Joker Culture: A City That Doesn't Want to Sleep and the Ambition of a Film and Television Producer

Since when has traffic become a necessary condition for making a city popular? 

A small potato from the south gets lost in the heavy snow in Erbin. In a 7-second short video, a bowl of spicy hot pot makes Tianshui famous. The "Special Forces-style Tourism" has led many barbecue restaurants across the country to change their names to "Go to Zibo for Barbecue". 

In 2024, the most popular thing is undoubtedly "Black Myth: Wukong". On various social platforms, the topic of "Follow Wukong to Tour Shanxi" never lacks traffic. After the launch of Black Wukong, the local cultural and tourism bureau excitedly stated that because they successfully caught the traffic, during this National Day holiday, the number of domestic tourists received in the province increased by 84.99% compared with the same period of the previous year, and the total tourism expenditure of tourists increased by 101.85% compared with the same period of the previous year. 

Even the famous director Jia Zhangke, who is from Lvliang, Shanxi, sighed and said: "If Black Wukong appeared ten years ago, Shanxi might not have become popular either." 

From the spicy hot pot in short videos to the Special Forces-style Tourism, the rapid development of the internet celebrity economy is reshaping the attractiveness of cities. Behind this also represents that traditional sightseeing tourism has been difficult to meet the diverse needs of consumers, and experiential and immersive tourism is increasingly favored by consumers. 

If we use the most topical film and television drama content of the moment, embed the cultural and tourism entertainment scene, and create a 24-hour non-stop "City That Never Sleeps". And then, realistically restore the characters and scenes in the film and television dramas to every visitor to the City That Never Sleeps - every character they see on the screen may be a companion who parties together in the City That Never Sleeps. 

On December 7, 2024, Joke Culture launched the "City That Never Sleeps" innovative cultural and tourism IP, attempting to bring a disruptive experiment to the cultural and tourism industry: Taking film and television content as the core, weaving a "city that doesn't sleep", and the first stop of the project will be Lishui. 

Daring and difficult to distinguish between virtual and reality, this is a new solution given to the entire cultural and tourism industry by a film and television producer, and behind it is the ambition of a city. 

Ambition: A City That Doesn't Want to Sleep

In the 1990s, the movie "The Opium War" made the unknown Hengdian gradually become known in the film and television industry from an unknown small village. In order to meet the set-up needs of director Xie Jin, Hengdian built a "19th Century Guangzhou Street in Southern Guangdong" covering an area of 319 mu in just three months, thus开启了 the legend of the film and television shooting base. Since then, blockbusters such as "Hero" and "Curse of the Golden Flower" have been born here one after another, and Hengdian has become the largest film and television shooting base in China, known as "China's Hollywood". 

Nowadays, many tourists specially come to check in at the film and television shooting locations in Hengdian, or expect to encounter celebrities on the streets of Hengdian. In 2023, Hengdian attracted a total of 19.80 million tourists. 

However, for tourists who have been to Hengdian, this kind of travel is more of a "check-in" experience. They can only visit fixed scenic spots, most of the shooting areas are not open to the public, and many film and television check-in points are closed at night. Tourists are more spectators of the "location" of the movie, rather than the "protagonist" immersed in it.

100 kilometers away from Hengdian, Lishui, Zhejiang is exploring a new model of "Film and Television + Immersive Cultural Tourism". This city did not choose to copy Hengdian, but tried to break through the boundaries of the traditional film and television base. The project is located on the Oujiang River in Lishui, in an area surrounded by water on three sides, less than 10 kilometers away from Lishui High-speed Railway Station. It not only has a natural landscape but also is convenient for tourists to arrive easily. 

Different from the traditional film and television city-themed amusement park, according to Joke Culture, the exclusive operator of the "City That Never Sleeps" project, the "City That Never Sleeps" deeply integrates film and television IP, immersive experience and night economy, so that every visitor can have a movie journey exclusively for themselves. The "City That Never Sleeps" is a film and television shooting base during the day, and it opens to tourists in the evening and transforms into a nightlife district. 

In the "City That Never Sleeps", buildings are no longer fixed scenes, but flexible and variable experience media. Joke, the chairman of Joke Culture, the project operator, said: "All the spaces in the City That Never Sleeps are tailor-made for shooting and commercial scenes. They serve film and television shooting during the day and are completely open to tourists at night to create an immersive social experience for them." 

