Marketing strategies for domestic brands

In the "Laotan Pickled Cabbage" incident that hit instant noodle companies on March 15, Baiyang Food became one of the few companies that was not affected. When asked whether it was involved in the incident, Baiyang Food responded in a Weibo comment: "In a word: no cooperation, eat with confidence, a person with a clear conscience has nothing to fear."

According to media reports, in the past week, the number of fans of Baixiang's official Douyin account increased by nearly 300,000 to 1.37 million, and live broadcast sales reached more than 7.7 million yuan. In the past three months, the sales of Baixiang's official Douyin account were only 13 million yuan. The staff in the live broadcast room constantly called for "rational consumption." Its outstanding performance in food safety incidents has undoubtedly added another layer of buff to its status as the pride of domestic products.

Just like the previously popular Erke, being passionate about charity is not the whole secret of these brands' fame and success. Looking back on the rise of domestic products, we can appreciate the more gentle brand attitude of old domestic brands, which also brings a new perspective on brand thinking to the outside world. This article will review the brand marketing methods of domestic products in the new era.

Business for Good: A Great Theory and Innovative Practice

"The Four Lessons of Life" said: "Therefore, if one's ambition is to serve the country and the world, then even a little good is great; if one only cares about oneself, then even a lot of good is small." It means that the difference between great good and small good lies in whether it comes from the heart. If one thinks about the people of the world and not about himself, the merit is immeasurable and boundless, which is "great good." The "theory of goodness" is the basis of human nature for Confucian benevolence, righteousness, and morality. It is a major contribution to Confucianism and Chinese civilization. It is now increasingly used in business, such as Tencent's "Technology for Good" and Times Bole's "Do the Right Thing" and "Don't Do Evil".

The reason why Baixiang became so popular this time was due to the "old news" dug up by netizens during the Winter Paralympics. It is reported that in 2020, the Baixiang Food Company in Jining, Shandong had 237 disabled employees, accounting for nearly 1/3 of the total number of employees, and the number of disabled employees employed ranked first in Jining City.

Specifically, in order to ensure the safety and comfort of the working environment for people with disabilities, Baiyang spends more than one million yuan every year to carry out barrier-free transformation and maintenance of all production lines: automatic alarm systems, barrier-free passages, speed bumps, etc., and the canteen is also equipped with special windows and anti-slip mats... In addition, many of its peers fell into the trap of the 315 Gala, but Baiyang itself was not affected. It cleverly took advantage of the online emotions to spread its brand value, making this time completely popular.

Correspondingly, in the past 2021, the sports brand ERKE also experienced a lottery-like surge in popularity. This company, which suffered a loss of 220 million yuan in 2020, resolutely donated 50 million yuan in supplies when Henan suffered severe floods. The phrase "It feels like you are about to go bankrupt, yet you are still donating so much money" was widely circulated, triggering overwhelming sympathy and feedback from netizens. Netizens flocked to ERKE's live broadcast room to place orders, and some even responded to ERKE's chairman's good-intentioned advice to "consume rationally" with even crazier "wild consumption." For a time, ERKE became synonymous with "national brand" and "conscientious enterprise", and became a phenomenal existence.

Going back further, a similar effect occurred when news of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake came. The newly emerging beverage brand Wanglaoji donated 100 million yuan to the disaster area, touching thousands of Chinese people. Following an article on the Internet titled "Let Wanglaoji disappear from Chinese shelves, ban it! 》As the post spread, Wanglaoji’s sales skyrocketed, even surpassing the sales of Pepsi and Coca-Cola, becoming the pride of domestic beverages.

Indeed, at a time when wolf culture and 996 are prevalent, there are still brands that practice social responsibility with such delicate actions and low-key attitudes, which is truly commendable. The people-oriented brand attitude goes straight to people's hearts.

The traditional value corresponding to "being good" is "repaying a drop of kindness with a spring of water." One is the simple righteousness of being kind and loving, and the other is the feeling of repaying kindness, thus forming a closed loop in business.

