Term explanation: FMCG stands for Fast Moving Consumer Goods, referring to products with short lifespans and rapid consumption. Typical FMCG include daily chemicals, food and beverages, tobacco and alcohol; OTC drugs can also be included. The counterpart is 'durable consumer goods', including but not limited to home appliances, furniture, and cars.

One day last week, I met two clients, which was quite interesting.

In the morning, I received a brief from an internet company. The company is large and has a big budget, but the brief was not very clear. As a conscientious and responsible agency, I tactfully raised questions: Who is your target audience? What are your communication objectives? Do you have core messages?

After a few perfunctory responses, they became impatient and said with disdain: "Oh, don't use FMCG thinking! We are an internet company! Our world is much broader!"

Implying that the FMCG marketing department's approach is outdated.

Coincidentally, in the afternoon, I met a company whose marketing head had a typical FMCG background. Initially, communication was smooth, but when we introduced our company's cases, he looked down on the internet cases: "This is too weird, would young people really like it?" "How can this work?"

When we explained that the case was quite successful, he sneered: "Where are the marketing people from? Definitely not FMCG, right?"

Implying that non-FMCG marketing departments are not good.

I wished I could invite both parties to sit together and enjoy them dissing each other.

Actually, the two opposing views I encountered that day are not new. Over the years, a question has been circling in my mind:

Is the FMCG marketing department still viable?

This is certainly a sharp and sad topic, especially for former FMCG marketing people like Yogurt Brother.

But it's an unavoidable topic. The FMCG marketing department was once the jewel in the crown of marketing, but now it has been overshadowed by internet marketing departments.

Once upon a time, the ads we saw were almost all FMCG brands, from Rejoice to Pantene to Head & Shoulders, from Lux to Dove to Clear; FMCG marketers were also considered the best, with brand managers at P&G and Unilever being highly sought after.

Now, more than half of the ads we encounter daily are from internet brands, and we talk about which app's hot event went viral. When a rare FMCG case appears, the praise is: "Wow, traditional industry actually has internet thinking!"

As attention wanes, talent flows in the opposite direction. A recruiter from a top FMCG company told me that a large group of executives went to a Shanghai university for recruitment, but the number of students attending the presentation was fewer than the guests on stage... BAT is crowded, and even startup internet companies are popular among young people.

Because they... have money

In this atmosphere, it naturally triggers a re-evaluation of the FMCG marketing department both internally and externally: Is the FMCG marketing department still the best? Or have they declined?

1

Ms. T, a freelancer doing SEO (Search Engine Optimization), is outspoken. She likes to comment on my WeChat articles, and her views are always consistent: From now on, marketers who don't understand programming are just hooligans!

She says that many of the communication methods used by traditional marketers are too old. "Expensive, slow, and inefficient!"

She said: "I'm not from an FMCG marketing background, so I dare not comment on other things. I just want to say, what era is it now? Many marketers still don't know what SEO is. Shouldn't they go back to school?"

2

Ms. O, marketing director of a maternal and infant products company, partially agrees with Ms. T. She said helplessly that overall, the quality of FMCG marketing personnel is declining.

"For middle management, we can't find good people. Even training management trainees, we can't recruit good university graduates. This problem is currently unsolvable..."

Regarding FMCG communication, Ms. O also shook her head repeatedly: "We are a bit behind in this area. At this point, we still use one TV ad for a year, and one key visual for all channels. The 4A agencies we use are really not good... and we can't replace them!!!"

Of course, she changed her tone: The key is whether you can actively learn. Ms. O said that even traditional talent, as long as they are willing to learn and can combine new knowledge with their own practice, can grow quickly.

"(In brand communication) The backwardness of FMCG marketing is mainly due to laziness. Professional managers are complacent and unwilling to learn. Of course, not everyone is degenerate, but many are."

3

If Ms. T and Ms. O's evaluations focus mainly on communication, Director C's perspective is beyond that.

Director C is a marketing director who has been at a large FMCG multinational for over a decade. She said that the focus of the FMCG marketing department is on interpreting consumer needs, solutions to those needs, and related methodologies. "But internet companies may understand marketing as brand communication activities. Different understandings naturally lead to different evaluations."

Director C said that marketing should never be just advertising and communication, but should look at the business model: product development, production, transportation, sales channels. "I don't think the marketing department manages too much."

"Where the internet surpasses us is efficiency. They move fast and can improve through 'small steps, fast runs, multiple iterations.' FMCG can't. We drag a huge supply chain, production equipment, and channel partners, making change difficult. We can't afford trial and error, so we can't be fast."

But the essence of FMCG marketing is insight into consumers and human nature, which will not change. Director C said she knows many people in internet companies who are very good at solving problems with rapid iteration but cannot distinguish between user 'behavior' and 'insight.' If decisions are made only based on user behavior, they may succeed in a certain period or field, but it's hard to sustain. "Only by truly understanding the insight behind behavior can you formulate a sustainable and effective strategy."

