The next step for "new wine drinks" - rebuilding value and breaking through barriers with 5 new perspectives

What new developments will new alcoholic beverages have in the new year? This article provides a detailed interpretation of the next possible steps for new alcoholic beverages from five different perspectives, from the new social interaction of Generation Z, the new mobile lifestyle, the new retail, new collaboration and new trust of DTC thinking to the new health, environmental friendliness and new business ethics of cultivating the future with matching concepts. It is recommended for those who are interested in new alcoholic beverages, new consumption, etc.

The wind will blow out a candle, but it will make a fire burn brighter.

The same is true for randomness, uncertainty, and chaos: you have to use them, not avoid them; you have to be like fire, longing for the wind to blow. This is antifragility.

——Taleb, Antifragile

In the article “The Future of “New Drinks” (2): Why New Drinks Can’t Find New Worlds with Old Maps”, Brand Ape believes that “New Drinks” are not the only path to the future, but they are definitely a deterministic method to combat volatility, randomness, chaos and pressure.

This deterministic experience, method, and logic not only begins with doubt and refutation of the so-called rules of thumb, but also includes a new understanding of product connectivity. It also emphasizes extraordinary insight from user thinking, and more innovative thinking based on cognitive iteration capabilities.

When you stand in the present and believe that there are no longer any undefeated players in the world, and do not use the exploration of new technologies and new models to replicate the work of predecessors, but rethink the world and the future with the ambition of subversion and breakthrough, the following five new perspectives: " new social relationships " , " new lifestyle " , " DTC thinking " , " new health " and " new business ethics " may help you explore a path that suits you best in uncertainty.

1. Perspective 1: “New Drinking” is the New Social Relationship of Generation Z

Wine has been a social currency since ancient times.

In China, with 20 years of marketing reinforcement by major liquor brands, the wonderful wine culture that has been passed down since ancient times has become a utilitarian system of hierarchy on the dining table; countless beautiful family reunions have become a culture of etiquette; and countless gatherings of friends and drinks have become a matter of face and interest.

From this perspective, RIO's "slightly tipsy feeling", Jiang Xiaobai's "youthful wine", Helen's "offline social platform" and Orlan Little Red Riding Hood's "check-in for handsome men and beautiful women" are not the result of category segmentation, nor are they the result of finding gaps in the needs of those born in the 1980s and 1990s. The greater breakthrough lies in challenging traditions and redefining categories together with the young people of the past.

The post-95s Z generation has gone a step further. Their attitude towards drinking has completely bid farewell to the culture of respect and hierarchy and the round table. They pursue relaxation, simple self-satisfaction, and seek social interaction without dining, as well as "new social relationships" of identity recognition and value expression:

• It is uncontaminated, without disguise, without kidnapping, and without prejudice. It is mutual understanding and real connection.
• It is to wipe away the bubble of digital social networking and re-create a simpler, more natural, but valuable and spiritually satisfying social paradise online and offline.
• It is a social network that can be continuously explored and developed in a diverse, multi-dimensional and multi-scenarios environment with complex circles and experiences.
• From emphasizing differentiation and individuality to how to help them understand and integrate each other and become part of empathy.
• It is a more professional user relationship, weak relationship companion roles and participatory co-construction of scenario knowledge graphs.

It can be seen from this that Greater Than Equal to Nine, WAT, Ten A Quarter, Seventeen Light Years, Luoyin, Highway Shop, Thirteen Invitations Bistro, etc., these "new drinks" are nothing more than insights into the new value of new drinks to the "new social relationships" of Generation Z, leveraging the multiplication effect of the new social sense to empower good products, and responding to the evolution of social relationships.

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2. Perspective 2: "New Drinks" is a New Lifestyle with Flowing Scenes

Wine is a natural scene; it naturally connects communities; it naturally creates content.

As mentioned earlier, "new wine" is life first and culture second, so how do we understand the new life defined by "new wine"?

1. Propose a new life concept for life

Young people express their attitudes through food and use food to show their lifestyle.

——"Top Ten Global Food and Beverage Trends in 2023"

When you think that "getting tipsy" is a new life concept, or even a lifestyle, rather than a new product, congratulations, the door to "new alcoholic beverages" has been opened.

Obviously, information transparency, ultimate safety, natural ecology, no burden, minimalism, Chinese romance, common benefit... each new concept can give birth to countless new lifestyles.

When these new lifestyles are embedded in the narrative scenarios of "new alcoholic beverages", with leading "new life concepts" , new users are generated, and new driving mechanisms are activated, a magical force will be born.

