A strong brand is built on a blockbuster product Today, I'd like to share how to successfully launch a blockbuster product, with a core focus on 5 steps. Step one: When creating any blockbuster product, you must base it on your own strengths; otherwise, it's not a true opportunity for you. In China's food industry, there are two 'Li's: Dali and Yili, but these two companies are vastly different. Dali is channel-driven, following whatever product is hot to create a blockbuster, currently with a market cap of over 30 billion. Yili, on the other hand, has a market cap of over 200 billion, focusing on dairy. All their blockbusters are milk-based, continuously expanding categories, channels, and upstream control, building a platform competitiveness where the strong get stronger, enabling them to repeatedly launch blockbusters. So when creating a blockbuster, you must consider: the first step is to determine your true opportunity category. This choice determines 50% of your success or failure. If you choose the wrong product, you've already failed at step one. How to choose correctly? Step 1 of 5: Identify Your True Opportunity Category The first step is to choose an opportunity that suits you. If it doesn't fit, no matter how strong you are, it's useless. China is now in a stock competition, which is highly competitive, and behind that is a life-or-death struggle. In the era of incremental growth, everyone was happy, doing their own thing. Now in stock competition, you have to think about which competitor's share is more appealing and how to grab it, even if it means developing new demands, like cars replacing carriages. That's still grabbing someone else's demand market, just in a different product form. The key is that the population is declining, so travel demand is shrinking. How to determine if it's a true opportunity rather than a mirage? We use three dimensions. First, is the market space large? Is growth above 20%? Is it currently hot? Second, look at the competitive landscape. Are competitors strong? Is there a niche opportunity? For example, in the melon seed category, Qiaqia is the king with about 61.8% market share. Sanpangdan carved out a niche in high-end melon seeds and achieved some success, but if they wanted to reach 10 billion in scale, they'd probably need to switch tracks. Third, look at your own strengths. You must have a foundational advantage to do this category. Know you can win before you fight; otherwise, it's hard to be a true opportunity. How do big brands do it? They usually start from their own strengths because they already have basic resources. They mainly look at which products are growing well. For example, Mr. Wang from Tsingtao Beer has excellent resources: product, R&D, channel, and brand. They just need to see what's hot, like sugar-free tea. Could there be an opportunity for sugar-free tea in the dining scene? How do big brands extend their second growth curve? We've worked with Qiaqia for four years, mainly on nuts. In recent years, growth from 5 billion to over 8 billion has mostly come from nuts, because this track grows faster than melon seeds and has many niche demographics and scenarios. We created a daily nuts product for mothers, because data showed expectant mothers are a core demographic. We also made low-GI daily nuts for the elderly. We continuously deepen a category, like Yili does with dairy. For lactose-intolerant people, they made Shuhua milk. For those who want milk with grains in the morning, they made Guliduo. In yogurt, they have Ambrosial, a 30 billion blockbuster. How do small and medium brands do it? They also need to base on their own strengths, find niche opportunities, and look for smaller but promising tracks. Take Pinyue's case: Jinyan'er Tremella. It's currently the top-selling high-end tremella in China for three consecutive years. The tremella category has no super-large brand, yet it's a daily necessity with a large market. Our first step was to position Jinyan'er as the leader. You must keep shouting that you're number one, because becoming a leader brings resource advantages, good traffic, and user recognition. Being first builds user trust, as most users follow the herd. Second, it showcases value, especially for nourishing and social products. I use the first brand; wealthy or prestigious people tend to use the first, not the second. It gives face when treating friends or sharing. Step 2 of 5: Strong Perception Feature Positioning The core of strong perception positioning is "strong perception, not self-congratulation." For example, Huawei uses lens count and Leica co-branding to give users a strong perception of its camera performance, differentiating from competitors. China's market is huge, with over 1.4 billion people, including over 70 million homosexuals. Could you make contraceptive products specifically for them? That's a business of 70 million people. The key is to be focused enough. Based on this, how do we find a good differentiating feature and become number one? Pinyue uses nine new methods like new combinations, technologies, functions, and