China Traveller – January 2012
Destination Placement in Chinese Movies
The marketing strategy of consumer product placement in film and TV is everything but new and well documented. The most explicit example being Cast Away starring Tom Hanks that was little more than a product placement ad for Wilson, FedEx and Jeep. The placement of destination brands (destination placement) however has without doubt shifted from the subtle to in your face obvious over the past five years. For good reason to as the Mecca for movies, Hollywood, must be without doubt the greatest and most sustained promotional campaign the US could ever hope for in terms of tourism appeal.
On the international stage the evidence of increased tourism arrivals to a country following successful box office sales of a movie filmed on their soil is well documented. Lord of the Rings is a classic example of a destination, New Zealand, which reaped the tourism rewards of an internationally popular film. Mindful of the Kiwi’s success, neighbouring Australia, through the Australia Tourism Commission, spent in the region of AUD$40 million to promote the country branding flick Australia staring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman. Pity the movie was such a disappointment. Perhaps an unintentional Australia branding film, The Boys are Back staring Clive Owen, was more effective in portraying the land of Oz as a great holiday destination despite the serious plot. Other examples of films that have generated strong destination branding include Woody Allen’s Vicky Christina Barcelona and Eat Pray Love starring Julia Roberts in a spiritual quest taking her role to Italy, India and Indonesia. The cartoon Madagascar was punted as the movie to improve tourist arrivals to their exotic destination (“daddy, daddy, I want to go to Madagascar to see lions”) but regrettably the financial crisis stopped such hopes dead in their tracks.
The exceptionally large cinema viewing audience in China has driven western film producers of late to produce China characteristic, or at the very least China friendly, films. Examples include Kungfu Panda, 2012 and Transformers. Higher international box office sales means more profit for film makers, and with one quarter of the world’s population, currying favour with the Chinese cinema audience is good for business.
Enter the country branding industry. With countries being viewed and compared as brands in the same light as traditional consumer products, country branding in China is taking on a whole new significance. With China on the rise to produce 100 million outbound travellers by 2020 it is hardly surprising that a number of destinations have lobbied Chinese film makers to shoot on their lands, but with varying results to date.
The Chinese produced film If You Are the One staring Ge You and Shu Qi made Hokkaido, Japan’s second largest island, an instant hit amongst China’s tourists. According to reports the movie was filmed without financial or any other overt support from the Hokkaido tourism department but resulted in significant branding of the destination in China supported by subway billboards city wide depicting the picturesque island to promote the film. Local tour operators subsequently launched If You Are the One tour packages resulting in Chinese outbound travel to the island climbing by 175% between 2007 and 2008 from 26,950 to 47,400 respectively. Air China and Costa Cruises also got in on the action with brand footage in the movie. If You Are the One 2 subsequently featured local Beijing sites including the Great Wall’s Mutianyu, Tanzhe Temple and the artist 798 district. Deputy Director Gu Xiaoyuan of the Beijing Tourism Administration highlighted the fact that their cooperation with the film was an experiment in their marketing strategy. Travel companies like C-trip also cashed in on the movie’s popularity by launching themed tourism products that fans could follow.
National tourism bureaus have proven their willingness to provide significant support to film producers with the objective of securing superior coverage of their product in the Chinese market thus far. The Tourism Authority of Thailand for example provided the producers of Go! Lala, Go! starring Xu Jinglei and Huang Lixing, with logistical, food & beverage and accommodation support to shoot on-site at their beach destination of Pattaya. It is estimated that their destination placement cost Thailand less than a million Renminbi. The French region of Bordeaux also benefitted from their destination placement in the Chinese film Eternal Moment starring, again, Xu Jinglei and Li Yapeng. Director and actress Xu Jinglei is without doubt one of the pioneers in the destination placement business also having completed projects in South Africa and serving as Sri Lanka’s Tourism Ambassador. Her more recent movie, Dear Enemy also included Hong Kong, the UK, Australia and South Africa. It is understood that their tourism promotion bureaus were approached for support but it is unclear how much was received in the end.
As for the results of these destination placement efforts, If You Are the One was viewed by nine million Chinese cinema goers and as previously stated resulted in Hokkaido arrivals increase of 175% year-on-year. If You Are the One 2 was viewed by almost 13 million people and was ranked third in China’s top ten box office in 2010. Go! Lala, Go! was viewed by almost four million people while Eternal Moment was viewed by nearly six million viewers at cinema’s in China.
While the industry remains in its pioneering stage it is true that some destinations have already benefited from placement in Chinese films. But no country destination to date has reaped the full potential of hosting a Chinese box office winner than has dramatically improved Chinese tourist arrivals to their land like Lord of the Rings did on an international stage for New Zealand tourism. Who will be first?
China Traveller 
