Hua Xizi, stewing herself in an iron pot

Is Huaxizi taking an extreme approach to publicity or neglecting public needs? This article explores a number of hot issues. Eyebrow pencils are expensive, but is their quality superior to other brands? Is the failure to handle the public relations crisis the end of Huaxizi? How can the public's trust in them be restored? This article analyzes from different angles to reveal the truth behind it.

Hangzhou, Huaxizi headquarters conference room.

The boss was having a meeting with the newly hired public relations officer, and he said: Huaxizi must take the ultimate high-end route! Do you understand what I mean?

The new public relations officer was reading the comments on Weibo. After he came to his senses, he quickly looked up and said: Yeah, I understand, boss!

Then he wrote in his notebook: Hua Xizi must go to extremes!

Then Hua Xizi began to go to extremes.

First, the official Weibo account went crazy and dominated the hot searches, causing public opinion to be in an uproar. Then they invited 48-year-old gymnastics star Chusovitina, who had just made her debut at the Hangzhou Asian Games, to shoot an advertisement. This time, public opinion was not in an uproar, but was directly petrified, because the advertisement was too scary. I would believe it if they said it was "Murderous Chusovitina".

Huaxizi's series of mysterious operations have made our competitors dumbfounded. If we had known you would do this, we wouldn't have spent money to hire water troops to lead the rhythm to blacken you...

1. Hua Xizi was not wrong at all

It all started with Li Jiaqi’s “79 yuan eyebrow pencil incident”. After that, Li Jiaqi’s live broadcast room is still booming and sales are still rising. In contrast, Hua Xizi, who was caught in the crossfire, seems to be almost out of business now.

In fact, before that apology letter, Hua Xizi did nothing wrong.

As a result, starting from this letter, every step Hua Xizi took accurately fell into a cesspool. She spent a huge amount of money and directed and acted out a self-stealing game.

First, there was the inexplicable "apology letter", which was criticized the most for not containing the slightest hint of apology and was simply advertising itself the entire time.

Why is this so? Because Hua Xizi did nothing wrong, so how could she apologize? So she could only make do and apologize for the sake of apologizing.

The reason behind this is probably that Huaxizi originally did not intend to respond, but the collapse of sales made the decision makers unable to sit still. They had to do something, so why not apologize? If I apologize, everyone should buy my account, right? After all, I am a Chinese product baby!

Based on this line of thinking, the "apology letter" was born, which missed the best time to respond by a week and caused the company's own public relations staff to resign collectively because they could not bear to see it.

Some people may ask, why do we say that Hua Xizi did nothing wrong?

The focus of Huaxizi's problem this time is mainly on the over-price of 79 yuan for the eyebrow pencil. The reason is that the eyebrow pencil weighs 0.07g, which is more expensive than gold.

Unexpectedly, this accusation with obvious logical flaws, with various factors fueling the trend, actually became the core of the online crusade against Hua Xizi.

Not to mention that 60-80% of the revenue may be taken away by the anchor. Even if it is all given to Hua Xizi, it is only 79, which is the money for four lunches for me. But the eyebrow pencil can be used for nearly two years (data source: Bi Dao).

The repeatedly mentioned fact that pure gold is more expensive than gold of the same gram is even more of a substitution of concepts. Pure gold is a general equivalent and weight is the only criterion for measuring it.

What are the criteria for eyebrow pencils?

It’s the duration of use, the quality of the makeup, and whether the color is good-looking, not the weight.

In other words, Huaxizi eyebrow pencil can also adjust the formula, use heavy materials, make it heavier than iron, so that you can hold it with both hands to draw eyebrows, but will it help with the use time, makeup quality, and good color? Not necessarily, but it may be helpful for self-defense.

A 79-yuan eyebrow pencil from Hua Xizi can be used for 7 months, plus two replacement packs, which is almost 22 months or about two years. The usage time of most eyebrow pencils is about half a year. In this way, although Hua Xizi's eyebrow pencil is only 0.07g per piece, its usage time is not inferior to other heavier eyebrow pencils.

As for why the raw materials cost only a few yuan but they dare to sell it for 79 yuan, this is a problem of the entire beauty industry, not a problem of a certain brand. But as long as it is in a legal free market, no matter how profitable the industry is, prices will eventually return to a reasonable range, and the whole society will benefit.

What is the purpose of branding? It is to increase the price, so that the same product can be sold at a higher price and better.

Ye Minggui: "The Technology and Art of Branding"

In addition, regarding the source of these data: the cost of a 79-yuan eyebrow pencil is only 7 yuan, and 60-80% of the selling price is given to the anchor... Who leaked these insider data? It is unlikely to be a spectator. Perhaps this is the real business war?

2. What did Hua Xizi do wrong?

If Hua Xizi did nothing wrong before, then Hua Xizi after the apology letter was extremely wrong.

Not only did the letter fail to achieve the purpose of public relations, it also provided new material to the entire network just when public opinion was about to calm down, adding fuel to the fire of Hua Xizi's stew.

