Click 'Read Original' for details Huading Club: An Extraordinary Launch Event On July 28, China Resources Snow Brewery held its high-end key account platform launch event in Shenzhen. For Snow Brewery, this event had an exceptionally high level of attendance. In addition to 56 major distributors from across the country, the decision-makers present included Chairman and General Manager Hou Xiaohai, Deputy General Managers Liu Youtai and Zeng Shenping, and General Manager of the Headquarters Marketing Center Bi Chaojiao, along with general managers from all 16 regional companies and dozens of marketing center heads. Industry insiders familiar with Snow Brewery know that, apart from the 2020 "Channel Partner Conference," the company has rarely held national distributor conferences over the past decades, let alone distributor meetings attended by almost all business-related senior executives. Even more surprising was that during the most important platform launch segment, a major distributor from Shantou took the center stage, with Hou Xiaohai and Bi Chaojiao standing on either side of this distributor. (Photo: Launch ceremony of China Resources Snow Brewery's high-end key account platform) These observations indicate that Snow Brewery, once known as a pioneer in channel flattening, is now making a determined shift towards a channel model centered on "high-end key accounts" in the high-end market segment. In his speech, Hou Xiaohai stated that the goal is to build a key account platform with "Snow characteristics." (Hou Xiaohai discusses building a high-end key account platform with "Snow characteristics") Hou Xiaohai's "Snow characteristics" include three points: "Chinese," "Top-tier," and "Beer-selling." That is, the platform's cultural core is always "Chinese," customer capabilities and business performance are "top-tier," and the core business of platform members focuses on "selling beer." How Difficult Is It to Join Snow Brewery's "Huading Club"? According to Wang Weijian, Director of the Channel Development Department: "The Snow key account platform will be structured in three tiers, with tiered design and management. Named Huading Club, Huazun Club, and Huajue Club, they correspond to outstanding customers at the national, provincial, and municipal levels respectively." Bi Chaojiao, General Manager of the Headquarters Marketing Center, mentioned in his speech that for Huading Club members, being merely "large" is not enough; they must "grow stronger together." (Bi Chaojiao talks about "growing stronger together") Among the three tiers of key accounts—"Huading Club," "Huazun Club," and "Huajue Club"—the Huading Club has the highest standards and strictest requirements. How difficult is it to join Snow Brewery's "Huading Club"? Snow Brewery distributors often refer to the "Huading Club" as the "Million Club." This means that in the sales structure of Snow products, annual sales of high-end products must reach over one million cases to qualify, and future standards may be even higher. High-end sales of one million cases, approximately 6,000 tons, is a threshold that almost one in a thousand can meet. On-site data confirmed this. Only 56 distributors met the criteria for the first Huading Club membership, accounting for just 0.3% of Snow Brewery's national distributor base. Moreover, only 5 distributors obtained VIP membership in the Huading Club, representing less than 0.03% of all distributors. (Photo: Group photo of China Resources Snow Brewery management and first Huading Club members) In fact, in recent years, Snow Brewery has rapidly opened up the high-end market by quickly upgrading its brand and product portfolio on one hand, and by rapidly building a high-end beer key account system through projects like the "Sword Casting Action" and "Channel Partner Conference" on the other. In 2020, China Resources Snow Brewery's sales volume in the sub-premium and above price segment reached 1.46 million kiloliters, a year-on-year increase of 11.1%. If the 2021 target of 2 million kiloliters in sub-premium and above sales is achieved, the year-on-year growth would exceed 37%. Winning the High-End Beer Market Depends on Key Accounts In fact, the T5 brands in the beer industry all place great emphasis on building key account organizations. Budweiser has always focused on a key account business model, having the most key accounts, including super key accounts with sales volumes exceeding 20 million cases. Budweiser's ability to establish a unique competitive advantage in China's high-end and super-premium markets is largely attributed to its key account business model. Tsingtao Brewery also has a five-tier strategic key account model, including "Pearl" and "Jade." Tsingtao's key account model is mainly concentrated in the southern market and has contributed significantly to its high-profit structure. According to Hou Xiaohai's on-site introduction, any Snow distributor who joins the Snow key account platform represented by the "Huading Club" becomes the vanguard and main force of Snow's high-end strategy, and the decisive force in the high-end market. Compared with peers, Snow's "Huading Club" not only has more Chinese elements in its design but also has an important feature. Generally, key accounts are distinguished by sales scale, but Snow Brewery has incorporated the concept of product structure. For Huading Club distributors, having only "large scale" is not enough; they must also have a "good structure." Proposing "high-end key accounts" as a concept and building it as a core model is a distinctive feature of Snow Brewery. In terms of brand building and marketing models, China Resources Snow Brewery has always followed the style of "self-directed and self-determined." It is precisely for this reason that it has created a classic business case of becoming the number one in the domestic beer market at the fastest speed. With the establishment of the high-end key account platform centered on the "Huading Club," can Snow Brewery secure victory in the high-end beer market? The outcome is worth anticipating. PS: From August 24 to 26, 2021, the 2021 (4th) China FMCG Conference hosted by New Distribution will be held in Shanghai. Focusing on industry trends + practical cases + growth connections as the core, 3,000 FMCG practitioners will gather for the event. Ten themed forums will cover new retail O2O, community group buying, short video live-streaming e-commerce, distributor transformation, rise of new consumer brands, new alcoholic beverages, distributor B2B supply chain, omni-channel marketing, and B2B2C new technology applications, with operators from various segments bringing the latest case studies. Confirmed heavyweight guests so far include: 1. Tao Shiquan, Founder of Jiangxiaobai; 2. Yao Xuhong, General Manager of Meiyijia Holdings Co., Ltd.; 3. Lu Xiuqiong, Global Expert Partner at Bain & Company and former Vice President of Marketing for Coca-Cola China; 4. Chen Xiaodong, Senior Vice President of Nestlé Greater China; 5. Zhang Fujun, President of Lee Kum Kee Sauce Group China; 6. Bi Chaojiao, General Manager of China Resources Snow Brewery (China) Marketing Center; 7. Yang Hongbin, Vice President of Junlebao Dairy Group; 8. Yang Shun, COO of Lipton Greater China; 9. Zhang Yipeng, General Manager of Kuaishou E-commerce SKA Brand Operations Center; 10. Li De, E-commerce General Manager of Gold Hong Ye Paper Group... A grand event for FMCG professionals—you must be there! Are you "watching" me?