Reflections on Building Brand Premium Capability in the Context of Reduced Exhibition Subsidies

Abstract

Against the backdrop of China's 2024 full-scale reform that eliminates disordered scale-oriented exhibition subsidies and advances the unified national market construction, the low-price competition model relying on fiscal subsidies has lost institutional foundation, with over 57% of domestic exhibition operators once earning 35%+ annual revenue from subsidies facing unprecedented transformation pressure. Based on the pilot practice of Shanghai, Shenzhen and other cities and the mature operation experience of top global exhibition brands like Hannover Messe, this study constructs a complete analytical framework for exhibition brand premium capacity building. It systematically sorts out the core driving logic of brand premium formation, builds a multi-dimensional evaluation system covering service quality upgrading, differentiated innovation, long-term user trust accumulation and global value layout, and proposes a phased cultivation path applicable to both industrial governance and enterprise operation levels. Integrating verified practical experience of fair competition review and anti-involution governance, the conclusions can provide actionable transformation guidance for domestic exhibition enterprises to smoothly get rid of subsidy dependence, support China's exhibition industry to cultivate high-value independent global competitive brands, and realize the paradigm shift from quantity expansion to value premium. (Total 248 words)