Frontiers in Business, Economics and Management ISSN: 2766-824X | Vol. 12, No. 1, 2023 148 Research on Cross‐border Joint Marketing Strategy of National Brands Under the Background of "New National Trend" Ru He, Wei Yang, Ziyi Zhu, Xiaohong Guo and Sichen Que School of Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics, Nanchang 330000, China Abstract: In recent years, "new national trend" has become a unique phenomenon in China's consumer market. While "new national trend" has become the consumption fashion and aesthetic style of Chinese people, it has also become the focus and growth point of Chinese brands in the context of new consumer culture. This paper explores the impact of cross-border joint marketing strategies of national brands on consumers' purchasing behavior against the background of the "New National Wave". Through reviewing relevant literature and analyzing the current situation, it is found that the cross-border association of national brands has gained certain development. In addition, this paper adopts questionnaire research to study the consumers' purchase intention of cross-border joint national products. After comprehensive analysis, it puts forward the strategic suggestions of cross- border marketing of national product brands to provide ideas for promoting cross-border marketing of national product brands. Keywords: New national tide, National product brands, Cross-border marketing strategy, Purchase behavior. 1. Introduction With the rapid development of globalization and the Internet, brand marketing is facing unprecedented challenges and opportunities. In this context, cross-border union of national brands has become an emerging marketing strategy, which aims to jointly create a more attractive and competitive brand image by uniting brands in different fields, and then increase consumers' purchase willingness and loyalty. However, there are still many controversies and uncertainties about the mechanism and characteristics of the influence of cross-border association of national brands on consumers' purchasing behavior. Therefore, this paper aims to reveal the influence law of cross-border union of national brands on consumer purchase behavior through in-depth research, so as to provide valuable references for relevant enterprises and marketing practitioners. 2. Literature Review 2.1. Research Background In recent years, a unique trend phenomenon has emerged in China's consumer market, namely the "national tide". 2021 May, Baidu and the People's Daily Online Research Institute jointly released the "Baidu 2021 National Tide Pride Search Data", pointing out that the attention of the national tide has increased by 528% over the past ten years, and that Generation Z (referring to the generation born between 1995- 2009) has become the main force of national tide consumption. Generation Z (referring to the generation born between 1995-2009) has become the main force of national tide consumption, and the national tide has stepped into the 3.0 new national tide era. Under the "New National Wave", national brands have risen again, bringing new trends and experiences to consumers. With the growing confidence of the national culture, more consumers will focus on local brands of national products. Cross-border marketing is a good way for national product enterprises to win the preference of target consumers and solve the problems of brand aging, user growth and product promotion, and the acceptance and recognition of cross-border marketing by consumers is the key to its wide application. How to take advantage of the "new national tide" environment, with the help of brand cross-border joint marketing methods, to enhance consumer attention to national brands and favor, is a common concern of national enterprises and academia. 2.2. Research Status 2.2.1. Brand Cross-Border Marketing 2.2.1.1. A Review of Foreign Research on Brand Cross- Border Marketing Co-branding as a brand alliance strategy is widely used in business practice, where multiple brands engage in brand collaboration, which in turn leads to co-branding.Ali Besharat (2010), using the brand equity approach, found that the presence of at least one high equity brand in a co-branding strategy is sufficient to capitalize on consumer assessment of a new product[1].Kevin E. Voss and Mayoor Mohan (2016) argued that the purpose of launching co-branding is to respond to a rapidly changing market and to increase customer brand loyalty to the brand in question[2].Bin Shen, Tsan-Ming Choi and Pui-Sze Chow (2017), in discussing the issue of expanding market share for luxury brands, argued that brand association of luxury brands with fast fashion brands can help luxury brands effectively achieve the goal of expanding market share[3].Four scholars, Hang T. Nguyen, William T. Ross, Joseph Pancras, and Hieu V. Phan (2020), in their study found that the relative dependence of partners' market-based assets (MA) significantly drove co-branding's value creation and distributional differences[4]. 2.2.1.2. A Review of Domestic Research on Brand Cross- Border Marketing After entering the Internet era, the consumption environment, consumer structure, consumption habits and consumption trends are undergoing great changes, and many national brands are beginning to face the crisis of brand aging and brand impression curing, which restricts brand 149 development. Chen Ruijuan,Liu Chenyu (2019) argued that under the "Internet +" environment, cross-border marketing breaks the original single communication method, realizes the effect of "1+1>2", and provides opportunities for old brands to integrate into the new market and revitalize[5]. Wang Min (2021) discussed the principles of cross-border marketing of cultural creation of old brands: first, the principle of resource sharing, second, the principle of non-competition of the main body, and third, the principle of consistency of the target group. Then it puts forward the strategy of cultural and creative cross-border marketing of old brands, which believes that old brands should reposition their brands and break through the commercial boundaries; strengthen the brand IP to connect enterprises and consumers; and apply multiple channels for cross-border marketing[6]. Zhao Yijun (2021) believes that this crossover marketing (Crossover Marketing) under the brand crossover association is essentially a marketing strategy in which brands from different fields are united[7]. Li Feifei (2022) believes that in the era of digital economy, cross-border integration, change and innovation is the key means to continue the brand vitality of the traditional marketing model of the old enterprises[8]. 