Xiaoguan Tea: The era of making quick money is over.

Xiaoguan Tea has gone from "masterpiece" to "dare to guarantee authenticity". The marketing downgrade is actually a brand upgrade. The high price must be justified and the story must stand up to scrutiny.

I saw an inexplicable hot search and the founder of Xiaoguan Tea, Mr. Du Guoying, apologized.

It turns out that he had previously launched an advertisement called "Little Can Tea, Masterpiece", in which eight Chinese tea masters appeared, most of whom were inheritors of intangible cultural heritage. Their focused expressions on tasting tea showed the demeanor of masters. While becoming famous, netizens also discovered an interesting loophole: according to the sales of Little Can Tea, even if each master fried the pot to burst, he still couldn't make it. This master who created marketing legends such as Beibeijia, Haojixing, and 8848 mobile phones did not expect that consumers would not buy into the marketing gimmicks.

A friend gave me a small can of tea before. To be honest, the tea tastes much better than what I bought in various stores and online. It may be because the exquisite small can packaging, without broken leaves, gives people a sense of fine craftsmanship. It’s hard to describe the taste. After all, I’m not a tea tasting master and can’t taste it.

1. Tactical downgrade, from master to dare to guarantee authenticity

In addition to the apology, Xiaoguan Tea launched the "Dare to Guarantee Authenticity" strategy, which supervises Xiaoguan Tea products by introducing notarization.

From a strategic perspective, this feels like a brand downgrading strategy, because products generally sell three kinds of value: function, experience, and symbol. High-premium products usually sell symbolic value. Xiaoguan Tea is positioned as a business gift tea, and the "masterpiece" supports the face symbol of business gifting. Now we talk about "dare to guarantee authenticity", which comes down to the basic functional value of the product. The authenticity of the tea has to be discussed. The last brand strategy that used "authenticity" was Lianjia's "real listings". On the one hand, it shows that the tea industry is indeed as chaotic as the intermediary industry. On the other hand, it shows that the era of making quick money is over, and only by making solid products can we survive.

However, this tactical downgrade is also a kind of brand upgrade. Mr. Du Guoying mentioned that Pang Donglai's tea sells well because people trust it. But Pang Donglai is a channel brand after all. Xiaoguan Tea's "masterpiece" is, after all, just a self-blessing of the brand. If "daring to guarantee authenticity" can really eliminate industry chaos and prevent fake vintage tea and financial tea from running rampant, then a social problem will be solved. In a small sense, it will be an industry benchmark, ending the history of tea categories without brands, and in a big sense, it will be a vindication for Chinese tea culture.

2. Tell a story that stands up to scrutiny

The same goes for the ingenuity of the masters. Why is it that no one doubts the Japanese sushi god Jiro Ono? His sushi is ridiculously expensive, it is difficult to make reservations, and the service is terrible, but no one mentions the IQ tax. Because his story stands up to scrutiny. In that one restaurant, the old man is still making sushi at over 90 years old, and no one says anything about him being called a "god".

I was in a meeting with a client before, and the client said, advertising is all about bragging, so just do it in a big way.

In fact, many people hold this view, thinking that advertisements are all exaggerated, which is why consumers are naturally wary of advertisements.

In the media-centralized era, you can indeed brag about something. As long as you are brave enough and put out a CCTV advertisement, becoming famous overnight is not a legend. In the current fragmented media era, everyone is a media, and the stories you brag about will be magnified by consumers.

Before, there was an old man model wearing glasses in the advertisements of De Rucci mattresses in airports and train stations around the world. De Rucci packaged him as the brand founder, French royal designer, and sleep expert. Later, when De Rucci was going to go public, the China Securities Regulatory Commission asked about the origin of this old man and what his relationship with the brand was. De Rucci was dumbfounded. This was too unreasonable. De Rucci just found a model and bought the right to use the portrait. More than ten years of brand investment in this old man's portrait was wasted.

People like to listen to stories, and storytelling is also a necessary step in building a brand, but your story must stand up to scrutiny. For example, Chu Orange is a very good story. If there is no such legendary story, then honestly tell the origin of the brand. Sincerity is the best story script.

3. It can be expensive, but it must be reasonable

Many people think of marketing as advertising. As long as the advertising is good, the product can be sold well and at a high price. In fact, the 4Ps of marketing include product, price, channel, and promotion, and the most important one is the product.

It is difficult to market a product that is not good. Just look at those popular internet brands that faded away in the blink of an eye. The era of making money with just a packaging concept or marketing gimmick is over.

An Hermès bag sells for hundreds of thousands and no one says it is a waste of money, but an ice cream that costs dozens of dollars may be called an assassin.

For Chinese consumers, it’s okay for you to sell at sky-high prices, but as Mr. Lei Jun said, the price has to be justified.

Xiaomi products have always been the best value for money, giving people a very cheap feeling, but the Xiaomi car is priced at the entry-level price of BBA, and the subsequent models are likely to go up. Xiaomi has never made cars and is not a high-end brand, but once the Xiaomi SU7 product is put on display, consumers still buy it.

BYD's Yangwang U8, with a price tag of one million, breaks the price ceiling of domestically produced cars. It is equipped with advanced technologies such as emergency floating and on-the-spot U-turn. This is why its technological strength is so expensive.

Make products solidly and tell stories honestly. It is difficult to make quick money in the long run, and you can’t be impatient in building a brand.

Author: Chen Wuyong; Source public account: Chen Wuyong (ID: 1087819)