Lao Xiang Ji’s brand “traffic code”!

As the most innovative Chinese fast food brand, Lao Xiang Ji has recently sparked heated discussions again.

One is that it is rumored to be going public and entering the capital market to battle with foreign fast food; the other is that Chairman Shu Congxuan participated in a workplace observation reality show "Amazing Workers", which was originally a very normal thing, but unexpectedly, the official Lao Xiangji turned it into a social drama.

It can be said that since Shu Congxuan’s wave of hand-tearing joint letters opened up the “Ren and Du meridians” during the epidemic last year, Lao Xiangji has not only completely let go of itself, but also mastered the “traffic code” and has become unstoppable, becoming more and more “outrageous” on the road to becoming an Internet celebrity.

01 The ultimate in earthiness is trendy

Although the brand industry has issued the alarmist warning more than once that "cheesy marketing is destroying your brand." But for Lao Xiang Ji, a brand that is rooted in the local area and started in a county in Anhui Province, it seems to have a natural fit with "earthy flavor" and can always exude the brand's down-to-earth style in various earthy marketing.

△ Lao Xiang Ji 200 yuan press conference

02 Social sense establishes a brand personality with internet sense

There is a topic on Weibo #The easiest job I've ever seen# , which has been read 140 million times and discussed 18,000 times so far.

As Luo Zhenyu said: "In the era of mobile Internet, brands are based on the trust and love brought by personal charm, which is the de-organization and personalization of brands."

It is not difficult to find that Lao Xiang Ji has consciously portrayed itself as a willful, naughty and cute character from the beginning to the end, and its personality, temper and mood have been well-crafted, making people immersed in it unconsciously.

03 Shu Congxuan’s IP personality is the best branding tool

For a long time, the IP value of brand founders has not received enough attention in marketing. This is related to the Chinese people's low-key character, which is different from the Westerners' flamboyant personality. Therefore, there are many stories about Chinese companies, but few stories about their entrepreneurs.

But nowadays, this imbalance between corporate IP and personal IP is being broken, and more and more entrepreneurs are standing up, putting on their own armor, waving flags and cheering for their own companies.

Apart from the likes of Jack Ma and Liu Qiangdong who frequently come to the fore but do not do it intentionally for brand operations, the most successful company founders/leaders in IP marketing are Gree's Dong Mingzhu and Chen Ou of the once popular Jumei.com.

But in the past two years, I think the most successful brand founder in creating IP is Shu Congxuan. Looking back at every marketing case of Lao Xiangji in the past two years, Shu Congxuan was present.

Of course, all this started in early 2020 when Shu Congxuan tore up a joint letter from employees. At that time, many companies cut salaries and laid off employees due to the difficulties caused by the epidemic. But Shu Congxuan responded domineeringly that he would do everything possible to ensure that employees had food to eat and classes to attend, even if it meant selling houses and cars.

04. Unique “localization” allows the public to participate in brand value creation

In fact, I think there is a very strange phenomenon in the Chinese brand industry: many foreign brands are facing the dilemma of "localization". They try their best to integrate into the local Chinese culture, but they frequently fail in localized marketing. For example, the "Hell Aesthetics" series of fashion blockbusters created by Dior and the famous photographer Chen Man were accused of vilifying the Chinese.

But what’s interesting is that many Chinese brands are becoming more European, American, Japanese and Korean. For example, many popular new tea beverage brands are trying hard to be similar to Japanese styles in terms of brand names and packaging.

In my opinion, this is a manifestation of the brand's lack of confidence.

In the process of competing with the "high-end" foreign fast food brands, it did not avoid its "rustic" origin, but infinitely magnified it in the process of brand building, ultimately forming the brand differentiation and memorability we see.

What is even more commendable is that, as Philip Kotler pointed out the new marketing direction for brands in Marketing 4.0: brands should shift the marketing focus to how to actively interact with consumers, respect the values ​​of consumers as "subjects", and allow consumers to participate more in value creation. Lao Xiang Ji perfectly combines this localized marketing that incorporates the daily aesthetic preferences of the Chinese people with the public's sense of participation.

In the process, Lao Xiang Ji also created a new idea for empowering the brand - the brand cedes the leading role in marketing, everything revolves around user insights and emotional needs, and the public's sense of participation is involved to the greatest extent in the process of creating brand value. This is the most powerful response to the era of consumer sovereignty, and it is also the most appealing way to shape a brand in the current mobile Internet era.

04 Conclusion

There is no doubt that Lao Xiang Ji’s success is of great exemplary significance.

It shows us that there is no so-called correct path for brand marketing . The path that suits the brand is the right path.

Just as some people criticize that earthy marketing cannot bring added value to the brand and that it is difficult to upgrade the brand. This may be true for luxury goods with high-end brand tonality, but there is no value judgment of good or bad as far as earthy taste itself is concerned.

But for Lao Xiang Ji, the "earthy flavor" does not bring "earthyness" but an interesting brand soul, which brings positive appreciation of the brand value.