Behind the touching story, how does Jiang Xiaobai think about its brand strategy?

Jiang Xiaobai CMO Ye Ming told the Camp Creation Lab that true positioning should be based on three aspects: one is category; two is product; and three is brand.

"I am Jiang Xiaobai, and my life is simple." The innovative brand Jiang Xiaobai that I will introduce today is not simple at all:

The liquor industry has been in the depths of winter for several consecutive years, but Jiang Xiaobai has achieved growth against the trend, with sales doubling every year! Become a dark horse in the wine industry that is popular all over the country. Sell ​​liquor to young people, target the new youth group, and advocate a simple and pure attitude towards life. The expression bottle set the entire marketing field on fire, capturing and firmly holding the hearts of young people born in the 1980s and 1990s.

It broke the traditional wine sales channel system, brought its own traffic , and had an eye-catching e-commerce performance. After entering JD.com's e-commerce supermarket, it achieved outstanding results. During the JD.com New Year Festival alone, its sales exceeded 10 million yuan, and it won JD.com's "Annual Partner Award" in less than a year. Product innovation won 4 awards at the 2017 International Wine and Spirits Competition (IWSC).

In terms of strategic thinking and tactical execution, among the innovative brands in the Chinese market today, Jiang Xiaobai is the leading representative who has mastered the positioning theory to perfection. (If you are not familiar with it, you can also go to "More than an expression bottle, Jiang Xiaobai's simple life philosophy is more worth remembering" to read)

What is the reason for the success of Jiang Xiaobai’s brand and what are the unknown secrets behind it?

Strategy

The success of Jiang Xiaobai's brand operation is the most vivid benchmark case of STP theory

| Review of STP Theory

The concept of market segmentation was first proposed by American marketing expert Wended Smith in 1956. Since then, American marketing expert Philip Kotler has further developed and improved it, and finally formed a mature STP theory.

• Segementation
  Targeting Target market selection
  Positioning

STP refers to a series of brand strategy behaviors in which a company determines its target market based on certain market segmentation and finally positions its products or services at a certain position in the target market.

The market is a complex, multi-level, diversified collection of consumer demands. No company can meet all demands. Companies should divide the market into consumer groups with similar demands, i.e., several sub-markets, based on different demands, purchasing power and other factors. This is market segmentation.

Based on their own strategies and products, enterprises select market segments from sub-markets that have a certain scale and development prospects and are in line with the company's goals and capabilities as the company's target market. This is target market selection.

Companies position their products in the positions preferred by target consumers and convey this positioning information to target consumers through a series of marketing activities , allowing them to notice the brand and perceive that this is what they need. This is positioning.

STP is a very mature theory and can be said to be the core content of strategic marketing. However, it is impossible for Mr. Kotler to teach every brand how to do STP.

How to do market segmentation, target market selection and positioning?

Jiang Xiaobai CMO Ye Ming told the Camp Creation Lab that true positioning should be based on three aspects: one is category; two is product; and three is brand.

(Author’s note: Most of the content in this article comes from Jiang Xiaobai CMO Ye Ming’s sharing at the Yingchuang Growth Camp on July 29)

1 Category: Finding Blue Ocean in the Red Ocean Market

Big – Is the industry big enough?

The 620 billion liquor market is large enough. Even if Jiang Xiaobai works in this industry for another few decades, he will not hit the ceiling. This is enough for him to have fun.

Small - small positioning, small incision, small scene

If you find a slight change in the user side or the scene side, you will discover a different sky. In order to be more valuable in small scenarios, Jiang Xiaobai launched a 100 ml 2 liang package. It is analyzed that under this single product strategy, it is possible to win in this market.

High——High quality, high efficiency

Jiang Xiaobai hopes that its products can be better. If the quality can be improved by 20%, it is willing to invest 200% of the cost in this matter. In terms of products, Jiang Xiaobai hopes to learn from its neighbor Japan and look at South Korea: Why are low-alcohol distilled liquors so popular in China? It requires deep insight and thinking.

The so-called high efficiency: Jiang Xiaobai hopes to be more efficient, benchmark against the best teams in the industry, and use the best people. "Our internal principle is: 3 minutes to make a decision, 300, 3,000, or 30,000 hours to execute," said Ye Ming, CMO of Jiangxiaobai.

Jiang Xiaobai hopes that the supply chain, enterprise side, and team execution can all be faster. The ability to execute at high speed, a little better than others and than you were yesterday.

