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(White wine advertisement at Charles de Gaulle Airport)

Our reporter Huang Xingli (chinatimes.net.cn) reports from Beijing

During the Olympic Games, the streets of Paris were quietly blossoming with a unique Chinese style - advertisements for Chinese brands such as Luzhou Laojiao and Alibaba Cloud complemented each other at Charles de Gaulle Airport, the Pop Mart store next to the Louvre, the Bawang Cha Ji pop-up store next to the train station, and the Yili theme bus touring the streets of Paris all attracted the attention of tourists from all over the world... In this global brand marketing feast, Chinese liquor companies including Luzhou Laojiao are also taking advantage of the Olympic momentum to turn the millennium-old liquor culture into exquisite business cards and hand them out to the world.

The Olympic Games is only a window to observe the overseas journey of Chinese liquor, but what is reflected behind it is the grim status quo of the industry: the annual output of liquor of enterprises above designated size has dropped for seven consecutive years, which has announced the arrival of the era of stock competition in the industry. "The industry competition in 2024 will be more intense than the low point in 2012." A liquor industry practitioner recently expressed his feelings to our reporter. In this market context, the internationalization actions of liquor giants have become more intensive recently, and going overseas has become a key leap for them to break through. However, compared with the overseas expansion of Made in China, the overseas expansion of liquor is still in its initial stage, but for them, this journey destined to be full of ups and downs will become an indispensable growth chapter in their journey of global brand building.

The Olympics presents a “business card” for liquor

As the Olympic Games gradually get better, the eyes of global sports fans continue to focus on Paris, and the international dissemination of Chinese liquor culture has also opened a new chapter. On July 30, at the "China House" in Paris, Luzhou Laojiao grandly launched the co-branded products of Luzhou Laojiao 1952 and Luzhou Laojiao Special Liquor TEAM CHINA Chinese National Team, further deepening the integration of the brand and the spirit of sports. Prior to this, Luzhou Laojiao's offline advertisements of "Drink Celebration Liquor Today" have also been launched one after another.

According to Luzhou Laojiao, in 2021, Luzhou Laojiao and TEAM CHINA/China National Team reached a four-year strategic cooperation agreement. Starting from the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, Luzhou Laojiao began to use the official intellectual property trademarks of China National Team/TEAM CHINA, which will be used in online content dissemination channels, offline retail store front trademarks, various display scenarios, and other scenarios.

In fact, this series of brand activities during the Paris Olympics is just a wonderful microcosm of Luzhou Laojiao's internationalization journey. According to reports, in 2012, Luzhou Laojiao Co., Ltd., together with COSCO (Hong Kong) Group Co., Ltd., China Merchants Group and Hong Kong China Travel (Group) Co., Ltd., initiated the establishment of Luzhou Laojiao International Development (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd. in Hong Kong, taking the lead in launching global sales and brand promotion.

In the process of promoting the internationalization of liquor, Luzhou Laojiao attaches particular importance to the key role played by brand promotion. In an interview with the China Times on July 30, Luzhou Laojiao said that in terms of brand promotion, Luzhou Laojiao adheres to the principle of "culture first, brand leading", not only deeply cooperating with international top sports events such as the Australian Open and the Football World Cup, but also continuing to deepen the "Let the World Taste China" global tour project, covering New York, Toronto, Moscow, Brussels and Paris, and successfully holding more than 50 overseas promotion activities. In addition, it also promotes Chinese liquor culture to the world by cleverly integrating into international events such as the China-Europe Forum, the BRICS Summit and the "Belt and Road" International Cooperation Summit Forum.

Reporters noticed that in addition to Luzhou Laojiao attracting public attention with a series of active brand marketing during the Olympics, another liquor giant Wuliangye also made new moves. Its exclusive sponsorship of Hunan Satellite TV's "Chinese Restaurant 8" premiered on July 19. This time the program not only returned to France, but also cleverly integrated the cultural elements of Wuliangye. Through the wonderful clips of enthusiastically promoting Wuliangye to French friends in the program, an in-depth exchange of brand and culture was achieved, further broadening Wuliangye's international influence.

However, compared with Luzhou Laojiao launching a series of brand activities in France and Wuliangye joining hands with popular variety shows to enter France, Kweichow Moutai's marketing strategy during the Olympics seems to be more restrained. Reporters noticed that in CCTV1's related Olympic event programs, Kweichow Moutai appeared as the "designated celebration wine for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games broadcast by China Central Radio and Television."

