As everyday consumption among the general public remains sluggish, baijiu companies are seeking new consumption outlets, making the mass banquet market increasingly valuable and a hotly contested arena for distilleries, distributors, and terminals (mainly circulation terminals). It has also become a core channel for cultivating baijiu consumers. Five Key Values of the Banquet Market First, it promotes short-term product volume growth. This is particularly evident in the exploration of the banquet market's value. Since banquets typically involve group drinking, each occasion consumes a large quantity, enabling brands to achieve short-term volume growth. Especially for weddings, funerals, and full-month celebrations, which often host dozens of tables, even estimating two bottles per table results in a considerable quantity. Second, it offers significant brand influence and driving power. The choice of liquor at one celebratory event often influences others' decisions, especially when "opinion leaders" make a choice, as their influence is even more pronounced. Third, it provides substantial profit margins. Surveys show that the mainstream price range in the banquet market is generally higher than that of ordinary household self-consumption, and mid-to-high-end products offer considerable profit margins. Fourth, it offers greater marketing certainty, facilitating resource concentration and marketing execution. Banquet consumption times are often relatively concentrated. For example, teacher-appreciation banquets typically occur within two months after the high school or college entrance exams, shortly after results are released; wedding banquets are often concentrated in May, October, and the twelfth lunar month. This concentration provides a focused platform for brand promotion and consumption, allowing companies to allocate resources efficiently. Fifth, it serves as a differentiated channel 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 or 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 the banquet market is the most concentrated market for mass consumption and best reflects mass consumption characteristics. 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. Analysis of the Current Banquet Market

  1. The banquet market has enormous consumption capacity. The banquet market refers to consumption forms other than government and business banquets, including weddings, full-month celebrations, birthday banquets,升学宴 (graduation banquets), New Year's Eve dinners, corporate celebration banquets, class reunions, and hometown association gatherings. Among these, weddings, full-month celebrations, 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 banquets consuming tens of billions of yuan. In 2011, China's newborn population was 16.04 million; by 2013, the population aged 60 and above exceeded 200 million; and in recent years, universities have admitted around 7 million students annually. The banquet market's baijiu consumption capacity is enormous.
  2. Brand distribution in the banquet market. Products that sell well in the banquet market fall into two categories: first, popular products in the market whose names and packaging may not be festive, such as Blue Classic (蓝色经典); second, mass-market products with festive names and packaging that also sell well in other channels, such as Luzhou Laojiao Touqu (泸州老窖头曲) and Jinliufu Fuxing (金六福福星). Products positioned purely for banquet consumption can only achieve regional popularity and rarely sustain long-term national sales, such as Quanxing 520 (全兴520).
  3. Two major issues in baijiu banquet market operations. (1) Narrow product positioning limits 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 (泸州喜酒) had precise positioning but also limited themselves, failing to create a banquet consumption trend. Luzhou Laojiao Touqu and Erqu (二曲) do not market themselves as wedding liquors but sell very well at banquets. Yanghe Blue Classic has blue packaging and a non-festive name, yet it has become a favorite in the banquet market. (2) Promotions are excessive, homogeneous, and outdated. After years of market operations, the baijiu banquet market has formed a fixed model: One type involves buying liquor and receiving gifts such as 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 offers services like wedding car pickup, arches, or free videography for the newlyweds. These promotion methods are low-cost and commonly used by mature brands. New products often focus more on the wedding market, spending heavily on gifts like color TVs, refrigerators, and watches to secure a place on the dining table and promote themselves. Additionally, cooperating with hotels and wedding photography studios is another way for new products to enter the banquet market. Overall, these methods seem to lack innovative creativity and rarely leave a lasting impression on consumers, making it difficult to stand out among countless brands. Strategies for Banquet Market Operations (1) Customized marketing for banquet scenarios. Customized liquor refers to products tailored to specific customer needs (individuals or organizations), with both the bottle and outer packaging fully reflecting the customer's requirements, creating a highly personalized 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, conveying exclusivity and prestige, and holding commemorative and collectible value. Banquet scenario customization requires more than just product development; it demands a systematic marketing model, including the establishment of professional organizations and teams, product planning and combination, formulation of customization