Once the public is strongly aware of the powerful power of a company's philanthropic deeds and the kindness behind them, they will spontaneously "repay the favor." This heartfelt, soul-stirring resonance not only enhances the company's visibility and reputation, but also brings rapid growth and long-term user loyalty.

Products that evoke emotions are easier to sell, and making products requires stimulating emotional value.

1. Young people are paying for emotions, and we need to tap into the value of emotions when making products

The value of a product, apart from its basic functional value, lies in its emotional value. The same little yellow duck hairpin as Yang Qian, peripheral products from the hit drama "Awakening Age", aviation cultural and creative products, the same sportswear as Wu Jing, off-shoulder vaccine outfit, and the e-sports mouse after EDG won the championship... In a special list for 2021 released by Taobao, the above products were selected with high votes. The reason why these products can trigger a consumption frenzy can be attributed to one thing - "emotion". Young people are paying the price for their emotions.

When the struggling ERKE donated 50 million yuan worth of supplies to Henan, netizens were willing to go to ERKE's live broadcast room for wild consumption. This is not because of Erke's clever marketing tactics. Behind consumers' crazy orders, it is more driven by emotional conflicts - netizens spontaneously feel that buying a pair of shoes or a piece of clothing is a kind of support for conscientious domestic brands. Moreover, this generation of consumers has shown unprecedented support for domestic brands. In addition to the all-round rise of domestic products in products, brands and industrial chains, there is also indirect emotional support.

The same situation also happened in Baixiang’s live broadcast room.

2. The origin, spread and implementation of online sentiment in the White Elephant and Hongxing Erke incidents

The first is the origin of netizens’ emotions—empathy based on feelings of family and country. Whether it is Erke, which "will donate even if it is dying", or Baixiang, which refuses Japanese investment and recruits a large number of disabled people, netizens' evaluation of them is concentrated on keywords such as patriotism, low-key, responsible, conscientious enterprise, and the pride of domestic products; netizens' emotions are concentrated on keywords such as shock, touching, appreciation, admiration, and sadness.

The second is the spread of netizens’ emotions—fission, explosion of memes, and going viral.

Based on the Weibo platform, the incident involving Hongxing Erke and Baixiang caused heated discussion. With the support of patriotism, netizens' emotions were aroused and spread to platforms beyond Weibo, forming a fission-like dissemination trend. Facts have proved that no matter how carefully the marketing design is designed, it cannot compare to public empathy.

The third is the action interpretation of netizens’ emotions - wild consumption.

When netizens' emotions reached their peak, simple verbal support was no longer enough, and netizens began to vent their emotions through actions. This has formed a new way of consumption - wild consumption. The wild consumption of netizens is different from impulsive consumption and revengeful consumption. The logic behind wild consumption is that they are willing to pay for their values.

Netizens' wild consumption of ERKE and White Elephant is not only a support for the brands themselves, but also an expression of their growing national self-confidence and patriotism, as well as a high degree of recognition of the value of doing good. In other words, at this special moment, consumers no longer care about the quality of the product. What they buy is not just the physical goods, but more of a national sentiment.

To some extent, wild consumption is a concentrated expression of higher-level needs in Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory, and Generation Z, who are more affluent, individual, confident and professional, have a greater desire for such needs. Generation Z is growing into the core force of consumption, and at the same time, they are constantly pursuing patriotism, national confidence, cultural identity, social identity, etc., which makes them more likely to engage in wild consumption behavior.

In the past year, public sentiment was ignited by various social events, which in turn extended to the business field. All of these are verifying a consumption trend that cannot be ignored: products are in sync with hot topics and have become a concentrated expression of public sentiment. Emotions and feelings are becoming a mainstream influencing force in the business world.

The emotions you make consumers feel are directly affecting their consumption decisions. We don't use rational logic at all when buying things. At the top of our list of reasons for buying things is emotion. It is formed by our long-term education and experience, and may be certain emotions, values, attitudes, concepts, and lifestyles, such as patriotism, environmental protection, refinement, and a sense of ritual. Once awakened by certain events, it can trigger "wild consumption" of "paying for emotions" and "recharging for beliefs". This is the case with Baixiang and Erke.

