Old domestic brands are becoming popular again, and "Vigor 28" cannot rely solely on "overwhelming traffic"

This article discusses how the time-honored Chinese domestic brand "Huili 28" was reborn by taking advantage of the trend on social media, and also explores the domestic product sentiment and new consumer demands in the Chinese market reflected behind it.

In recent years, there have been cases of domestic brands "rejuvenating". Driven by the sentiment of domestic products, domestic brands such as Baixiang, Fenghua, Huoli 28, Wahaha, and Hongxing Erke have frequently become popular, and some brands have even "resurrected from the dead" and re-entered the consumer's field of vision. After a brand has experienced a peak in traffic, how many consumers can it retain? How are those brands that have been wildly consumed now? How should the sentiment of domestic products be played?

1. Under normal circumstances, can domestic brands compete?

Most of the once popular domestic brands have seen a decline in popularity to varying degrees in their subsequent normal operations, but judging from the sales of Vitality 28 on Douyin, it has maintained its massive traffic.

In the daily live broadcast of @活力28服装洁净旗舰店, the number of viewers in the live broadcast room reached more than 6,000, and it is still very popular. At the same time, the daily works of @活力28服装清除旗舰店 are also very popular. Netizens are active in the comment area, saying that "I have never bought other laundry detergents since the hot search of 活力28", "活力28 must be popular for a hundred years! Good news for the people", "Affordable price, reliable quality"...

At present, @活力28 clothing cleaning flagship store has 8.7 million fans on Douyin, and its related products are at the top of many lists, including the brand stain removal laundry detergent hot list and the flower fragrance laundry detergent praise list. Among them, a 9.9 yuan 2kg fumigation fragrance laundry detergent has sold 15.874 million pieces on Douyin, becoming the flagship product of 活力28.

In contrast, the live broadcast room of @蜂花 official flagship store seemed a bit deserted. During the 618 period, the number of online viewers of the Fenghua Douyin live broadcast room was only over 100. In addition, the data of the works released by the official account on a daily basis was mediocre, with the number of video likes ranging from dozens to thousands, and the comment area was no longer as lively as before.

Both are domestic brands that were once very popular, but there are many reasons for their different current situations. First of all, the two have different ways of becoming popular. The traffic of Vitality 28 mainly comes from three uncles who have no live broadcast experience. They quickly won the hearts of the audience with their simple image and sincere attitude. It is the people who made the brand popular.

From the beginning, the three uncles were deeply connected with Vitality 28, and as a medium connecting the brand and users, they continuously improved users' brand favorability through daily live broadcasts, thereby maintaining brand popularity. In the live broadcast dynamics of @活力28服装洗衣旗舰店, it can be seen that the account will broadcast live for two and a half hours in the morning and evening every day. From May 30 to June 18, this account conducted a total of 40 live broadcasts.

Fenghua became popular because of the "79 yuan set meal", which was based on the traffic of the "79 yuan eyebrow pencil" event, and the popularity is easy to dissipate. Although Fenghua also established the "poor little thing" persona through hot searches such as "Fenghua steals cardboard boxes" and "Fenghua picks up rags", it lacked the support of a personalized IP image and was only popular for a while.

Secondly, brand strategy will also affect brand performance. Vitality 28 has always insisted on the ultra-low price route, whether it is 9.9 yuan for 2kg of camellia-scented laundry detergent or 29.9 yuan for 5kg of fumigate-scented laundry powder, this price is basically the "floor price" among similar products, and the product has strong market competitiveness.

In the minds of consumers, Fenghua has always been known for its “cheap and large” products. However, Fenghua is now mainly promoting new products with relatively higher prices, including nine bottles of 358ml shampoo at 69 yuan, pomegranate nourishing shampoo at 42.9 yuan for 750ml, etc. Among products of the same price, consumers have more choices, and Fenghua does not have an advantage.

Finally, product features also influence consumers’ choices. As cleaning and washing products, consumers’ requirements for Vitality 28 products are nothing more than cleaning power and fragrance. As long as the product quality is up to standard, it is easier to meet the needs of users and bring a higher repurchase rate to the brand. At present, more than 730,000 people have repurchased the product of Lavender Fragrance Laundry Detergent, and many users have become loyal consumers.

As a shampoo brand, Fenghua has diverse consumer demands, including anti-hair loss, oil control, anti-dandruff, nourishment, repair and many other needs. Moreover, products that come into direct contact with the skin are more challenging in terms of user experience. Without continuous marketing investment, it is not easy to continue to maintain brand popularity with products.

2. What changes can the power of the live broadcast room bring to the brand?

For some domestic brands, the sudden influx of traffic is more like icing on the cake, but for Vitality 28, it is simply a timely help.

