Nowadays, with the development of internet commerce and the upgrading of consumption levels, a larger ice cream market is gradually being opened up. More and more ice creams such as Zhong Xue Gao, Double Yolk, Coconut Ash, Zhongjie 1946... have emerged with high appearance and new flavors, becoming new favorites among consumers. So, why is it that among internet-famous ice creams, some only make us remember the product, while Zhongjie 1946 and Zhong Xue Gao make us remember the brand? Facing the current severe market homogenization, what changes have occurred in the 'underlying logic' of creating an internet-famous ice cream? How did these two internet-famous brands, Zhongjie 1946 and Zhong Xue Gao, become popular and be remembered by consumers? Let's take a look below. -01- Zhongjie 1946: A Time-Honored Brand Breaking the Circle by Anchoring the 'Nostalgia Trend' Zhongjie Bingdian, a brand that sounds like a time-honored name, from the 'Zhongjie Daguo' (Zhongjie Big Fruit) that was well-known in Northeast China in the 20th century, to the still popular 'internet-famous ice cream' today, behind its breakout is naturally a set of logic for creating a hit product. 2014 was a very important year for Zhongjie. That year, Zhongjie's competitor 'Dongbei Daban' (Northeast Big Board) quickly became popular nationwide with its rich milky flavor and simple packaging with a strong sense of nostalgia, also sparking a nostalgic trend; during the same period, Madier ice pops also stepped out of the Northeast and quickly became popular in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. Seeing competitors rejuvenate, Zhongjie naturally did not want to lag behind. How to break free from the shackles of old brand thinking and achieve a youthful breakthrough became the most severe problem facing Zhongjie, and this also became an important turning point in the brand's development history. 1. Anchoring the Opportunity of Consumption Upgrade and Nostalgia Trend The first Zhongjie ice cream was made by 'Zhu Yuanhong', a chef in Zhang Zuolin's kitchen, for Zhang Zuolin. After tasting it, the Marshal praised it endlessly. Later, Zhu Yuanhong and his uncle opened a 'Zhongjie Bingdian' shop together. As a time-honored brand with 70 years of heritage, Zhongjie ice cream aimed at the opportunity of consumption upgrade and nostalgia trend, re-debuting as 'Zhongjie 1946', focusing on fresh and professional ice products, binding the brand with national sentiment, and becoming popular again in front of the national audience. 2. Focusing on Mid-to-High-End, Specializing in Chinese-Style Ice Cream At that time, in the cold drink market, on one hand, high-end cold drinks were becoming a trend; on the other hand, most high-end brands came from abroad, with foreign brands like Haagen-Dazs and Wall's occupying a great advantage and profits. Zhongjie 1946 positioned itself as 'Chinese-style ice cream', focusing on mid-to-high-end, with products that are 'fresh and zero-additive', seizing its own market share in the domestic high-end cold drink market. 3. Thousand Stores with Thousand Faces, Giving Users a Fresh Visual Experience Traditional ice cream brands use offline channels like shops and supermarkets, rarely having specialty stores. Zhongjie 1946 adopted the modern channel of hypermarkets, decisively building its own direct-operated stores, and its stores maintain the characteristic of 'thousand stores with thousand faces', which can be said to completely subvert the traditional cold drink brand model. 4. Actively Expanding E-commerce Platforms, Breaking Seasonal Limitations Channels are an important part of brand-consumer connection. In addition to offline channels, Zhongjie 1946 also opened e-commerce channels such as delivery apps, Tmall, and Xiaohongshu, breaking consumption boundaries through online platforms, allowing consumers nationwide to taste the flavor of internet-famous ice cream. 70% of Zhongjie 1946's total sales come from e-commerce. At its peak, it even created the sales miracle of selling 100,000 ice creams in 4 minutes on Tmall. Overall, the commodity attributes of ice cream have changed. Driven by factors such as channels and marketing, the cultural and historical depth accumulated by the brand is undoubtedly the key to Zhongjie 1946's nationwide success. Because in brand competition under consumption upgrade, consumers pay more attention to the spiritual value brought by the brand. -02- Zhong Xue Gao: A Rising Star That Rose with a 'Flexible' Brand Strategy Unlike Zhongjie 1946, which has over 70 years of brand heritage, the brand Zhong Xue Gao can be said to have become popular overnight. During the 'Double Eleven' in 2018, an 'Ecuador Pink Diamond' ice cream priced at 66 yuan was launched, and 20,000 pieces were sold out within 15 hours, with sales exceeding 4.6 million yuan that day, and at that time, the Zhong Xue Gao brand had been established for less than half a year. So, how did this new brand rise so quickly in such a short time, and what marketing methods did they use to seize the market? 1. Product Simplification, Extreme Creation of Brand Tone In terms of product, Zhong Xue Gao is very 'restrained', considering not making a single hit product but focusing on flavor innovation and research. To differentiate from traditional shapes, they also specially designed a unique tile-shaped appearance with a carefully carved '回' pattern on top. In brand marketing and promotion, Zhong Xue Gao's individual but not complicated flavors and special tile-shaped design are its greatest recognition. 