Giant pandas Wang Wang makes himself at home after arriving in Adelaide, Australia, from China in 2009. The pandas were sent after the Wenchuan earthquake on May 12, 2008. Pandas can help people relate to the common global issue of environmental protection, which is significant for Chengdu's marketing campaign, said Huang Lin, publicity official of Chengdu's municipal government. [Photo / Provided to China Daily]

Popular creature attracted funds after earthquake devastated region

BEIJING - To all intents and purposes it looked like a real giant panda, but it was behaving in a very human fashion.

The delightful monochrome beast was filmed on a street in Chengdu, in Southwest China's Sichuan province, watching beautiful women looking in the mirror in a shopping mall, enjoying a show with other tea lovers in a teahouse and cheering along with audiences in a large stadium.

The video, entitled "Where Pandas Live. Chengdu, Real China", was first released in December last year, and has been broadcast by US Cable News Network (CNN).

Of course it's not a real panda but an actor wearing a high-quality costume made by the Japanese props team that worked on the Hollywood blockbuster Spider-Man.

This video was tailored for the tastes of foreigners, a move by the local government to build the city's image abroad.

Most people from overseas know more about pandas than they do about the capital of the province in which they are found.

"Pandas have very high recognition abroad because they have been used frequently as the symbol of the city in many international economic and cultural exchanges," Huang Lin, Chengdu's publicity official, told Chengdu Business Daily newspaper.

Pandas can also make people relate to the common global issue of environmental protection, which is significant for Chengdu's marketing campaign, Huang added. The panda is also the image used by the Worldwide Fund for Nature (known as the World Wildlife Fund in the United States).

Watching the video created feelings of homesickness for some Chengdu expatriates. Some foreign audiences, although familiar with Beijing and Shanghai, expressed surprise at the beauty of Chengdu.

The city advertising video is just one part of a diverse marketing campaign that was launched in the wake of the Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuan province on May 12, 2008. An estimated 68,000 people perished in the disaster that also caused great economic loss to the area, including Chengdu.

"We established a partnership with Chengdu city government after the year 2008, providing professional advice and strategies for its city branding communications," said Zhou Xiaojun, vice-president of public affairs at Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide.

The advertising campaign consists of various elements launched in different phases, Zhou said.

"That Chengdu remains safe and beautiful is the principal message we wanted to convey to the public shortly after the earthquake," he said, adding that the post-disaster reconstruction creates a great opportunity for the city's development.

Related readings:  Chengdu gets animated about its image  Shanghai, Beijing and Chengdu win Top three  China airs commercial in US to bolster image  High-tech zone to introduce large projects

What happened in the subsequent years proved Zhou was right about the potential for economic growth.

In 2008, Chengdu's gross domestic product (GDP) was 390.1 billion yuan ($59.52 billion) with a year-on-year growth of 12.1 percent, its lowest since 2003. The figure rose to 550.83 billion yuan in 2010, ranking it fourth among China's provincial capitals.

Because of the reconstruction and city marketing campaigns, Chengdu gradually evolved from a domestically high-profile city to the one receiving worldwide recognition.

The World Center of Excellence for Destinations dubbed Chengdu as one of the world's excellent destinations for visiting in 2009, making it the first city to receive the title in Asia.

The panda's "hometown" was also given the green light by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to become one of the organization's Cities of Gastronomy in March 2010.

The city topped the list of the next decade's fastest-growing cities in a Forbes Magazine prediction published on Oct 7, 2010.

In addition to its growing global reputation, Chengdu's fast rebound from the catastrophe also attracted investment from both domestic and multinational companies, including US computer makers Dell Inc and Intel Corp, DHL Express, Amazon and AP Moller-Maersk Group.

Damco, the Denmark-based freight forwarding arm of AP Moller-Maersk Group, one of the world's top logistics company, opened its new customer service center in Chengdu in March 2010, after the establishment of Maersk Global Service Centers in the same city in October 2009. Damco is one of the world's largest logistics and supply chain management companies.

"Before I came to Chengdu, I had seen the city advertisement video on mainstream television channels in Denmark and was deeply impressed by the lovely pandas and the smiles of local residents," a senior official of the Maersk Global Service Centers (Chengdu) Ltd told the local media in an interview.

Last year, Chengdu Panda Research Base launched its "Project Panda" - a global search for a Chengdu "pambassador", in partnership with the Worldwide Fund for Nature. Six pambassadors from five countries were chosen from 12 finalists, including Sweden, Japan and France.

"Involving the general public in a marketing campaign usually generates much better results because it grabs their attention directly," Zhou said.