Although you have drawn all the attention to the complaints such as "Hua Xizi PR is stupid" and "Hua Xizi PR collectively resigned" which seem not to harm the brand's foundation, if a brand makes people feel stupid, it will basically say goodbye to the word "high-end brand".

But if we stop at this time and no longer provide new material to attract criticism, after the public opinion has died down, whether we offer huge discounts on Double 11 or develop new and affordable products to restore reputation, these will all help solve the problem.

But Hua Xizi is anxious. As the online sales champion of cosmetics on Double 11 last year, this year’s Double 11 cannot afford to fail. There is still a month left, and I think I can still save it!

Thinking that the reason why I was scolded for my previous "apology letter" must be because I did not explain it clearly, I started to do something even more outrageous -

Hua Xizi’s official Weibo went crazy.

How? I guess the idea behind this series of operations is this:

In response to the current boycott of Hua Xizi across the entire network, I have learned the lesson from the previous statement that was boring and lacked information. I have adopted the form of "crazy literature" which is very popular on the Internet and presented myself with a cute and interesting image. This should be able to win sympathy to a certain extent, weaken people's boycott emotions, and then convey what I really want to express.

Putting aside the crazy appearance, it can be seen that every Weibo post by Hua Xizi is explaining the problem. Maybe what he really wants to say is this:

What I really want to say: The reason why I sell at a high price is because my goal is to create a high-end brand (there is a reason why it is expensive).

What I really want to say is: we do not focus on marketing and neglect products. Our R&D center is larger than a football field. We spend two years polishing a product, and it is evaluated by more than 1,000 people. Our eyebrow pencil has been upgraded to 8 versions in 4 years (so the cost is not low).

What I really want to say is: We are a Chinese brand going global, standing shoulder to shoulder with LV in Hangzhou and face to face with Chanel in Japan (impressive, right?).

What I really want to say: I set up a charity foundation, donated to 5 Hope Primary Schools, participated in disaster relief and anti-epidemic efforts, and I also launched a women's protection hotline. I am a socially responsible enterprise (I was moved to tears by myself).

What I really want to say is: I am still an officially endorsed domestic brand.

What I really want to say: As a cultural cosmetics brand, I am committed to promoting the inheritance of intangible cultural heritage.

What I really want to say is: for cosmetics, the quality of products should not be determined simply by weight (it’s just that this analogy is not quite appropriate).

It should be said that every Weibo post is precisely solving the problem. It can be said that it has brought out the most valuable things of Huaxizi, such as the glory of domestic products, official endorsement, emphasis on research and development, enthusiasm for public welfare, and cultural inheritance...

Just looking at these, I actually have a positive impression of Hua Xizi, but why must she go crazy???

One thing that should be understood is that the essence of "crazy literature" is to use madness to trigger empathy, to relieve people's stress and relax their minds. It is really not suitable for explaining problems.

The problem is serious, and going crazy is a joke. When you explain seriousness with a joke, people's focus will no longer be on the little details you explain, but only on one thing - Hua Xizi has gone completely crazy in the face of the entire network's boycott.

This is not called "crazy literature", this is called "insane literature".

This is not the end. With great difficulty, Hua Xizi took advantage of the popularity of the "Hangzhou Asian Games" to save "Hua Xizi Going Crazy" from the hot search. Then Hua Xizi looked at it and said: Hangzhou? Asian Games? Isn't this my home court? Keep going!

Then Hua Xizi invited 48-year-old Uzbek gymnastics star Chusovitina. In the just-concluded Hangzhou Asian Games gymnastics competition, although Chusovitina won fourth place and did not win a medal, her story won applause from the audience.

Originally, it was very appropriate for Hua Xizi to invite Chusovitina to shoot commercials. Chusovitina won the Olympic championship at the age of 17 and retired at the age of 21. This was a normal career trajectory for a female gymnast, but a few years later her son was diagnosed with leukemia. In order to make money for her child's treatment, Chusovitina overcame all difficulties and made a comeback. She has fought all the way to the age of 48. This age is a very explosive existence, not to mention the youth-oriented female gymnastics, even if you look at the entire sports world.

I still remember that at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Chusovitina won the silver medal in the women's vaulting horse. After the game, she said something that brought tears to my eyes - " How dare I grow old when you haven't recovered yet?"

Both faced desperate situations and neither gave up. It was a perfect match for Sovetina and Hua Xizi to get together. This was originally a great opportunity for Hua Xizi to reverse its brand image, and then... something went wrong.

I still don't understand why Hua Xizi used Chusovitina in this way. This look is really too mortal. I can understand Hua Xizi's original intention to cheer everyone up on the first day of work after National Day, but I really didn't feel the oriental beauty, I just felt like I saw a ghost.

Look at how Chusovitina was photographed with the WENSILI scarf before. Isn’t this kind of noble, elegant and unyielding temperament exactly what Hua Xizi needs?

