26,000 participants in 6 days.

In addition to self-development and design, museums can also conduct cross-border marketing through IP authorization. This can spread the museum brand in different channels and in different fields. Tencent's game “King Glory” and Dunhuang Research Institute jointly launched two game skins in 2018 and 2020 respectively. Added nine-color deer and other unique elements from Dunhuang Museum into the game character costume design. More than 40 million people rush to buy it within an hour (Shen, 2020). In 2019, the National Museum of China and KFC cooperated deeply. China's intangible cultural heritage, such as Yunjin, was taken as the focus. Guo Jun, the inheritor of the national brocade, combined the brocade pattern with the KFC Bucket and create a new package in Chinese style. Consumers can also watch the video of intangible cultural heritage by scanning the QR code on the KFC Bucket (Digitaling, 2019). The IP industrial layout of the National Museum is not limited to this. In 2016, the National Museum and Alibaba jointly established the "Cultural & Creative China" online platform. And they also signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone Management Committee to provide a full range of guarantees for its online platform. The platform is open to cultural and historical institutions across the country. These institutions provide their IP authorization, and then the National Museum takes the lead in introducing outstanding designers at home and abroad. The design plan will be proposed to investors, and the produced products will be sold on the online platform, “Cultural & Creative China”. This project helped many museums solve the problems of design, investment, production, and sales (Shi, 2017).

Enrich the Marketing Methods and Create a Multi-dimensional Marketing System

Media convergence enables the museum to link multiple media and conduct market promotion in a multi-dimensional manner. Video media, social media, e-commerce platforms and other new media technologies can all be involved in the promotion process. Practitioners need to continuously innovate and enrich communication methods. Let all kinds of media play their unique advantages and attract different target groups.

First of all, the museum CACI should actively try new media for promotion. The COVID-19 has led to the collective closure of museums. Online channels have become an important channel for museums to promote. Many museums use short video platforms and modern technologies such as VR and AR to create wonderful “cloud exhibitions”. For example, the “Oracle Bone Script Online Exhibition” organized by the National Museum of China, and the "Changsha Mawangdui Han Tomb VR Exhibition" organized by the South China Museum. E-commerce live broadcasting is another new marketing method. Users are more likely to be motivated to purchase in a live broadcasting environment that is highly interactive and participatory (Liang, 2019). Museum e-commerce live broadcasting is active in this context. In March 2020, 7 world-class museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Hunan Embroidery Museum launched a joint live broadcasting on PDD, an e-commerce platform in China. By watching the live broadcasting, consumers can not only learn about the history and cultural relics, but also can directly purchase related cultural and creative products in the live broadcasting room. Taobao's "Cloud Spring Tour" live broadcasting project also attracted 10 million viewers. These methods are all conducive to enhancing the visibility of the museum and greatly promoting cultural consumption.

Secondly, practitioners need to connect various media to create a multi-dimensional marketing system. Henan Museum completed successful marketing propaganda this year. The program "Tang Palace Night Banquet" of the Henan Spring Festival Gala in 2021 has attracted the attention of the whole network. The dancers were dressed in makeup and costumes from the Tang Dynasty. In the setting of the scene, cultural relics were presented on the stage through 5G+AR technology. The programs full of historical and cultural sense have caused a lot of reposts and discussions on social platforms and short video platforms. Topic #Tang Palace Night Banquet# has 55,000 discussions and 220 million readings on Weibo ("Tang Palace Night Banquet", 2021). Henan Museum seized this opportunity and successively created a number of social topics to continually provide materials for the popularity of the Internet. Such as the short video "Tang Palace Night Banquet Dancers Checking in Zhengzhou Landmark”, and “Tang Palace Night Banquet Hand-painting Online Competition”. On the evening of February 25, Henan Satellite TV launched the 2021 Lantern Festival Special Program "Henan Museum Lantern Festival Wonderful Night", which once again attracted a lot of attention on the Internet. In 2020, the cultural and creative product "Archaeological Blind Box" produced by Henan Museum was also bought out by netizens. The newly launched products related to "Tang Palace Night Banquet" also continue to rank top 1 in the sales list. Ma Xiaolin, dean of Henan Museum, said “the rapid development of CACI in recent years on the one hand reflects the growth of the public's cultural demand, on the other hand, it reflects the exchange, cooperation, exploration and innovation between the museum and various media (Li, 2021).

Increase Audience Participation and Strengthen User Stickiness

Peter Van Mensch, the former chairman of the Museum Science Committee of the International Association of Museums, once said, "There have been three revolutions in the industry of museums so far... The third revolution occurred around 2000... Although we have not officially named it, but its key word is participation” (Simon, 2010). Participatory museum theory is an interdisciplinary concept formed by the integration of communication, marketing, museology and other theories. Its core view is that museum audiences no longer passively accept and consume content produced by the museum, actively create and construct their own content, and share and discuss with others (Li, 2020b). In the marketing strategy of the museum CACI, practitioners can encourage audience participation from the following two aspects.

First, Museums can use community marketing to increase interaction and enhance user stickiness. Community marketing is bringing media users that have similar hobbies together and promoting products and services to them (Kong, 2015). Community marketing has become the focus of online marketing, as well as in the museum CACI. The Palace Museum uses lively articles and videos to show the connotation and charm of the Forbidden City culture in various media, which attracted a group of people who have a deep recognition of cultural and creative products and its cultural value and forming a unique community. Its community marketing is implemented through two channels. The first is mainstream social media, Weibo and WeChat. They attract fans through official accounts and conduct frequent interactions. Fans' voluntary sharing and reposting help the Palace Museum to achieve communication and dissemination among users. In 2014, the article "Yongzheng: Feeling Myself Cute" published on the WeChat public account of “the Forbidden City Taobao" got 100,000 readers and was reposted in large numbers (Palace Museum, 2014). Many people have re-acquainted with the museum cultural and creative products, and WeChat has provided them with a gathering and expression space. The second is to convey deeper cultural concepts through the development of multiple APPs. The Palace Museum has launched a series of apps since 2013. For example, in the game app "Emperor's Day", the developer uses the game clearance mode to guide users to experience the emperor's daily life. The serious history is conveyed in a relaxed and lively manner, which is highly interactive. The app “Yinzhen's Beauty Picture" restores the utensils, musical instruments, costumes, etc. in the life of the ancients by virtualizing the famous paintings. The Palace Museum uses different communication media for its different target groups, gathering a diverse user community.

In addition, museums should also provide opportunities for users' in-depth participation and promote the transition of consumers to the role of creators. Inviting consumers to R&D, production and sales process. In the research and development process, big data can be used to gain insight into the needs and interests of consumers and conduct user profile. In the production process, the plan and investment can be adjusted in time based on consumer feedback. In the sales process, accurate multi-channel promotion and efficient use of resources to obtain the greatest marketing effect. "Dunhuang poetic scarves" WeChat Mini Program is a cultural and creative project jointly launched by Tencent and Dunhuang Research Institute. This mini program provides users with 8 theme patterns and nearly 200 sets of Dunhuang elements. Consumers can use these elements to design their own works and purchase them. These user design works will be presented in the digital exhibition hall. All users can see and share these works on their own social media. This project gives users a strong sense of participation. In this process, users are not only creators, but also consumers and communicators. More than 2.8 million people participated in this project. Dunhuang culture is accepted by more users, and it has successfully completed brand communication and user accumulation.