At 6 pm in the summer evening, in Baiyang Village, Xiaofeng Town, Anji County, Zhejiang Province, at an altitude of 366 meters, a rural brand press conference is being held at the mountaintop camp. The sunset sets in the west, and the evening breeze is pleasant. For the first time, the low pitched jazz music resounds among the towering mountains. Behind the band, the logo of “Spring Breeze Poplar” is exceptionally eye-catching. In the era of “everyone is self media”, the brand of Baiyang Village is constantly spread and amplified.
In fact, the branding management of Baiyang Village has been going on for a whole year and a half, and has achieved unexpected results. On that day, it only made a formal appearance to various sectors of society in this “wild luxury” way.
Why should a small mountain village promote branded management? What are the essential characteristics of this type of operation and what changes can it bring to rural development?
Brand Inspires Vitality
Baiyang Village is located on the Zhejiang Anhui border, surrounded by mountains on all sides, 32 kilometers away from Anji County. It used to be famous for its poverty, with 21 bachelors among nearly 2000 villagers. The village’s collective economy is even more ashamed to see people. The change began in July 2020 when Xia Xiangdong returned to the village as the Party branch secretary and village committee director.
In the eyes of ordinary people, Baiyang Village has neither famous mountains and rivers to approach nor agricultural industry agglomeration. The so-called landscape resources are commonplace in Anji, but in Xia Xiangdong’s view, today’s rural development is no longer determined by the simple sales of agricultural products. Only by gathering all resources and building an overall rural brand can it be possible to “overtake on the bend” and rise comprehensively.
Throughout Zhejiang’s rural management, it basically relies on “foreign monks”. They are not familiar with their place of life, and it goes without saying that their business is difficult. Once things go wrong, it is not uncommon for them to leave, making it difficult to sustain their development. Xia Xiangdong believes that as a local person, he not only understands the resource situation, but also easily communicates with the people. As long as he “changes the staffing” out of public interest, rather than a single minded mindset, or “scoops up oil and water” in the project, why worry about not achieving major things?
Therefore, as soon as Xia Xiangdong took office, he invited a professional team to do rural brand planning, but this move immediately raised doubts: he had seen village planning and industrial planning, but he had never seen rural brand planning!
In Xia Xiangdong’s view, brand planning is not only crucial, but also determines whether village planning and industrial planning can be implemented. Only through brand planning and a clear positioning of rural development can village planning and industrial planning truly play a role. Subsequently, professional institutions proposed the brand naming of “Spring Wind Poplar” and the brand positioning of “Soul Hometown”, and constructed a complete VI identification system for it.
Since building a brand, it is necessary to put forward new requirements for product quality. Therefore, a brand is both a goal and a self-restraint, which is conducive to the comprehensive improvement of rural development standards. In Xia Xiangdong’s understanding, the concept of “spring breeze” not only exists in reality, but also represents the expectations of villagers. Baiyang Village sells not only agricultural products, but also a way of life.
The mountain is still that mountain, the products are still those products, and the people are still those people. However, through the overall packaging design, all resource elements are integrated into the brand as a carrier, emitting new light and reflecting unique value. The vitality and development potential of the entire Baiyang Village have also been fully stimulated.
For Xia Xiangdong, the most alluring aspect is that once “Spring Wind White Poplar” succeeds, it can be replicated and exported like an industrial and commercial brand, bringing a continuous stream of benefits. Every time he thinks of this day, he is full of strength and doesn’t feel tired at all.
Project support brand
But after all, a brand cannot just be a simple slogan and logo, its growth must rely on project support. The goal of branding management is to revitalize various rural resources. If left without project leveraging, rural resources can only continue to slumber, and branding can only be a dream. Over the past two years, Xia Xiangdong’s understanding of the relationship between projects and brands has become increasingly mature.
Unlike some heavily funded “star villages”, Baiyang Village was once forgotten and government project investment was limited. But a piece of white paper is easy to draw. Through brand planning, Baiyang Village not only clarifies its development goals, but also finds a unique path. It is possible to use more scientific methods and precise strategies to change the backward situation, and it can also attract the attention of local party committees and governments.
The government’s investment in rural construction is legitimate, but it should be carefully considered who and how to invest. “Pan Mingliang, Secretary of the Party Committee of Xiaofeng Town, believes that whether the village team has combat effectiveness, unconventional development ideas, and landing ability is an important” weight “for balancing decision-making. In the allocation of various social resources, the attitude of township level governments is crucial.
With the “Spring Wind White Poplar”, financial projects at all levels are coming like a spring breeze. At present, there are 15 projects under construction in the village, including mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes, grasslands, social welfare stations, resettlement areas, and colorful forests.
Generally, financial projects have acceptance standards, and village collectives can only passively execute them. If they pass the acceptance, everything will be fine. Branding gives the project a soul, not only avoiding blind investment and waste, but also providing supporting facilities for brand implementation according to positioning needs. Xia Xiangdong believes that this is the biggest change brought about by brand leadership.
For example, in the kindergarten project, the higher authorities allocated 1 million yuan, but only 15 children in the village attended school, which inevitably resulted in a low utilization rate in the later stage. On the other hand, in order to develop parent-child research and other forms of business in the village, physical space is urgently needed. Therefore, Baiyang Village decisively added 4 million yuan in investment to design it as a “dual purpose” training base, which can receive research and learning teams during holidays. It is expected that the investment can be recovered within 5 years.
Under the leadership of the brand, various livelihood projects have been successfully implanted into the market genes. Similarly, the tourist reception center has added the function of a coffee shop, the elderly activity center has transformed into a homestay, and the construction of colorful forests and colorful Gongfu Road has also given more consideration to providing services for investment attraction and business format landing.