New——New generation + new trend + new image + new channel

Face new users, new demands, and new businesses and remain innovative. Jiang Xiaobai hopes to shape a new image and create a possibility.

For example, from heavy taste to light taste, pure sorghum liquor is a more relaxing liquor.

For example, by understanding the user's mental needs, Jiang Xiaobai believes that if the brand cannot establish a strong IP, cannot produce content, and cannot generate traffic monetization.

Returning to the liquor industry, how do we position ourselves well in terms of “category”?

Chinese liquor has a long history and is classified into many categories. Classification by wine aroma:

• Strong aroma type: rich aroma, mellow and sweet, sweet at the beginning, soft in the mouth, and clean aftertaste. It has a rich aroma, is sweet and mellow, has a long aftertaste, and is especially fragrant after drinking. Representative products include Luzhou Laojiao and Wuliangye.
  Fragrance type: The honey aroma is soft, elegant, pure, sweet in the mouth and has a pleasant aftertaste. The representative products include Guilin Sanhua Liquor, Changle Shao and other Xiaoqu rice wines, and Fenjiu Daqu.
  Sauce-flavor type: The aroma is soft and elegant, fragrant but not gaudy, soft but not light, mellow and mellow on the palate, with a long aftertaste. Pour it into a cup and leave it overnight, the aroma will last for a long time. After drinking, the aroma remains in the empty cup, and the aroma of the empty cup is its most precious. Moutai is its representative product.
  Other types: This type of wine has different aromas such as mouth fragrance and aftertaste fragrance, and has the style of one wine with multiple aromas. For example, Dongjiu has the rich aroma of Daqu liquor, the soft, mellow and aftertaste of Xiaoqu liquor, as well as a pleasant medicinal aroma; Baisha liquor has both the aroma of grass and the aroma of Lu; Lingchuan liquor has a distinct fragrance and a sauce-flavored aftertaste.

There are five categories according to the yeast, which are used for different wines:

• Wheat koji, mainly used for brewing rice wine;
  Xiaoqu, mainly used in the brewing of yellow wine and Xiaoqu liquor;
  Red yeast rice, mainly used for brewing red yeast rice wine (red yeast rice wine is a type of yellow rice wine);
  Daqu, used for brewing distilled liquor;
  Gluten koji, a modern development, is a culture made from bran inoculated with pure strains of mold.

Chongqing Kaoliang Liquor is actually not a new category. But Jiang Xiaobai has explored its own value and added its own elements.

Jiang Xiaobai realized that there are many types of light-fragrance Chongqing kaoliang liquor, all of which are made very well, but the Xiaoqu light-fragrance liquor has existed for so many years without being truly developed in depth and thoroughly. This is an opportunity.

Its advantage is: first-class handmade craft brewing. Secondly, it is purely natural, without any additives, and is completely naturally fermented. This single ingredient and the light body of the wine are more suitable for young consumers. Thirdly, it caters to the DIY preference of young consumers, who meet their personalized needs through cocktail mixing.

On the other hand, the main reason why it cannot be done thoroughly is the problem of raw materials and the inadequate supply chain system. After Jiang Xiaobai becomes bigger, it needs to systematically solve the problems of raw materials and supply chain system.

Chongqing is located at 35 degrees north latitude and on the bank of the Yangtze River. It is in a unique location, and using river water to make Jiang Xiaobai wine has advantages.

Therefore, Jiang Xiaobai, relying on the geographical advantage of Chongqing, positions its product category as a light-flavored (xiaoqu-fragrant) leisure-oriented small-package sorghum liquor. Founder Tao Shiquan publicly stated that this category direction will be what Jiang Xiaobai will insist on doing in the next 5-10 years.

(Of course, today Jiang Xiaobai no longer only compares itself to the liquor industry, but also to a broader beverage category.)

2 Products: Focus on intrinsic differentiation and provide solutions for consumer scenarios

As mentioned earlier, Chongqing's sorghum wine is a flavor that has not been fully explored. Its brewing process and characteristics are different from those in other places.

Many people think that liquor is just liquor, and do not pay attention to its aroma classification, category classification, and origin classification. In fact, Chinese liquor is mainly multi-grain type, which is brewed by mixing multiple grains together. Chongqing's sorghum wine is brewed from sorghum alone, which is the difference in raw materials.

