I am quite emotional about the topic we are talking about today.
Earlier, a "fake foreign" brand approach was popular among our country's consumer brands, especially in the consumer brand circles in the southwest coastal areas. The products are obviously genuine domestic products. They first register a trademark abroad, and then give them brand names that sound like transliterations such as "XX仕", "XX雅", and "XX斯". The last step is to find a few foreign faces and present them on advertising posters in the largest size. The last step is crazy marketing, and everyone knows about it. Anyway, ordinary people will not delve into the "agent" behind the product packaging, and will never associate these high-end foreign brands with a domestic industrial town. They will buy them as "imported goods". It was not until many years later, when I passed by the back streets of Dongguan, that I learned that the "Xsi" mattress, which I had always thought to be a foreign brand, actually grew in an inconspicuous town in Guangdong. So much so that every time I looked at their large-scale light box ads with a spokesperson who looked like Steve Jobs, I would always feel inexplicably confused.That was an era when "imported goods" were equivalent to "high-end goods"."Disguise" and heavy advertising are the only way to understand "building" a brand.At that time, it was difficult to find "brand people", there were only "advertising people" and "marketing people" who tried hard to find ways to increase sales. However, the direction of the tide always changes unconsciously."Domestic products" have become a bonus that brands are vying for, and "content" has replaced traffic as the core of brand building. Recently, two things happened that are particularly illustrative. One is a major event in the textile and garment industry - the "Xinjiang Cotton" incident, and the other is a short video content "Hot-Selling China" produced by Xin Shixiang and Tmall that went viral not long ago. Our topic was definitely locked on the discussion of “domestic products”. In the discussion of Xinjiang cotton, we see a sub-line behind it: the Chinese supply chain. In "China's Hot Selling Products", we see that this generation of business owners has begun to pay attention to "feelings" beyond business, and "content" beyond traffic - things that may eventually be precipitated into brands. Supporting "domestic products" has become a clear attitude of the younger generation of consumers and entrepreneurs, and it has also become a topic that will be difficult for future brand owners to avoid. In fact, the changes began in 2016 or even earlier. Clothing, food, beauty, automobiles, electronic products... brand innovation under the new consumption concept and the powerful domestic supply chain have joined forces to achieve this success. These leading domestic brands, investment institutions, and successive marketing events have been working closely together to lay the foundation step by step for today's super brand dividends that are clearly before our eyes."Domestic products" are unstoppable. The country has become the best endorsement for the brand. Back to "domestic products" themselves, what is the brand logic? Simply and crudely throwing out the concept of "domestic products" to advertise? Or print “I am a domestic product” on every product package? The dividends of domestic products have just begun and will last for a long time. This includes new domestic products that are boldly launched and expressed frankly, as well as traditional old domestic products that are gathering momentum and making a comeback. It’s the same idea of “domestic products” and the same source of brand value. How many content angles and gameplay methods can be referenced under this “topic”? I would like to share four perspectives on how to use content to build a brand under the "domestic product" approach for your reference. I look forward to your additions. These four perspectives all start from the logic of content power and share the brand’s content narrative methods regarding “domestic products”.
