---
title: "3 Major Challenges for Brand Big Penetration in the Current Era"
description: "The article discusses the three major challenges that the 'big penetration' growth strategy faces in the current era: changes in consumer demographics, changes in the environment, and changes in organizational structure. It emphasizes the need for brands to adapt their execution while adhering to the core principles of big penetration."
author: "麦青Mandy"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2019-06-13"
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# 3 Major Challenges for Brand Big Penetration in the Current Era

> The article discusses the three major challenges that the 'big penetration' growth strategy faces in the current era: changes in consumer demographics, changes in the environment, and changes in organizational structure. It emphasizes the need for brands to adapt their execution while adhering to the core principles of big penetration.

Click to read the original article for details.
Source: Mai Qing Mandy Column (ID: mqzwp2015)

> **Core Guide:**
>
> 1. The consumer base for big penetration is changing.
>
> 2. The environment for big penetration is changing.
>
> 3. The organizational structure for big penetration is changing.

In the global marketing community, especially at the enterprise level where practitioners dominate, "big penetration" and "positioning" are known as the two fundamental practical theories.
What is a "practical" theory? As the name implies, it is not just talk on paper, but can guide brand management practices. However, these two theories themselves have some differences and are not fully compatible. In reality, big penetration theory is more favored by brand owners, while positioning is more favored by planning, creative, and consulting companies.
Why is big penetration more favored by brand owners? Not only because it is based on a large amount of data evidence, but also because it focuses on "growth" rather than just "brand." It answers the core question that brand operators care about most: How does a brand grow rapidly from 0 to 1? And how does it sustain growth?
In reality, many rapidly growing brands such as Luckin Coffee, Xiaoguan Tea, VIVO, OPPO, Xiaomi, Huawei, and even internet brands like Pinduoduo and VIPKID, all follow the "big penetration" growth model.

**However, "big penetration" is also facing increasing challenges in the current era, affecting the efficiency and ROI of penetration.**

**The consumer base for big penetration is changing: Generation Z (post-95s and post-00s)**
There are many articles discussing Generation Z, so I won't go into detail here, but I will extract a few characteristic keywords:
1. Wealthy and leisurely
2. Digital natives
3. Internationalized
4. Circle-segmented
5. "Sang" culture (a culture of pessimism and giving up)

Although these characteristics do not represent all post-95s and post-00s, the underlying logic of this generation is interconnected, as they are a generation raised on the internet.
These characteristics pose five main challenges to brand big penetration:

**1. Changes in the authority system**
I once shared an article about the 996 work schedule, which detailed why young people have begun to resent figures like Jack Ma discussing 996.
As the article said, the new generation of young people is less likely to worship "traditional authoritative brands." They do not like being "pushed ads" or being "educated on what to buy." They challenge traditional authority and do not admire or advocate past authority figures.
In short, "I define myself, not because you are great, but my ads are my own."

**2. Changes in the discourse system**
The marketing content style of the new generation is vastly different from that of older brand professionals. Young people's preference for "self-deprecating humor" may be seen by older generations as "casual and unserious," while older brand professionals' preference for "chicken soup for the soul" posts may be ridiculed by young people as self-indulgent.

**3. Changes in the content system**
Currently, changes in the discourse system have also brought about changes in the content system, and the speed of this system's iteration is accelerating.
Popular content from a week ago becomes an "old meme" the next week. Therefore, colleagues in advertising and creative agencies must maintain keen awareness and constantly update their "content library."

**4. Changes in media methods**
Recently, I have often been asked: What other media methods are available for advertising? Are there any traffic troughs? What about traffic dividends?
To be honest, many peers are now afraid to hear words like "traffic," "dividends," "troughs," and "tracks." Because in reality, even if such potential traffic troughs exist, young people change very quickly. So instead of pondering traffic troughs, it is better to steadily operate on current mainstream platforms and do your best to achieve big penetration.

