3 innovative formulas for brand marketing

Two years ago, I set the goal of #reading 200 classic marketing books in 3 years#. This goal has not been broken yet, but my reading scope is no longer limited to marketing.

China's Internet development is ahead of the world. Many marketing books are translated from foreign countries. However, China's market conditions have changed so rapidly in recent years that the methodologies in the books are outdated. The latest methodology needs to be summarized by yourself.

The best way to learn marketing nowadays is to study various cases rather than reading books. Just read a few of the most classic books, which basically cover the marketing framework. The cases around us are all first-hand information, which is more inspiring than reading all the marketing theory books.

Recently, I have read the public relations copy, brand stories, and marketing strategies of these 100 consumer brands. It feels like I didn’t see any new [products], just a marketing involution. Many brands fail to create new value or product innovation and rely entirely on marketing.

(The 100 typical high-growth domestic brands with outstanding performance on Tmall in 2020 are in the food, beverage, beauty, and home furnishing sectors)

Of course, there are also some brands that are doing very well. From product innovation, marketing, branding, to offline distribution, they have elevated their creativity in all aspects and are worth learning from.

Three innovation models and classifications of new consumer products

If we extract the value created by new consumer products in terms of "newness", we can summarize it into the following three levels:

1. Supply chain: use of new technologies/fast response

2. Product side: creating functions/design/aesthetics/scenes

3. Marketing/channel: media platform/e-commerce platform/offline distribution

Of these three levels, most new consumer brands usually only achieve one level, or 1.5 levels. Very few can truly achieve innovation in all three levels.

After looking at so many new consumer brands, I made an innovation stratification of the new consumer brands on the market based on these three innovation dimensions.

Among them, marketing and channels are essential options at every level, and the main difference between consumer products lies in the degree of innovation of products and supply chains.

First, there are great innovations in supply chain, products, traffic and content:

For example, three and a half coffees:

• The value of the supply chain is specifically manifested as

1. Use new technology: freeze-drying.

   The coffee liquid is frozen at an extremely low temperature, and then the condensed water is allowed to quickly sublime into gas to extract the substances in the coffee. Compared with traditional high-temperature spraying technology, more coffee flavor can be retained. San Dun Ban claims to use its original “super extraction” technology to create the finest instant coffee.

2. Fast response

   The speed of the R&D to shelf cycle and the speed of the intermediate links in the supply chain are faster.

   Behind the phenomenon of supply chain compression is actually the upgraded result brought about by its digital transformation and flexible reform.

   For example, new consumer products often have various co-branded products, with one released every three months. If the supply chain is not strong, how can we respond so quickly?

• Product side:

1. Original cold water instant coffee powder,
2. Packaging innovation: unique capsule design and box recycling feature to strengthen the product IP image.
3. Scenario innovation: High-quality pictures coupled with conscious official guidance have triggered a large number of imitations and re-creations by consumers, which is said to have resulted in hundreds of ways to drink coffee and generated a large amount of UGC content.

• Marketing side:

Santonban’s marketing system is also very scientific and systematic.

1. During the product development stage, find a large number of consumers to provide feedback.

   Cooperate with food organizations and food influencers such as Xiachufang and let them experience and test sample products.

   Collect feedback through tasting at the exhibition.

   At the 2018 Shanghai Spring Exhibition, Sandunban conducted 2,000 tastings and received more than 1,000 questionnaires.

2. Create the product's koc and amplify the word-of-mouth effect

   For new brands, KOC is the best choice as a natural seed user and word-of-mouth communicator.

   Santonban has someone specifically responsible for keeping an eye out for brand-related UGC content on various channels. If the team predicts that someone has the "potential to be a navigator," they will send them products and maintain communication.

3. Building user stickiness: Return plan

   The brand cooperates with specialty bookstores, shopping malls and other offline spaces to set up outlets, and users can make their own online reservations to go to the "return point". Exchange empty cans for peripherals and create social currency.

The second level is product innovation:

Products at this level do not use new technologies on the supply chain to create a new category, but they do offer differentiated ways of playing or upgrades in existing categories.

• For example, the texture has been improved: Ramen said that from traditional instant noodles to a decent bowl of ramen that can be eaten at home, the "home ramen restaurant" has been created.
• It has achieved scene innovation: adopt a cow, build your own ranch, and launch an "adopt" cow milk ordering model. Consumers can play cloud cow raising games, watch live ranch broadcasts, etc., which greatly enhances the sense of trust.

The third level is just creating traffic content:

Traffic and content are actually the basic skills of any online marketing, not just new consumer products.

So new consumer products at this level are actually just riding on the popularity of the product. They take a product concept, change the brand name, and then

1. First, create 20,000 Xiaohongshu articles
2. Create another 8,000 Tik Tok and Kuaishou
3. Create 2,000 more Bilibili
4. Publish 2,000 more questions and answers on Zhihu
5. Then he got top internet celebrities such as Viya and Li Jiaqi, and then took advantage of the situation to get mid-level anchors on Douyin.

