It is certainly worthy of affirmation to allow young people to check in again, but how to permeate people’s lives after the check in becomes another important proposition.
Times Weekly reporter Chen Ting
A product can connect a memory.
On August 9, after a long silence, Zhang Zhou (a pseudonym), a Shanghai native born in the 1960s, chatted about sweetness and memories of childhood.
“It’s the white rabbit toffee, it has a creamy taste. It is very sweet. When I was a child, I couldn’t wait to peel off the glutinous rice paper wrapped around the toffee. I had to put it in my mouth in a hurry.” Zhang Zhou He smiled and said that until now, he didn’t know whether that layer of glutinous rice paper could be eaten.
“In the 1970s and 1980s, the white rabbit toffee market was booming. When you visit other people’s homes, you can buy a few kilograms of white rabbits. It is also worthwhile to buy a few kilograms of white rabbits. A food store in Shanghai often runs out of stock, but it will replenish it immediately. “Zhang Zhouxu chatted verbally, the unique sense of ritual of visiting relatives and friends in the past.
He misses more than toffee.
Zhang Zhou recalled that when he got married, he had the “three big pieces” saying that watches wanted Shanghai brand, sewing machines wanted Butterfly brand, bicycles wanted Phoenix brand and permanent brand. “That’s the top grade.” Zhang Zhou raised the volume. Said.
Back then, I rode a brightly polished Forever brand bicycle and walked the streets and alleys, and the jingle of the car bell followed all the way, and the whole person became energetic.
This is the “punch card” of his time.
Later, with the increasing selection of goods on the market, a series of figures such as the Big White Rabbit toffee and Phoenix bicycles have gradually disappeared from Zhang Zhou’s life.
Now, he has not eaten toffee for more than 30 years, and has driven a car for nearly 20 years.
“My daughter said, those brands are all ‘OUT’.” Zhang Zhou felt helplessly, even if she mentioned it to her daughter, it was difficult for her to understand how she was riding a bicycle back then.
In the eyes of young people, these time-honored brands that have been cherished and talked about by the previous generations and even the previous generations are no longer worthy of them.
Is it a time-honored brand that does not want to make progress? Obviously not. From the perspective of the listed army, the time-honored brand also has a heart to chase the “back wave”.
On July 7, the listing application of Zhang Xiaoquan Co., Ltd. was accepted by the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.
In addition, Shandong Dezhou Braised Chicken Co., Ltd. and Zhejiang Wufangzhai Industrial Co., Ltd. are also conducting pre-listing counselling work.
The ages of these companies are approximately 400, 300, and 99 years old.
But it is obviously not easy to renew the old brands.
Golden Signature Signboard at Sunset West Hill
A lot of famous gold lettersThe signboards are now in a dilemma.
In 2006, the Ministry of Commerce launched the “Revitalization of Time-honored Brands Project”. In the same year, the “2006 Time-honored Brand Development Report” compiled by the Ministry of Commerce showed that only 70 of the more than 1,600 time-honored enterprises recognized by the former Ministry of Domestic Trade were maintaining the status quo %; Long-term losses, facing bankruptcy or bankruptcy accounted for 20%; production and operation of a certain scale, good efficiency only about 10%.
In 2019, the “three big things” Zhang Zhou never forgets are already barely operating.
On April 18, Zhonglu Co., Ltd. (600818.SH), a listed company producing permanent bicycles, released its 2019 annual report.
Data shows that in 2019, the company achieved a net profit of -63.033 million yuan attributable to the parent, compared with 5.068 million yuan in the same period last year, failing to maintain profitability.
In recent years, the golden sign Quanjude (002186.SZ) has been on the cusp of mismanagement.
Wind data shows that from 2017 to 2019, Quanjude’s revenue was about 1.861 billion yuan, 1.77 billion yuan, and 1.566 billion yuan, respectively, and the corresponding attributable net profits were about 136 million yuan, 734.22 million yuan, and 44.627 million yuan respectively. In 2019 alone, Quanjude’s net profit dropped by 38.90% year-on-year.
The epidemic has aggravated the crisis in Quanjude.
According to its semi-annual performance forecast, it will lose 152 million to 139 million yuan in the first half of the year.
Not only that, the price is expensive, the food is not delicious, and the service is poor. Over the years, the entire network has been complaining about Quanjude.
But Quanjude didn’t work hard.
On July 24th, Quanjude’s 156th birthday, General Manager Zhou Yanlong of Quanjude announced that three major adjustments will be made: adjusting the prices of dishes in stores, reducing the overall price of dishes by 10%-15%; fully unifying roast duck prices and production processes; canceling all Store service charge.
As early as 2016, Quanjude promoted the “Internet +” strategy more comprehensively. The takeaway was launched at the same time as the e-commerce, and designed a very fashionable and young name “Brother Duck” and a cute cartoon duck logo.
However, Yage Technology, which is responsible for the operation of Quanjude Food Delivery, has only been in operation for more than a year, and has been suspended due to serious losses and failure to meet operating expectations.
“Quanjude’s recovery is no longer possible.” On August 9, Zhu Danpeng, a Chinese food industry analyst, said indifferently, “I have been in the food industry for 28 years and have been paying attention to Quanjude. Can’t see clearly?”
In Zhu Danpeng’s view, Quanjude has fallen behind the times in terms of products, brands, diversification and overall operations.
