Scenario is the Hottest Topic Scenario marketing is currently a hot topic in the FMCG industry and a key strategy for driving growth. Over the past few years, scenario marketing has been widely applied and has achieved significant results. Coca-Cola's OBPPC concept includes five elements: O for Occasion (consumer scenario needs), B for Brands (best brands), P for Pack (reasonable packaging), P for Prices (appropriate prices), and C for Channel (suitable channels). This concept was proposed decades ago, and Coca-Cola has practiced it for over 50 years. The Coca-Cola Global Museum houses the book "Easy Hospitality" published in 1951, which introduces how to create more Coca-Cola consumption opportunities in home scenarios. Therefore, scenario marketing is not a new concept; many brands have already achieved success in this area. So why is scenario marketing so hot today? The reason is that consumer confidence is insufficient, and scenario-driven Job-to-be-Done (JTBD) is needed to effectively stimulate purchase desire. Zhao Bo, founder of New Distribution, points out that the current decline in consumer desire is not a financial issue but a lack of confidence. Harvard professor Clayton Christensen proposed that scenario-driven JTBD can stimulate purchase motivation, addressing consumers' functional, emotional, and social needs in specific contexts. This concept shows that scenarios stimulate demand, drive product design, and promote business model innovation. China has three typical cases of JTBD innovation:

  1. Solving "pain points": Talaniss Steady Shoes seized on parents' concerns about children learning to walk and falling, becoming a benchmark in the children's shoe industry. 2. Meeting "emotional" needs: MINISO initially focused on cost-effectiveness, then launched products that are good-looking, useful, and bring joy, appealing to consumers emotionally. 3. Meeting "identity" needs: Bosideng allows consumers to gain identity recognition by purchasing high-end products, successfully attracting more customers. These examples show that JTBD innovation not only solves practical problems but also meets emotional and social needs, ultimately influencing consumers' purchase decisions. The Essence of Scenario Growth is a Change in Business Logic The core of scenario growth lies in defining scenarios—composed of people, place, time, and emotion—to drive consumer demand. For example, Dayao Soda accurately defines consumption scenarios to meet the needs of those who don't drink alcohol but still want to fit into dining environments, especially drivers, successfully creating the scenario "If you don't drink, drink Dayao." Daily chemical brands like P&G and Unilever also adopt scenario marketing, such as Head & Shoulders' "head on shoulder" strategy, capturing emotional needs and demonstrating the broad applicability of scenario marketing. Therefore, to achieve scenario growth, the key is to focus on changes in consumer behavior, because the essence of scenario growth is a change in business logic. In the past, brands only needed to produce products and distribute them through channels to sell well. But now the Chinese market has changed: sales channels are increasingly fragmented, and similar products are abundant; relying solely on distribution is no longer sufficient. Brands must change their approach—find consumers' real usage scenarios, build brand awareness and cultivate user relationships in these specific scenarios, and ultimately drive purchases. This is how to truly create demand. Specifically, for consumers (B2C), it's about moving hearts and telling brand stories innovatively; for sales channels (B2B), it's about ensuring smooth supply so consumers can buy anytime they want. This shift is representative: Chinese business is upgrading from the "involution" competition of production volume and price to a new model of "demand creation" that emphasizes creativity and experience. This is the most distinctive feature of the current business environment. Deep Dive into Scenarios: The Same Group Has Completely Different Needs in Different Scenarios Understanding consumer needs hinges on scenarios. To accurately segment needs, both audience and scenario must be considered. Complete needs include functional, emotional, and social layers. Big data must be combined with field observation. E-commerce data can analyze audience characteristics, but it's not enough. Field observation of consumer behavior is needed, focusing on scenario changes across different time dimensions. The same group may have completely different needs in different scenarios. Take tea beverage brands as an example. During diagnosis, I pointed out that the product was too "tea-like," and the team was initially puzzled. Through in-depth analysis of three typical consumption scenarios: commuting while walking and drinking, working to refresh, and socializing with friends. In the first two scenarios, young people choose large bottles of iced black tea; in social scenarios, they prefer new-style tea drinks like Guming. This shows that young people's needs change with the scenario. As they age, preferences shift from functional to social. In social settings, emotional and social value are more important. Therefore, demand analysis must be two-pronged: grasp audience characteristics and understand scenario changes. Combining both reveals true needs, guiding product innovation