**5. Changes in purchasing channels**
The current channels have four major characteristics: fragmentation, contentization, new retail, and "see now, buy now." This actually matches the purchasing habits of the current young generation. The way of channel big penetration must also change accordingly.

**The environment for big penetration is changing**

**First, consumption stratification.**
Two years ago, the term "consumption upgrade" became popular, but this year it has turned into "consumption downgrade." In fact, we are in an era of "consumption stratification"—different cities, different regions, and different consumption levels.
At the same time, even the same consumer may upgrade consumption in one category and downgrade in another. Even within a single category, the same consumer can simultaneously experience both upgrade and downgrade.
For example, the same consumer may buy Estée Lauder eye cream and serum, but also buy a budget facial cleanser. Changes in life circumstances can also cause consumers to suddenly change their purchasing choices.
In short, the challenge of "consumption stratification" for big penetration is: How to ensure the "unified message" of big penetration while also catering to the trend of consumption stratification?

**Second, the era of word-of-mouth.**
Currently, public word-of-mouth is fierce and swift, and any slight misstep can cause a backlash. It is very likely that a brand that took tens of millions to build up can suffer heavy losses overnight due to a single negative review, or even go bankrupt.
At the same time, the era of word-of-mouth popularizes "seeding" (planting grass). In recent years, the most popular term in the industry is "word-of-mouth seeding"—this is also one of the mainstream methods of marketing big penetration.

**Third, channel fragmentation.**
First, there are more and more accessible channels. The previous single-channel big penetration is no longer sufficient to support a brand's rapid growth; brands have to carry out "multi-channel big penetration."
Second, content e-commerce is rising. Content e-commerce actually plays two roles simultaneously: marketing big penetration and channel big penetration.

**The organizational structure for big penetration is changing**
In fact, this is the biggest challenge. Because the big penetration strategy relies on a reliable execution team to follow up, but the backbone of current brands has become the post-90s generation, and even younger post-95s are continuously entering the workplace.
However, senior managers may still be from the post-70s and post-80s generations. The management style of the previous generation is very challenging for the younger generation.
There is an interesting phenomenon: only the post-70s and post-80s like to talk about "wolf culture" and share "chicken soup for the soul," but it is rare to see post-90s sharing "chicken soup posts" in groups or advocating "wolf management."
Some private enterprises still promote traditional management methods such as "gratitude culture" and "militarized management," not realizing that the post-90s below may be raising their hands in agreement while secretly complaining.
Behind this management "dilemma" lies an insight: the mismatch between "work self" and "true self."
In the past, professionals would naturally assume a work role, disguising their "true self" in the workplace, fitting into the cultural atmosphere required by the job, becoming the good subordinate that leaders expect, or the professional manager needed by foreign or private enterprises.
But today's young professionals are not willing to disguise themselves and don't even think about it. They are likely to show their "true self" in the workplace just as they are in life. They don't like to show off, don't like big-character posters, hate the empty gratitude culture, and mock the fake 996 struggle culture.
What they care more about is: **living authentically and spontaneously, having values that align with leaders and colleagues, and working happily and freely.**
These all pose huge challenges to current organizational leadership and management.
In addition to management challenges, another huge challenge is that it is difficult to find brand operators in the current market. On one hand, this is due to the rapid changes of the times; traditional experience may not necessarily be applicable, and even at the CMO level, one may not be suitable for new roles.
On the other hand, it is also due to the increased requirements for brand operators. Currently, companies require almost seven all-around abilities from operators: they must be both a personal hero and have the ability to fight as a group army.
In short, "big penetration" does face some execution-level challenges in the current era, but this does not affect the applicability and practicality of "big penetration" as a strategic brand growth theory.
I hope that when facing the above challenges, all colleagues' brands can **adhere to the basic principles of "big penetration," while making flexible adjustments at the execution level. Do not be armchair strategists or overdo it; do not be overly cautious and lose sight of the big picture.**


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