He said, “The contemporary mainstream consumer groups don’t buy into Quanjude’s brand precipitation. On the one hand, Quanjude’s product portfolio is single and there are not too many upgrades.The persistence of time-honored brands is inconsistent with the consumption characteristics of consumers who like the new and dislike the old; on the other hand, the greasiness of roast duck does not match the new generation of consumers’ healthy consumption philosophy.
Some media have mentioned in reports that due to environmental protection requirements, Quanjude’s exclusive roast duck craft has long existed in name only. In front of competing products, it appears old and clumsy.
For example, a 22-day-old duckling is selected as the raw material of a competing product, and its fat content is about 15%, which is more in line with the dietary concept of young people. Quanjude still uses big fat ducks with a fat content of about 42.38%.
Lin Ru (pseudonym), born and raised in Beijing, told the Times Weekly reporter that every time she heard news of Quanjude’s transformation and adjustment, her heart was not disturbed.
In Lin Ru’s impression, Quanjude has always been traditionally decorated and palace-style. “Some elderly people still recognize it. After all, it is something left behind by Huangcheng roots. But I feel that the elderly around me eat more at Qifangfang than Quanjude. Except for the elderly, only outsiders come to Beijing to eat. Up.”
Quanjude obviously not only fell out of the cost-effective echelon, but his sense of ritual that represents the old Beijing business card seems to be declining.
Old brands strive to become Internet celebrities
According to the Meituan Research Institute’s Digital Development Report for “Time-honored Food and Beverage Brands” in 2020, the proportion of online consumers in the “Time-honored Food and Beverage Brands” category accounts for half of the age group, while those over 40 years old There are nearly 13%, and only 0.9%-1.4% under the age of 20.
This is only online catering data. After all, there are more young people online. If it returns to offline and expands to more industries, the “middle-aged and elderly crisis” of time-honored brands may become more severe.
The youth transformation is imminent, but how easy is the transformation?
On July 31, an unnamed individual who had studied time-honored brands in the field of e-commerce summed up the problems of many time-honored brands to the Times Weekly reporter. “Brand aging, insufficient innovation, market shrinkage, reduced competitiveness, etc. Problems, many operations are in crisis.”
In this context, some time-honored brands are trying to make changes and reintegrate into the daily lives of contemporary people.
Like her parents, post-00 Chen Qing (pseudonym) in Shanghai also has an impression of the Big White Rabbit brand, but it does not come from the white flower and chubby toffee.
In the afternoon of August 7, Chen Qing was in the jointThe famous milk tea pop-up shop bought a cup of salty milk covered milk tea. After a sip, she commented: “The taste is better than last year’s co-branded milk tea, and it’s not so sweet.”
Chen Qing recalled that last year, the White Rabbit was very popular at the joint milk tea shop of CapitaLand Crystal. She had queued for more than an hour to buy a cup of milk tea, so as to “join in the fun and send a circle of friends.”
This time, Chen Qing naturally did not forget to send a “check-in” to the circle of friends, accompanied by photos of the blue and white milk tea shop and a selfie of her with the exquisitely designed milk tea cup.
The difference is that this year’s check-in queue only took 5 minutes.
The co-branded milk tea with stylish appearance and modern taste is just one of the many measures taken by the 61-year-old White Rabbit to become a “net celebrity”.
As early as 2015, Big White Rabbit cooperated with the French fashion luxury brand “Agnes b.” to launch a limited edition candy gift box; since then, 2 cooperated with the “National Museum of China” to launch the “Four Sheep Fangzun” cultural creation. Candy gift box; launched a cooperative drink with “Pacific Coffee”; launched many cross-border marketing with famous domestic and foreign brands such as Happy Lemon, Scent Library, GODIVA, Le Ding, etc.
Public data shows that White Rabbit’s crossover has achieved certain results. In June 2019, the White Rabbit series of fragrances were first released for two days, and online and offline sales exceeded 10 million yuan.
Similar to Big White Rabbit, many time-honored brands have begun to try cross-border marketing in recent years: Goubuli has produced a mask, Ma Yinglong has released lipstick, Pechoin has launched a joint eye shadow palette with Cartier’s crossover Dunhuang Museum. The designers cooperated and jointly launched Chinese style fountain pens.
Maybe benefited from fancy marketing. In 2019, Ma Yinglong’s revenue reached 2.705 billion yuan, an increase of 23.11% year-on-year, and the net profit attributable to the parent reached 360 million yuan, an increase of 104.29% year-on-year.
On August 6, an advertising industry person close to many time-honored brands said in this analysis that time-honored brands such as Dabaitu are trying to become Internet celebrities, which is tantamount to rebuilding the brand’s attractiveness to current mainstream consumers: The brand was also called an Internet celebrity back then, but there was no Internet back then.”
Allowing young people to check in again and become an internet celebrity again has become a required check-in action for some time-honored brands.
Innovation keeps up with the times
It is imperative for time-honored brands to seek brand rejuvenation, but the premise is that rejuvenation can go further? How long can you go?
“We are trying to pay attention to the needs of the new generation of consumers.” On July 31, the relevant person in charge of Bright Dairy told Times Weekly that Bright Dairy’s business originated in 1911 and has a history of more than 100 years. , Bright Dairy has launched a variety of online celebrity products, the Yuyuan limited old yogurt in cooperation with Yuyuan, the online celebrity Liuxin Babao rice, and the white rabbit toffee