4 counter-common sense suggestions for brands, markets and marketers!

We said that no one can predict that he will always win, but we can learn to think in reverse and avoid risks. Therefore, we must be wary of the "five poisons" of brands.

The "Five Poisons" are actually five cognitive misunderstandings. They are called the "Five Poisons" because it is very easy for companies to fall into these misunderstandings, and once they do, they are likely to fail.

What are the five poisons? Please listen to me one by one:

1. Users will not buy into precise positioning just by saying it. Too many people are superstitious about positioning.

The success of positioning science is actually related to focus media. The positioning theory proposed by Jiang Nanchun of Focus Media has brought many business opportunities to us practitioners. He also has a theory called "saturation attack", and the two are related. In other words, we first do 10 million in brand consulting for positioning, and then spend 100 million on advertising. This is a default operating method. Its underlying logic is to rely on large-scale investment to strengthen user awareness, but you can't do this business without the money, and this method is not a panacea.

A typical example is the noble lady cream, "Sisters all love Vanmilin", which has reaped the benefits of Sister Lang 1. But I would like to ask everyone to think about it, do you think it has become a brand? Not really, right?

The positioning has been done, as well as the credentials, category awareness, advertising and spokespersons.

Why didn’t it become a brand?

First of all, in many people's minds, there is a natural definition of luxury cream, and the user must be a real luxury lady.

Who is the lady?

The ladies are not micro-business people, they are middle-aged and older women who have social class and status.

Who are they?

Executives of foreign companies, entrepreneurs, celebrities...

Will they use Fanmilin’s products?

Won't. If their salary is high enough, they will buy foreign brands such as Royal Selection and those used by the Dutch royal family, and will not consider domestic brands. Because these countries do have royal families, using the word "lady" is not considered a lie.

However, Fanmilin's story of "noble ladies" in modern China seems to be out of character, so the real noble ladies will not recognize it and it will not last long. Just like when Chanel invited Coco Lee to be its spokesperson, she was complained by target customers for not being dignified enough, and Coco Lee became the shortest spokesperson in history. Therefore, no matter whether it was due to other people's slander or the failure to monitor public opinion, even though Fanmilin spent a lot of money on positioning consultation and advertising, it still failed.

Therefore, don’t blindly believe in the so-called positioning theory. Good positioning can accurately target target users.

2. Positioning needs to keep pace with the times, otherwise it may become a mess

The initial growth of GAP in the United States relied on its product advantages. Its simple design was in line with the minimalist style that consumers were pursuing at the time. However, in recent years, GAP's designs have not been very innovative, which has been criticized.

Since 1992, the number of teenagers in the United States has increased year by year. The "Generation Y" population (people born between 1977 and 1994) has gradually grown into a consumer group that cannot be ignored. The consumption preferences of young people have also gradually changed, and affordable prices and trendy designs have begun to win the hearts of young people.

By 2000, GAP's difficulty in keeping up with trends had begun to emerge.

In order to attract young people back, GAP tried to change its brand positioning, and managers launched a radical "fashion transformation" campaign: in 2001, jeans, khakis, and T-shirts were no longer GAP's main products, and were replaced by sequined, diamond-studded, tights and other clothing.

However, the reason why GAP was able to conquer both young people and the old in the beginning was because it focused on the "basic style" approach. In pursuit of novelty and fashion, GAP continued to cater to young people, and eventually lost its basic customers who were fond of American casual style, and the old company fell into complete crisis.

GAP then realized that the market in the past was suitable for "all ages", but if it wants to occupy the current market, it needs to continue to update its brand concept and achieve precise segmentation, otherwise there will be no brand recognition and influence. But by the time it realized this, it was too late.

3. Internet celebrity products seek novelty and change, but forget to keep the core value unchanged in the long run

In 2012, Huang Taiji quickly became popular on Weibo with marketing events such as "luxury cars delivering pancakes" and "beautiful boss lady". Since then, it has even become a popular internet destination where white-collar workers and Internet people must check in.

However, consumers who have tried Huang Taiji Jianbing have complained that it is "too unpalatable, the service is poor, and the price is expensive." I came here because of its reputation and had high expectations. However, the Huang Taiji pancake, which costs 15 yuan each, tastes even worse than the ordinary pancakes that cost 5 yuan on the roadside. The strong psychological gap makes consumers say that the price-performance ratio is too low.

But Huang Taiji did not realize this problem, nor did he develop affordable products that were more suitable for the general public's taste. Instead of "pacifying the country" first, the founder He Chang began to frantically "fight against foreign aggression" - developing other product categories.

