Behind the popularity of products such as "cultural and creative ice cream", what kind of cultural code is hidden?

I don't know when, every festive holiday, there will always be a variety of ice cream photos in the circle of friends, with the characteristics of a scenic spot: the sacred beast of the Forbidden City, the building of the Yellow Crane Tower, and the "small barbarian waist" Canton Tower in Guangzhou, all of which are made into ice cream. In recent years, major scenic spots across the country have launched cultural and creative ice cream, attracting a large number of tourists to "punch in", making people feel that only after eating ice cream can they be considered to have traveled to scenic spots. Cultural and creative products such as ice cream have become the expression of a city's cultural symbols, and behind it is a representative public cultural embodiment of a region, and it is also a manifestation of a city's soft power. The rich cultural connotation contained in cultural and creative products allows people to have a deep impression on it, realize the cultural brand effect, and enhance the output and dissemination of culture.

The essence of developing public cultural brands lies in enhancing the soft power of cities

Urban soft power has a profound connotation, it seems invisible, but it is objectively existent; it needs long-term accumulation and must be achieved for a long time; it has a distinct identity and needs to be highlighted. Soft power involves regional economic development, system construction, spiritual improvement, people's sense of gain and other aspects, which is very important for the construction of cities. Regional public culture represents the cultural connotation and historical genes of a city, is the difference between a city and other regional cities, is the source of happiness and pride of the people of the city, and is the pursuit of Chinese and foreign tourists who come to admire it. By giving new vitality to culture with the help of modern means, opening up urban politics, economy, culture and other aspects is conducive to forming a virtuous circle and realizing an urban "ecology".

China has a rich regional culture, most of which comes from the traditional culture, folklore and other histories that have been handed down to the present day, but it is often ignored by people in modern life. For example, in people's impressions, Shanghai is often labeled as "open", "prosperous", "exquisite" and other urban flavors, but in addition to the bustling urban life, there are Fengxian rolling lights, Jinshan peasant paintings, Pudong dragon dances and Haipai Yangge... These cultures, which are fading out of people's vision, carry the history and folklore of a place, and the skills and works are full of regional cultural memories, the efforts and achievements of generations, and they should and deserve to be re-emphasized.

Create a public cultural brand core and explore unique cultural connotations

In modern society, the promotion of traditional culture in a traditional way cannot enhance the public's attention, and it is necessary to build a public cultural brand, strengthen the core, and combine modern means with the outside world, so that the crystallization of human wisdom and labor in history can be revitalized.

To build a public culture brand, we first need to strengthen the quality of public culture itself and create a strong core. The construction of brand competitiveness needs to gather and cultivate a group of professional masters and technicians to grind their skills, designers, cultural and creative entrepreneurs from the source of the public cultural brand innovation chain for sustainable output and transformation, the core traditional skills and cultural core to be refined, focus on in-depth excavation, for cultural products to inject skills, intelligence and creativity, giving cultural brands strong characteristics and intellectual property rights.

In addition, efforts need to be made to build a value chain that meets the characteristics of regional needs, dig deep into the history and culture of the region, and grasp the needs and concerns of the audience, especially local people and foreign tourists. In this regard, the creation of public cultural IP is a powerful way to give cultural brands short-term growth momentum and future sustained growth capabilities.

As the birthplace of the Communist Party of China, Shanghai has a deep red cultural heritage and red genes, and Shanghai is one of the fastest and most fashionable cities in the country. How to make red culture still show vitality in the process of modernization, the core lies in the in-depth excavation and innovative transformation of red culture. In this regard, Shanghai has made a lot of efforts, such as completing the construction and protection of "one museum and five sites", repairing the old site, and establishing the Shanghai Municipal Research Center for the Great Founding Spirit of the Communist Party of China to conduct in-depth research on red culture; at the same time, it has produced relevant dance dramas, movies and other red literary and artistic masterpieces, innovated and developed cultural creativity, red tourism routes, etc., and continued to build a red cultural brand, so that the thick but constantly innovative red culture and Jiangnan culture and Shanghai culture shine together and emit a brilliant light.

Publicize the brand connotation of public culture and pay attention to diversified communication methods

The malleability and reach of the core need to be achieved through publicity, and only when people can easily and easily understand the public culture, the brand has an audience. Through publicity means, let the public be familiar with public culture, show its deep meaning through the way people like to hear, realize the extension and refinement of connotation, and tell cultural stories in a way that the public recognizes and accepts.

The process of propaganda requires the use of modern means to connect and integrate with modern society. The use of network platforms for communication has the characteristics of fast speed, wide dissemination, low marginal cost, etc., such as adding the promotion of public culture brands in e-commerce platforms and live broadcasts, and adding public culture-related elements in variety shows, which can attract people's attention and let people fully understand the core of public culture. Relying on the "Cultural Shanghai Cloud", Shanghai uses Internet consumption to cover the public cultural field, and launches methods such as scanning codes to grab tickets and online reviews to form a "demand map" of citizens with big data, so that public cultural products can accurately meet the needs of citizens and promote the upgrading of service efficiency.

At the same time, it is necessary to pay attention to the cultivation of diverse groups and the rejuvenation of dissemination. By promoting cultural brands into campuses and communities, creating innovative blocks and holding relevant activities, we will popularize local excellent public cultural knowledge for young people and the people, and cultivate their awareness of attaching importance to and inheriting excellent public culture. For example, "Yanjing Eight Absolutes" is a representative public culture in Beijing, through the establishment of the "Yanjing Eight Absolutes" museum near the residential area, with the display and sale of "Yanjing Eight Absolute" objects, so that the atmosphere of cultural skills awakens people's cultural pursuits, gives people an immersive experience, and strengthens cultural self-confidence in the subtle.

In addition, the forms of expression of culture and art are very different, and it is necessary to choose a suitable value-added method based on their own artistic characteristics, and combine them with different aspects of urban renewal. Handicrafts and other small items can be displayed in the form of handicrafts and handicrafts; for cultural imagery, they can be innovatively made into cultural and creative products and display their ideas; for the grand history of cultural development and knowledge, they can achieve the dissemination of knowledge by holding activities and creating cultural blocks.

Pave the road for the development of public culture and strengthen the protection of the external environment

The good dissemination of public culture and the realization of brand power require society to create an atmosphere that encourages innovation and provide a platform suitable for the development of public culture and a market for brand development. With the acceptance and support of society, the recovery of cultural genes and the innovation and development of public culture can be smoothly implemented.

Public culture needs the orderly guidance and cultural guidance of the government, the support of various resources such as funds, channels, and people, and also the participation and activation of social capital. Through mechanism innovation, model innovation, format innovation, platform innovation, means innovation and other ways, it provides new paths, new spaces and new carriers for the construction of the industrial chain of public cultural brands, so that the development of the cultural environment is more in line with policy orientation and social needs.

The establishment of public cultural brands has potential market demand, which requires the formation of benign interaction and circulation between public cultural brands themselves and the market, society, government and other subjects, and with the help of modern means and multi-party forces, to open up a broad world for the development of public culture.

(The authors are the chief expert of the innovation team of "New Cultural Creation Theory and Application" of Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, and the research assistant of Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital Research Center of Fudan University)

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(The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.) E-mail: [email protected])