With the help of this force, White Claw, which has achieved sales of over 3.5 billion US dollars in 5 years since its establishment, has set off a global "soda wine/hard-selzer" trend, which can be fully understood as the success of the new lifestyle concept of "drinking alcohol as a male beverage."

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Therefore, there are the "fruit + tea + wine" drink, the "new wine explorer" Greater Than Equal Nine, and the "linking life and art" of Test Brewing; therefore, Jiang Xiaobai repositioned itself as a "natural fragrance wine", and Seventeen Light Years created a new culture of "real connection".

Another example is the concept demonstrated by the "Nomadic Project" of the Second-Hand Tavern: "Drinking is a happy thing, and we want to make it more interesting."

It is a pity that the first row of Su wines are tied to "Only Green", without any in-depth exploration into a new life concept of "Green & Chinese Elegant Romance", and are only released with visual and activity vision.

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2. Fluid scenes and changing new life roles

Mobility and fragmentation have become the commercial foundation of an era. The relationship between Generation Z and the world has undergone tremendous changes. It is hard not to imagine that the barriers of life have been broken down and reconstructed into new scenes. This has also become the new creation of human-centered emotions and roles for every product.

These endless stream of new life characters naturally require "different stories" .

Just like Suntory's seasonal limited edition "The Many-Faced Woman", every role change and time fusion is a performance of a new character .

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It should be noted that the limited edition zodiac wines of Moutai and Wuliangye are different from the seasonal limited editions of Suntory. They have no empathy and do not create new value, so it is difficult to expand the track of new wine drinks and continue to extend it.

3. Pioneers of new lifestyles and tribal communities

It is impossible for everyone to be your good friend. Instead of trying to please everyone and risking no one liking you in the end, it is better to only look for those who are willing and likely to become true friends.

Here, you can be "unique" to the extreme, and express your attitude in a cool way without worrying about being misunderstood. You can talk to them in their language, interact with them in their way of playing, and even discuss quantum mechanics with them.

As long as you understand that every small hobby business contains a treasure and opportunity, every subculture community is a gathering place for super users, and every tribal community can become your basic position, the popularity and rooting of "new wine" will be natural.

From "Living in the Mountains" to "Exquisite Camping", from "This is Street Dance" to "Summer Surf Shop"; from "face to face" story exchange that breaks the dimensional wall, to "shoulder to shoulder" exploration, growth and gamification of social interaction;..., when these cultural identity and interest circles form communities and merge with "new wine drinks", brands no longer talk about flavor and craftsmanship, but instead highlight the points of resonance with community members.

Fortunately, the "communities" of most alcoholic beverage brands are still at the data stage, with membership, promotional discounts, event recommendations, cross-border activities, super memberships...

Although Qinghualang has repositioned itself as a manor sauce wine, upgraded Qinghuahui, and focused on high-end communities; Seventeen Light Years has implanted script-killing, talk shows, camping, frisbee, LiveHouse and other scenes to attract private traffic; "Thirteen Invitations Bistro" understands and expands this concept. But compared with tribal communities such as Weilai and Chaos, they still need to work harder.

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4. Content drives new life, re-imagine content

Wine is not only a product consumed by users, but also a content produced by users. It should also become a kind of content that empowers/resonates/de-stresses users.

In the past, a positioning, a slogan, a slogan, and a picture, if spread repeatedly, could easily lead to success.

Later, content marketing became the mainstream. As long as the content has enough social potential, is interesting, unique, and cool, it will penetrate the circle. When multiple circles spread it at the same time, screen-sweeping and hot spots are born. For example, Jiang Xiaobai and Red Star Erguotou used to be.

Today, time is faster, the world is more fragmented, scenarios are more detailed, users are smarter, and with information redundancy and news quickly decaying, traditional content logic is gradually weakening and decaying, even for content kings like Durex and Heytea.

What are the new content refresh mechanisms and patterns?

1. Users have become the origin of content. The understanding of new content has been placed in a larger commercial perspective. "One-way self-entertainment" content can no longer resonate with users, and " two-way " content is more penetrating.
2. From content creation to content experience. In the future, in addition to riding on hot topics, crossing borders, and telling stories, content must also have a sense of ritual, participation, immersion, and substitution, so that every emotion that emerges from the user can be accumulated into an emotional connection.
3. Enchanted personalized output is more efficient. Whether it is language, pictures, short videos, or digital art, metaverse, AI intelligence, built-in or enchanted personalized content is equivalent to a content magnetic field, and also provides a sense of security and direction for users who are buried by fragmented information. This is why big V/KOC/KOL/UP masters are recognized.
4. Digital Refresh. From the named and traceable collection of each digital user's data; to the personalized push, customization and satisfaction of content; to the efficient response and timely adjustment to user feedback; ultimately, all unique data are aimed at helping us " better understand users " .
5. Finally, the content must really be able to create new value for users: decompression, release, resonance, and empowerment.