From the perspective of taste, people's perception of liquor is almost always that it is heavy in taste. Many people think that drinking liquor is like going to the battlefield to fight, which is a heavy psychological burden. Chongqing's sorghum wine has a very light taste, which is not favored by older consumers, but is loved by the younger generation of consumers.

Jiang Xiaobai thought, could it be made simpler? Can it adapt to the needs of young people today?

Facing the taste trends of the new generation, drinking has nothing to do with historical scenes. We actually drink because of emotional needs, and the joy of drinking comes from our need for emotions.

Over the past few years, China's Chongqing Kaoliang Liquor has been selling history, but users are unwilling to pay for history and are only willing to pay for current emotions.

Today, users judge whether a product is good or bad based on the following:

First, it should be easy to swallow; second, whether he will have a headache after drinking it; third, he should be slightly tipsy but not too drunk, which means he can wake up as soon as possible after leaving the scene.

Jiang Xiaobai products do not have luxurious outer packaging. Jiang Xiaobai believes that in small scenarios, users are just buying your wine and are not obligated to pay for your high-end packaging. Today's users are very rational.

From heavy taste to light taste, pure sorghum wine is a more relaxing liquor. Jiang Xiaobai summarized the liqueurization of sorghum liquor as the "SLP Product Code"——

• SMOOTH Entrance is Smoother
  LIGHT Refreshing
  PURE

Recruited 60% of the top talents in Chongqing's liquor industry

Products should provide solutions for consumption scenarios

Jiang Xiaobai has insight that when a product becomes standard in a scenario, it will boost sales of this product.

For example, drink Jinro when eating Korean food and drink sake when eating Japanese food.

What is the standard configuration in Chongqing? Eat hot pot. Jiang Xiaobai hopes to become Chongqing's business card.

"When we start doing something, we have to think clearly about what we want to do. For example, Spartan Warriors became popular, and so did the marketing company behind it, but few people know that it was a marketing campaign done by Rock Salad. Marketing without product value is also worthless," said Ye Ming, CMO of Jiangxiaobai.

Grasp the changing trend of consumption scenarios: there are more and more banquet-type, business-type, and government-type scenarios, and more and more leisure scenarios.

Jiang Xiaobai's products are mainly classified into four consumption scenarios: small gatherings, small drinks, small moments, and small moods.

A small gathering refers to a non-business social gathering between a few colleagues, friends, or classmates.
Drinking lightly means not drinking too much, drinking just enough and being moderate;
Small moments refer to the regularity and contingency of time;
Small mood means that the product of wine is linked to mood and emotions, and is not just a functional need.

Jiang Xiaobai has corresponding product strategies for the above four consumption scenarios.

For example, Jiang Xiaobai's classic small-bottle product is designed for small gatherings of three or five classmates or friends to meet such small social needs. Jiang Xiaobai's expression bottle is designed to meet users' needs for emotional expression.

"Chinese consumers actually have a strong desire to express themselves. With the help of expression bottles, consumers can find an outlet to vent their emotions."

3. Brand: Connecting with users’ emotions

Jiang Xiaobai believes that the essence of consumption upgrading must have the following two points:

First, from the product side, the moment a user purchases a product, the product can soothe the user’s emotions.
Second, brands can connect with users’ emotions.

Facing the new generation of brands, Jiang Xiaobai hopes to one day become a label of this era and a brand representing Chongqing - "I am Jiang Xiaobai, another me in the world."

The success of the Jiang Xiaobai brand is closely related to its firm grasp on the group of literary and artistic young people.

What are the benefits of firmly grasping young users and building a strong brand? The answer is to break the original ecological pattern and rebuild a new one.

The original sales logic of liquor: channels are king. From the general agent to the second-level distributor, and then to the restaurant owner. Every time you sink a layer, you have to scrape off a layer of wool. The business rules of the entire industry are a zero-sum game of credit sales and bargaining between the channel and product parties. If you sell at a lower price and make more profit, I will sell more.

However, Jiang Xiaobai discovered that users are the sheep behind the scenes, all profits come from users, and it is imperative to firmly grasp users.

To distinguish who are the sheep, Jiang Xiaobai’s strategic commanding heights are: users are king and bring their own traffic.

When one, two, three, or many young users walk into a restaurant to consume and take the initiative to ask if Jiang Xiaobai is available, the channel party will take the initiative to come over, and the product party will naturally take the initiative. "I have this product, you don't."

