A Game-Theoretic Approach to Digital Marketing Strategies for Regional Tea Brands Case Study of Guangxi Liubao Tea

Abstract

Brand building and market penetration are major obstacles for China's regional tea business, especially for traditional types like Guangxi Liubao tea. Despite having a rich cultural history that dates back more than a millennium and a recent brand worth of 3.764 billion yuan, Liubao tea barely accounts for 1% of the Chinese tea market, much less than rivals like Pu'er tea. Using Liubao tea as a case study, this research uses game-theoretic techniques to examine digital marketing tactics for regional tea businesses. Taking into account elements like market positioning, infrastructure development, and corporate social responsibility (CSR), we create an evolutionary game model to analyze the strategic interactions between Tea Estate Owners (TEOs) and the Tea Board. To determine the best marketing strategy, the study makes use of multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) frameworks and differential game equilibrium analysis. The findings show that cooperative tactics that combine co-branding and corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities may provide evolutionary stable strategies (ESS) in a variety of market conditions. However, according to consumer assessment statistics, 54.12% of respondents rated taste satisfaction as "barely passing," and 58.82% of respondents had never tried co-branded items. These results imply that while game-theoretic models provide useful information for strategic decision-making, regional tea brands must also address basic problems with product quality and customer awareness in addition to strategic positioning if they are to be successfully marketed.