ingredients, or nine cutting points like different demographics, scenarios, price bands, and regions, focusing on one core feature to create a strongly differentiated blockbuster. When serving the new product Zaorenpai, the category grew from zero to over 2 billion in just a year and a half, thanks to "new combination + new technology" innovation. By upgrading the process of dates stuffed with walnuts, they created a hot blockbuster. So new combinations are worth trying, including new technologies, functions, ingredients, and formulas. For example, pork jerky. People want to eat pork but don't want to gain weight, so low-fat pork jerky came out, adding chicken breast to pork because chicken has lower fat, making users feel it's healthier. Traditional pure pork jerky makers criticize this, saying it's unethical to mix chicken into pork. But from the user's perspective, it's not mixing in dead pork or anything bad; it's just a different product combination. If you lack innovation, you can cut out a segment. For example, if a competitor is strong online and makes the category popular, you quickly do offline channels. They invest in online ads; you do offline incremental sales. Thank the online brand for raising category awareness. For instance, in food, segment by demographics. China has about 230 million hypertensive people, so the low-GI food market is huge. We planned a brand called "DGI" with the slogan "Professional Low Glycemic, Trust DGI" and the trust evidence "Available in 139 tertiary hospitals nationwide." Three sentences built the brand, which leads to step three. Step 3 of 5: Strong Perception Value Planning After locking the core differentiating feature, how do we convey value to users? Pinyue uses naming, slogans, and selling point systems to communicate user value. We list advantages over competitors and use user value plus purchase evidence to promote the blockbuster, building strong perception and trust. The best name is when the brand represents the category and product, like "DGI brand = low-GI category." For example, Xiaoxian Dun created the fresh stewed bird's nest category and has led fresh stewed bird's nest sales for six consecutive years. With "Xiaoxian Dun = fresh stewed," they occupy the category perception, so when others promote fresh stewed bird's nest, users think of Xiaoxian Dun. So a good name and a good slogan can occupy a characteristic. Step three is to express user value and define the product. For example, what name to choose, what slogan and selling points, and how to make a product value table. When working on Jinyan'er Tremella, the core user value we extracted was "good gum." Eating tremella is mainly about its gum. We planned the new standard "Natural Good Gum 5+1": 5 good qualities (thick, sticky, fast, abundant, fragrant) + 1 safety. A blockbuster requires continuous iteration of selling points, meaning product upgrades. The fourth generation achieved gum in 15 minutes; the fifth in 5 minutes. Some friends say food should stay traditional and not change. But look at those unchanged foods; many are time-honored brands but just sell at stalls with annual revenue under 100 million. So food also needs innovation. We can preserve classic techniques and flavors, but experience can definitely be innovative. Apple phones are the same; without continuous innovation, they'll fall from grace. The lifecycle of a blockbuster depends on your product iteration capability. Estée Lauder's Advanced Night Repair is a strong blockbuster, but they still iterate annually. Now, Double 11 is a key sales period. That's why many brands launch new products before Double 11. When you launch in October, sales spike during Double 11, and competitors can't keep up. They'd have to go back and change products, labels, and marketing content, which takes time. This way, you secure the golden sales period from the second half to Spring Festival. You have the initiative and some pricing power. Step 4 of 5: Marketing Content Conversion Rate We've discussed how to plan user value. Now, how do you spread that value through packaging, key visuals, product detail pages, and videos? The core of content creation is "focus on function, not just aesthetics." Through offline packaging design and online product details and videos, among nine core marketing materials, we maximize blockbuster sales from dimensions like exposure rate, click rate (pick-up rate), conversion rate, and share rate. The traffic logic for online channels is from interest, to trust, to purchase, with short videos and detail pages being core. Offline, packaging is key. Regardless of the medium, the core is to clearly communicate the positioning from step two. For example, the 30 billion blockbuster Ambrosial's packaging design aims to occupy the Greek yogurt category perception. Because Greek yogurt was the hot trend that built the category, they named it Ambrosial (Greek) to create associative memory. The packaging uses Greek Athens-inspired graphics and bottle shapes to reinforce the Greek feature. They even added a unique strain from the Agricultural University