Many projects in many places are mostly isolated and even unable to escape the fate of being idle. But in Baiyang Village, each project has become a node in brand building, giving it market-oriented functions that complement each other: projects add points to the brand, and projects reflect value because of the brand. In Xia Xiangdong’s view, village cadres are no longer simple butlers, but rural operation officials; The format is no longer a simple format, but the backbone of the brand.
Village collective moves towards the front desk
After the implementation of a large number of financial projects, who will lead the implementation of rural branding management? Generally, rural areas often consider introducing social capital as a solution. This inevitably leads to the loss of “dividends”: in the face of village level collective assets formed by huge government investment, village collectives and villagers can only receive limited rent and salaries.
Can the village collectively lead the way and let the “fat water” flow into their own fields? In May 2021, Baiyang Village Stock Economic Cooperative established Anji Bailanwu Agricultural and Forestry Development Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Qiangcun Fumin, and recruited operational talents to take care of it.
How does the project operate? Baiyang Village has flexible and diverse methods: some introduce social capital, and “Bailanwu” collects management fees on an annual basis; Some who are optimistic about themselves but have the ability to operate will be left to the village collective to “do it alone”; Others collaborate with social capital stocks. Without exception, every project and village collective are deeply tied to the management.
For example, two campsites are invested by social capital, and “Bailanwu” participates in management and operation. In addition to collecting a management fee of 250000 yuan each year, it also solves the employment problem of villagers; The “Waiting for Wind Store” homestay under construction is invested 20 million yuan by the village collective, managed and operated by the village enterprise, and is expected to generate an annual income of 3 million yuan after opening; The residential project at the entrance of the village is invested 50 million yuan by a central enterprise in Shanghai, with Baiyang Village holding 25% of the shares on land, and the management is also managed by the village enterprise.
It can be said that if the collective economy is not done well, it is the root grass, but if it is done well, it is a treasure. When it comes to rural construction, it used to be about policies, projects, and support. In fact, taking the brand as the lead, fully leveraging the collective advantages of the village, and moving from blood transfusion to hematopoiesis, is the topic that rural areas should deeply explore. Now, Xia Xiangdong holds high the banner of the village collective, winning market appeal externally and gaining village cohesion internally.
But it’s difficult for a skillful daughter-in-law to cook without rice, where does the development funds come from? It is understood that Baiyang Village has been listed as a pilot project for the comprehensive reform of natural resources in Zhejiang Province. Through quantitative evaluation of various resource assets, an asset package managed by the village collective will be formed. It can be used for financing collateral or equity investment, thereby solving the problem of fund supply.
The assessed value of Baiyang Village’s asset package is 100 million yuan, and when converted to 6, the village has obtained a loan credit line of 60 million yuan. The remaining land quota for farmland consolidation in the entire area is 75 acres, which can be converted into 1.4 million yuan for circulation. “Xia Xiangdong said that currently, the village has borrowed 30 million yuan of construction funds.
Brand Rise
Nowadays, the brand is bringing many unexpected changes to Baiyang Village. Last year, despite the impact of the epidemic, collective income skyrocketed from 560000 yuan to 1.5 million yuan, with broad prospects. This is only at the economic level, and the influence formed by the brand is more deeply reflected in the atmosphere of rural development.
Our work is becoming more and more smooth, and some ordinary people used to find it difficult to cooperate with their work. Nowadays, their attitudes have greatly changed, “Xia Xiangdong said. The best example is that young people are willing to go back to their hometown to start their own businesses, with some doing management, some driving electric cars, and some doing reception and homestays. After the rise of the brand, other businesses followed suit, and the village undertook several post operation projects.
Xia Xiangdong estimated that the operating income of Baiyang Village will reach 50 million yuan next year. And the ultimate goal is the IP path, pushing “Bailanwu” into the capital market. Next, we will open the ‘Spring Breeze Poplar’ restaurant to the city through a brand chain, “Xia Xiangdong said confidently.
Gu Yikang, a renowned expert in agriculture, rural areas, and farmers, believes that the branding management of Baiyang Village is an inevitable choice for rural areas to adapt to the trend of urban-rural integration, a process of re understanding, re amplification, and re appreciation of rural resources, and a beneficial exploration for rural areas to break away from traditional development models, with important breakthrough significance.
In Gu Yikang’s view, for thousands of years, rural areas have only been the production and living space for farmers. Although rural resources are abundant, they are difficult to effectively utilize. Farmers are only accustomed to selling agricultural products to maintain their livelihoods, and there is a serious barrier between the “two mountains”. The practice of Baiyang Village has proven that only by aggregating scattered rural resources on the brand and operating the countryside like an enterprise can we meet the new needs of urban consumers in the era of ecological civilization, truly unleash the potential value of rural resources, move from “blood transfusion” to “hematopoiesis”, and achieve sustainable development.
For a long time, we have delved deeply into the article of ‘division’, to the extreme, inspiring farmers’ enthusiasm for innovation and entrepreneurship. However, relatively speaking, the advantages of ‘unification’ have not been truly utilized, and many people have even turned pale when talking about ‘unification’. Gu Yikang believes that the key to Baiyang Village’s’ popularity ‘is that the village collective has come to the forefront. Throughout the current famous villages, they have fully utilized the advantages of collective management. In fact, compared to industrial and commercial entities, village collectives have natural advantages in politics, resources, talent, and other aspects. They are themselves powerful brands with strong endorsement significance
From a ‘development oriented rural’ to a ‘common prosperity oriented rural’, the development subject is quietly changing, promoting a shift from individuals to collectives. This is a change in the connotation of the era’s development and an inherent requirement of the ‘unified and decentralized’ management system, “Gu Yikang said. (Zhu Haiyang, journalist from China Rural Daily and China Rural Network)
Editor in charge: Zhang Ling