Why do some viral ice creams make you remember the product, while others make you remember the brand?

The commodity attributes of ice cream have changed, becoming an indulgent and social food that brings joy and happiness.

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Ice cream is shifting from private consumption to public consumption.

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Whenever a hit ice cream appears, no fewer than a hundred companies copy it. There's a saying that any idea of pinning consumer preference on a single product is extremely dangerous.

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Homogenized products and novelty flavors cannot sustain long-term market presence. In the fiercely competitive ice cream market, making consumers remember your brand can greatly reduce the risk of being copied.

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The logic of creating an ice cream is changing from making a product to building a brand.

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A bigger ice cream market is slowly opening up; new flavors, new positioning, new creativity, and new channels will bring new pricing power.

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Full market competition is accelerating the upgrade of the ice cream market—healthier, younger, and more fun. Let's start with a small test: quickly name a few viral ice creams. Many people will blurt out: Zhong Xue Gao, Zhongjie 1946, Coconut Ash, Double Egg Yolk, etc. Among these, Coconut Ash and Double Egg Yolk are specific product names, while Zhong Xue Gao and Zhongjie 1946 are brand names. Why do some viral ice creams make you remember the product, while others make you remember the brand? -01- Making Products Like Aoxue Making products has always been a tradition in the ice cream market, such as the flavors of childhood—Beibingyang Red Bean Popsicle, Guangming Three-Color Cup, Mengniu Green Mood, etc. These are actually ice products under major manufacturers, and as people grow up, they recall the Red Bean Popsicle, Three-Color Cup, and Green Mood more than the brands. In the era of virality, the iteration speed of popular ice creams has accelerated significantly. Take the Double Egg Yolk, which was the hottest last summer, but this year it's almost nowhere to be found. Its manufacturer, Liaoning Aoxue, is even less known to most consumers. Aoxue is a typical manufacturer that focuses on products using its flexibility. Its development roughly has four periods, each accompanied by explosive products. In 1997, the first hit was Ma Lao Jiu; around 2003, the second-generation representative product was Brown Sugar Popsicle; around 2007, the third-generation main product was Crystal Grape; starting in 2014, the fourth stage saw products like Double Egg Yolk, Coconut Ash, Pearl Milk Tea, and Red Velvet become viral. In 2018, the explosion of Double Egg Yolk became a milestone in Aoxue's history. 1. New Flavors, Winning by Surprise The Double Egg Yolk idea came from a brainstorming product meeting in 2018. Aoxue's chairman, Wang Kezhi, had a sudden idea and shouted out the concept of salted egg yolk milk ice cream. Combining salted egg yolk with ice cream, tying sweet and salty together? The taste probably wouldn't be good, so the idea received many objections. But Wang Kezhi still wanted to try it. For secrecy, Aoxue didn't even dare to make finished products for clients to taste; they tasted the ingredients in cups, and the feedback was quite positive. 2. Influencer Sharing and Grass-Planting Communication Next was communication. The big manufacturers' approach of relying on expensive advertising and celebrity endorsements didn't suit Aoxue. As a Kuaishou user himself, Wang Kezhi thought of another way—grass-planting (influencer seeding). After screening, Aoxue targeted platforms like Douyin, Xiaohongshu, and Sina Weibo, where young women gather, and used intensive content to quickly make Double Egg Yolk popular. On Douyin, Aoxue showed the entire production process of Double Egg Yolk ice cream and drove traffic to its online flagship store. Brand-related personnel all registered Douyin accounts for promotion and interaction. 3. Partnering with Lawson, Channel-Driven Behind the explosion of Double Egg Yolk, convenience store Lawson also played a significant role; some define the Double Egg Yolk success as "channel-driven." The earliest grass-planting of Double Egg Yolk on Weibo and Xiaohongshu appeared in Lawson's product reviews. Ice cream, due to its FMCG nature and storage requirements, is one of the most frequently purchased items in convenience stores. Aoxue's decision to distribute Double Egg Yolk, a product with hit potential, through convenience store channels was a strong push on its path to virality. The earliest grass-planting of Double Egg Yolk on Weibo and Xiaohongshu appeared in Lawson's product reviews. -02- Building a Brand Like Zhong Xue Gao Unlike Aoxue, which focuses on making hit products, and unlike Mengniu, Yili, Guangming, and Beibingyang, which make ice cream based on big brands, the new generation of viral ice creams represented by Zhong Xue Gao and Zhongjie 1946 are clear—born to make ice cream, and to build a brand. 