From the beginning of the business, it only sold pancakes, and wanted to create "a Chinese-style fashionable fast food chain brand with pancakes as the core"; soon, Huang Taiji transitioned to the second stage, not only doing single-item fast food, but also rice bowl fast food brands (beef stew) and hot pot brands (big yellow crazy), and the brand value concept changed to "creating a mobile Internet fast food company with white-collar takeaway as the core"; then it came to the third stage, "creating China's largest mobile Internet single-item fast food production and distribution platform"; and finally the fourth stage, "creating a catering takeaway financial entrepreneurship ecological platform."

As the business content changes, Huang Taiji’s brand core values ​​are also constantly changing.

Not only was the outside world dazzled, but the insiders were also in a state of chaos. Due to the crazy expansion of product categories and high prices, product quality was repeatedly criticized, and user consumption frequency hit new lows, Huang Taiji finally ran out of money. Finally, in 2018, Huang Taiji, known as the pioneer of Internet catering, went bankrupt and fell from the altar.

His founder, He Chang, had forgotten his original brand concept of creating a "Chinese McDonald's" the day he chose to expand product categories rather than continue to polish products to win user trust, and therefore failed to realize his brand dream.

4. Even if a hit product is successful, it may not necessarily lead to the success of a brand

In fact, the birth of a hit online product depends half on hard work and half on luck. Most of the time, hit products cannot be predicted in advance.

Therefore, instead of working hard to create a hit product, it is better to create a branded product with a unique tone, and then continue to sell it. After forming stable sales, you can then create more multi-brand matrices with the same tone. This is safer.

"What should I drink for health and beauty? Tianwa Honey Grapefruit Tea."

In 2013, Tianwa International stood out from many beverages with its honey grapefruit tea, and even attracted many beverage leaders to follow suit that year. Not only that, they also invited Fan Bingbing to be the spokesperson. This honey grapefruit tea became all the rage, earning Tianwo RMB 4.726 billion in revenue within a year and successfully bringing it into the capital market. In 2015, sales reached 5 billion yuan.

However, in 2018, this figure dropped sharply to 1.572 billion, and the net profit attributable to the parent company was a loss of 4.174 billion.

The failure of Tianwa International lies in its neglect to examine the value points and user pain points that the products bring to consumers, and its failure to continue research and development following the hit products and to hype up other products. When there are better products than this honey grapefruit tea on the market, Tianwa, which failed to continue to innovate, will only be defeated. Therefore, in many cases, it is still necessary to continue to build brands and products, which requires long-term capabilities rather than short-term capabilities.

5. Users attracted by low prices have no loyalty

Most car brands use low prices to capture the minds of users. Let me tell you a case that saddens me, which is Audi.

In the past, Audi was a car of the same level as BMW and Mercedes-Benz in my mind, but it has now gradually faded out of the circle of high-end mass-market cars. Think about it carefully, nowadays, when people born in the 1990s want to buy a luxury car, they will buy Porsche, BMW and Mercedes-Benz. How many people will use Audi?

So how did Audi get to this point?

In fact, Audi used to be the best car imported into China. It entered the country through government procurement, emphasizing the car's futuristic technology, and its configuration and cost-effectiveness are excellent.

However, in order to achieve more sales, Audi chose a low-price strategy and repeatedly lowered prices. Users often found that the price of the car they just picked up yesterday had been reduced again today.

Audi actually overlooked a fact: for most luxury car buyers, a car is actually a social tool, like watches, bags, and jewelry, used to show off to others, rather than just a means of transportation. Therefore, buying a luxury car is, to some extent, a form of vanity social currency, which car owners use to show off their status to others.

Audi's blind price cuts not only make users psychologically unbalanced, but more importantly, the prices are so low that they can barely support the status of the car owners. It will inevitably be squeezed out of the luxury car market.

Think Maker · Conclusion

A true brand should actually be a symbol of beauty and dreams in the hearts of users.

I have always believed that it is the brand, not anything else, that can defeat time.

In today's era, founders and CEOs need to strike a dynamic balance between branding and marketing. Don't just think about catching fish once, but learn how to raise fish. To make your brand avoid detours, you should attract lighthouse users through the "words" of the brand and create spiritual collisions and value resonances with them. Of course, the most important thing is that future CEOs should not only have passion, dreams and business acumen, but also have a scientific and systematic cognitive methodology to guide brand building and empower new brands with scientific methodology.

In the future, Chinese brands will continue to rise.

Author: Brand Chatter

Source: Brand Talk