2. Using Social Methods for Communication, Continuously Emitting New Voices and Creating New Topics Zhong Xue Gao hardly has traditional TV commercials, but instead is keen on using social methods for word-of-mouth brand communication. In the sharing and planting posts across social platforms like Weibo and Xiaohongshu, you can see a thousand different Zhong Xue Gao from a thousand different consumers' perspectives. Not only that, but they also frequently collaborate with brands such as the Palace Museum, Wahaha, Three Squirrels, FIYTA, Roewe, Nayuki Tea, Xiaoxian Dun, and Wufangzhai for cross-border collaborations; they cooperated with Luzhou Laojiao to launch a 'Duangpian' ice cream containing 52-degree liquor, launched the 66 yuan/piece Ecuador Pink Diamond ice cream, etc., continuously emitting new voices and creating topic buzz. 3. Focusing on New Consumption Scenarios Zhong Xue Gao's products start from scenarios. They do not want to do the random street retail business that has existed in China for decades, but rather anchor new markets — the refrigerator and the dining table, one being the home storage consumption scenario, and the other being the social dining scenarios of B-end hot pot restaurants and barbecue restaurants. Transforming original random consumption into relatively rigid storage consumption, this situation has accelerated the pace of Zhong Xue Gao breaking seasonal limitations, achieving a state where consumers can 'enjoy at any time'. 4. Advocating a Flexible Brand Strategy, Leaving 'Labels' to Consumers Many brands like to set up personas, tell stories, and attach labels at the beginning of their establishment, but Zhong Xue Gao is different. It pursues a 'flexible brand strategy', advocating brand labeling rather than profiling. The brand does not have many words to describe itself, and this attitude also makes the brand highly tensile, not only able to accommodate various new-generation consumers but also stand out from many competitors. Overall, Zhong Xue Gao always maintains 'extremeness' and 'restraint' in products, and in brand building, it gives consumers more communication and participation. The era of big single products where product is king has passed. Zhong Xue Gao hopes consumers remember the brand, not a certain flavor. -03- From Making Products to Making Brands: The Logic of Creating an Ice Cream Is Changing For a long time, the traditional Chinese ice cream market has been divided among three major camps. First, foreign brands such as Wall's and Haagen-Dazs, which occupy most of the domestic high-end market; second, leading dairy companies like Mengniu and Yili, which launch mainstream ice cream products and occupy the mid-end market; third, regional old enterprises such as Dongbei Daban and Wuyang brand ice cream, which are limited by logistics, positioned in the low-end market with obvious regional characteristics. In 2018, this calm situation was broken. Emerging brands represented by Zhong Xue Gao and Zhongjie 1946 rose rapidly, and the trend of ice cream becoming internet-famous is irreversible. The past year was defined by the industry as the 'first year of Chinese ice cream'. Entering the summer of 2020, the ice cream war is becoming more intense. Following Double Yolk, Coconut Ash, and Red Velvet, this year's ice cream market has seen new 'internet celebrities' — Northeast Iron Pot Stew, Changsha Stinky Tofu, Big Squid... attracting consumers' attention quickly and strongly with high prices, high appearance, and unique flavors. With the rise of the new Generation Z consumer group, Aoxue focuses on young female groups, targeting social software such as Xiaohongshu, Douyin, and Weibo for saturation marketing, while also partnering with Lawson offline, once pushing the 'Double Yolk' product to supermarkets and convenience stores nationwide. However, for ice cream to go from internet-famous to classic, in addition to quality and brand tone, the completeness of the service system and channels is also important. After the 'Double Yolk' became popular, the product was quickly imitated by hundreds of ice companies nationwide. Later, it was exposed that Aoxue brand Double Yolk ice cream had problems such as total bacterial count and coliform group unqualified, and then faced a cliff-like decline in sales. It must be admitted that the emergence of internet-famous ice cream has changed the market landscape. Homogenized products and novelty-seeking flavors cannot sustain a long-term foothold in the market. In the fiercely competitive ice cream market, if consumers can remember the brand, the risk of being followed can be greatly reduced. It can be seen that the era of big single products being king has passed. From making products to making brands, the logic of creating an ice cream is changing. With the daily consumption of ice cream in China, the ice cream market is also experiencing a boom. Facing such a large piece of cake, for emerging ice cream brands, becoming an 'internet celebrity' is only getting an admission ticket. Being an internet celebrity for a while does not mean it will always sell well. Only by taking products to the extreme and continuously strengthening brand mind share can one occupy a place in the market for a long time. Source: Brand Pictorial (ID: brand876), Author: Chen Wen