Expression bottle, brand creator conference, co-creation of Fruit Cube, "Jiangji Winery Supporter" plan... Jiang Xiaobai has come a long way, and despite the twists and turns, it still leads the way.

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As you can see, Jiang Xiaobai's content always lacks a bit of flavor compared to the content mechanism of coffee/tea drinks.

3. Perspective 3: “New Drinks” are the new retail, new collaboration and new information of DTC thinking

When discussing new alcoholic beverages, we must incorporate DTC (direct-to-consumer).

How great DTC is, the glory of Lululemon, Tesla and Weilai; the strategic upgrades of Starbucks, Nike and Anta can all be said to be the DTC path.

In addition, you must understand that the core of DTC is not whether you "directly face/sell goods to consumers" - but whether your communication with users is "smooth" and whether you use it to "improve and innovate."

Three new understandings of "new alcoholic beverages" under DTC thinking:

1. New digital retail with the Internet of Everything

Traditional retail has three characteristics: brands rely on external channels; users make one-time purchases; and data is just data. However, after data is digitized and connected, new retail can grow and a new ecosystem can be formed.

In fact, the new tea movement that has emerged one after another in the past two years, the luxurious coffee feast, and the vibrant health revolution ultimately point to new consumption scenarios based on data insights, making good use of the ecological closed loop of digital traffic, and continuously creating personalized experiences for digital users.

What about alcoholic beverages? However, due to the arrogance of the giants, they have only tried a few things in digital new retail, and the mainstream perception is still that new retail is just a sales channel.

They all overlooked the core of digital new retail: the connection and integration of “people-place-goods”.

• Data connection: The connection between fully digitized product flows, information flows, and digital users. This powerful connection collects and analyzes consumer behavior and transaction data, and integrates interaction with users anytime and anywhere to support product and experience innovation.
• The connection of "field": it is not the connection and mutual diversion from offline to online, but the free switching between physical places and virtual fields, the harmonious unity of sales and experience, service and interaction, display and innovation, public domain and private domain.
• Efficiency connection: more agile, more precise, and closer. When experience efficiency, interaction efficiency, and emotional efficiency are separated and integrated, they are closely linked to form a complete self-consistent system of user needs.
• Relationship connection: All connections will return to close "human" relationships. Brand and user, brand and partner, employee and user, user and user, when each relationship is activated and co-evolves, the core business indicators will be redefined .

Ultimately, from sales to connection, from integration to innovation, the essence of digital new retail is a cognitive reconstruction under DTC: digital new retail is not an outside-in sales channel; rather, it is a new business model that is from the inside out, prioritizes customer experience, and is planned in a way that users like.

Under this circumstance, Moutai and Langjiu Qinghuacui are just the beginners of the new retail.

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2. Efficient new collaboration for smart supply chain

The integration of digital technology with the "Internet" and "mobile" that we are familiar with has generated a new collaborative force after various extensions and changes. It is called "information finding people" by Zhang Yiming, "goods finding people" by Huang Zheng, and "digital energy" by Philip Kotler.

This power gave birth to the myth of Chinese fast fashion brand SHEIN. Relying on a flexible supply chain architecture, it achieves the miracle of developing and producing 200 new models every day and shipping them within 40 hours. In 2021, its turnover reached US$15.7 billion, making it a top global unicorn.

This strength needs to be manifested in at least four aspects:

• First of all, full data/thorough digitalization. This is the starting point and foundation of all imagination.
• Secondly, the intelligent transformation, construction and opening of the supply chain. Forecasting-ordering-production-quality control-inventory-marketing-scenario, etc., each step means a systematic revolution in supply chain transformation and user delivery. Through intelligent data, the products required by users can be delivered to suppliers, channels, warehouses, and store terminals with the best quality and service in the most efficient way, achieving a perfect balance between product quality, user convenience, and operating costs.
• Third, algorithmic decision-making. All industrial chains and business elements, including planting, have been reconstructed into scientific management and intelligent decision-making. This not only represents the logical starting point of big data and the Internet of Things, but also builds a new business discourse system.
• Fourth, user-driven collaboration. User thinking will continue to permeate the industrial chain, and intelligent innovation of the industrial chain with user experience as the core is the origin of new collaboration.