"Our restaurants, bars, and almost all commercial entities, the walls are movable." Joke explained, "Except for a small number of load-bearing walls, most of the building elements can be opened or reorganized when needed." This design not only provides a flexible and changeable set for the shooting crew, but also creates a new open interactive space for tourists. 

In addition to breaking the physical boundaries, the "City That Never Sleeps" also hopes to break the spiritual boundaries of young people. "For example, the location, decoration style, menu design, and even the light color of every restaurant or bar in our City That Never Sleeps are based on accurate user data analysis," Joke revealed. 

Joke explained: "The target consumer group of the 'City That Never Sleeps' is young women under the age of 30 who like to socialize. We further subdivide through data, such as whether they are more 'I' or more outgoing 'E', whether they like pets, whether they have entered the workplace, etc. These all determine the theme, menu and even music style of the restaurant." 

This precise positioning can not only improve the consumption experience of tourists, but also help them find like-minded companions. "Consumers who come here can not only enjoy high-quality catering services, but also find that they have many common interests or lifestyles with others," Joke added. Its core is to use a breakthrough method to allow every tourist to experience an open communication mode - here, any conversation can happen, and everyone can break the social barriers in their usual work and life. 

On December 7, Joke Culture held the "City That Never Sleeps" Innovative Cultural and Tourism Project IP Conference in Shanghai and announced the launch of the "Jiangnan · City That Never Sleeps" project in Lishui. At the scene, He Jiongwei, the chairman of Lishui Cultural Tourism Investment and Development Group Co., Ltd., said that the Jiangnan · City That Never Sleeps project cleverly combines multiple cultural and tourism resources such as film and television, music, variety shows, and activities to create a new and innovative cultural and tourism consumption experience for young consumer groups, especially for young groups. With the upcoming completion of Lishui Airport, this project will radiate to a wider range of tourists in the surrounding area.

He Jiongwei believes that through this innovative model, "Jiangnan · City That Never Sleeps" can convert short-term traffic into long-term retention. The arrival of tourists not only brings popularity, but also can promote the continuous growth of the project's cash flow and achieve a considerable return on the cultural and tourism project. 

Can the Film and Television Dream Maker Who Has Operated Many Popular Film and Television Drama Marketing Successfully Open Cultural Tourism 4.0?

Pig Trotter Rice in the rapid development, "The Wind That Misses You Blows to XX", "XX Ancient City". Many cultural and tourism symbols of cities are short-lived, and the reason behind this is the lack of continuous operational capabilities. Joke Culture proposes the Cultural Tourism 4.0 model of "Integration of Film and Tourism" through big data precise positioning, resource integration and operation of the traffic matrix. 

Joke said: "The core of cultural tourism projects is to attract out-of-town tourists to come to your city to visit, experience and consume. If some cultural tourism destinations don't even know who the target audience is, it is difficult to form a continuous flow of tourists. The biggest feature of the 'City That Never Sleeps' IP is that through accurate big data analysis, we clearly know who we want to attract and create a unique experience around their needs." 

Joke particularly mentioned, "Our operational idea is to put marketing in advance. In the traditional cultural tourism model, a new commercial or cultural tourism project often requires a longer 'growth period', but the 'City That Never Sleeps' can be popular as soon as it opens. This is because half a year or even a year before the official operation, our commercial entities have already entered the shooting stage of the film and television crew, and at the same time, a large number of related video materials have begun to be generated." 

"Before the 'City That Never Sleeps' opens, tourists have already been 'planted grass' by our content through platforms such as Douyin, Bilibili, Xiaohongshu, and Kuaishou. They clearly know what the 'City That Never Sleeps' looks like, how to play and what the unique experience is. This pre-marketing model not only significantly shortens the promotion cycle of the project, but also efficiently converts traffic into a consumption boom." Joke further explained that this "film and television content + precise dissemination" strategy can basically make the "City That Never Sleeps" quickly attract attention at the initial stage of operation. 

From movies to web dramas, from short videos to live broadcasts, the Joke Culture team has used precise data and innovative communication methods to push a number of works to the top of the trending list. The team is not only good at content production and packaging, but also good at precisely locking the target audience through big data, and using multiple methods to achieve continuous exposure of the content. This underlying "muscle" of operation will also be transplanted to the operation of the "City That Never Sleeps" without reservation. 

Different from the traditional ideas of film and television production or cultural tourism operation, Joke Culture will tailor film and television content for the "City That Never Sleeps". All works are combined with the culture, scenery and commercial scenes of Lishui to the greatest extent, not only injecting traffic into the city, but also making tourists have a deep impression of the local characteristics. In the blueprint of Joke Culture, the "City That Never Sleeps" is not just a project, but a prototype of a city IP that can be replicated and promoted. 