and brand upgrading. This method applies to all industries. Brand Demand Creation: Product Upgrading, Habit Building, and Experience Design The definition of brand is "brand creates demand," which can be understood from three dimensions: Dimension 1: Product Upgrading Product upgrading means brands need to provide products with stronger purchase reasons. In the past, consumers focused on SPF value and cost-effectiveness of sunscreen, but as consumer enthusiasm cools, brands need to provide more specific solutions. For example, recommending specialized sunscreen for sports to meet new needs. Take the car market: consumers used to focus on parameters, but now they care more about whether the vehicle can meet family camping needs. Li Auto's "dad car" caters to this need with home-like design and large screens. Dimension 2: Habit Building Just like Coca-Cola's promotions of "great companion for meals" and "essential for gatherings" made people habitually drink Coke instead of just tea or water. Meituan builds scenario-based consumption habits, from sharing Coca-Cola at family gatherings to adding beverages to daily meals, gradually increasing the frequency of customers ordering drinks. Dimension 3: Experience Design Corona conveys the "beach lounging" vibe through glass bottles and lime; Wusu conveys the "hardcore brotherhood" spirit through large cans; Heineken focuses on conveying the emotion of "control." The key to these brands' success is accurately conveying consumers' emotional needs in specific scenarios, thus designing experiences that align with brand positioning. Assortment Matrix Design & Channel Execution Upgrade After explaining brand strategy, let's discuss product strategy. The key to products is matching appropriate packaging and pricing according to different consumption scenarios, which requires a deep understanding of consumer needs and category competition. Assortment Matrix Design Take Oreo as an example: during the pandemic, it focused on family stockpiling needs; after the pandemic, it targeted young people's travel and social scenarios, quickly launching portable small packs and thin multi-flavor designs, achieving both premium pricing and sales growth, successfully winning back the market. Channel Execution Upgrade From an overall market perspective, consumer needs remain "more, faster, better, cheaper," while shopping behaviors are "buy, browse, stock up, follow." Under this trend, the market shows full-category coverage, with Tmall and interest e-commerce still dominant. Meanwhile, emerging trends like membership stores, live-streaming e-commerce, snack collection stores, and Pinduoduo are rising. A successful channel execution strategy should be "available, visible, and desirable." • Available means making products ubiquitous. For example, Lay's potato chips, besides the best-selling classic yellow bag, offer special packaging for different channels: portable small packs for delivery platforms, heavy-flavor packs for late-night snacks, and multi-flavor combo packs for gatherings. • Visible means making products easy to discover. On online platforms, the key is to achieve "first-screen display, high-frequency appearance, multi-store coverage, and multi-product selection." But many merchants still operate online channels with traditional supermarket thinking, not fully leveraging e-commerce advantages. • Desirable means stimulating purchase desire. Offline channels should optimize product display and traffic flow so customers naturally see them; online channels should use precision marketing, combining off-site promotion and on-site placement to improve conversion. Most importantly, choose the appropriate channel coverage model and ensure distributors execute effectively. Scenario Growth Requires Model Transformation and Organizational Upgrading Finally, it's emphasized that scenario realization actually requires a new working mechanism. The biggest problem in previous companies was vertical management; the traditional working mechanism meant everyone only saw their own part and completed their department's KPIs. In scenario growth, it's about crossing a horizontal line, truly solving the problem of connecting scattered points, avoiding pitfalls, and forming a closed loop, thereby achieving value co-creation. To summarize, the entire market is cooling down, and consumers need a new reason to spend. From what scenarios are—people, place, time, and emotion—to how to find scenario needs, it requires scenario + audience to form a deep analysis of the demand map, combining big data and small observations. Then, for brand demand creation, it requires product upgrading, experience design, and habit building. When forming the assortment matrix, match different prices and packaging under different product channels, and cultivate deep understanding across all channels, understanding the generation motives under different channels, with differentiated rules: visible, desirable, and available, as well as the reshaping of RTM underneath, and also a new working mechanism. Only then can overall growth be achieved. In the past, OBPPC started more from shopper scenario insights, emphasizing optimization of existing brands and detailed channel execution. Today's scenario growth needs to focus more on changes in consumer behavior, redesign growth models. Being specific leads to depth; only with a closed loop can growth be achieved.