In addition to these well-known liquor giants, several regional liquor companies have also participated in the Olympic fever in another form. Take Jin Shiyuan as an example. On July 13, it announced the establishment of the "2024 Paris Olympic Games Jiangsu Athletes Reward Fund" with the Jiangsu Provincial Sports Bureau. Jin Shiyuan Liquor Industry donated 1.5 million yuan to commend Jiangsu athletes who achieved outstanding results in the Paris Olympics. In addition, its Guoyuan V9 was also designated as the "Jiangsu Olympic Athletes Celebration Wine."

Giants are making intensive overseas moves

As competition in the domestic market becomes increasingly fierce, leading liquor companies have all turned their attention to the broader international stage. This "going global" craze is not limited to a brief appearance during the Olympic Games, but has become an important part of the long-term strategic planning of Chinese liquor brands.

Recently, the actions of many liquor giants in overseas markets have been particularly eye-catching. Take Kweichow Moutai as an example. Last year was considered the first year of its internationalization. This year, its new head Zhang Deqin emphasized during a survey of the Hong Kong market in June that "Moutai's internationalization is an inevitable trend, the key to future development, and the responsibility of Moutai as a representative brand of Chinese liquor. Moutai will continue to increase its investment in the international market."

The reporter noticed that recently, Yanghe Co., Ltd.'s high-end series of Mengzhilan products were launched in the United States, adding a strong stroke to Yanghe Co., Ltd.'s internationalization strategy. In addition, before the Olympics, Yanghe Co., Ltd. had already laid out its layout in the French market. This year marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France. As early as the beginning of the year, Yanghe launched Mengzhilan M6+, a gift box for the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France, as a gift of great wine to celebrate the friendship between China and France. In May this year, a blue joint gift box consisting of Yanghe Mengzhilan M6+ and French champagne Cattier entered the Elysee Palace as the best gift between China and France.

When talking about the development opportunities and challenges of Chinese liquor in the international market, Yanghe Shares said in an interview with the China Times reporter that with the resumption of international exchanges, especially China's deep participation in global cooperation and division of labor, more and more Chinese people are going abroad and bringing Chinese culture to all parts of the world. The liquor culture is also being exported with the flow of Chinese people, which is an opportunity for the liquor industry. "More and more liquor companies are going abroad and going global, which is good for the entire liquor industry. This is conducive to overseas local consumers to deepen their understanding of liquor and to the global popularity of Chinese liquor. Since the proposal of China's 'Belt and Road' initiative, the overseas expansion of liquor companies has received great attention from various countries, injecting new impetus into the overseas expansion plan of liquor. There is still a lot of room for the development of Chinese liquor in the overseas market." Yanghe Shares said.

In addition, Fenjiu, a giant in the light-fragrance liquor industry, established an import and export company as early as 1992, taking the lead in independently operating export business. In recent years, leveraging the momentum of the "Belt and Road" initiative, Fenjiu has accelerated the promotion of its internationalization strategy, and has continuously deepened its international influence by hosting a series of exciting activities such as the "Fenjiu Global Tour".

It is particularly noteworthy that since the end of June this year, Fenjiu has significantly strengthened its international publicity offensive, and a series of international initiatives have been launched in full swing. First, a promotion conference was held in Tokyo, Japan on July 5, followed by a Fenjiu tasting event in Manhattan, New York, the United States on July 18. On the same day, the Fenjiu Cultural Center was officially opened at the National Library of Kyrgyzstan. In addition, from July 17 to July 23, a seven-day Fenjiu cocktail theme event was held in South Africa...

Regarding the current status of Fenjiu's internationalization, this newspaper's reporter learned from Fenjiu that Shanxi Xinghua Village Fenjiu series products have been exported to more than 50 countries and regions, and cooperation with countries participating in the "Belt and Road" initiative accounts for 1/3 of international cooperation. In the future, Fenjiu International will continue to deepen its presence in overseas markets, continuously expand and improve overseas marketing channels, continue to strengthen the construction of marketing network terminals and consumer cultivation, and strive to achieve coordinated development at home and abroad.

Regarding the overseas expansion of liquor, Cai Xuefei, a liquor industry analyst, believes that internationalization is an inevitable choice for Chinese liquor to break the internal circulation, solve the problem of overcapacity and achieve new growth. The biggest difficulty for Chinese liquor to go overseas lies in cultural barriers, and the best way to break the barriers is to output and guide culture by creating life scenes that consumers like.