In the operation mode, Joke Culture adopts a unified management mode, fully controlling the project construction, operation and commercial entity traffic distribution to ensure the maximization of resource utilization and the effective construction of the traffic matrix. Each "City That Never Sleeps" maintains consistency in the core concept, but fully combines the local culture and characteristics in the experience content to present a unique urban memory. 

15,000 People, 700 Yuan per Person on Average, 3.6 Billion Yuan Annual Revenue

In January this year, Joke Culture announced that it will register, file, produce and distribute 100 film and television works in Baoshan, Shanghai, which has attracted widespread attention from all walks of life. 

Joke said: "The core problem of the current downturn in the film and television industry is the受挫 confidence of capital. Through an innovative model, we deeply combine traffic, big data and financial risk control to provide investors with a new risk solution." 

However, Joke Culture is not limited to the single assistance to the local economy through organizing film and television shooting. During the project advancement process, the team realized that instead of continuously shooting to inject traffic into the local cultural tourism, why not directly participate in building the cultural tourism project itself? Joke frankly said: "We have the ability to help the local government build a cultural tourism project that can operate for a long time, relying on our advantages in film and television production and traffic operation to deeply integrate cultural tourism and film and television." 

After 8 months of in-depth discussion and planning, this idea of Joke Culture gradually took shape, and the "City That Never Sleeps" innovative cultural and tourism IP emerged as the times require. 

Joke particularly emphasized: "This is not an impulsive decision." Before the project was launched, Joke Culture specially hired the famous French consulting agency Ipsos to conduct a comprehensive verification of the business model to ensure the feasibility and accuracy of the project. 

The core target group of the "City That Never Sleeps" series IP is very clear, that is, women under the age of 30. Big data of cultural tourism shows that in 2023, the total number of domestic tourists reached 4.89 billion, of which people under the age of 30 accounted for 61%, an increase of 17 percentage points compared with 2019. And in the proportion of tourism consumption, people under the age of 30 account for as high as 83%, of which women account for nearly 70%. Compared with men, women are more willing to be the initiators of tourism, chasing hotspots and checking in popular IPs. 

Using big data technology, Joke Culture can precisely lock the crowd by combining the characteristics of the target city such as transportation, location, climate and history, and deeply analyze the consumption habits, interest preferences and reach methods of this crowd to tailor the city's cultural and tourism project for them. This clear target orientation not only ensures the sustainability of the project, but also avoids the positioning loss problem of some current cultural and tourism projects that "anyone can come, but no one will come". 

In the eyes of investors, the "City That Never Sleeps" is not only a city cultural tourism project, but also a new economic growth model. It is understood that the "City That Never Sleeps" is also innovative in the capital structure and cooperation model - Joke Culture has proposed a set of full-process capital solutions, considering the financial pressure of individual local governments. In the total project investment, the government platform only needs to contribute 10%, and the remaining 90% is invested by social capital. By jointly establishing the project subject with the government and capital, and Joke Culture is responsible for the exclusive operation, and adopting the stepped dividend model, it can not only reduce the government's financial burden, but also create a high, stable and continuous investment return. 

At the same time, many well-known financial capital investment institutions led by "China Venture Capital" have expressed their high recognition and cooperation intentions for the project and Joke Culture, which not only provides a solid backing for project financing, but also reduces the investment risk for social capital. At the same time, Joke Culture will also form a single tax-paying subject by integrating the operation rights of all commercial entities to optimize tax management. This not only enables the government to manage fiscal revenue more efficiently, but also brings a more profound pulling effect to the local industrial chain. 

According to the data calculated by Ipsos, the "City That Never Sleeps" is expected to receive 15,000 tourists per day, with an average consumption of 700 yuan per person. Conservatively estimated, the daily revenue can reach 10 million yuan. This consumption level does not include additional consumption such as accommodation. Calculated according to the industry average profit margin of 40%, the annual revenue of the project can reach 3.6 billion yuan. 

Joke, the chairman of Joke Culture, pointed out that in order to ensure a comfortable experience for tourists, the daily reception volume of each city will be controlled at 15,000 people, and the target crowd within the three-hour traffic circle will be targeted. The core of the "City That Never Sleeps" is not to attract a large number of tourists, but to efficiently manage the precise traffic. 

This innovative model of the combination of film and tourism is somewhat reminiscent of the revolution that Netflix has sparked in the streaming media industry.