The prototype of new consumer products has been created.

For example, the Li Ziqi brand is a pure traffic-based brand. There is no innovation or improvement, and the product categories are all existing popular ones (snail noodles, hot and sour noodles, egg yolk crisps), just with a new packaging.

Relying on its own traffic, it can work with other traffic IPs to jointly transfer traffic.

The stories that brands tell to the outside world are also mass-produced. Those who make beverages must bring out the concept of "zero tang and zero fat". Previously it was Yuanqi Forest sparkling water, and now it is various low-alcohol wines. Those who make food should focus on health and fat reduction, convenience and fast food. Even "junk food" such as potato chips are now "healthy snacks"; those who make cosmetics, as long as they have something to do with the national trend, they instantly seem to become "high-end", so much so that even fried skewers are packaged in the national trend style.

02 The logic of capital creating new consumer products

OK, the above is the A-side logic of new consumer products: innovation barriers, product polishing, real demand and fake demand, marketing ROI... these are all stories that are brought to the table.

But theory is theory, and practice is practice. The real operating logic of this world is sometimes not the rules on the surface, but the "you know" rules on the B side.

Many consumer products do not have such operating ideas or original intentions. They are not aiming to build a century-old brand that will last forever. Instead, they start by using capital to expand rapidly and replicate existing strategies. Even if they lose money, as long as they increase and boost sales, they can list or sell the products and cash out quickly.

So now people say that new consumer products are full of bubbles.

Capital-style B-side logic:

In order to create a trend, capital uses money to throw money at the track → entrepreneurs use the money to make products and create concepts → bloggers and platforms such as Douyin, Kuaishou, Xiaohongshu and Bilibili use the advertising fees to help promote → consumers see the promotion and buy a newer, more trendy and more personalized "refined life".

In this game, entrepreneurs and investors make money not from profit dividends, but from increased market value.

When Kuaishou, a live streaming company, was about to go public this year, many concept stocks and dark trading related to live streaming soared by 260%.

This has always been the way capital seizes the track, the Hundred Regiments Offensive, taxi-hailing, shared bicycles, the trend is inevitably accompanied by bubbles.

The bubble is actually a reflection of market sentiment. The bigger the bubble is, the higher the attention on the track is. Small players are running along, and more leeks are entering the market, and the higher the market value is.

For example, when live streaming was popular, a certain capital player, Mr. H, operated like this:

• Mr. H invested in three Taobao Affiliate companies to increase product sales through WeChat
• Two cloud phone companies - used to increase revenue (you know)
• Established cooperative relationship with several WeChat business companies, and jointly invested in the establishment of MCN company - used to incubate talents
• There are also several companies that specialize in live streaming to sell goods - making high turnover

(Cloud phone that can be used to increase the volume)

From the front end to the back end, every link in the entire industrial chain is in his hands. He can quickly set up several high-turnover live-streaming sales companies and then sell them.

We ordinary people only see a certain link, but capital players are considering how to create a closed loop so that they can create high-turnover institutions in batches.

03 Some new reflections on consumer society

And what have we, as ordinary consumers, experienced in this round of over-saturated bombardment of new consumption?

I drew a picture to describe how I felt:

The above closed loop is filled with all kinds of pervasive advertisements → your mind and brain are implanted with "refined life" to express yourself → you can't stop shopping → you work hard to earn money to cover your own consumption. (That is, exchanging time for money to shop, creating the current 996 work rhythm. After time is drained, people want to use consumption to fill their creativity and desire for creation that are deprived of work)

This is the logic by which ordinary people operate in a consumer society. Like the fuel that keeps this machine running at high speed.

But I can't stop. Because this is the inevitable development of society: the Industrial Revolution brought about an increase in productivity → overproduction → need to create demand → the rise of the advertising industry → buy, buy, buy.

I have always disagreed with one statement: many marketing analysis articles talk about consumer characteristics and say that people are becoming more and more fond of new things and dislike the old ones. In fact, the cause and effect are reversed. People are naturally curious about new things. It’s just that marketing is becoming more and more pervasive, infinitely magnifying this aspect of human nature.

It’s not that people are more fickle, but that businesses are constantly developing new products to stimulate consumers in pursuit of high sales. The channel is full of new products, so I can only keep replacing them.

This is the price of technological development. In an efficiently functioning social machine, everyone has a clear division of labor and does the work of a screw. Work is cut on an assembly line, and it is impossible to see front-end and back-end feedback. Creativity and time value are stolen.

So in this era of immense material abundance, we ourselves are becoming increasingly poor. We are busy every day, but we don’t live for ourselves. We become the gears and screws of a huge social machine.

What you want, the lifestyle you buy, the attitude you express yourself with, are all instilled into you by the social machine.

The so-called “Work Hard, Play Hard” seems inspiring, but in fact it falls into a deeper dilemma.

Author: Small chest but big brain

Source: Small breasts but big brains