Imagine innovating the beverage value chain in this way. Every small step of collaboration can become an opportunity for transcendence:

• Your wine drinks truly and visually display the origin/planting area/water source, the people who plant and cultivate the grains, the people who select the materials, the people who make the koji, the people who spread the koji, seal the vats and cellars, etc., with all the participants and scenes that are closely linked. Wouldn't such a product win trust?
• Your drinks can be instantly and improvised to achieve personalized customization and flexibly produced according to the preferences of circle users, the needs of scenario users, and the lives of family users. So, will Generation Z still choose big brands?
• Your drinks can be freely circulated and mobilized through omni-channel, multi-batch, small-batch and fast logistics; the order-driven direct delivery model, the terminal inventory replenishment model and the fast dedicated line logistics are integrated. This kind of intelligent and efficient response, can't you not seize the initiative?
• The time cost of conducting your wine and beverage business in each link is shortened, and various positive and efficient feedbacks are provided to optimize cash flow, profitability, and consumer service capabilities, allowing for faster building of community and social service channels. Who can match this quality of expansion?
• Your wine and beverages have a new interface capability, digitally select the best resource combination, establish a community of interests based on different circles, and establish a solid and reliable partnership. The so-called procurement is just a link in the data.
• …….

Jiang Xiaobai has started to make breakthroughs in the planting process, what about other brands?

3. Transparency promotes new trust matching

Understanding yourself and everything you own may be the true pursuit of the "new human"

——《Science Brand》

Once upon a time, Xiaoguan Tea reaped the benefits of an era with the endorsement of 12 masters; later, Adopt a Cow achieved a counterattack with the transparency of the entire industry chain; then, various cosmetics showed amazing "ingredient details" and healthy water and healthy food became popular.

The underlying reason behind these masters’ transparent display and ingredient expression is that users are beginning to pay attention to and value the mechanisms and processes behind the products, and pursue a more “scientific” and “healthy” lifestyle. These brands not only cater to this trend, but also satisfy the active sense of control and right to know under the evolution of Generation Z’s sovereignty.

This has also become the core of innovation and creation of various DTC brands around the world - building new trust with data capabilities and transparent mechanisms.

There are three specific levels:

• Digitize and quantify.
• Transparent display and expression.
• Continuous iteration and action.

The one who broke the deadlock with this is the "data-based liquor" Guangliang Liquor.

Guangliang's philosophy is "drink good wine without packaging, and let the data speak for itself". The brand's data bottle series has different numbers such as 19, 39, and 59 marked on the bottle. For example, "Guangliang 59" means that the content of its three-year grain-based wine reaches 59%.

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Brand Yuan was once invited to participate in Yanghe’s first-row opening festival, which could have become a festival similar to NIO Day and Xiaomi Mi Fan Festival, a comprehensive expression of new retail, new collaboration and new credit. However, although it has persisted for 6 years, it has become a stereotyped article, lacking communication and interactive rituals, and a form of loss of connection with users.

Connection, collaboration and transparency, three actions, done in one go, are the new ecology of "new wine drinks" under the DTC mindset.

4. Perspective 4: "New Drinks" are New Health that Matches Concepts

For thousands of years, the value proposition of "wine is healthy", whether true or false, is meaningless in the face of "new wine" - "new wine" must be healthy; unhealthy wine is not "new wine"!

The new health of new alcoholic beverages includes three dimensions:

New Health 1: Drinking must be healthy.

Whether it is the well-known low-alcohol, light, and fruit-based drinks; or the low-calorie, burden-free product health; whether it is moderate drinking, the "slightly tipsy comfort" or the emotional health of relieving stress and pleasing the body and mind, in the end, "health" must be the value basis and become a solution centered on user health.

It is also understandable that whether the physical product is healthy is not important. Pure ingredients are certainly good for health, but psychological needs can better reflect the essence of health - helping us (emotionally) to face unknown risks and a changing world more powerfully.

New Health 2: Health requires all knowledge

Beyond the category of alcoholic beverages, the global food industry is facing the new issue of "knowing everything about health."

Innova's "Top Ten Global Food and Beverage Trends in 2023" provides three key words in Trend 9 Unpuzzle Health, namely rebuilding trust, clear clues, and navigation choices .

• For packaged food and beverages, information on packaging is the first choice for people who want to know the health and nutritional value of the product.
• Printing endorsements from well-known organizations on product packaging does help simplify information and build trust, but in an increasingly complex communication environment, it may appear too simple and arouse consumer doubts.
• At the same time, governments around the world have taken steps to regulate health claims on food packaging. Unified labeling will promote healthy eating for all and reduce chronic diseases.