If you think the WENSILI scarf is too far away, take a look at something closer and see how "Gujia Home Furnishing" leverages Chusovitina's momentum.

As the official mattress supplier of the Asian Games, Gujia Home Furnishing invited Chusovitina to endorse the brand. In the post-match interview, Chusovitina specifically mentioned that "good sleep allows her to be more focused on the field, and this comfortable experience comes from Gujia Home Furnishing, a leading brand in China's home furnishing industry."

That’s not all. When Mrs. Qiu left the Asian Games Village, with the staff’s consent, she also packed up the Gujia Home Furnishing mattress she had used and took it away. This directly became the number one hot search on Weibo.

I didn’t know how to describe it for a moment: this inspirational mother who works hard for her son, after experiencing the comfortable mattress of Gujia Home Furnishing, even asked to pack up the mattress and take it home. This is too thrifty and too “family-oriented”!

After the product went viral, Wang Zinuo, general manager of Gujia Home Furnishing brand operations, quickly said: "This roll-up mattress is 60% smaller than traditional mattresses, and athletes can easily take it home." How silky it is.

On the sales side, Gujia Home Furnishing also launched the same mattress as the Asian Games, indicating that the brand will provide high-quality deep sleep protection for more people with the Asian Games quality. Although it has a lot of advertising traces, I really admire this plan.

The same Qiu Ma, the same hot search, the former was complained by the whole network and avoided, while the latter was recommended by the whole network and everyone was eager to try it. Why is the difference so big?

3. What should Hua Xizi do?

At this point, it's too late to say anything. Facts have proved that you should never try to fight against public opinion. You can only go with the flow. The first attitude in dealing with all public relations issues is always "accept it humbly and make corrections." Accept it in attitude, correct it in action, and then wait for things to slowly pass. But Hua Xizi was too impatient.

In fact, Hua Xizi has been in a hurry along the way. It's anxious to become famous, anxious to sell goods, anxious to go public, anxious to increase prices, anxious to compete with big brands, and anxious to improve its image. However, brands require slow work and fine work.

Founded in 2007, it became the top-seller on the entire network on Double 11 in 2022, but it only opened its first offline store at the end of 2022.

It opened stores side by side with LV and across the street from Chanel, but 70% of its product research and development patents are packaging design patents.

Without any successful brand image communication cases, it has become a household name in the beauty industry just by relying on the host’s shouting. However, few people know that a brand that can be made famous by a single shout can also be destroyed by a single shout.

Everything that is happening today actually has its traces already.

Perfect Diary, another domestic beauty brand that became popular in Li Jiaqi’s live broadcast room, was founded in the same year as Huaxizi. As early as June 18, 2020, it became the sales champion of Tmall beauty products.

But we have seen that since last year’s Double 11, "Perfect Diary" has rarely appeared in Li Jiaqi’s live broadcast room. It is not certain whether this is the brand trying to "de-Li Jiaqiize" itself. The price of doing so is that last year’s Double 11, "Perfect Diary" did not enter the top 20 of Tmall’s beauty list.

But on the other hand, we also see many actions taken by Perfect Diary in product innovation and brand communication.

Take last month for example, Perfect Diary launched its first “bionic membrane” essence lipstick, the product was endorsed by Zhou Xun, and the commercial was shot by Qun Yushan.

This commercial is very impressive. Although it is a hard product advertisement, the copywriting is very powerful, and it is really effective when spoken by Zhou Xun.

After its release, Perfect Diary's "bionic membrane" essence lipstick directly topped the Tmall lipstick sales list.

[Excerpt from the text]

Our face, most of the skin

There is a layer of sebum film to protect the lips, but there is almost no

This is why lips tend to crack and chapped after removing lipstick

This is why we need lips

A layer of "bionic membrane" is specially created.

Perfect Diary specializes in pomegranate peptide complex

Combining biotechnology, the first bionic membrane essence lipstick is launched

When traditional lipstick only pleases the eyes

But this one

It will also take care of your lips

We believe lipstick can fade away

But beauty remains

From no membrane to membrane

A lipstick divides two eras

Perfect Diary Bionic Mask Essence Lipstick

"A lipstick divides two eras" , combined with this picture of Zhou Xun, it is really beautiful.

After seeing this, some people said: “Perfect Diary” feels like it has become more expensive.

You see, the premium and preciousness of a product always come from the accumulation of brand value, not the host’s verbal education.

Hua Xizi put so much thought into it and almost killed herself.

But it’s not too late.

There is a highly praised answer on Zhihu about life experience that says:

“When you screw up something, you feel like it’s over and there’s nothing you can do about it, but actually it’s just in time.
When you find something that you can fix now but think is too early, it’s often too late.”

All the problems that Hua Xizi is facing now are already in front of them, and there are also lessons from the past. It feels like the right time to start solving them one by one from now on.

Author: Kuang Thirteen

Source: WeChat public account "Copywriting Free Shipping" (ID: kol100)