---
title: "Internet-Famous Brands: Born from Traffic, Defeated by Trust"
description: "Internet-famous brands are lucky to gain overnight fame and sales, but they are also unfortunate because they lack trust and are vulnerable to public backlash. Brands should focus on building brand power through quality control, innovation, and crisis management to transition from being merely popular to being trusted."
author: "刀姐doris"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
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published: "2019-08-05"
language: "en"
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# Internet-Famous Brands: Born from Traffic, Defeated by Trust

> Internet-famous brands are lucky to gain overnight fame and sales, but they are also unfortunate because they lack trust and are vulnerable to public backlash. Brands should focus on building brand power through quality control, innovation, and crisis management to transition from being merely popular to being trusted.

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Besides "Perfect Diary" and "HFP" in beauty, "Canban" in toothpaste, "Saturnbird" in coffee, even in ice cream there are "Chicecream", "Zhongjie", and "Aoxue Double Yolk". Internet-famous brands are lucky in that they can become household names overnight, dominate social media feeds, achieve sales of ten million in a single night, and have investors chasing after them to invest. Everyone wants to become an internet sensation and create a hit product. Every day in my "She Economy" industry group, I see more than ten copies of various "Short Video Cold Start Guides" and "Little Red Book Advertising Guides"... But internet-famous brands are also unfortunate. While everyone is chasing traffic and hit products, desperately trying to go viral, we fail to see that the internet-famous effect can also bring about a huge backlash. Be cautious about becoming an internet-famous brand.
**Everyone Wants to Be an Internet-Famous Brand**
Why does everyone want to be an internet-famous brand? Because the path of brand marketing for consumer goods has undergone earth-shaking changes in recent years. In the traditional FMCG era, media was traditional like TV and outdoor, and at least three exposures were needed to convert. Advertising was just advertising back then. But since the rise of social media 1.0 (Weibo + WeChat), it's not just central media that can speak; everyone can have a voice. As a result, consumers' "opinions" have reached unprecedented influence on consumer brands—advertising needs to learn to create events and hit products to be discussed. From then on, it's not enough to just advertise; you also need to be an "internet-famous" that can be "discussed". The content e-commerce of Little Red Book, Douyin, and Kuaishou added fuel to the fire, ushering in the era of "grass planting" (recommendation), where content recommendation became the main logic. If you can create content that grabs the attention of the masses, you can quickly get high traffic, strong exposure, and high conversion. So "becoming an internet-famous brand" has become the direction most consumer brands aspire to. In my observation, there are three paths to fame for internet-famous brands:
The first is those born with internet-famous genes, ready to be internet-famous from the start. We are familiar with HFP, Perfect Diary, Sangu, Banmu Huatian... all follow this path. HFP (HomeFacialPro) targeted the ingredient-focused beauty category, benchmarked against The Ordinary's social media advertising strategy, and in 2016-2017, they used a unified template on WeChat official accounts, intensively advertising, and hard-pressed their way to becoming an internet sensation. Source: CK Business Logic Research Institute. Recently popular Banmu Huatian uses before-and-after effect images of body scrubs on Little Red Book, achieving 2,000-10,000 likes per post. These emerging brands enter niche categories, create a hit product or differentiator, and through massive social media advertising, establish the mindset of a hit product.
The second type is old brands that want to "live another 500 years" and have a second spring. Many domestic old brands have died in the tide of history, often with outdated images and unable to play with new channels, like Youyi Snow Cream and Hero Pens. In the battle with new brands, they either die or are half-dead. Therefore, to catch up with the trend, there is a group of old brands that are 60 years old but can still live like 20-year-olds, desperately squeezing onto the internet-famous brand path. Cross-industry collaboration is their most common "blood transfusion" tactic: Liushen and RIO jointly released "Florida Water Cocktail", and there are Luzhou Laojiao perfume, White Rabbit candy lip balm, Fulinmen makeup remover oil... "Keep the classics, be an internet sensation" has become the marketing motto for old-era brands. In the beauty industry, the two most famous brands that came back to life are Baijiaque and Olay. Baijiaque, as a brand over 80 years old, redesigned, created events, and made long images. Olay, on the other hand, returned to the eyes of young people with a hit product, the "Little Bulb".