There are many pain points in crossing the ocean

Although the overseas expansion strategy has become the main path for leading liquor brands to break through and innovate, China's liquor exports are still insignificant in the total output: industry data show that in 2023, my country's total liquor output reached 6.29 million kiloliters, while the total liquor exports in the same period were only about 15,000 kiloliters, accounting for only 0.2%, which shows that the road to overseas expansion for liquor is still long.

Regarding the current trend of Chinese companies going overseas, a person in the manufacturing industry communicated with our reporter on July 30 and believed that in today's wave of global economic integration, the internationalization process of Chinese liquor is still in the initial stage of exploration and start-up compared with China's manufacturing industry. In his view, in the past, China's manufacturing industry was deeply integrated into the global trade system and industrial chain division of labor with its excellent product quality. With the changes of the times, China's manufacturing industry has evolved from simply exporting products to exploring the export of supply chain capabilities, but Chinese liquor is still at the level of promoting product exports, and is still in the stage of overcoming cultural barriers, adapting to the taste preferences of different consumer groups, and building a global sales network and brand influence. He believes that liquor companies should continue to explore product innovation and service upgrades that adapt to the global market.

When asked about the main factors hindering the export of Chinese liquor overseas, Yanghe Shares pointed out to the reporter of China Times that the challenges mainly come from the low international popularity of liquor and the urgent need to formulate international standards for liquor. The person said, "At present, the world's consumers are still in the stage of recognizing Chinese liquor, understanding Chinese liquor, and accepting Chinese liquor culture. Therefore, the current overseas market consumers are still mainly overseas Chinese, some of whom are interested in Chinese culture and have close exchanges between China and foreign countries. The international market's awareness of liquor is not high. For a long time, the differences in drinking culture, taste, price, export standards and trade barriers between China and foreign countries have also posed great challenges to the export of liquor overseas."

As one of the first liquor companies in the industry to carry out overseas brand promotion activities, Yanghe's mellow liquor has now entered 65 countries and regions on six continents. Yanghe shares also has its own experience and exploration in the process of internationalization. For example, it took the lead in setting up a European warehouse in the Netherlands to create an integrated international logistics system for land and sea transportation; in Canada and Southeast Asia, it actively built an international brand cultural experience center. Not only that, Yanghe has also frequently appeared at the APEC Summit, G20 Summit, SCO Summit, Davos Forum and other important international conference tables, continuously improving the influence of Chinese liquor.

In the process of exporting liquor to overseas markets, facing completely different market environments and consumption habits, how to accurately locate target customers and build an efficient and stable distribution network has also become a major challenge facing liquor brands. Regarding the current exploration of channel layout in overseas markets, Luzhou Laojiao said that as of now, Luzhou Laojiao has established distribution networks in more than 70 countries and regions around the world, and has also actively explored and built an international online sales network, established a new retail business department, and has launched e-commerce platforms in 20 countries (regions) in Southeast Asia, Central Asia, Europe, Oceania and North America, opening up a new situation for overseas business. It has also actively cooperated with international mainstream channels such as Costco and international duty-free operation giant DFS to promote the integration of Chinese liquor into the international mainstream market.

In addition, in terms of consumer education on the globalization of liquor, Luzhou Laojiao stated that in the process of going global, Luzhou Laojiao has innovated in creating liquor products, launching a number of innovative products that are very different from traditional liquor, such as ready-mixed cocktails, pre-mixed cocktails, and oak barrel liquor. In addition, based on the drinking habits and cultural habits of consumers in different countries and regions, it has jointly developed new liquor products with international professional teams. On the basis of adhering to the traditional Chinese liquor brewing process, it has carried out diversified taste and appearance designs, and entered local mainstream spirits consumption places.

"In the future, Luzhou Laojiao will create younger and more fashionable products based on the demands of the international market. For example, in response to changes in consumption scenarios, we will build an international online sales network for Luzhou Laojiao. We will also rebuild our product matrix to keep up with the transformation of the international duty-free retail industry. We will launch more products with more personality and more Internet genes into the market, so that young consumers at home and abroad can drink the wine they want and are willing to drink." Luzhou Laojiao pointed out.

Editor-in-charge: Lu Xiao Editor-in-chief: Han Feng