Xiangshan Liquor Co., Ltd. launched a sensational festival-making movement to win consumer trust. On August 28, “The First Harvest Festival of Xiangshan” was started at Xiangshan Ecological Winery in Quanzhou, Guangxi. As the first liquor company to carve out a rice field in the distillery, Xiangshan held the harvest festival to have an active dialog with fans, got closer to them, demonstrated its charm and self-confidence as a brand, developed a “belief” in its quality among consumers by introducing its “rice culture”, “techniques as intangible heritages” and “pure vintage liquor” to enhance consumers’ impression, and gradually further activate the production area of rice-flavor liquor.

Create A Feast of “Rice Culture”

This harvest festival was a beautiful idyllic dream that Xiangshan Liquor designed for its many fans.

The selenium-rich golden rice field covering an area of 4 mu was reclaimed by Xiangshan Liquor during the “Spring Brewing Festival” in May. Now it is full of swaying ears of golden rice, waiting to be harvested.

The fans not only watched exciting singing and dancing, but also felt the natural pleasure provided by Xiangshan Liquor with their hands: harvesting ears of rice, tasting new rice, strolling in the field... More importantly, they could take a sip of the beautiful liquor served by Xiangshan in this autumn, keeping the delicate and long feelings deep in their hearts.

“The rice field is really an animation. It is conceivable that the rice grown in an ecological environment like this is just fragrant and adorable, and it also witnesses the production of tempting liquor in Xiangshan Distillery over time,” said a liquor lover who realized the meaning of the Xiangshan Harvest Festival.

In the new consumer era, consumers no longer follow trends blindly, but pay more and more attention to personalized consumer experience. This kind of true immersive cultural experience caters to their needs exactly.

In fact, this poetic rive cultural experience festival is not the first of its kind that Xiangshan Liquor creates with the focus on raw materials. Early this year, the first “Spring Brewing Festival” that focused on “spring sowing” and “spring brewing” highlighted the ingenuity of Xiangshan that attached importance to raw materials and techniques as intangible heritage. By “creating festivals”, “rice culture”, “techniques as intangible heritages” and “pure vintage liquor”, the cultural matrix of Xiangshan Liquor, came under the spotlight. Consumers had the chance to see and touch them, while witnessing Xiangshan Liquor made a qualitative leap in discovering its advantages.

As a benchmark for the rice-flavor liquor in China, Xiangshan Liquor uses only selenium-rich rice produced locally in Quanzhou, and demonstrates and controls the cultivation of the raw materials by enforcing uniform standards of the company among local cooperative farmers to eliminate unreliable and unstable raw materials. This ensures the consistent quality of Xiangshan Liquor.

Different from other flavored liquors made with sorghum and other raw materials, the liquor products of Xiangshan are made from rice to provide a fresh and elegant taste. It also exudes a honey-scented flavor due to the properties of rice. Its flavor reflects the characteristics of rice as a raw material and becomes the most convenient icon of the brand.

This interesting rice harvest festival was not only a gift for fans, but also an excellent stage for Xiangshan Liquor to pass the banner of brand trust in the rice-flavor liquor and provide a value choice for consumers who pursue quality, brand and taste.

How impressive are the “festival-making” genes of Xiangshan after four festivals have been created?

Speaking of Moutai-flavor liquor, everyone thinks of Moutai Town; speaking of wine, everyone thinks of Bordeaux in France. When it comes to rice-flavor liquor, does anyone think of Guilin? Even Quanzhou? As the captain of the four basic liquor flavors in China, the rice-flavor variety is unsurprisingly embarrassing.

The festival-making movement of Xiangshan is essentially intended to shorten the distance between users and the brand. From the field to the real liquor, how does Xiangshan’s “rice culture” empower the brand while enhancing the power and voice of Guangxi as a greater producing area of rice-flavor liquor?

Xiangshan Liquor chooses to hold the “Spring Brewing Festival”, the “Rice Liquor Cultural Festival”, the “Harvest Festival”, and the “Jar Sealing Cultural Festival” in the four seasons, respectively. The “Spring Brewing Festival” and the “Harvest Festival” are rooted in Xiangshan’s meticulous requirements on raw materials. Consumers are invited to visit the distillery to see and experience in real settings how rice is transplanted and harvested and how liquor is made. They have the chance to witness a life sublimation process in which the selenium-rich rice in Quanzhou is transformed into bottles of liquor bearing the brand name of Xiangshan. As they see all this, they gradually move from “believing” in the brand story of Xiangshan liquor to “believing” in its brand culture. If the time-honored rice-flavor liquor has to go out to reach wider consumers, fission on the consumer side is the must-go channel.

There are three implications behind the festival-making movement of Xiangshan Liquor. It tries to implement “symbolic” operations in terms of event experience, strength of vintage liquor, and cultural enhancement, allowing consumers to become loyal fans by enhancing their perception of the brand and changing their inherent impression from Xiangshan Liquor simply sells low-end rice-flavor liquor to it simply sells mid-end, high-end, and good vintage rice-flavor liquor.