1. Product as Content—Making a Different Ice Cream In May 2018, Zhong Xue Gao's first product hit the market. From the start, Zhong Xue Gao aimed to create an ice cream different from the past: a classical tile-shaped appearance, a "motto" on each stick that can only be seen after eating, and sophisticated flavors like light milk, Irish aged cheddar, Ghana black gold, hand-brewed jasmine, and Chongyu sea salt. These became high-end labels distinguishing Zhong Xue Gao from other ice creams on the market. 2. Obvious Social Traits—Constantly Emitting New Voices and Creating New Topics These are also the basic materials for Zhong Xue Gao to open up social marketing and online marketing channels. Zhong Xue Gao has obvious social traits, always having new topics and new voices. It interacts closely with companies like Xiaohongshu, Jingwei, Alibaba, and SF Express, giving products to their employees for tasting; it collaborates with brands like the Palace Museum, Wahaha, Three Squirrels, Fiyta, Roewe, Nayuki, and Xiaoxian Dun; it partnered with Luzhou Laojiao to launch a "blackout" ice cream containing 52-degree liquor, and launched an Ecuadorian Pink Diamond ice cream at 66 yuan per piece; it frequently participates in major Tmall events; and it secured a spot in Luo Yonghao's first livestream sales. Of course, accompanying these event marketing efforts is Zhong Xue Gao's comprehensive social marketing, leveraging multiple platforms like Xiaohongshu, Tmall, Taobao Live, and WeChat. Currently, Zhong Xue Gao has nearly 6,000 notes on Xiaohongshu alone, with 17,000 brand followers, sharing reviews on taste, packaging, and flavors. 3. Reverse "Restraint"—Not Aiming for a "Big Single Product" Zhong Xue Gao hopes people remember the entire brand, not a single product. The frequency of new product launches is not high; on its Tmall flagship store, there are about 10 SKUs on sale. In the view of Zhong Xue Gao's founder, Lin Sheng, controlling the pace is important. He hopes to have seven or eight classic products that exist long-term, while the rest are continuously iterated. Old and core products are for retaining old users, while innovative products are for attracting new ones. If a particular SKU exceeds their expected sales volume, it triggers an alarm. Zhong Xue Gao internally discusses why this product sold so much and how to control it, rather than selling more. There's a simple truth: any idea of pinning consumer preference on a single product is extremely dangerous. Starbucks makes people remember Starbucks itself, not a specific coffee or dessert. -03- Where is the Next Hit Ice Cream? Driven by Zhong Xue Gao, Zhongjie 1946, Coconut Ash, and Double Egg Yolk, the trend of ice cream going viral is irreversible. Entering the summer of 2020, the ice cream war is intensifying. Flavors are becoming more lively and novel, such as pearl milk tea, German dark beer, and peach. Following the "salty" market opened by Double Egg Yolk, flavors like hairy crab, iron pot stew, stone pot bibimbap, scallion squid, scallion milk, stinky tofu, and wasabi seaweed have all appeared, leaving people speechless. Brands are also constantly trying cross-industry collaborations to create topics: Wall's Cornetto and Heytea launched a co-branded ice cream; White Rabbit candy and Guangming Dairy launched "White Rabbit Ice Cream"; Baidu's IP Xiaoduxiong and Xiabuxiabu launched "Xiaoduxiong Ice Cream"; Mars turned Dove chocolate and Snickers into ice creams with identical packaging. But so far, no "phenomenal" product has emerged in this summer's ice cream market. Many viral ice creams with exaggerated flavors are more suitable for trying and posting on social media; many netizens say they can't love them. Moreover, some viral ice creams are superficial, using crispy shells and decorations to mimic food appearance as a selling point, but the taste is still common like cream or soy milk, with no substantial innovation. A sales manager of an ice cream manufacturer said that as a local small and medium startup brand, only by capturing consumers with flavor and packaging can they quickly become viral and occupy the market, because consumers, especially young ones, always pursue novelty, uniqueness, and specialness. Brands like Aoxue fear copycats from small and medium brands the most. Whenever a hit product appears, no fewer than a hundred companies copy it. Aoxue has been selling ice cream for 20 years, launching over 20 new products annually. Double Egg Yolk was Aoxue's first "encounter" with a nationwide hit. This explosion also increased Aoxue's "idol burden"—"The ice cream industry is really tough; it's the most brutal in the FMCG world. We must constantly innovate every year," said an Aoxue executive in a media interview. Currently, Aoxue has about 170 SKUs, promoted by agents nationwide. The company continuously develops new products and eliminates old ones. Where is Aoxue's next hit? After Aoxue's salted egg yolk ice cream went viral, many imitators appeared, but consumers won't think "I only buy Aoxue." Homogenized products and novelty flavors cannot sustain long-term market presence. In the fiercely competitive ice cream market, making consumers remember your brand can greatly reduce the risk of being copied. 