Director C believes that truly good marketers know the how and the why. The FMCG marketing department was excellent in the past because their understanding of people was ahead of other industries. Now internet companies have more comprehensive data and better technology, "but in essence, they haven't upgraded marketing itself. I don't think they can be the benchmark for marketing."

4

When I asked Boss Ma this question, I had some expectations. As a person who successfully transitioned from FMCG, Boss Ma has many reasons to say that the FMCG marketing department is a thing of the past.

Boss Ma's English name starts with M, hence the nickname. He is 35 but looks younger. Starting as a management trainee at U Company, one of the cradles of FMCG, he made several transitions and successfully landed at Uber as the Shanghai general manager. Then he transformed into the founder of a sharing economy company.

"What internet thinking? Isn't it pure FMCG marketing thinking? " As soon as we sat down in his company's meeting room, he dropped this shocking statement. Seeing me stunned, Boss Ma smiled with satisfaction. Behind him, through the transparent glass wall, employees were busy.

"It's not strange. Look at the user-first that internet companies advocate; isn't that what we always said: starting from consumer needs, consumer-oriented? The habit of internet companies spending money and losing money to gain users is exactly what P&G and Unilever did decades ago selling shampoo. Years of losses were to cultivate users' habit, preference, and loyalty, and then harvest. The difference from Taobao is just time. In the internet age, it's faster to build and earlier to harvest."

Boss Ma said that the deeper he goes into the TMT industry, the prouder he is of his FMCG marketing identity. When he interviewed for the Uber Shanghai GM position, HR thought he had little hope. "Not a returnee, no consulting or internet experience," Boss Ma laughed. "But after the interview, the foreigner told me they had been searching for 8 months and finally found the ideal candidate."

"I just showed the foundation I built in the FMCG marketing department."

Boss Ma said that when he started at Uber, the challenges were significant. What he used to overcome difficulties, besides the emotional intelligence and communication skills honed at U Company, was the FMCG marketing mindset.

"At that time, Uber was burning money heavily. I told the team that we couldn't continue; we needed to burn less while maintaining growth. Previously, subsidies were uniform: any user who made three purchases got a 10-yuan coupon. I asked the team to segment users first, find the right people, say the right things, and do the right things. Based on our data, we divided users into 12 groups and implemented different subsidy policies. For example, a 1.3x surge was a tipping point to distinguish price-sensitive users..."

Boss Ma smiled, saying they had many discussions and worked with the team following this approach. The result was reduced subsidies, spending less than competitors, and gaining market share!

"Isn't this the logic we are familiar with in the FMCG marketing department?" Boss Ma said that the FMCG marketing department requires business thinking. Now as a CEO, he thinks about focus and core products, all learned from the FMCG marketing department. The core and boundaries of FMCG marketing are strong and broad.

Boss Ma also said that the outside world has misunderstandings about the FMCG marketing department, and similarly about internet marketing. Many people come to Uber people for marketing and say: "Your marketing is great! Give me something like 'one-click helicopter' too!"

Boss Ma shrugged: "I think eye-catching marketing activities, if targeted at the right user group and conveying the brand's appeal, are fine; but the core is to return to the essence of business and brand positioning, not to do marketing for gimmicks. That's unsustainable. At best, it brings brand awareness, but it doesn't help much with brand building and business growth."

Boss Ma thinks there are many commendable practices in the TMT industry, such as rapid trial and error and iteration, as well as resource integration and win-win. In the past, FMCG would spend money to build awareness, but now he prefers to collaborate with multiple parties to gain attention together. Cross-border and collaborative operations to achieve multi-win should be the major trend for future marketing activities.

5

Ms. T, Ms. O, Director C, and Boss Ma represent only individual opinions. But through discussions with them, I have gained a clearer understanding of the question "Is the FMCG marketing department declining?"

If we measure only by 'advertising communication,' we ignore the most important capabilities of marketers. Deep insight based on data and consumer behavior analysis, guiding product development, production, channel management, and even business model adjustments based on consumer understanding—that is the true value of marketing.

As for evaluating the FMCG marketing department, I think Director C's words are particularly apt:

"In fact, every industry's marketing department has strengths and weaknesses; the best marketing department probably only exists in books. The biggest advantage of the FMCG marketing department is that it can influence all aspects of the enterprise and truly become the engine of the company's progress. This is the biggest advantage that other industries' marketing departments do not have."

It is for this reason that Boss Ma especially recommends young people to work in the FMCG marketing department for 3-5 years: "This way, when you need to raise hundreds of millions, you'll have special confidence. "

Source: Yogurt Brother's Workplace Guide (ID: YogurtBrotherSean)

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