The third type is those that become famous inexplicably. Some brands become famous so suddenly that they themselves are confused. This summer's internet-famous ice cream world had a case of inexplicable fame: "Aoxue Double Yolk". This brand actually has 23 years of history in Northeast China, always producing classic ice creams like "Crystal Grape" and "Taro Raisin", quietly bought in supermarkets, but the brand was not well-known. I only got to know Aoxue after "Double Yolk" became popular. The important turning point for Double Yolk ice cream to become a hit was being noticed by Lawson and entering all Lawson convenience stores nationwide. We previously said in "What Opportunities Can Create New Consumer Brands": "Channels also face the pressure of differentiation; their buyers often look for new categories and differentiated products, especially new brands that fit the current social network's appearance economy, to enter their channels and differentiate from other supermarkets." Presumably for this reason, Lawson saw the potential in Aoxue's newly developed "Double Yolk", and this Northeast ice cream brand broke into Shanghai. Heytea also spent years deeply cultivating the Guangdong market before finally opening up new horizons in Shanghai. And Aoxue Double Yolk, after entering Shanghai, was discovered by Shanghai consumers for its unique shape and dual flavor, posted on social networks like Douyin, and became an instant hit. Regardless of which type of internet-famous brand above, they all enjoy the thrill of overnight fame: sales skyrocket overnight, customer acquisition costs decrease, the brand name is on everyone's lips, and people wanting to cooperate flock in... However, staying on the trend for too long, while internet-famous brands enjoy traffic dividends, they inevitably suffer from public opinion backlash.
**The Backlash of Internet-Famous Brands**
I have always felt that building a brand is similar to being a person in many ways. Ordinary people always imagine how glorious their lives would be if they became famous. Similarly, people building brands often fantasize that if their brand goes viral one day, it will surely lead to a surge in sales. However, becoming an internet sensation does not mean you have gained trust; it means you have suddenly stepped into a spotlight where everything you do is magnified infinitely. The birth of internet-famous brands stems from new media, which itself is still not fully standardized and has existed for a short time. Besides traffic, it cannot provide more endorsement for the brand. Becoming an internet-famous brand is like a traffic star who becomes famous overnight. It brings traffic, not brand. Traffic is traffic, brand is brand. Brand means trust and recognition, while traffic is merely attention. Internet-famous brands have not gained any trust; they have only gained more attention. Water can carry a boat, but it can also overturn it—media traffic made internet-famous brands popular, but media public opinion can also destroy the entire brand. The downside of becoming an internet sensation is that you get branded with several inherent "internet-famous" stereotypes and labels: the public's stereotype is that internet-famous brands do not have years of experience accumulation, only rely on flashy appearances to gain attention, and are likely to be "three-no products" (no production license, no quality inspection, no brand). Such stereotypes do not fade quickly, and no one will carefully research whether your brand really has a license. At this point, the worst off are those "internet-famous brands that were not prepared to become internet-famous". For example, take Aoxue mentioned earlier. A couple of days ago, I bought Aoxue Double Yolk ice cream for my team to eat together and posted a moment on WeChat. Under my post, I received a bunch of friendly advice like "I heard Double Yolk ice cream has problems, better eat less." This news appeared on the hot search not long ago, and I had some impression, so I searched again and found a bunch of "Internet-famous Double Yolk Ice Cream Fails Spot Check", and it turned out these news had been fermenting for over a month, which scared me. Later, I carefully read the reports and understood the whole story: Ice cream has strict low-temperature storage conditions, and some small shops do not strictly control them, leading to spoilage. Aoxue happened to have a distributor in Wenzhou who did not pay attention to storage, and the spot check found problems. The safe transportation and storage of ice cream is an industry pain point. After the incident, Aoxue took corresponding actions, such as regularly spot-checking retailers and reviewing distributors' cold chain qualifications. If I hadn't checked carefully, hearing such advice from friends, and not being familiar with the brand, I would still be uneasy next time I eat it. Because of this incident, I started to think again about brand public relations: Many brands have experienced similar "PR incidents", but Aoxue suffered particularly badly because of this mistake—full-screen reports and protests, and the internet-famous ice cream instantly landed on the blacklist. Why? I think a large part of the reason is that it is an internet-famous brand.
