The number of followers in the live broadcast room increased by more than 200,000. From old scholars to trendsetters, how can "white elephants" go further with the times?

Do you like to eat coriander? What can we learn from the use of coriander? This article starts with the sudden popularity of White Elephant Coriander Instant Noodles, analyzes the phenomenon of the sudden popularity, the reasons for the sudden popularity, and the insights gained. It is recommended for students who want to understand brand marketing.

Recently, the old domestic brand Baiyang launched a new product on Douyin e-commerce Super Brand Day - Baiyang Super Fragrant Coriander Noodles. The big words "Contains 5 whole corianders per serving" attracted people who like and don't like coriander to join in the fun.

According to public data, the coriander instant noodles were sold out on the first day of its launch. The official live broadcast room of the Baiyang brand attracted more than 8.62 million viewers, with an average of 47,000 barrages per show. The brand's own live broadcast account also gained more than 200,000 followers.

But in fact, this is not the first time that Baiyang has received so much attention. As early as when the news such as "315 Pickled Cabbage Incident" and "Employment of Disabled People" appeared, Baiyang started its road to "re-emergence". What is curious is that after so many times of re-emergence, how does Baiyang take on these waves of traffic? And, as a 26-year-old brand, how has Baiyang been able to "low-key" and last for a long time in the convenience food market?

1. Is a new product a hit? A fierce battle for a bowl of coriander instant noodles

Is coriander "fragrant" or "not fragrant"? People who like to eat coriander and those who don't like to eat coriander will immediately stand in two teams to answer. As a controversial ingredient from its name to its taste, coriander has always occupied the C position in the food circle. Previously, major brands have launched products related to coriander, such as coriander ice cream, coriander-flavored biscuits, etc. But these products did not cause much sensation. However, recently, in the national category of instant noodles, a bowl of "containing 5 whole corianders" product turned out to be a hot battle online. But how did this bowl of coriander instant noodles become popular? iBrandi also studied the process and reasons behind it. Initially, Baixiang and Douyin e-commerce Super Brand Day jointly released four different flavors of "fragrant" gift boxes containing coriander noodles, crayfish noodles, stinky tofu noodles and hot and sour noodles.

However, coriander instant noodles, because of its inherent topic and taste genes, have become the "grass planting" of this brand event. In the field survey of Douyin, different users are always in a "battle state" about coriander, which lays the foundation for the product craze in advance. At the same time, users have a lot of discussions about coriander, but there are few products that they can actually buy home. In this case, Baixiang cooperated with Douyin to launch a combination of coriander and instant noodles.

It is understood that in addition to being sold out on the first day of its launch, the popularity of this instant noodle has only increased since its launch. In the first month of its launch, the product sold more than 2 million copies through online and offline channels nationwide. In addition, according to Tmall Supermarket data, after the coriander instant noodles were put on the shelves, sales exceeded 10 million yuan within one month. At the same time, coriander instant noodles also became the champion product in the sales list of Tmall Supermarket's instant noodles category. This is enough to prove its popularity.

The craze for coriander instant noodles is not only reflected in the growth of sales, but also in the heated discussions on social media, which has greatly contributed to its long-tail effect. In addition to the magical topicality of coriander itself, Baixiang also keenly captured something, so it also added fuel to the flames and opened a limited-time coriander-themed coffee shop in Guangzhou, as well as an immersive theme store in the instant noodle factory in the three northeastern provinces, making countless young people the tap water for brand communication. Public data shows that on the Douyin platform, the related topic has exceeded 56 million views in less than a week; on Weibo, the number of views of posts related to coriander instant noodles on Weibo has already exceeded 10 million. At present, topics related to coriander instant noodles are still emerging. In these discussions, there are both praises and criticisms, but without exception, they have brought attention and traffic to coriander instant noodles.

Behind these sales data and discussions is the brand's insight into consumers and its ability to attract traffic. However, as a 26-year-old brand, Baixiang is not the first time to see such a big scene.

2. How do old brands that have been popular many times take on new traffic?

Since its establishment in 1997, Baixiang has been ranked as one of the four major instant noodle companies in China, along with Master Kong, Uni-President, and Jinmailang. At its peak, Baixiang's sales volume was second only to Master Kong, ranking second in the industry. However, in recent years, Baixiang has gradually fallen behind in market development. By 2020, Baixiang's market share was only 7%.

Previously, Baiyang's image in the eyes of the public seemed extremely conservative and low-key. On the one hand, Baiyang is the only national brand among the four major instant noodle brands that has no connection with foreign capital. On the other hand, compared with other brands, Baiyang lacks the opportunity to communicate deeply with consumers in marketing campaigns. Perhaps this is a "common problem" for most old brands. Traditional marketing and sales logic have begun to be challenged, and actions are difficult to keep up with the rapidly updated cognition... But with the evolution of the market and consumer demand, old brands also need to begin to embrace new markets.

Baiyang also realized this during its "passive comeback". Baiyang's first comeback was during the "3.15 Anti-counterfeiting Day" that all major brands stayed away from. Last year on 3.15, the news exposed the irregular operations of Chaqi Caiye, a company that had cooperated with Master Kong and Uni-President to varying degrees. Soon, the stock prices of these two instant noodle brands also fell. At the same time, Baiyang issued a statement saying that it had never cooperated with Chaqi Caiye, and that "Bayang has been committed to quality for 25 years and has always been consistent."

