Hohhot's Time-honored Brand Visual Image Research

The time-honored brands, inheriting from traditional Chinese business culture, are the crystal of the Chinese culture. The time-honored brands not only represent the core and the quality of traditional Chinese business culture, as they are fruits of several generations' hardworking, but also promote the operation of traditional Chinese business. However, in the past decades, the time-honored brands have undergone great changes. Some of them become more prosperous but some of them meet great difficulties. According to the latest research, the development of time-honored brands since the establishment of the Republic of China has decreased in a large margin, which causes extensive concern to this problem.In the two sessions of the National People's Congress and the Chinese Consultative Conference opened in March 2016, the innovative development of time-honored brands has been discussed by CPPCC members in the conference. To customers, the time-honored brands are not only famous brands of the city, but also are inherited from local culture. Lots of committee members propose that in the current situation, cultural values should be combined with the brands to create new opportunity of development. Attention should be not only paid to the quality of products, but also the cultural sentiments. In an age that economic development is led by sentiments, the key to development of time-honored brands should be transformed from quality to emotional linkage. Only with emotional sentiments, can the time-honored brands touch customers deep inside. Every time-honored brand should have its own special story.This paper studies the changes and development of the time-honored brands in terms of its visual image in Hohhot, a time-honored city famous for long history and traditional culture. Through textual analysis, comparative studies and interviews, the author finds there are great potential for the time-honored brands in Hohhot to develop and there are abundant of resources of visual images for us to develop as well.The time-honored brands, with its brilliant quality, great reputation, unique way of operation and spirit of innovation, have inherited the core of traditional Chinese business culture and promoted the development of Chinese traditional business. Therefore, great efforts should be made to protect time-honored brands in China.