Moutai Luckin's knife skills

Today, Luckin Coffee and Moutai jointly launched the "Sauce Flavor Latte", which has attracted the attention of people who have tried it and those who have not. This CP is somewhat different from the traditional cross-border combination. This article discusses the inspiration brought by this joint venture from a marketing perspective.

Today is a special day for Moutai and Luckin Coffee.

Why?

I remember a few months ago, there was a viral rumor online that they were going to collaborate, and most people thought it was hype and fake news.

After all, Luckin and Moutai each represent two completely different life attitudes and consumer groups: the former is young, modern, and fast-paced, while the latter is high-end, traditional, and steady.

However, this morning, all doubts were wiped out by a cup of "Jiangxiang Latte". Yes, I have tasted it, and it tastes quite good. Have you tried it?

However, netizens who have tried it and those who have not all given some comments. Some asked me how much it cost, and whether Luckin Coffee, which is 9.9 yuan, will increase its price? Others asked, can I drive? Is the alcohol content high? Can I go for a latte and order more Moutai?

To be honest, I don’t usually drink coffee.

But on every anxious Monday, a little "stimulation" can always cheer me up. For example, today, with a sauce-flavored latte in one hand and Gem's rap in the other, I feel rejuvenated and in an anti-Japanese state.

In other words, the audience is watching the show, and the players are watching the tricks. As a marketing insight practitioner, I think this CP is a little different from the traditional cross-border combination.

01

First, cultural integration hedging.

At the macro level, culture is a set of beliefs, values, and customs held by a society, nation, or civilization, which together shape a collective identity and behavior patterns.

At the micro level, culture is the habits of an organization, an individual, or a small group, including but not limited to how you communicate with others, what kind of clothes you wear, what kind of food you eat, and how you celebrate holidays and special occasions.

Luckin Coffee has four cultural labels: modern and fast-paced, technology and innovation, youth and urbanization, and convenience and practicality. These are not random labels, but represent its philosophy of success.

Why

When you are in a big city, everyone is very busy. Luckin Coffee sees this and their service is super fast. You don’t have to queue up and you can get your coffee just by tapping on your phone, saving time and worry.

Secondly, they use a lot of high-tech things, not just APP operations and mini-program ordering, their data analysis capabilities are excellent.

for example:

We collect information about people’s coffee-buying habits on a daily basis and use it to launch new products that are more in line with the mainstream public. This is something that many traditional coffee shops cannot do.

Furthermore, advertising and marketing are bridges of communication, and Luckin Coffee attaches great importance to it.

They are very active on social media, often promoting their products in a down-to-earth and humorous way. They also launch products and activities that are linked to current popular culture and social phenomena.

In addition, I don’t know if you have noticed that Luckin Coffee stores are basically opened in places with convenient transportation and large traffic. Doing so not only reduces the cost of acquiring customers, but also provides certain service conveniences.

All these factors are completely consistent with modern people’s values ​​of “instantaneity” and “convenience”. Therefore, Luckin culture is a perfect interpretation of a modern, fast-paced lifestyle.

Moutai is a little different.

What do you think of when you mention it? It is a representative of China's high-end liquor, often appearing in various important social and official activities, and is regarded as a part of social and etiquette.

If I were to expand on it, I think it can be described using four labels: high-end luxury, quality craftsmanship, traditional culture, and investment value.

Why?

There is a reason why it is so expensive. Every link is made with special care. First of all, the bottle is very expensive, and the empty bottle after drinking can still be sold for a lot of money.

The raw materials are top-grade, red sorghum and pure natural spring water, and every step from collection to final product packaging is strictly quality-checked. Production is not simple either, with dozens of complex steps , long-term fermentation and storage, and the final result is a mellow taste and a particularly rich aroma.

Cultural literacy is more worthy of further exploration. According to historical records, the Moutai brand has existed as early as the Song Dynasty. Not only that, it also pays special attention to environmental protection and living in peace with nature.

There is no need to elaborate on the investment value, Moutai’s market value is 2.35 trillion yuan.

What concept?

You can imagine the market capitalization as a huge aircraft carrier. Other small boats (small companies) or large ships of the same type (large companies) have to revolve around it, making it almost the center of the entire ocean.

Therefore, it is fine to call it high-end liquor. So, what does it mean that a brand with a trillion-dollar market value has teamed up with a young brand like Luckin?

Cultural fusion and innovation. It is more like something that appeals to all ages. It proves that even in today's world of globalization and modernization, we can still preserve those traditional cultural elements that make us unique.

This combination of "old and new" is eye-catching and shows us how culture and business can coexist harmoniously, which is beneficial to both. Why?

02

Let’s think about it, what is the demand for Moutai?