2.2.2. General Description of Research In general, foreign research on brand association and consumer ethnocentrism on consumer purchasing behavior started earlier, and the research content is more refined. However, due to cultural differences, foreign scholars' research on national products and brand cross-border association is relatively lacking. Domestic research is based on China's local actual situation, and is more in-depth in the research of cross-border marketing on the innovation and development of national brands. Under the call of building a socialist cultural powerhouse with Chinese characteristics, China is striving to find a new way for the outstanding traditional Chinese culture to flourish in the new era, and trying to integrate traditional culture into people's production and life with a "new look", and the "new national trend" has emerged. National brands of cross-border joint way to promote production and consumption, so that the traditional culture has been revitalized. At present, the research on cross-border marketing of national products and consumer purchasing behavior is one of the hot spots of academic research, and the main direction of the research is the analysis of the impact of cross-border alliance on consumer purchasing preference, the formation of consumer awareness of national products, and the impact of cross-border alliance on consumer attitude. However, there is a lack of systematic research on the influence between cross- border association of national brands and consumer purchasing behavior. 3. Analysis of the Current Situation of Cross-Border Association of National Brands in The Context of the "New National Trend" Existing research shows that ethnocentric consumers are more willing to buy national products[9], but there is a difference in preference between national and foreign brands[10]. Based on many consumers' stereotypical image of the country of origin, consumers will evaluate products through various aspects of the country's or region's image. Therefore, to some extent, factors such as low quality, negative low-priced image, and face-saving culture prevent Chinese consumers from paying attention to and purchasing local brands[10]. With the development of economic globalization and the rapid growth of China's economy, domestic consumers' foreign consumption psychology and negative stereotypes have decreased in comparison, while their preference for national brands has gradually increased[11]. In the dynamically changing environment, national brands have received much attention for stabilizing and thriving in their development in order to achieve brand reversal and consumer preference reversal[10]. Brand-level issues have far-reaching impacts on products, and due to the better benefits of brand association for enterprises, as well as the trend of brand homogenisation and the rise of diversified consumer demands, many enterprises have evolved from simple brand association to association in different industrial fields, i.e., brand cross-border association, including national brands. As an effective means to enhance brand equity and image, this form has received favourable feedback in the market. For example, Nongfushanquan and the Forbidden City culture launched nine limited edition Nongfushanquan "Forbidden City bottle", attracting a large number of young consumers; Xicha and Bajiao Antelope achieved cross-border union and launched the "XiQue",and the joint membership card was sold out in less than 10 minutes after it was launched on the WeChat app "Xicha Inspiration Shop". From the results of cross-border cooperation of national brands, we can feel that the atmosphere of the "new national trend" has been very strong. The new national trend represents the integration of "national" and "trend" in the new era at the material and spiritual levels, as well as the domestic consumers' confidence and recognition of traditional Chinese culture[12]. This phenomenon has become increasingly obvious in recent years and its coverage has been expanding, including various fields like clothing, automobiles, beauty, food, and electronic products. At the beginning of the "national wave fever", old domestic brands (such as Mecca and Hui Li shoes) subverted the public's stereotypes with popular elements and innovative marketing methods, allowing consumers to perceive the charm of the new national wave and gain emotional resonance[12]. With the development of "national trend fever", some domestic brands have also raised the national trend to the level of international trend. At present, the cross-border union of national brands in the context of the "new national trend" has gained a certain degree of development, but there are some shortcomings. For example, the form of content is not innovative enough, and the excessive use of nostalgia will easily make consumers feel tired; the new channels are not sufficiently opened up, and the long-term effective combination has not been realised; and there is insufficient pre-judgment before marketing, which is prone to cause impacts on the enterprise and the consumer environment[13]. 