policies, systems, and processes, strategies for creating a customized atmosphere, standard procedures for banquet events, and standard scripts for banquet interactions. Only then can banquet customization marketing be executed effectively. (2) Banquet promotions. Banquet promotions are a common method to attract consumer purchases and terminal participation. For example, Shedian Laojiu (赊店老酒) launched a campaign titled "Celebrate the Dragon Year, Marry a Dragon Bride, Give Birth to a Dragon Baby, Shedian Laojiu Grand Gift Giveaway," offering one bottle per table for certain products within a specified period. Yanghe Blue Classic has long implemented a "one bottle per table" promotion across the vast banquet market nationwide, achieving excellent results. (3) Treat banquets hosted by political, business, and celebrity figures as tasting events. For banquets hosted by political, business, and celebrity figures, special policies should be provided, and meticulous atmosphere creation should be undertaken to make them promotional windows. This may include free liquor, travel or gift incentives, determined based on specific market conditions, and on-site liquor service staff. The "Five-Step Rule" for Banquet Theme Marketing The "Five-Step Rule" for banquet theme marketing involves centering on a theme appeal, designing a novel and attractive themed promotional activity, mobilizing extensive terminal participation to create impact, using online media for pre-, during-, and post-event communication to attract consumer participation and expand influence, and supplementing with ground-level terminal atmosphere creation to achieve a three-dimensional linkage, broad participation, intensive communication, and market sensation. Step 1: Uncover the theme appeal. Identify the core value of the product brand and resonate with consumers. A good promotion theme can yield twice the results with half the effort. A strong 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, premium old Langjiu" (人生喜乐事,精品老郎酒). Joyful events encompass almost all banquets, including weddings, celebratory feasts, and friend gatherings, fitting the consumption scenario. Other examples include Jinliufu's "I have a happy event, Jinliufu liquor" (我有喜事,金六福酒) and Gujing Danya's "Happy moments, Gujing Danya" (幸福时刻,古井淡雅). Step 2: Develop themed promotional policies. Design 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 quantity of baijiu may receive red wine, beverages, cigarettes, etc., and for larger quantities, gifts like famous watches. Step 3: Coordinate media communication. Once the banquet theme promotion plan is finalized, publicize it through media that consumers frequently encounter, such as newspapers, television, and WeChat, to attract participation. Conduct follow-up reports during and after the event, strive for reposts by other relevant media, and maximize the communication effect. Step 4: Mobilize channel linkage. (1) Combine the banquet activity with product distribution, preferably aligning with traditional holiday stock pressure, launching before holidays, and mobilizing forces from cigarette and liquor stores, supermarkets, and other channels to jointly create market influence. To maximize the effect of banquet activities, broad channel participation is needed, pooling collective strength to operate the market. Policies must be in place for both consumers and channels to motivate them. Therefore, it is essential to prepare activity policies and promotional materials and ensure execution and supervision. (2) 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 a crucial role in consumer cultivation and product promotion. Well-resourced companies in strategic markets can sign exclusive banquet liquor agreements with hotels for one to three years when launching new products. For banquets held at alliance hotels, the hotel receives a certain fee, and consumers can enjoy a policy of one bottle per table. Through long-term operations, sustained word-of-mouth promotion and consumer brand education can be achieved, and exclusive operations can monopolize resources and create barriers. No company has yet adopted this approach; well-resourced companies can try it! (3) Hold professional terminal mobilization meetings to make banquet activities high-profile and boost channel confidence. To promote a large-scale themed banquet activity, terminal policy briefing sessions can be conducted. Invite suitable terminal owners together, uniformly explain the activity policies, mobilize broad terminal participation, and conduct evaluations of terminal activity effectiveness, rewarding those that actively participate and achieve significant results. (4) For wedding banquets, collaborate with wedding photography studios, candy shops, civil affairs bureaus, wedding websites, TV stations, and rural celebrities to form cross-industry alliances and jointly carry out activities. (5) Liquor companies can organize sales competitions across markets for banquet activities, and distributors can also conduct similar activities. Luzhou Laojiao Boda Liquor (泸州老窖博大酒业) held an off-season banquet market job training sales competition in 2011, achieving excellent results. Step 5: Enhance terminal visibility. If media communication is aerial bombing, terminal visibility is ground attack. While carrying out the themed promotional activity, formulate terminal-specific policies, requiring terminals to create a vibrant atmosphere to cooperate, facilitating consumer introduction and influence. This includes floor displays, end-cap displays, roll-up banners, X-stands, and more. 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