This means that only when "health" can be perceived, measured and falsified, does it have real product value; by extension, the hidden easter egg of healthy drinking for new consumer groups is an important and scarce sense of control.

White Claw, Empty Card, and Master Blue aren’t the first to put calories on their bottles, but they won’t be the last.

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New Health 3: Health is a lifestyle and also a life attitude

Various reports show that the new generation of consumers has a different understanding of health.

• WHO defines health as a state of complete physical, mental, social and environmental integrity.
• New health is a lifestyle and also a life attitude.
• The new health is one that works from the inside out , rather than addressing surface issues.
• New health is a kind of self-control , a community of self-discipline, foodie, refinement and hassle-free.
• New health is not only closely related to life, but also can help you become better.

Therefore, to truly master the "new health" of new alcoholic drinks, it is not about knowing the calorie count based on the alcohol content that users like; it is about understanding why users drink, in what scenarios, and with what emotions; and it is also about knowing which new health concepts your wine matches with users, and in what aspects it can help them be healthier.

Based on this interpretation, the rapid rise of Jiang Xiaobai Expression Bottle in 2014 was due to the understanding of the post-85s' lifestyle of "staying away from heavy drinking" and their need for emotional health; and its failure to attract young people since 2020 can be attributed to the fact that it has not yet understood why Generation Z, those born after 1995, drink, where they drink, and with whom they drink.

V. Perspective 5: New Drinks - New Business Ethics of Environmental Friendly and Cultivating the Future

A wine company without social responsibility is not a good brand.

In recent years, various industries have launched more and more business initiatives around the issue of "environmental friendliness", especially in the food and beverage industry.

In addition to promising to make the planet a better place, global wine giants are actively responding and taking action by setting goals, reshaping processes, and innovating in technology.

• In 2021, Absolut Vodka announced that by 2025, it would use 85% renewable energy for its winemaking, leave no waste to humans, and reuse by-products as fuel or food for farm animals.
• Diageo has opened its first carbon-neutral distillery in North America, which will use 100% renewable energy and zero fossil fuels.
• Royal Lochnagar has partnered with the space agency to absorb additional carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air during the production of ethanol.
• Lion Brewery received carbon neutral certification in 2020 and announced that it will be powered entirely by renewable electricity by 2025. It will launch Australia's first zero-carbon, alcohol-free beer in 2022.

Where does their drive for action come from?

In various research reports in recent years, we can see the following data and changes .

• Under economic pressure, consumers want to save money and protect the earth at the same time, so they choose more economical means to support environmental protection .
• New cost-effectiveness recognized by consumers: In order to reduce consumer spending, consumers are willing to minimize food waste, purchase recyclable/upgraded/reused products, and choose environmentally friendly packaging or products with less packaging.
• 69% of global consumers said they prefer product packaging to mention the farming methods or benefits of the food’s origin.
• More than three-fifths of consumers worldwide said that their trust in brands would increase when brands communicated their environmental challenges and efforts more honestly, while 62% of global consumers said that they would feel more engaged if companies were willing to communicate the difficulties they encountered.
• Users accept imperfection. Therefore, as long as the company is generally good and sincerely explains its goals to the public, such practices are more likely to be accepted and forgiven than before.

What are China's major wine companies doing? Green Water and Green Mountains and Environment Day, donations and poverty alleviation...

Even the new alcoholic beverage brands, compared with the new coffee, new tea, new soft drinks, new fruit drinks, and new water brands, can only be described as worlds apart.

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If traditional alcoholic beverages are still immersed in the creation of alcohol content/aroma/concepts, and the piling up of history/culture, whoever has more money, more advertising, better marketing, wider channels, and greater investment will have higher brand value.

Then, the "new drinks" with five perspectives of " new social relationships " , " new lifestyle " , " DTC thinking " , " new health " and " new business ethics " are completely different. They may be creating another possibility, a new social currency, a community of new life cognition, a data algorithm intelligent entity that understands you better, and a belief union with common attitudes and interests.

Of course, we should indulge ourselves, forge ahead, and develop again, but we also need to be soberly aware that "new drinks" are not omnipotent, nor are they suitable for all stages and all companies, but they are definitely suitable for those brands that have the courage to change, challenge the future, work hard, and pursue long-termism.

Author: Brand Yuan, WeChat public account: Brand Yuan (ID: brand-yuan)