The first angle: Chinese style
This is also the most common brand angle currently used in the "domestic products" brand content route.That is, it is a way of playing that fully utilizes the visual system of "Eastern aesthetics" and the concepts of "traditional culture" to highlight the characteristics of Chinese style from product design, concept packaging to marketing copy. This approach is actually not original. In the skincare and beauty industry, old brands such as Xie Fuchun and Tong Ren Tang all took the traditional Chinese style route. Unfortunately, they did not stick to it thoroughly and their communication was not clear. As more and more young ladies in Hanfu appear on the streets, ancient music, film and television dramas are also flourishing, and the national style brand route is gradually encountering good opportunities. Among them, whether it is Hua Xizi, who is "always suitable with light or heavy makeup", or the quaint "Cha Yan Yue Se", whether it is the "Tang and Song" series launched by BYD that appears prominently on the front of the car, or Huawei's "Hongmeng" and "Qilin" and other names that are inherited from the ancient Chinese mythology style. These brands are all using the "national style aesthetic" content route to clearly establish their "national product" characteristics.The power of content here is not only reflected in simple copywriting rhetoric and VI design. If you observe carefully, you can see that the content has penetrated into the product, such as carved lipsticks, ancient-style tea drinks, etc. Therefore, content is no longer just a way for companies to package their subsequent products, but has become an overall idea for the company that runs through the entire product. Even the founder of Hua Xizi is named "Hua Mantian". You will find that traditional Chinese content has become the gene of some companies. By the way, the transfer of abilities of top designers is also a phenomenon that cannot be ignored. In the past, there were not many good designers in the design world who could design with ancient Chinese elements, and the works that were finally produced were ugly and vulgar. However, in recent years, starting with the Palace Museum’s cultural and creative products, it has to be said that the level of this clear stream of oriental aesthetic design has been getting better and better. The same goes for content copywriting and product cultural packaging. Brand marketers must also make up for the missed Chinese studies, otherwise there will be many people who don’t even know which book to look up when naming a product.For brand marketers with cultural background, spring is here. Rumor has it that the CMO of a new domestic brand can recite the "Book of Changes" backwards. Although this statement is a bit exaggerated, it does hint at his cultural foundation. I have always wanted to find an opportunity to communicate, if for no other reason than being interesting is also a social asset. This is the first content angle, which tests the overall aesthetics of the brand. If the taste is right, it will be a big plus.
The second perspective: national strength
If the first content angle shows beauty, some brands say it is too "difficult" and they cannot do it.The second angle that can be used as a reference for brand content creation is: highlighting the strength of domestic products. The brand speaks with strength, "Let the whole world know that I have strength" Those who dare to point out that their own brand is a "domestic product" also need a certain amount of confidence, confidence in the strength of "domestic products". Brands can express stories and display content from the perspectives of "quality", "efficiency" and even "price", and clearly state these points and make promises about them, which is also a very clear approach. A very representative work of this type of play is the slogan launched by Gree in 2015 (6 years ago): Let the world fall in love with Made in China. This sentence is quite domineering. Don’t underestimate this slogan. It can be clearly distilled, printed on each outer packaging box, and can be displayed in a standardized manner. From the perspective of brand communication alone, I think their thinking is quite clear. Not to mention, this statement really needs some manufacturing support. From this perspective, let alone companies like Huawei, which are born to follow this route from the very name. From this perspective, any company with high-quality supply chain capabilities can give it a try. Of course, there are various counterfeit and low-quality products in our supply chain companies, but at the same time, there are also a large number of "super" companies that provide strict standard OEM and even R&D services to the world's best brands. Now, some of them are ready to go. These companies have decades of production and R&D experience, a nearly perfect process system, the ability to control costs, and are close to and understand the Chinese market. All they need to demonstrate the strength of their domestic brands is confidence and time. Not long ago, I saw a video called "Best Sellers in China". When it talked about the supply chain, there was a point that was particularly good:All new brands today are beneficiaries of the maturity of the supply chain over the past few decades. To become a hit, they must have hard power. After the Xinjiang cotton incident, I saw many advertisements by Chinese home textile companies demonstrating their supply chain strength in many places on high-speed trains and in airports. Although their branding and marketing skills are not sophisticated, their confidence is evident on paper. At present, a large number of high-quality supply chains are being developed one after another. On the one hand, there is the crazy development of domestic e-commerce and live broadcast platforms, on the other hand, there is the demand for OEM from newly established domestic brands, and on the other hand, there is the raging capital force (investment companies that have been working hard have been buying upstream for a long time). It is regrettable that companies that currently have supply chain advantages have a weak perception of brand building. They are often obsessed with studying the supply chain and cannot extricate themselves, and habitually do what they are better at. However, new brands that are currently dominated by branding and marketing often lack the due respect and R&D patience for products and supply chains, and the connection between the two is still in the process of running in.Of the two, I currently prefer brands that are led by the supply chain and production because they are more solid. Even if they move slowly in the short term, in the long run, product is king and it is always right. Sooner or later, everyone's confidence will be reflected in the product's brand content, brand story, packaging and copywriting.