Firstly, the “festivals” are timed, fixed, and targeted “experiential marketing” activities carried out by Xiangshan, which can select core groups for close contact and take the chance to let consumers personally experience its brand culture and make a concrete impression on consumers with its core advantages.

Secondly, behind the festival-making movement is the confidence and strength showcased by Xiangshan. Xiangshan liquor has long been included in the list of intangible cultural heritage in Guangxi and is also recognized as a product of a “Chinese Time-honored Brand” and “National Geographical Indication Protection”. The exploration of “the vintage rice-flavor liquor culture” and the harmonious co-existence with the natural environments in the producing areas of Quanzhou and even Guangxi are integrated into the history of Xiangshan liquor. The uniqueness of the producing areas of Xiangshan rice-flavor liquor can be found from a grain of rice: The earliest artificially cultivated rice specimen was discovered at the Yuchanyan site in Shouyan Town, Guling County, where Xiangshan Liquor Co., Ltd. is located. Xiangshan has the largest rice-flavor liquor storage capacity in China. Its vintage liquor storage plant, covering an area of 300mu, is “the No. 1 vintage rice-flavor liquor base in China”. In the vintage liquor market, Xiangshan also has a long-standing reputation.

Thirdly, a profound connection is established between the innate advantage of gaining insights into the rice culture and consumption trends. Rice-flavor liquor is popular in Guangdong and Guangxi, a regional characteristic that coincides with the exploration direction of Xiangshan Liquor: the rice culture. Since ancient times, Guangdong and Guangxi have been located in the monsoon zone with a favourable climate. The rice planted there can be harvested twice or even three times a year. Rice has become the main source of food for local residents. The unique diet structure gave birth to the rice-flavor liquor. This is the geographical link between Xiangshan liquor and rice as a raw material. Rice-flavor liquor has always been inseparable from the food culture of the people in the areas where it is prevailing, and food is an integral part of the regional culture. The “festival” associated with rice culture is essentially a discussion on the implications of Xiangshan liquor as a brand.

Building a Magnetic Field for the Brand: Cultural Lessons from Xiangshan’s Festival-making Movement

The festivals not only enable the brand to have dialogues and interactions with consumers, but also mark the beginning of the endeavor to build a gravitational magnetic field for the brand. In addition to the activities organized by the brand itself, how to create a “feast of rice culture” in line with the status of the rive-flavor liquor through continuous movements is becoming an increasingly important issue.

Since 2020, Xiangshan Liquor has begun a profound brand transformation initiative.

“All the employees are required to change their concept by putting brand before sales. It turns out that only when a deep brand identity is established in public minds, can we encourage the public to consume Xiangshan liquor actively,” said Tang Jianghua, the first person in charge and general manager of Xiangshan Liquor Co., Ltd.

The company organized 4 major events within just six months, from the “Closed Door Conference for the Vintage Liquor Circle in China” held in this “No.1 vintage rice-flavor liquor base in China” to the first “Xiangshan · Spring Brewing Festival” in this May, and from the first “Xiangshan Rice-flavor Liquor Cultural Festival” tied to the IP of Guilin City, China, in this July to this first “Xiangshan · Harvest Festival”.

Through a series of festivals, Xiangshan Liquor has deeply explored its own brand advantages and core, making the “festivals” warm, broad and deep events. Its vision of “being the inheritor of Chinese traditional and authentic rice-flavor liquor and allowing consumers to enjoy high-quality rice-flavor liquor” is also deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

On the one hand, it provides consumers with social currency to promote secondary dissemination. For example, the rice field experience in the harvest festival is labeled as “nostalgia” and “fun”, as tempting as Li Ziqi’s dreamlike pastoral life. Also, the guests had the chance to spontaneously communicate and discuss with each other in their own community; on the other hand, the company also opens up the portals to offline and online visits. Online interactions helps to build a private domain traffic pool for the brand, while offline interactions can immediately drive consumption.

In addition to the “festivals”, Xiangshan is also strengthening the integration of liquor tourism cultural resources and accelerating the initiative of consumers to make a choice.

Tang Jianghua said that Quanzhou, Guilin, where Xiangshan Liquo Co., Ltd. is located, was the site of the Xiangjiang Battle. The “Memorial Hall of Xiangjiang Battle”, one of the largest revolution cultural and educational bases in China, is situated here, endowing the city with deep revolutionary genes. Seizing the opportunity of the booming red tourism, Xiangshan Liquor opens its doors to invite more tourists to visit and experience its distillery.  Word-of-mouth will be the natural result of such experience.

The chain festival-oriented marketing has strengthened the image of Xiangshan’s rive-flavor liquor as a quality product in the minds of consumers, has demonstrated the “elegance and softness” and the unique vintage value of this liquor variety, and has strongly empowered distributors and terminals. For the Chinese rive-flavor liquor, Xiangshan Liquor serves as an excellent role model in planting, quality assurance, and liquor tourism, and assumes the mission and responsibility as a leading enterprise.