Break the original sales logic of liquor, make friends with users, bring in traffic, and force channels from the user end, thus changing the industry value chain.

Jiang Xiaobai has a deep understanding of this point: it is necessary to distinguish between brand users and product users.

• Brand users - people who cheer for Jiang Xiaobai Product users - people who drink Jiang Xiaobai

Jiang Xiaobai's brand building work revolves around brand users, and the brand can connect with users emotionally.

Jiang Xiaobai pays particular attention to promoting its brand through social channels .

For example, the 2016 Jiang Xiaobai expression bottle,

Scan the QR code on the bottle and an H5 game called "I have a bottle of wine and I have something to say to you" will appear. Click "I want to express" and you can enter the expression content according to the user's own situation and what you want to say, and DIY the background card and submit it. Users can share their own packaging in WeChat Moments , and the page title is "Jiang Xiaobai's copywriting was actually written by me!!!

On the other hand, after obtaining the information submitted by the user, the staff will contact you:

We have received the copy written for Jiang Xiaobai. As a thank you, we will send you a case of wine just for you. The text and name above are yours.

Do you mind if we promote this wine that is exclusively for you nationwide? In this way, your friends all over the country will be able to see the feelings you share.

Maybe one day, your friend will inadvertently hold up a bottle of Jiang Xiaobai and ask you: "Hi, dear, didn't you write this?"

From this moment on, all partners are not only consumers of Jiang Xiaobai, but also content providers and designers.

In this way, the content obtained by the user end is returned to the user, and the interaction between Jiang Xiaobai and the user is strengthened. Help users grow, and at this moment users can truly become good friends with Jiang Xiaobai emotionally.

The bottle of Jiang Xiaobai has become a super self-media . Before 2016, Jiang Xiaobai had a professional team of more than 100 people producing copywriting.

"Since 2016, the Jiang Xiaobai brand team has stopped producing its own copywriting and has become a porter of excellent copywriting." Jiang Xiaobai CMO Ye Ming said half-jokingly.

Founder Tao Shiquan is the company's biggest product manager , and Jiang Xiaobai is working hard to return some of the product manager's functions to users.

Jiang Xiaobai has been thinking about the users’ mental and emotional needs in each individual scenario.

Facing the simple and pure young people of the era , the reason why I was called Jiang Xiaobai is because I was born in Chongqing and the river is the boundary. I hope all my friends can maintain a humble and self-reflective attitude and hope to be a quiet Xiaobai.

Jiang Xiaobai has also made continuous innovations in its brand strategy. Jiang Xiaobai's brand strategy is mainly to create "Jiang Xiaobai" as its own IP, thereby bringing traffic and attention to the brand.

In November 2017, an animated film with Jiang Xiaobai's own IP will be released. This animated film will promote the interactive connection between the brand and consumers, which is an important brand strategy for the new generation.

Execution

With the positioning of categories, products and brands, Jiangxiaobai also launched a carpet bombing campaign in the implementation of Go To Market, without any ambiguity:

1 Product side - product is the starting point of marketing

All products are the starting points of marketing. The traditional departmental division of labor has become invalid, and the product department must be managed together with the marketing department.

Advertisements without secondary dissemination are all hooliganism;

Use the bottle and outer packaging as super self-media;

2. Create an emotional connection with the product

The important changes brought about by consumption upgrading are: products can soothe emotions and brands can connect emotions.

3. Use your imagination and be romantic without compromising functionality

4. Find matching cultural IP

Jiang Xiaobai realized very early on that without content there would be no traffic, and without IP there would be no way forward.

Jiang Xiaobai's IP strategy is divided into two directions: building the brand's own IP and finding a large cultural IP with a consistent tone.

Brand's own IP

Find a cultural IP with the same tone

5. Integration throughout, from manufacturing to user end—— Easy

Light taste - light sorghum wine

Take it easy - DIY mixed drinks can be lighter and lighter

Easy team building - Jiang Xiaobai Shiren Drink Series

Easy social connections

Easy and simple brand proposition

Jiang Xiaobai summarized his brand work in one sentence: product is the origin, user is the focus, and Internet technology is the fulcrum.

My summary in one sentence is that the success of brand strategic positioning + reliable, efficient and consistent execution = the success of Jiang Xiaobai’s brand operation.