The third perspective: national trend
National trend is a hot word. Here I distinguish it from the national style.Guofeng is a design and writing style with oriental aesthetics and a retro beauty.Guochao refers to the sense of fashion created by the fusion of traditional Chinese culture and fashion trends. Its focus is still on "trend". It has a trendy feel with Chinese cultural elements in it. This kind of "sense of fashion" had nothing to do with domestic brands a few years ago. Paris Fashion Week has never been a stage for domestic brands, but this has been quietly changing in recent years. "Hot-selling items" began to merge with "national trends", and domestic products began to become fashionable and even sold well. This has never happened before. Li Ning, a long-established sportswear brand, has managed to carve out a path called "China Li Ning" from this most difficult of roads. The shoes called "Wudao" have also been sold out. Even the old brand "Hui Li", which had almost no chance of recovery, has begun to slowly "recover" with the help of trendy culture. Young people in China are slowly beginning to accept Chinese characters on T-shirts, and the distance between us and fashion is gradually narrowing. From this perspective, I used to be confused about whether the strength of domestic brands could really be connected with "fashion". Later, after I continued to look at two old domestic clothing brands, I was convinced that the "fashion power" could definitely catch up. One is "Bosideng" and the other is "Ordos". Our domestic brands have finally moved from "looking down on", "not being able to get used to" and "not understanding" the concept of "trend" to "being able to handle it".Just like what was said in "Hot-selling China": domestic products have always been cheap, affordable and popular. This has been a misunderstanding in the development of Chinese domestic products for so many years. People think that we have no way to compete with international brands, but there are not so many substitutes for big brands in the world. These words are good, but why are they good? Fortunately, there is finally a place where brands and domestic product managers can say these words. You asked us whether we knew this truth in the past. We knew it. But no one expressed it so frankly. By the way, I would like to praise the content planning of Xin Shi Xiang. The expression angle is very advanced. In my opinion, being able to honestly display a company's style, content, and excellent aesthetics and to lead a group of people is itself the underlying meaning of "trend". A new generation of designers and brand managers with excellent design aesthetics and cultural reserves are gradually growing up. From this perspective, it is most likely that world trend-leading brands will emerge. In addition, corporate brands taking this route are not only targeting industries with high requirements for fashion, such as clothing and beauty, but also for various sectors such as electronic products, food and beverages, cultural content, automobiles and home furnishings.Trend is not just for the fashion industry. You can be trendy anywhere. Fashion has nothing to do with category or origin, it is just an attitude that is different from the norm. Choosing the "trend" content angle to build a brand may seem demanding, but it is actually a way to overtake others by taking a shortcut. If Elon Musk had taken the traditional brand route when building cars, he might not have become popular until now; he would create a "trend" and launch a rocket to attract global attention. Hollywood in the United States also created a "trend" in content, which made it popular all over the world. From this perspective, I think Xiaomi has created a "trend" that has quietly replaced the industry's original logic and inherent cognition. The way of playing in the Forbidden City is also a trendy idea. Recently, a series of brands such as Tsingtao Beer are also seeking solutions in playing the national trend card.The branding approach of "national tide" requires persistence of one's own enterprise's brand from strategy to content, and doing things that one truly believes in. Things that one does not believe in and are not firm about will not become "trendy". After all, being trendy is a brand idea. Even if you are in B2B, who says you can’t be trendy?
