| Intercultural communication between China and the rest part of the world has been increasingly closer in recent years.Accordingly,cultural diplomacy plays an increasingly important role in current diplomatic activities,ranking third in terms of its importance,following economic diplomacy and political diplomacy.Thanks to the profound inclusiveness of beauty perception and cultural communication value contained in film,film is universally regarded as the key factor in cultural trade.In addition,cross-border film trade can transmit cultural ideology with high efficiency and bring considerable economic benefit at the same time.Therefore,it is not surprising that film industry has been treated as the major driving force in spreading a country’s international influence,shaping its national image and improving its soft power.No.9(2010)document released by Chinese General Office of the State Council stated that China will tremendously carry forward the great-leap-forward development of Chinese film industry,being dedicated to improving film quality and its international influence.In 2013,the increase rate of Chinese film box office income was 27%,and the total income was 3.51 billion dollars.In 2016,the gross output value of Chinese film industry amounted to 20.8 billion dollars.China has surpassed Japan to be the world second largest film market.The most popular film in August,2017 Wolf Warriors II has successfully developed to the top 100 world films.Judging from this rapid developing trend,some scholars argued that it is unnecessary to exploit the overseas market.However,the author holds the opinion that domestic box office gross increase is not necessarily equivalent to the real prosperity of a nation’s film industry.How much external driving force was included in current Chinese film box office increase is a question that deserves further study.In terms of the box office performance of Chinese film,while the past decade has witnessed its dramatic progress in domestic market,the international market performance of Chinese film is still unstable,even showing a slight descending trend.According to the officially released statistics,foreign revenue of Chinese film just took up 10%of its total industry gross of 2015.Chinese film watching attendance in 2016 increased to 1.38 billion,with an increase rate at 9.5%when compared with that in 2015.The past five years have witnessed the dramatic increase of screen numbers in China.In 2011,the total national screen number was less than 10,000,while the number has increased to 31,627 by the end of 2015,with an increase rate at 34%.Although the screen number in 2016 has increased to 42,052,with an increased rate at 33%,the box office gross has reduced by 17%when compared with that in 2015,with 68%cinema’s box office revenue lower than the average industrial level.What was worse,Chinese film export volume only accounted to 3%of the country’s total export volume in 2015.In addition,Chinese films’ box office increase rate in North America remains only at 7%in 2016.In other words,China’s box office performance inflation driven by the increase of screen numbers will eventually come to an end with the gradual saturation of national market.In contrast,Hollywood film industry embraces a stable and continuous development,overwhelmingly transmitting its Hollywood culture influence to the rest parts of the world.According to the data released by Price Waterhouse Coopers in 2016,the global film revenue in 2016 was around 90 billion dollars,among which American film production value occupied 38 billion dollars.The amount of American films occupied only 10%of the world total,but Hollywood engulfed 65%of the world total box office by broadcasting them to more than 150 nations and regions.In 2013,the North American box office led by the United States amounted to 10.9 billion dollars,increasing by 1%when compared with that of 2012.However,their overseas box office in 2013 amounted to 25 billion dollars,increasing by an astounding rate of 6.7%when compared with that in 2012.That is to say,overseas market increase is the major driving force of Hollywood film industry development.Hollywood is a perfect learning model for the rest parts of the world in terms of its successful intercultural marketing strategies.It is illustrated in further marketing strategy analysis that there are many problems in Chinese films industry such as simple marketing type,single profit channel,lack of marketing consistency,and high policy risks.However,many Chinese film industry studies tend to pay more attention to film contents and film themes analysis than intercultural film marketing strategy analysis.As a result,a comprehensive and up-to-date study on China’s intercultural film marketing strategy is extremely urgent.This article will compare and contrast the industry conditions and international marketing strategies in China and that in the United States with PEST analysis model and SWOT analysis model to summarize the similarities and differences between them,finding out reasons behind Chinese commercial intercultural market performance as well as giving corresponding suggestions.In addition,the author will also conduct case study on the successful international film marketing activities,trying to draw lessons and summarize experiences which can be adopted by China’s film industry.The main body of this paper falls into five chapters.The first chapter summarizes the background of cross-cultural communication and its significance to film industry development and to international marketing practice.Moreover,it states the current international market status of Chinese commercial films as well as the international competition confronted by China.The second section in chapter one describes the research purpose and questions need to be investigated in this article,which are the reasons behind the poor performance of Chinese film marketing condition and how to learn from Hollywood marketing success.The third section of chapter one introduces the main research method used in this paper:PEST analysis model which refers to political factor,economic factor,social factor and technological factor.This model is used to compare and analyze the film industry condition of the United States and that of China.Secondly,the SWOT analysis model is also introduced,which mainly aims to analyze the current strength,weakness,opportunities,and threats faced by Chinese film industry.The next part of this thesis is the literature review,which analyzes the overseas and domestic research condition in this field.During the industrialization process of Hollywood film,a systematic,comprehensive and mature principles based on its marketing experience has been formed and being practiced in recent film marketing practice.The author uses many monographs and journals as additional reference in this thesis.In terms of the domestic study on Chinese film industry,the author analyzes the annual Film Industry Report from 2011 to 2016,learning the change and developments occurred in Chinese film industry and summarizing the study progress in Chinese academic field.In the third part of this thesis,the author uses comparative analysis approach to compare and contrast the film industry condition and international marketing practice between China and the United States.PEST analysis method is used to analyze the macro political,economic,cultural and technological condition of Chinese and Hollywood film industry.Furthermore,SWOT analysis approach has also been used to point out the strengths and opportunities,weakness and threats faced by Chinese film international marketing.The author also chooses some typical marketing cases between these two countries to further understand the underlying reasons behind different international market performance between Chinese film industry and that of Hollywood,attempting to analyze their major difference in detail.The fourth chapter puts forward some suggestions for the future Chinese film international marketing activities.Suggestions include brand marketing strategy and positioning strategy,which focus on the establishment of Chinese film brand and the methods to distinguish it from others.A simplified brand is unable to withstand the challenge of current changing market,so it is suggested to diversify Chinese film brand and extend its diversification.Moreover,in the era of big data,it is suggested to record much useful information such as customer age,their film shopping habit and shopping frequency as well as their tastes for further marketing strategy designing.Elaborate marketing research and information recording activities will greatly improve the efficiency of Chinese film international marketing strategies.In the second section of Chapter four,the author explains the necessity to shift from current 4Ps(product,price,place,promotion)marketing strategy to the advanced 4Cs(consumer demand,cost,convenience,communication)marketing strategy.In the third section,suggestions centered on reducing cultural discount have been put forward,which includes adapting to universal film theme,adopting cultural integration strategy and promoting cross-border strategy.Last but not least,suggestions on how to enhance film copyright protection are also put forward in the forth section of this part.The last chapter is the conclusion and implications of this thesis,in which the author summarizes the major findings as well as expectations for further study in this field. |
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