of Athens. All marketing content aims to occupy the strongest characteristic of the category, ensuring you become the blockbuster and category champion. Step 5 of 5: Channel Testing Success Rate Before implementation, test the product through channels. Use private domain or Douyin for quick testing, then create a model market through original channels to verify whether a category or product deserves resource investment. We now use data for naming and testing. For example, if you want to buy a Mercedes, you'll notice more Mercedes around you. It's not that there are more; it's because you're focused on Mercedes, so you notice them. Similarly, if "sea salt cheese foam" is a hot term, it appears in your world. When you browse shelves, it jumps out because people notice what they recognize. Through these five steps, we help FMCG companies improve the success rate of launching blockbusters. The core of the "5 Steps to Launch a Strategic Blockbuster" is user thinking and strong perception. Based on user needs, strengthen user perception Why emphasize strong perception differentiation? In the era of user dominance, make them strongly perceive, share, and spread. I often use this example: Huawei differentiated from Apple in camera phones. Initially, they used Leica dual cameras, then Leica quad cameras. Apple had only one camera, then followed with three. Reflect: From a user perspective, what makes photos look good and you more beautiful? Is it the number of lenses? Or AI image processing (like PS or beauty filters)? For example, if I have a square face and want a V-shaped face, what does that depend on? Not the lens, right? So the core of phone photo quality is AI image processing, not lens count. But why add lenses? To make users perceive your camera is great and differentiate your product. Why is the whole ginseng water so popular? Because it really contains a whole ginseng root! How much does the water quality relate to the ginseng inside? Why do many body washes add rose petals? Why does that boost sales? Why do sports shirts have holes for ventilation? Is the fabric's breathable area larger or the holes' area? Why does TATA Wooden Doors have a "45° bevel patented soundproofing technology," cutting a 45° angle on the door edge to seal the gap tighter? Reflect: Is door soundproofing more about material or the gap? But why cut a 45° angle? This is the core of launching a blockbuster: strong user perception. Design a strong perception point that users and sales can easily share and that seems logical. For example, when relatives visit and see the cut on your door, you say it's patented soundproofing technology, creating free conversation. That's core value. If you post a photo of the door on Xiaohongshu, how do you show soundproofing? By cutting the door open? Showing it's solid wood? A strong perception feature can make a small brand rise because it's cheap to spread and channels sell well! Now many people want to eat meat without gaining weight and find pure chicken breast tasteless. So we added chicken cartilage to chicken breast. What are the benefits? First, it increases differentiation because competitors don't have it. If they add it, they'd need significant supply chain investment. Second, chicken cartilage improves texture, combining soft and hard, adding chewing fun, making it taste better. As for Jinyan'er Tremella, many competitors copy the appearance, but the gum quality isn't as good. How do we make users perceive Jinyan'er's quality? Why does your wife simmer tremella for two or three hours starting at 6 a.m.? To extract thick, abundant gum. So we did a test: after soaking for 15 minutes, insert a chopstick. If it stands, there's plenty of gum. Ordinary tremella after 15 minutes barely produces gum; the tremella is still tremella, water is water, and the chopstick won't stand. This trick eliminates inferior products. This is similar to how sauce liquor uses a "wine thread" to test quality, making it easy for users to strongly perceive and verify product quality. Finally, a key point: blockbusters must be systematically planned, implemented, and validated! Step one: Find your true opportunity category. Step two: Identify strong perception feature positioning to become number one. Step three: Plan strong perception value, using names and slogans to occupy it. Step four: Improve marketing content conversion, polishing packaging, details, videos, etc., to boost terminal conversion. Step five: Channel testing success rate. Even the best plan needs testing. Don't just talk on paper; try with influencers and channels. If sales are good, go all in and make the blockbuster even better. [This is the content shared by Mr. Li Jincheng at the 5th China FMCG Conference. New Distribution organized it for readers (with some deletions and modifications)]. PS: For those interested in the live speech, follow the WeChat official account of New Distribution. We will compile and publish all speakers' speeches for readers. Click Read Original to see more about the 5th China FMCG Conference and the 1st China FMCG Distributor Conference...