This matter depends on the 2022 shareholders' meeting held by Moutai. At the meeting, Chairman Ding Xiongjun gave an in-depth interpretation of Moutai's growth path and future direction.

In short, Ding Xiongjun thinks that Moutai's current production is not enough and needs to be increased. The company has several future development directions, including more internationalization, developing future foods, and strengthening digital technology.

He said that the industry is divided into three parts: the first is wine-related products, the second is health food made with microbial technology, and the third is entering the 3T technology, high-tech field.

He also explained how the first two types were developed. The first one is the base wine, which is to use Moutai wine to make some other products, such as Moutai coffee and milk tea that attract young people.

The second is to use microbial technology to develop future foods that may be safer, more nutritious, better tasting and more environmentally friendly.

We can see this through some actions, for example: in May 2022, we launched six flavors of ice cream, including green plum wine, classic original flavor, and vanilla, in strategic cooperation with Mengniu. We also developed chocolate with wine filling.

All this makes people feel that Moutai is not just a traditional old brand, it can also keep pace with the times, keep pace with young people, and find its own foothold in new markets and new fields.

Although there is not much emphasis on the technical level at present, from a global perspective, Ding Xiongjun has made it clear that this year will be a key year for Moutai's internationalization strategy, and plans to strengthen trade ties with multiple countries.

Therefore, I think the demand for Moutai can be summarized into five aspects:

Moutai's growth strategy is clear: expanding production capacity, diversification and globalization, technological innovation, attracting young consumer groups, and sustained, reliable and healthy development.

The cooperation with Luckin Coffee can be seen as a breakthrough attempt targeting young consumers. From launching ice cream to coffee, Moutai has repeatedly reshaped its brand image and gotten rid of those traditional and out-of-touch labels. Once Moutai can build a diversified food supply system through diversified "wine elements" and develop food sources in multiple aspects, it will have the opportunity to provide more development opportunities and policy support for the future food industry, while also further expanding its presence in the international market.

03

So, what is Luckin’s demand?

Zhiyuan believes there are two: first, to penetrate the "fast brand" market among young people, and second, to build trust in the capital market.

Young people tend to be more indecisive, mainly because they are facing an environment of information overload. Just think about it, when I watch Douyin, I can fall in love with 10 girls in a minute, not to mention their consumption choices.

Today, a customer may be attracted by a 9.9 yuan discount at Kudi Coffee, and tomorrow, he may be attracted by the limited edition Sakura Latte launched by Starbucks. This consumer mentality makes retention a big challenge.

Long ago, economists Adam Smith and David Ricardo emphasized the sense of utility stimulated by the Economies of Scale in The Wealth of Nations.

The new CP of Moutai and Luckin Coffee can bring a lot of excitement and constantly activate the hearts of consumers. Think about it, your friends are trying it, and you definitely don’t want to fall behind, so you will also want to try it.

In this way, everyone will continue to pay attention to and buy the products of these two brands, that is, customers will be more "sticky". Therefore, the cooperation between Moutai and Luckin Coffee will give both sides the opportunity to do better and earn more.

When it comes to the capital market, there is even more to say.

Luckin Coffee's experience in recent years is like a dramatic movie. At the beginning, it caused a craze in the U.S. stock market with its innovative business model and rapid expansion. Investors were optimistic about it and believed that it would become the next global giant.

However, the good times did not last long. It was forced to delist due to data manipulation, which caused heavy losses to investors and made many people begin to doubt the integrity and reliability of this brand and even Chinese companies.

However, in the past two years, the operation team has solved its problems and gradually restored its market value.

This process has confused many American investment tycoons.

They were originally bullish on the company and thought it had great potential, but the delisting incident made them reevaluate their views. Then, when Luckin Coffee began to recover, these investors felt that they were too pessimistic and missed a good opportunity. Therefore, its resilience, adaptability, and the endorsement and support from Moutai, to some extent, once again prove the ability of "Chinese products to strengthen themselves", which is undoubtedly a plus.

04

If you understand these, you will also understand the precision of Luckin Coffee and Moutai’s knife skills.

On the one hand, although the target groups of the two brands are not completely the same, they overlap to some extent. The co-branded products are aimed at young and middle-aged people who are willing to try new things but have a certain respect and curiosity for traditional culture. Such cooperation is undoubtedly a precise "knife technique".

On the other hand, such cooperation also has special significance in the capital market.

Just like the big brother leads his brothers in the gang, Moutai, with a market value of more than 2 trillion yuan, is pulling Luckin Coffee, China's largest coffee chain brand. This not only helps expand its own business territory, but also brings Luckin Coffee trust and recognition in the capital market.

So, what lessons can other brands learn from the collaboration between the two?