I divide brands into four quadrants based on brand power/traffic:
* Low brand, low traffic: startup brands needing cold start, such as new brands you haven't heard of.
* High brand, low traffic: often aging brands needing to find new consumer traffic, such as Dabao.
* High traffic, low brand: internet-famous brands, high income but high risk, such as Aoxue.
* High traffic, high brand: strong brands with strong trust and continued growth, such as Haidilao.
Internet-famous brands like Aoxue are high sales but high risk. The risk lies in the public's distrust of internet-famous brands, with a pre-existing mentality of "See, there really is a problem!" Internet-famous brands have traffic, and the media also wants to ride the wave and cater to public expectations, increasingly inclined to report from the angle of "internet-famous products exposed for quality issues" rather than presenting comprehensive information. The book "The Crowd" mentions: "Groups are always in a state of low rational thinking, and the arguments they use and the arguments that can influence them are very low-level, and can only be considered rational thinking through analogy." Consumers can easily fall in love with a product because of a recommendation, and they can also easily despise a brand because of public opinion. This is the disaster of traffic > brand.
**Be Cautious About Becoming an Internet-Famous Brand**
Internet-famous brands are indeed more prone to problems because they have a common issue: incomplete brand building and lack of brand power. What is the essence of an "internet-famous brand"? It is like a child who becomes famous at a young age. Their mind is not fully mature, yet they receive lights and applause. Those standing under the spotlight are destined to bear greater responsibility. The public does not trust children much, so when they make mistakes, they are more likely to be condemned, like saying "I told you he was unreliable." If we compare a brand to a person, then a brand with brand power is like an old friend I have known for over a decade. I trust him deeply and can safely entrust him with my tasks. If he occasionally makes a mistake, I can understand. The essence of brand power is trust—buying with eyes closed, picking any product from the shelf, and it won't be wrong. This is the most practical dilemma for internet-famous brands: they lack nothing more than trust. So brands should try to move from the fourth quadrant (internet-famous) to the strong brand quadrant.
How can they build brand power? They might start from the following aspects: Manage channels and quality control: Whether in supermarkets or small shops, ensuring product quality from factory to consumer is the foundation of a brand. Only by achieving this can consumers buy with confidence anywhere, "buy with eyes closed and feel at ease." Maintain product innovation capability: A hit product can make people see you, but continuous hit products make people remember you. Heytea does this well. In spring and summer 2018, the "brown sugar pearl milk" category became popular (represented by Deer Park), subtly overshadowing Heytea. Heytea quickly followed up with "Bobo Tea" and simultaneously developed ice cream, soft European bread, alcoholic beverages, and other products. The founder of Heytea once said that in 2017, they developed dozens of products, but only 10 were launched. Brand power upgrade: Brand power not only relies on natural growth or marketing tactics to gain exposure, but can also leverage external forces. When we stay in hotels, if the toiletries are high-end, like L'Occitane, we feel the hotel has taste, and L'Occitane also gets a presence. I see that Aoxue supplies 3D ice cream to hot pot restaurants like Haidilao and Coucou, which also helps strengthen B-end endorsement. Prepare for public relations crises: Mature brands can do quality control and have emergency plans. After a crisis, timely and transparent response is the only best strategy. If you make a mistake, admit it; if you get hit, stand straight. Haidilao's textbook response is worth studying.
Becoming an internet sensation is just the first step for a brand, like stepping onto a stage with a spotlight. Whether you can perform well depends on subsequent efforts. If you are destined to become the king, then the unfortunate fate of internet-famous brands is the best training for the young. Reflecting on the "traffic anxiety" and "hit product tactics" mentioned at the beginning... In this first year of consumer entrepreneurship, when building a brand, is traffic really all we lack? What we lack is trust. Traffic can be bought, just at different prices, but brand power is hard to build. It cannot be bought with money; it relies on the accumulation of time and strength.
Source: Sister Dao Doris (ID: doriskerundong)


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