In fact, the three uncles in the live broadcast room of @活力28 clothing cleaning flagship store are employees of Chengdu Yizhong Washing Co., Ltd., one of the many OEM factories of Vitality 28. They do not really belong to Vitality Group (the main company of Vitality 28). Since Vitality Group still owes processing fees to many OEM factories, it authorizes the "Vitality 28" brand to the OEM factories for use, and they produce and sell the products themselves, and use part of the sales to repay the processing fees.

After obtaining the sales authorization of Vitality 28 in July last year, they mainly used the Internet platform for online sales, so they created the Douyin account "Vitality 28 Clothing Cleaning Flagship Store" and broadcast live independently. At that time, the business conditions of both Vitality Group and Chengdu Yizhong were not optimistic.

As the live broadcast rooms of the three uncles became popular, the Vitality Group was facing the risk of bankruptcy and liquidation. It is understood that although the revenue of the Vitality Group increased many times from 2019 to 2021, it mainly relied on "burning money" for promotion, resulting in losses. And there are reports that in the later stage of the development of the Vitality Group, the company's staff became large and the structure became bloated.

Chengdu Yizhong, a foundry, is also on the verge of shutting down. Hu Wenzhong, deputy general manager of Chengdu Yizhong, said in an interview in December last year, "In June, there were only about 100 workers left in Chengdu Yizhong, and life was very difficult at that time. We originally planned to stop working by the end of 2023. If we had to lay off employees, I would lay off myself."

The sudden popularity of the three uncles has brought a turnaround for Chengdu Yizhong and Huoli Group. Last September, when netizens were scrambling for the live broadcast room of domestic brands, the live broadcast room of @活力28服装洗衣旗舰店 became the first among the new star anchors thanks to the "unprofessionalism" of the three anchor uncles, and the products in the live broadcast room were once out of stock. On the night of September 13 alone, the live broadcast room generated sales of more than 5 million yuan.

The enthusiasm of netizens to buy has forced Chengdu Yizhong to urgently expand its production capacity, and many employees who were previously laid off have returned. By the end of 2023, Chengdu Yizhong has not only not been shut down, but the number of employees has also expanded to more than 400. In January this year, Hu Wenzhong said in an interview that "the current production of Chengdu Yizhong has increased by about 4-5 times compared to 2022." The Chengdu Yizhong factory has been revitalized, and the Vitality Group has also been pulled back from bankruptcy liquidation to bankruptcy reorganization.

However, as the popularity of Vitality 28 increases, chaos is reborn in the market. On Douyin, some accounts use the live broadcast of @活力28 clothing cleaning flagship store to confuse the audience. If you don't distinguish carefully, you will be easily deceived. In addition, some netizens posted that they bought the counterfeit products "Huodao 2 Days" and "Vitality 29", which are simply "Lebi in the laundry detergent industry."

At present, the signature traffic of "national brand" and "domestic product" of Vitality 28 is still there. However, it remains to be seen whether Vitality Group can turn the tide, re-arrange its offline distribution channels, and deal with the problem of counterfeit goods to purify the market and achieve a true "resurrection".

3. How to play the card of sentiment for domestic products?

It can be seen that from September last year to now, Vitality 28 is still very popular, and online sales are also developing steadily. However, due to factors such as the way the live broadcast room is released, brand strategy, and product characteristics, Vitality 28's long-term popularity is destined not to be easily imitated. For domestic brands, blindly using the sentiment of domestic products is not a long-term solution, but it is necessary to keenly observe the market trend and thus strengthen the brand's market competitiveness.

For example, Baixiang became popular because of a video about the company recruiting many disabled people. It not only gained a good impression among consumers, but also brought a wave of "wild consumption" to the brand. Baixiang seized the opportunity and continuously launched new products, thus gaining a group of loyal consumers.

Among them, the most representative product is coriander instant noodles. For a long time, users have been very controversial about coriander as an ingredient. The topic of coriander on Douyin has more than 4 billion traffic, and many brands use coriander as a selling point for product marketing. After Baiyang saw this trend, it launched a new product, coriander noodles, in cooperation with Douyin.

Before launching the new product, Baiyang also opened a pop-up store offline with the theme "Super Fragrant Coriander Noodle House" to attract consumers to check in, and also collaborated with influencers to further increase the topic traffic with creative and interesting content. With multiple marketing measures, the product was sold out in less than an hour on the first day of launch. Recently, Baiyang launched beef spicy hot pot noodles and set up a pop-up store in Guiyang, continuing to be at the forefront of the industry.

As consumers' love for Chinese products continues to awaken, more and more Chinese brands are being seen. However, if Chinese brands want to remain popular, they cannot rely solely on consumers' enthusiasm, but must make changes from products to marketing to achieve real innovation.

References: 1. On the one hand, it was very popular and was snapped up, on the other hand, it owed wages and debts and went bankrupt and reorganized... The A and B sides of Vitality 28 | Red Star Capital Bureau