1. Treat a Product as a Brand Compared to Aoxue's dilemma of creating new products every year, brands like Wall's, which have focused on brand building and product upgrades for years, are clearly more resilient. Their representative products, Magnum and Cornetto, remain bestsellers in the rapidly iterating ice cream market. But it must be admitted that the emergence of viral ice creams has changed the market landscape. In the past, only large manufacturers could market nationwide; more local manufacturers were limited to specific regions. The opening of new channels like convenience stores and e-commerce has allowed emerging viral ice creams to break regional restrictions. Coupled with the social marketing commonly used by viral ice creams, which attracts more attention from young people, these have impacted traditional manufacturers. Under this pressure, traditional manufacturers are also trying to consolidate existing markets and expand new ones. Yili's mid-to-high-end ice cream Zhenxi has sponsored the variety show "Please Take Care of the Fridge" for five consecutive seasons, cultivating young viewers' habit of "watching the fridge and eating Zhenxi." In 2019, Yili also launched a high-end ice cream brand "NOC Xujinhuan" priced at around 20 yuan per piece, using national style and trend topics to engage deeply with young people, and binding with Zheng Yunlong to convert his fans into initial brand fans. Wall's also launched a new product line, SoGood Qingyou, focusing on health and low calories, emphasizing "shape without guilt," aligning with consumer pain points and conveying a healthy lifestyle to more young people. In contrast, viral ice cream Double Egg Yolk has frequently been exposed for exceeding limits in total colony count and coliform bacteria, raising food safety concerns. Health and safety should be the foundation of ice cream products and an important trend for future market development. In terms of continuous brand building, these traditional manufacturers clearly have more advantages and experience, even treating a product as a brand. Each product launch is aimed at the long term, with a more complete promotion system, continuously injecting fresh influencing factors into products. Viral ice creams come one after another, traditional manufacturers strike high, and full market competition is accelerating the upgrade of the ice cream market—healthier, younger, and more fun. -04- The Ice Cream Market in a New Context This brings us back to the question at the beginning. In the current ice cream market, the boundary between making products and building brands is gradually blurring. With the viral trend driving the upgrade of the ice cream market, the logic of creating an ice cream is changing from making a product to building a brand. In multiple public interviews, Lin Sheng has mentioned that his idea of creating a "high-end" ice cream brand is based on new consumption scenarios and upgraded markets for ice cream. Ice cream is shifting from private consumption to public consumption. Due to changes in distribution channels and transportation chains, more people are ordering ice cream delivery in offices, meetings, team-building events, just like ordering milk tea delivery. Another example is the new market Zhong Xue Gao targeted from the start—refrigerators and dining tables: one is a home storage consumption scenario, the other is a B-end social dining scenario like hotpot restaurants and barbecue spots. Complementing the change in consumption scenarios is the change in the commodity attributes of ice cream. In fact, during the recent viralization of ice cream products, ice cream and other frozen products are no longer substitutes for chilled beverages but have become indulgent and social foods that bring joy and happiness. The heavy consumers of viral ice creams are the new generation, who are not price-sensitive but are more interested in the style and culture attached to the product. Social media review posts have become an important way for young people to learn about new viral ice creams. In the context of social commerce and social consumption, a bigger ice cream market is slowly opening up. New flavors, new positioning, new creativity, and new channels will bring new pricing power, but they also bring newer and greater challenges to ice cream manufacturers. First, do a good job with the product, but also build the brand. In Aoxue's latest products launched in 2020, the "Aoxue" brand logo occupies a significantly larger proportion on the packaging. Zhong Xue Gao began to say in 2019 that it would "de-viralize," reducing frequent exposure and focusing on becoming a national trend product. The once-popular simple viral ice cream Dongbei Daban is also trying to transform into "healthy ice cream," upgrading packaging and marketing. Amid the chaos of viral ice creams, some manufacturers still have a clear path to improving quality and building brands.