The fourth perspective: National creation
Compared with the first three brand promotion angles, this content angle may be the most difficult.Because it requires "creation". We used to be not afraid of hardship, fatigue, or even imitation, but we were afraid of creation. Changes are also happening. In recent years, I have encountered more and more "super product" projects in branding. When I say “super products” I mean those products that come from “new species, new technologies, new models, and new ways of playing”. These new things are unique to us from the moment they are born. This originality does not only refer to high-tech disciplines such as chips and artificial intelligence, but also includes even "the invention of paper towels" and "a tool for squeezing oyster sauce"... Innovations based on user needs have been happening in an endless stream in recent years. Not long ago, I was browsing Pinduoduo and saw a bunch of daily necessities that stunned me. They are definitely the crystallization of Chinese people's wisdom. Various kitchen convenience designs are simply easy to use. At the same time, an "eraser pen to protect privacy information when receiving express delivery" is also amazing. The wisdom of ordinary businessmen! Unfortunately, a lot of "creative ideas" will be copied as soon as they come out. Ideas are worthless, it all depends on who sells more. Can those ideas become brands? I think so. As long as we insist on cherishing what we have. Too many new brands do not research products like "chips" that are worthy of protection. Instead, they may just come up with an idea for a new pillow or a new garbage bag. They do not have the ability or awareness to protect their intellectual property rights, resulting in a good product being copied all over the street as soon as it comes out. The brand is very distressed.Protecting brand content as “national creation” is one solution. One case I think of here is Luhua peanut oil. There is always such a statement in their brand introduction: Luhua founder Sun Mengquan led the entire team through six years of technological research and developed the unique 5S pure physical pressing process. This is the creation of the brand, it is worth talking about repeatedly and it deserves to be known by everyone. There is another case, which is Qia Qia. They are a little weaker when it comes to protecting brand innovation. From the "cooking" process to the "preservation" methods, they actually have a lot of original things that can be used as brand marketing channels. Perhaps the patent protection is safe and cautious enough, which has weakened the awareness of "national creation" in brand communication. It's a bit of a pity. In fact, the brand's intention can be made bigger, with more volume and depth. Therefore, from the perspective of national creation, there are two situations: One is to be particularly cautious about existing "innovations", not to promote them, and not to highlight them in brand marketing, thus wasting a wave of domestic innovation dividends. Another situation is that people do not take their "micro-innovation" capabilities seriously and do not know how to initiate brand marketing protection when micro-innovation begins. Junlebao Dairy, the first company to produce the internet-famous "little white bag" milk, and the cake brand that first invented the concept of dirty buns (I don't know who it was)... It's a pity that these consumer innovations did not use brand marketing ideas to protect themselves. I look forward to seeing more wonderful and successful cases from this perspective. We must not let “creative people” suffer, and the world will not let “creative people” suffer. "We can build rockets that fly into space, and we should also be able to build lipsticks that are very popular with everyone." Whether it is a rocket or a lipstick, the awareness of protecting "national creation" must be present in the content expression. In the past, the only way to express our company's brand was through television advertising. The good news now is that both platform organizations and content creation companies are empowering this kind of brand expression and protection, and the methods are not limited to hard advertising. With the help of similar "era narrative documentaries" like the cooperation between content company Xin Shi Xiang and Tmall, it is actually a differentiated content expression method for brands. In this wave of domestic brand operations, content is obviously an important focus. The content here is by no means a wave of advertising and marketing operations in the past, nor is it just witty topic marketing.What is certain is that, in the end, what will defeat a 4A company will not be another 4A company, but a company with similar innovative content. This requires companies to pay more attention to unconventional channels and resources that are different from the past when planning brand content, and use completely different ideas to think about how to penetrate the characteristics of "national creation" with low cost and good results. At present, the popularity and cost-effectiveness of the topics of "National Creation" are very high. The above are four content angles for promoting the brand of "domestic products". The four angles may seem similar at first glance, but upon closer inspection, they are actually completely different ideas. If your company also wants to take advantage of the "domestic products" trend, you can refer to these four angles to see which situation and style best suits you. I am just summarizing and throwing out some ideas. You are welcome to add to and discuss. In addition, the "domestic products" mentioned here are by no means limited to C-end consumer goods. I even think that "domestic products" on the B-end product side are more competitive and have more creative imagination space.
The topic is just to give you an extension of your thinking. Welcome to come to me for in-depth communication and discussion~~~~~
