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Recently, the 2024 Publishing Brand Development Conference was held in Jinan.

The publishing industry has always played an indispensable role in social development. However, with the continuous iteration of new technologies and the current situation of a series of changes in the external environment, how should publishing companies use the power of brands to resist the market chill, actively respond to changes in channels, marketing, etc., and promote the healthy development of product sales and industries? How to find a second growth path? At the 2024 Publishing Brand Development Conference, Wu Shulin, Chairman of the China Publishing Association, Xu Hai, Deputy General Manager of Jiangsu Phoenix Publishing and Media Group and Editor-in-Chief of Phoenix Media Co., Ltd., Chen Wei, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of CITIC Publishing Group Co., Ltd., Chen Lei, Founder of Hunzhi, Wang Wei, Vice President of BlueFocus Group and President of BlueBand Think Tank, Jia Yingmin, Head of the "Reading Little Classics" Small Ancient Chinese Literature Brand of Jinan Publishing House, and Zhu Di, the Manager of BOOK, and other big guests in the publishing industry exchanged and shared on the spot around the theme of "Brand Gathering Strength and Determining the Future".

The event site of “2024 Publishing Brand Development Conference” (photo provided by the organizer).

Promoting the expansion of publishing companies through branding

At present, book branding has become a market trend. At the event, Feng Xiaohui shared and interpreted relevant data on the growth and brand development of publishing companies, focusing on the overall brand distribution of publishing companies, the brand building and development of leading publishing companies, the branding path of publishing companies' scale expansion, and the ways of brand building and expansion of publishing companies.

Feng Xiaohui said that from other industries, we can see that whether it is through the concept of multiple brands or through a single brand to dominate the world, "everyone has different strategies." Focusing on the publishing industry, foreign publishing companies have very mature theories around brand building and creation. For example, Oxford University Press, as the main brand, has different series and product lines under Oxford. This means that large foreign publishing companies are more likely to use a brand matrix, using different brands to focus on different tracks. Pearson Group, which focuses on education, also has some brands in different fields that are not associated with the parent brand, such as the Longman brand in English learning. The more diversified RELX Group not only involves the publishing industry, but also expands other business modules. At the same time, in different business segments, there are different brands focusing on different fields. In other words, these publishing groups, whether through self-built brands or through different series of mergers and acquisitions, have been constantly promoting the expansion of the scale of publishing companies through branding paths in the process of scaling up the entire publishing enterprise.

So, what is the situation of the domestic publishing industry? Feng Xiaohui introduced that according to the brand data monitored in the first half of this year, there are 97 publishing houses with sub-brands, and 12 with more than 5 sub-brands. In the entire book retail market, 6 of the top 10 publishing houses have sub-brands, and 30 of the top 50 have sub-brands. It can be seen that the branding level of leading enterprises is relatively high.

Feng Xiaohui said that the current leading publishing units, in the process of brand expansion and scale expansion, the path of brand construction can be divided into three categories: the first is to expand in the field of users of different age groups, such as adult book publishing houses expanding into the children's market, such as the "Tongqu" brand under the People's Posts and Telecommunications Publishing House, and the "100-story Children's Book House" sub-brand of the Beijing Science and Technology Publishing House in the children's field. The second is the expansion of professional publishing houses into the mass field, such as "Huazhang" under the Machinery Industry Press, "Zhiyuan Micro Library" under the People's Posts and Telecommunications Publishing House, and the "Nautilus" sub-brand in the field of natural sciences under CITIC Publishing Group, and the "Moli" sub-brand in the direction of literature. The third is the segmentation of target categories, which is more based on a certain type of people, and the continuous segmentation will further divide its own products, such as "Le Le Qu", "Aoyoumao" and "Eryu" under Rongxin Culture, and the sub-brands "Midnight Library" and "Fantasy Library" under Xinxing Publishing House.

Brand building requires deep connection with readers

How to maintain the sensitivity and advancement of brand building? Chen Wei shared the ups and downs of CITIC Publishing Group's brand strategy over the years. In this process, some brands have produced very good works, and some brands have disappeared in the process of development. Chen Wei believes that it is very meaningful to explore the development and disappearance of a book brand when the book industry is facing difficulties. From "Who Moved My Cheese" and "Built to Last" published in the early stage of market economic development, to classic works such as "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" and "Black Swan" published during the economic transition period, to a series of works in recent years that respond to the dramatic changes in the world's competitive landscape, such as "The American Trap" and "Capital in the Twenty-First Century", in different periods, CITIC Publishing has used advanced theories and cutting-edge content to detonate the market, which constitutes the accumulation of the growth of CITIC Publishing as a publishing house brand.

In Chen Wei's view, in order to implement the brand strategy in book marketing activities, the brand strategy must run through key marketing activities, and the brand strategy must also be closely integrated with the needs of readers, especially to meet the needs of the new generation of readers. In this regard, CITIC Publishing Group adopts a combination of online and offline activities, inviting readers, translators, book recommenders, etc. to conduct in-depth interviews and reading interpretations on the content of the book and current hot topics in society. At the same time, participate in offline activities such as book fairs, introduce and sell books and peripheral products to readers on the spot, and share the reading experience in an atmosphere that young people like to have fun. In addition, CITIC Publishing Group also seizes the popular trend of self-media podcasts, combines reading with podcasts, and integrates lifestyle content such as music and fashion to shape the brand influence of cultural life and implement the brand strategy in market expansion and dissemination.

Brand building requires not only influential bestsellers, but also deep connections with readers, providing high-quality value-added cultural services, and continuous development of high-quality products. "100 Lessons of Ancient Chinese Literature for Primary School Students" has sold tens of millions of copies in 12 years. As the initiator of the "Little Ancient Chinese Literature" course, Jinan Publishing House is committed to shifting from product building to brand building. Jia Yingmin shared the brand building journey of "Reading Little Classics" from three aspects: from a set of books to a set of courses: the self-iteration of the bestseller "100 Lessons of Ancient Chinese Literature for Primary School Students", from a set of courses to a project: online + offline continuous cultural services, and from "Little Ancient Chinese Literature" to "Reading Little Classics": the continuous development of the Little Classics course.

As a leading IP in the field of knowledge popularization, "Hunzhi" is good at simplifying complex knowledge with interesting visual language and creating interdisciplinary content. From the beginning of history and humanities to science and technology, nature, health, economy and other fields, it gradually builds the Hunzhi "universe". As a knowledge content startup company, Chen Lei, the founder of Hunzhi, said frankly at the event, "Knowledge dissemination cannot only rely on paper and ink, but should also have more means and methods. In 2023, the 2,000-square-meter comprehensive Hunzhi bookstore will be located in the Shanghai Tower, and cultural and tourism cooperation will be carried out in various places, which will give us more imagination and room for knowledge dissemination, and carry our divergent thinking on the multi-dimensional content and the possibility of more content derivation."

Reporter/He Ye Editor/He Anan Proofreader/Zhang Yanjun