3. Leverage the power: Brand communication should follow the trend, take advantage of the trend and create momentum

1. Go with the flow and resonate with your emotions

Philip Kotler, the "father of modern marketing", divides marketing into three eras in his book Marketing Revolution 3.0: From Value to Value-Based Marketing: Marketing 1.0, which is product-centric and pure sales, an art of persuasion;

In the era of Marketing 2.0, with consumers at the center, companies seek to establish close ties with customers. They not only continue to provide product functions, but also provide consumers with emotional value and unique market positioning, thereby creating a unique value combination.

In the era of Marketing 3.0, customers are no longer just ordinary consumers, but independent individuals with independent thoughts, minds and spirits. The profitability of a company is closely related to its corporate social responsibility.

Therefore, events such as Hongxing Erke's donation after the Henan rain disaster, White Elephant's rejection of Japanese investment, Anta's review, and Li Ning's support for Xinjiang cotton, all reflect that at a time when the domestic and international political and economic situation is constantly changing and consumer concepts represented by the focus on "price-performance ratio" are constantly innovating, brands have conformed to the value orientation contained in public events, consumers' pride and identity in domestic brands are increasing, and national sentiments and new consumption concepts are becoming consumers' internal selection mechanisms.

2. Taking advantage of the trend and boosting digitalization

Combining the performance of Baiyang and Erke, it can be seen that in the process of the continuous evolution of public events, with the help of online social media platforms represented by Weibo, and e-commerce platforms represented by Taobao and Douyin, domestic sports brands have more display opportunities, directly reaching young consumers and ushering in a new peak of development.

Taking ERKE's Douyin platform as an example, the single topic #鸿星尔克捐款# has been played 240 million times, and the related response video of ERKE's President Wu Rongzhao has received 6.833 million likes. The "wild consumption" craze that occurred in ERKE's live broadcast room has created a lasting popularity. From topic discussions, short videos to live broadcasts, these are vivid footnotes to the Internet's efforts to help domestic sports brands "go viral".

3. Build momentum and create your own KOE

Anything that can present brand information will become an effective brand carrier. For example, in brand communication thinking, the Weibo and WeChat accounts of brand founders, business leaders, corporate employees, and brand executives all have the same communication functions as mass media and social media.

Brands can create media content, build a self-media matrix, and use social media to amplify the brand effect, quickly break through circles, and reach more young consumers through human resources such as brand founders, brand spokespersons, KOEs (key opinion employees), KOLs (opinion leaders), and KOCs (key opinion consumers). For example, when Erke's boss Wu Rongguang appeared in the live broadcast room and called on fans to shop rationally and not to pay impulsively, the fans became even more crazy, and the number of people online in the live broadcast room reached an astonishing peak of 2.7 million.

When the boss appears as a symbol of the company or brand, it will give fans a very unique feeling. To a certain extent, the brand already contains the personality genes of the boss. When the boss appears in the live broadcast room as KOE, his personal charm will be amplified in the unique atmosphere of people, goods and places in the live broadcast room, which will directly attract fans, thereby helping fans to make the transition from interest to trust faster and better, and promoting fans to transfer their trust from the boss to the brand. Of course, a brand cannot rely solely on the boss’s KOE to maintain its reputation. A sustainable model is to establish a KOE matrix.

For popular companies, wild consumption will eventually subside. It is inevitable that consumers will return to rational consumption; it is just a matter of time. No brand can gain sustained popularity solely by relying on this hot spot. Whether the company can guarantee long-term loyalty and reputation after the hot spot is a test of its internal strength. Finally, summarize in four sentences:

1. The boss's love for people determines the radius of the company's development;
2. You must assume the responsibilities of the industry you are in.
3. Don't always think about using your "big move". Take every step carefully, and when the opportunity comes, it will be hard to lose;
4. Charity is charity, and marketing is marketing. Don’t think that because others are famous for doing charity, you can pretend to do charity and do marketing instead. This is very hypocritical!

Author: Pogo Financial Forum

Source: Pogo Financial Forum