As daily consumption among the general public remains sluggish, many baijiu companies are seeking new consumption channels, making the mass banquet market increasingly valuable. It has become a hotly contested arena for distilleries, distributors, and terminals (mainly circulation terminals), and a core channel for cultivating baijiu consumers.
01 Five Major Values of the "Banquet" Market First, Promotes Short-Term Product Volume This is particularly evident in the exploration of the "banquet" market's value. Since "banquets" are typically group-drinking occasions, the consumption volume per event is large, enabling short-term brand volume growth. Especially for weddings, funerals, and full-month banquets, which often host dozens of tables, even estimating two bottles per table results in a considerable quantity.
Second, Strong Brand Radiation and Influence The choice of liquor at one celebratory event often significantly influences another family's selection, especially when "opinion leaders" make the choice, amplifying the effect.
Third, Relatively Large Profit Margins Surveys show that the mainstream price range in the "banquet" consumption market is generally higher than that of ordinary household self-drinking, and mid-to-high-end products offer substantial profit margins.
Fourth, Greater Marketing Certainty, Facilitating Resource Focus and Operational Execution Consumption times in the "banquet" market are relatively concentrated. For example, teacher-appreciation banquets often cluster around two months after the high school and college entrance exams, shortly after results are released; wedding banquets often concentrate in May, October, and the lunar twelfth month. This concentration provides a focused platform for brand promotion and consumption, making it easier for companies to allocate resources for marketing operations.
Fifth, Differentiated Channel Value for New Product Market Expansion The current baijiu market is crowded with numerous brands and intense competition. New products often face severe suppression upon launch, and without effective promotion channels and methods, they may be lost in the sea of brands. In contrast, the "banquet" market has less competition and concentrated consumer activity, making it an excellent differentiated promotion channel for new product launches, both in terms of product consumption and brand promotion.
From the above analysis, it is clear that "banquets" represent the most concentrated market for mass consumption and the market where mass consumption characteristics are most evident. Given its large per-event consumption, strong brand influence, concentrated brand communication, and targeted marketing, developing the "banquet" market is akin to a group-buying public relations campaign targeting the general public.
02 Current Situation Analysis of the Banquet Market 1. Huge Consumption Capacity in the Banquet Market The banquet market refers to consumption forms other than government and business banquets, including wedding banquets, full-month banquets, birthday banquets, graduation banquets, New Year's Eve dinners, corporate celebration banquets, classmate reunions, and hometown association gatherings. Among these, wedding banquets, full-month banquets, and birthday banquets are the three mainstream forms.
In China's baijiu consumption, the largest segment is government and business banquets, followed by friend gatherings, and then banquet consumption. Approximately 10 million couples marry each year, with wedding banquet consumption reaching tens of billions of yuan.
2. Brand Distribution in the Banquet Market Products that sell well in the banquet market are mainly of two types: one is popular market products whose names and packaging are not necessarily festive, such as Blue Classic; the other is mass-market products with festive names and packaging that also sell well in other channels, such as Luzhou Laojiao Touqu and Jinliufu Fuxing.
Products positioned purely for banquet consumption can only achieve regional popularity and struggle to form nationwide or long-term brand heat, such as Quanxing 520.
3. Two Major Problems in Baijiu Operations in the Banquet Market 1) Narrow Product Positioning, Lacking Development Prospects The banquet market is not closed; it is loosely structured, making it difficult for any truly pure banquet brand to thrive long-term. For example, Quanxing 520 and Luzhou Xijiu have precise positioning but also limit themselves, failing to create a banquet consumption climate. Luzhou Laojiao Touqu and Erqu, though not marketed as wedding liquors, sell very well at banquets. Yanghe Blue Classic, with its blue packaging and non-festive name, has become a favorite in the banquet market.
2) Excessive Promotions, Homogeneous and Outdated Promotion Methods After years of market operations, the baijiu banquet market has formed a fixed pattern: One type involves buying liquor and receiving gifts of the same product, beverages, cigarettes, beer, or other table items, or household goods like bicycles, induction cookers, and fresh flowers for home decoration; Another type provides services such as wedding escort cars, arches, or free videography for the newlyweds. These low-cost promotions are mostly used by mature brands.
New products often focus more on the wedding market, spending heavily on expensive gifts like color TVs, refrigerators, and watches to secure a place on the dining table, thereby promoting themselves. Additionally, cooperating with hotels, wedding photography studios, and other businesses is another way for new products to enter the banquet market.
Overall, these methods seem to lack innovative creativity, making it difficult to leave a lasting impression on consumers, and thus hard to stand out among the myriad of brands.
03 Operational Strategies for the Banquet Market 1. Customized Marketing for Banquet Scenarios Customized liquor refers to products tailored to specific customer needs (individuals or organizations), with full expression on both the bottle and outer packaging, creating a unique personal style.
Customized marketing can provide "one-on-one" high-quality services, incorporating personal or corporate names, logos, slogans, blessing messages, and other personalized elements into the bottle and packaging, reflecting exclusive honor and commemorative and collectible value.