First of all, the brand must first know what it is like and what kind of cultural background it has. In this way, when you cooperate with other brands, you can create new products or services that are truly eye-catching.

If your brand does not have a clear cultural positioning, then the products you launch will easily be forgotten, or people may only know you as the product. In this case, even if you cooperate with other big brands, it will only be a "superficial" cooperation without depth.

For example:

If a fast food restaurant collaborates with a high-end skincare brand and launches a series of face masks and lotions with hamburgers and French fries as the theme; this sounds interesting, but because the two brands do not match culturally at all, people may find it weird.

At the beginning, some people will pay attention to this kind of cooperation and even pay for it, but in the long run, the results will not be ideal.

Because it is more like a short-term hype rather than a well-thought-out and strategic collaboration; therefore, if you want to have a successful collaboration, it would be more effective to find a brand that has a similar culture to yours or that can complement yours.

So, what is the core of culture?

Simply put, some basic elements are reflected in the common but lasting activities and habits in our daily lives, such as eating, drinking water, going to the toilet, etc.

These seemingly ordinary but actually very meaningful daily behaviors constitute the foundation of culture. These behaviors are usually not based on personal intentions, but are natural and almost subconscious habits. Therefore, the cultural core is something deeply rooted in our daily lives. It is not disturbed by our personal consciousness, but is a natural existence that is almost as instinctive as instinct.

05

Therefore, you will find that many brand culture creation actions are not accurate. How to do it specifically? Is it to continuously produce content? No. There are three steps:

1. Find the action symbol

Action Signs or Action Symbols refer to symbols, signs, and other visual elements used to represent specific actions or activities. These symbols allow users to see what to do and how to do it. In simple terms, it is an instruction.

for example:

When you see a triangular play button on your phone, you know that pressing it will play a video or music. When you see a pedestrian sign on the road, you know that there is a sidewalk and it is suitable for pedestrians to cross the road.

KFC's "V Me 50" on Thursday is a typical action symbol in promotions. If you are abroad, when you see Amazon's smiley arrow, you can associate it with a smile. Nike's Swoosh reminds people of sports and vitality.

McDonald's Golden Arches are more easily associated with fast food and convenience. These brands will deliberately reinforce a certain action instruction when doing marketing from time to time.

In China, the one that impressed me the most was Xibei Youmiancun. They used the slogan “I LOVE You” as an action symbol.

Every Valentine's Day, if you go to Xibei for dinner and kiss on the spot, you can enjoy a discount. If I remember correctly, 2023 should be the eighth kiss discount festival they held.

This "kiss discount" is not only an interesting marketing gimmick, but also strengthens the connection between the brand and customers in the long run. This move solved the problem that Xibei founder Jia Guolong faced back then: to make more people understand and remember the Xibei brand.

So, here’s the question: Do you have similar call to action or logos in your company brand?

2. Penetrate content construction

Actions are instructions, and content is a signal. The two complement each other. How to make an action shine? Two principles: first, participation and storytelling, and second, repetition.

You need to let people know why this action is important and what it means, and that’s best told through a good story.

for example:

If your brand wants to promote environmental protection, tell an environmental story and explain how this action helps the environment.

The story of “I LOVE 莜” of Xibei Oat Noodle Village is told every year, but instead of simply repeating the same message, they add new elements and activities every year.

The advantage of doing this is that old customers will find it fresh, and new customers will find the event or slogan meaningful and story-telling, so both sides benefit.

3. Increase the spread base

By the way, everyone should know about it. You have to get everyone involved. You can organize a small competition or challenge and ask people to upload photos or videos of themselves doing this action. This is not only fun, but also allows more people to know about this action.

However, remember to set a specific date for this event so that everyone will pay special attention to that day.

However, playing once is not enough. Any action that forms an automatic chemical reaction requires continuous reinforcement, so you also have to learn to anchor it.

The best way to anchor is to use years as a unit. People are always nostalgic and are more willing to review some of their past experiences through a timeline. In this way, a memory point is formed, and your brand has a core.

Therefore, actions and content together can truly build the cultural core of a brand. This is not just a one-time promotional activity or a simple marketing method, but a long-term, continuous and deeply rooted strategy.

Finding action symbols, penetrating content construction, and increasing the dissemination base, doing these three things well is enough to make you stand out in the fierce market. Then, next time you form a CP with others, you will be able to form a stronger cultural resonance and commercial value.

Overall

Marketing, say goodbye to scattered communication. The premise of cultural communication is "culture first". If there is no culture, at least there is an "action instruction" that people can remember. If there is no instruction, then the brand should stop and think about what it has communicated.

Author: Wang Zhiyuan;

Public account: Wang Zhiyuan;