This statement, which can be regarded as a clear stream, not only appeased the mood of the majority of consumers, but also inspired the enthusiasm of enthusiastic netizens to explore. At that time, the Winter Paralympics had just ended, so the information that "one-third of Baixiang's employees are disabled" and "it is still enthusiastic about public welfare despite poor management" quickly spread. Behind this, everyone saw the social responsibility that Baixiang assumed. Baixiang was flattered by the sudden popularity of such a low-key old brand, and continued to issue announcements, expressing the hope that everyone would consume rationally and not waste, and the factory was also working overtime to meet everyone's needs.

At the same time, Baixiang also began to take active marketing actions to capture this wave of new traffic.

First, in order to establish a more comprehensive corporate image, the next month after its resurgence, Baiyang used slow live broadcasting to show the factory assembly line and the production process of instant noodles to alleviate people's anxiety about instant noodles and even the epidemic. At that time, Baiyang had live broadcasts on WeChat Video Account, Douyin, and Bilibili, and once became the leader in food live broadcasts on various platforms.

Secondly, Baiyang has enhanced the exposure of its products through offline promotion activities. The instant noodle theme factory mentioned above is the product of this link. Sun Liang, general manager of Baiyang e-commerce, once said in an interview, "Opening an instant noodle factory is a kind of psychological marketing. The brand hopes to have more interactions with consumers. At the same time, it is also convenient to collect feedback from consumers and experts and accumulate more experience and data. If there is an opportunity, it can also be turned into a Chinese local food museum."

In addition to this groundbreaking promotion attempt, Baiyang has gradually turned its attention to the younger generation of consumers and tried to establish a deeper regular connection with them. Baiyang began to collaborate with influencers, release digital virtual spokespersons, and upgraded and innovated the taste and packaging of its products. Before this coriander instant noodles, Baiyang also launched flavors that emerging groups are keen to experience, such as turkey noodles, crayfish noodles, and salted egg yolk noodles. This user participation and word-of-mouth communication further promoted product sales and brand influence. After accidentally going out of the circle, Baiyang had more opportunities to enter the consumer's field of vision, and with its ability to respond quickly and innovate, it took on this wave of traffic and longer-lasting residual heat.

3. Feelings are the beginning and quality is the guarantee

According to Magic Mirror data, during the 618 event last year, in the Tmall "Instant Food/Quick Frozen Food" category list, White Elephant ranked fourth with sales of 38.55 million, ranking first in the instant noodles sub-category. Compared with its previous obscurity, White Elephant's performance in data is obvious to all. What inspiration can this bring to other brands?

First of all, it should be made clear that Baiyang’s resurgence is not accidental . The reason why news such as the 3.15 pickled cabbage incident and the employment of disabled people can trigger wild consumption among young people is that the underlying logic behind it is that the brand’s values ​​​​have aroused emotional resonance and identification among young people. According to the official website, Baiyang Food has previously conducted 67 food safety spot checks, with a pass rate of 100%. For many years, Baiyang has insisted on quietly making good domestic products. This narrative is the focus of consumer attention. Under the national trend dividend, such a brand story can establish a certain depth of connection with consumers. This also reflects on another level the importance of major companies doing a good job in ESG construction.

Secondly, product innovation and quality assurance are the key to impressing consumers. Consumers now have higher requirements for the taste, quality and nutritional value of instant noodles, and therefore require brands to make reasonable innovations. In addition to launching new products, Baiyang will continue to focus on old products that have already established a good reputation.

Sun Liang, general manager of Baixiang e-commerce, once said that the opening of all channels is a direct channel for brands to obtain innovative needs. "For example, Baixiang old hen noodle soup sells very well and has a good reputation. Hema will give us feedback on the good reviews of the chicken soup to determine whether the product can be further upgraded, adding real chicken soup or matching it with higher-end ingredients, and developing from convenient fast food to pre-prepared dishes." For most old brands similar to Baixiang, they mostly come from the factory stage and are accustomed to producing all products by themselves and controlling them from beginning to end. However, in the current situation where consumer demand changes rapidly and the market environment changes rapidly, this pace of pushing new products is not pleasing. It was also after considering this that Baixiang changed its market positioning. The brand has transferred some of its efforts from factory-type enterprises to the role of actively integrating resources. After several years of training, it has the ability to release various products such as cross-category new products at the right time.

Sun Liang, general manager of Baixiang E-commerce, also expressed the brand's attitude of actively embracing change: "New consumer brands have taught us to use the power of socialization to make up for the lack of categories through leading OEM factories or R&D companies." This strategy is currently working well. However, the competition in the domestic fast food market is becoming increasingly fierce. New and old brands are competing for traffic and innovation. The pricing is high or low, and quality control is not always guaranteed. Consumers can only clear mines and plant grass through one review video after another, and traffic also comes and goes. At this time, building a stable brand image is particularly important for retaining traffic.

In order to achieve this goal, we need to think more about these four points:

1. Innovative products: This means that brands need to continuously develop new products to meet consumer demand. They can consider developing noodle flavors with local characteristics and healthy, low-salt, and low-fat products to meet the diverse needs of consumers.
2. Quality assurance: This means ensuring the freshness and safety of raw materials and optimizing the taste and quality of products in a timely manner, which plays a key role in brand reputation;
3. Brand image: It means telling a unique brand story, permeating uniqueness and personality at all levels, and establishing an emotional connection with target consumers;
4. Scientific marketing: means the rational use of traffic, attracting attention through interaction with consumers, launching online activities, etc., and converting traffic into loyal fans of the brand...

IV. Conclusion

Previously, old Chinese brands such as Hongxing Erke and Fenghua also became popular again for similar reasons. But generally speaking, the ice is not formed in one day. The reason why "White Elephants" have become popular again is that they have taken solid steps step by step. If they want to continue, they need to be more down-to-earth. And the day they become popular again may just be the beginning for "White Elephants".