Banquet scenario customized marketing requires not just product excellence but a systematic marketing model, including the establishment of professional organizations and teams, product planning and combination, formulation of customization policies, systems, and processes, atmosphere creation strategies, standard procedures for banquet scenes, and standard scripts for banquet scenes. Only then can banquet customized marketing be done well.
2. Banquet Promotions Banquet promotions are common methods to attract consumer purchases and terminal participation. For example, Shedian Laojiu launched a campaign titled "Celebrate the Dragon Year, Marry a Dragon Bride, Have a Dragon Baby, Shedian Laojiu Grand Gift Giveaway," where consuming certain products within a specified period earned one bottle per table. Yanghe Blue Classic has long persisted in a "one bottle per table" promotion across the vast banquet market nationwide, achieving excellent results.
3. Treat Banquets of Politicians, Business Elites, and Celebrities as Tasting Events For banquets hosted by politicians, business elites, and celebrities, special policies should be given, and careful atmosphere creation should be undertaken to make them a showcase window. This can include free liquor gifts, travel or gift incentives, determined based on specific market conditions, and on-site wine service personnel.
04 The "Five-Step Rule" for Thematic Marketing in the Banquet Market The "Five-Step Rule" for thematic marketing in the banquet market refers to developing a novel and attractive themed promotional activity around a core theme, mobilizing extensive terminal participation to create impact, using online media for pre-, during-, and post-event communication to attract consumer participation and expand influence, supplemented by ground-level terminal visual merchandising to achieve a three-dimensional linkage, broad participation, intensive communication, and market sensation.
Step One: Unearth the Theme Appeal Unearth the core value of the product brand to resonate with consumers. A good promotion theme in the banquet market can yield twice the results with half the effort. A good theme should align with the brand's core value, resonate with consumers, be simple and memorable, catchy, and easy to spread. For example, "Life's joyful events, fine old Langjiu" covers almost all banquets, including weddings, celebrations, and friend gatherings, fitting the scene's consumption psychology. Other examples include Jinliufu's "I have a happy event, Jinliufu wine" and Gujing Danya's "Happy moments, Gujing Danya."
Step Two: Formulate Themed Promotional Policies Develop novel and attractive promotional activities around the theme appeal, preferably in package form, to achieve good results. For example, consumers hosting banquets who purchase a certain amount of baijiu receive gifts such as red wine, beverages, or cigarettes, and for larger quantities, luxury watches.
Step Three: Media Communication Support Once the themed promotion plan is finalized, advertise it in media that consumers frequently encounter, such as newspapers, television, and WeChat, to attract consumer participation. Provide follow-up coverage during and after the event, strive for reposts by other relevant media, and maximize communication impact.
Step Four: Mobilize Channel Linkage
- Combine the banquet activity with product distribution, preferably with traditional holiday stocking, launching before holidays to mobilize forces from tobacco and liquor stores, supermarkets, and other channels to jointly create market influence.
To maximize the effect of the banquet activity, broad channel participation is needed, pooling everyone's strength to operate the market together. Policies must be in place for both consumers and channels to motivate them. Therefore, it is necessary to prepare activity policies and promotional materials and ensure execution and supervision.
- 80% of banquets occur in 20% of hotels, so identify these 20% and sign alliance agreements with them to form a banquet hotel alliance. Hotels, as venues for banquet consumption, still play an important role in consumer cultivation and product promotion.
Well-resourced companies, in strategic markets, can sign exclusive one-to-three-year banquet liquor agreements with hotels for new product launches. For banquets held at alliance hotels, the hotel receives certain fees, and consumers can enjoy policies like one bottle per table.
Through long-term operation, sustained word-of-mouth promotion and consumer brand education can be achieved, exclusive resources can be secured, and entry barriers can be created. This approach has not yet been adopted by any company; well-resourced companies can try it!
- Hold professional terminal mobilization meetings to make the banquet activity high-profile and boost channel confidence. To promote a large-scale themed banquet activity, terminal activity policy briefing sessions can be conducted.
Invite suitable terminal owners together to uniformly explain activity policies, mobilize broad terminal participation, and conduct terminal activity effectiveness evaluations, rewarding terminals that actively participate and achieve significant results.
For wedding banquets, cooperate with institutions and individuals such as wedding photography studios, candy shops, civil affairs bureaus, wedding websites, TV stations, and local celebrities to conduct cross-industry alliances and joint activities.
Liquor companies can organize sales competitions across markets for the banquet market, and distributors can also conduct similar activities. Luzhou Laojiao Boda Liquor once held a sales competition for off-season banquet market job training, achieving excellent results.
Step Five: Execute Terminal Visual Merchandising If media communication is aerial bombing, terminal visual merchandising is ground attack. While carrying out the themed promotion, formulate terminal activity policies, requiring terminals to create a visual atmosphere to support the activity, facilitating consumer introduction and influence. This includes floor displays, end-cap displays, roll-up banners, X-stands, and so on.
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