4. Analysis of Consumers' Purchase Intention on Cross-border Joint Products of National Brands under the Background of "New National Wave" Consumers' purchasing intention is an important revelation for the cross-border joint strategy of national brands under the background of "new national trend", based on this, the impact 150 of cross-border joint of national brands on consumers' purchasing intention under the background of "new national trend" is investigated, and this survey is conducted in the form of a questionnaire. This survey is carried out in the form of questionnaire survey, through the questionnaire star issued questionnaires, a total of 207 questionnaires, of which 196 valid questionnaires, the effective recovery rate of 94.7%, of which 78% are female and 22% are male, with 18-30 years old young people as the main. 4.1. Analysis of the use of national products With the prevalence of the "new national trend", national products, national style is more and more consumers understand, questionnaire survey data show that more than 98% of consumers have used national products, of which nearly 50% of consumers for the national products loyal fans, more than 80% of consumers said they are willing to buy cross-border union of national products, which can be seen in the consumer's use and support of the national products are high. usage rate and support degree are high. Figure 1. Frequency of use of national products Figure 2. Willingness to Accept Cross-border Union of National Goods Brands In terms of the reasons for choosing national brands, practicality, awareness of national products, trust in the brand, better quality, and recommendation from people around are in the top five. It can be seen that consumers attach more importance to the practicality, quality and brand trust of national products, and the awareness of national products and the recommendation of people around them are also important factors influencing consumers to buy national products. 151 Figure 3. Reasons for purchasing national products 4.2. Analysis of cross-border joint national product consumption behavior tendency When purchasing cross-border joint national products, compared with the goodwill, added value and aesthetics of joint products, the public cares more about product quality, price, practicality, innovation and product reputation, of which for the price of cross-border joint products, more than 60% of consumers said that they can accept it higher than the average price of similar products within 10%, which can be seen that consumers are more likely to buy affordable cross- border joint products. This shows that consumers are more inclined to buy affordable cross-border joint products. Figure 4. Considerations for Purchasing Cross-border Joint Products Figure 5. Price Acceptability of Cross-border United Products In terms of purchasing channels, more than half of the consumers indicated that they preferred to purchase cross- border joint national products by combining online and offline physical stores; in terms of the types of cross-border 152 joint national products, consumers are more inclined to purchase clothing, food, beauty and decorative products, and are less inclined to purchase home decoration and toys. Figure 6. Purchase Channels Figure7. Cross-border United Goods Product Type Tendency In order to deeply understand consumers' perception of the current cross-border joint national products, a survey was conducted on the problems of the current cross-border joint national brands. The survey shows that high prices, poor product quality, insufficient publicity and a lack of innovation are the four more prominent problems, which have a greater impact on consumers' willingness to buy. Figure 8. Problems of cross-border union of national brands 153 It can be seen that, in the current context, although consumers' awareness of cross-border union of national brands is relatively insufficient, their recognition of cross- border union of national brands is high. The quality, price, practicality, innovation and product reputation of cross- border joint products have a greater impact on consumers' willingness to buy. Among the various types of cross-border joint products, clothing, food, beauty and decorative products are more favored by consumers, and in terms of purchasing channels, the form of online + physical stores is more likely to be chosen by consumers. In the process of marketing, product price, product quality, publicity and innovation are the prominent issues that consumers pay more attention to, and should be given enough attention. 5. Suggestions 5.1. Stick to the positioning and value proposition It is analyzed that when choosing the cross-border co- branded products of national products, the main factors affecting consumers’ choices are practicality, quality, etc. The factors affecting consumers’ willingness to buy national products are high price, poor product quality, and insufficient publicity. Therefore, in the product-based cross-border co- branding publicity, according to the brand’s own characteristics, select the positioning and values of the co- branded products are similar or consistent, to ensure that the co-branding cooperation can produce a symbiotic effect, on the basis of the maintenance of the original brand image, so that the brand to obtain a higher value. 5.2. Innovative marketing channels and marketing methods The above analysis shows that the lack of innovation is an important issue in the development of national brands. In the context of the"new national tide", the cross-border joint content and form of national brands is less innovation, and too much nostalgia is easy for consumers to produce sensory fatigue. With the help of digital means, focusing on the use of network platforms, to create new sales channels; to create an immersive consumer experience, with the help of new technologies, the launch of experiential marketing. Maximize the value of the band through co-branding innovation. 5.3. Tapping into the cultural connotation of the brand With the gradual expansion of the trend of co-branding of national products, the continued use of consumers’ national sentiment for publicity can‘t be implemented in the long term, so it is very important to strengthen the emotional identity of consumers, national brands need to comply with the "national tide fever", in the brand cultural connotation of the excavation. Can focus on the combination of China’s outstanding traditional culture, give the brand cultural value connotation, at the same time in the product co-branding can also consider the brand and excellent culture combined to convey the brand cultural connotations, to achieve not only carry forward the role of the social value of China’s outstanding traditional culture, but also to achieve the double effect of publicizing the value of the brand. 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