Brand is brand, marketing is marketing; brand is the ultimate business goal, while marketing is a series of means to achieve it. Is business failure the fault of brand marketing? Admittedly, both brand and marketing are part of a company's market operations, with a natural connection like bones and tendons, but there are inherent differences in the order of operations and market philosophy between East and West. Chinese companies have always demanded that any market move must be a big move with visible results to be considered true skill. In contrast, international brands consistently follow the approach of brand before marketing: marketing actions must be preceded by brand actions, marketing actions must align with brand logic, and brand equity ultimately grows positively. Market performance speaks softly but powerfully, and with a slight push, they can easily outshine Chinese companies. The root of RIO's failure lies here... In 2014, RIO became the leader with revenue of 987 million yuan, overtaking its rival, Icey, backed by the century-old company Bacardi. The industry generally attributes this achievement to RIO's massive marketing. Even in an era of declining TV advertising, you can still see RIO ads everywhere, along with various celebrity endorsements, placements in hit dramas, and sponsorships of reality shows. Behind the big spending is lavishness. According to media reports, RIO's advertising expenses in 2015 reached 330 million yuan, comparable to some consumer giants. Some even regard RIO as a model of entertainment marketing. But unfortunately, besides the shocking spending figures, I can't see where its brand strategy and marketing tactics lie. Why did Jiangxiaobai rise abruptly and achieve great success? Now that RIO has suffered a commercial Waterloo, some people claim it's a mistake of over-marketing. If we must blame marketing, then how do you explain Jiangxiaobai's rise in the baijiu sector? The baijiu market is dozens of times more competitive than the new cocktail category. A new brand, without the cultural heritage and long history that traditional baijiu brands boast, using a 20-yuan small bottle packaging against premium packaging costing hundreds or thousands, how did it manage to make a splash, maintain 100% growth, achieve 300 million yuan in sales, and become a dark horse in the baijiu industry? All this success also seems to be attributed to successful brand marketing. Both are in the liquor industry, both use brand marketing—so where exactly did RIO go wrong? Let us first separate brand and marketing to see who is focusing on brand and who is focusing on marketing. Chinese companies often confuse marketing with brand, either thinking that good marketing ensures brand success, or that a good brand means no need for marketing. All these are ideological killers that lead our brands to commercial Waterloo. In simple terms, brand success is closely related to strategic decisions, while marketing failure is often attributed to improper tactics. As I often say, if the direction is wrong, no matter how good the method, it's useless. If the brand doesn't provide a clear direction, even the best marketing guru's clever tricks may not work. Looking at the two cases above, I dare to use a simple and crude observation method to characterize the two brands. Jiangxiaobai focuses more on brand, while RIO focuses more on marketing. Why? Which comes first: direction or method? 1. Jiangxiaobai's Brand Building Approach In front of the established baijiu giants, Jiangxiaobai seems to adopt the STP (Segment, Target, Position) principle, positioning itself for the young generation with the brand concept of "Youth New Baijiu," and this is consistently applied across all brand touchpoints, creating a consistent and coherent brand experience. This brand positioning is clearly strategic. The traditional baijiu market has existed for years with a fixed landscape: Moutai's position is unshakable, and brands like Jiannanchun, Yanghe Daqu, and Wuliangye have captured various segments with unbreakable marketing tactics. Without huge marketing budgets, you'd be beaten black and blue. However, the young people's baijiu market is almost a blank slate, with few players, but the potential is enormous. Jiangxiaobai precisely discovered this niche market, positioning itself as "attitude-filled youth baijiu," from pricing to packaging, all tightly aligned with this positioning. The slogan "I am Jiangxiaobai, life is simple" may seem ordinary, but compared to the traditional baijiu culture of "putting on airs," this simplicity and directness resonates more with young audiences. Only when the direction is right can various methods be effective, achieving twice the result with half the effort. From the inspiration for Jiangxiaobai's IP to the copywriting for Weibo marketing, from various attitude posters to bottle labels, you can clearly sense the brand's "attitude and youthfulness." If only one or two points were done well, Jiangxiaobai's brand wouldn't be so deeply rooted in people's hearts. Firmly integrating brand positioning into marketing actions also indirectly shows that Jiangxiaobai's internal operations are well-managed and standardized. 2. RIO's Big-Spending Marketing In contrast, RIO, entering the cocktail blue ocean under the banner of a "new category," actually had better innate conditions than the bloody baijiu market. Generally, new categories have more opportunities to conquer the market. For example, Red Bull, which entered the Chinese market early, pioneered the energy drink category with "Drink Red Bull when thirsty and tired." Another example is JDB, which recently swept from south to north, turning a medicinal drink with strong regional restrictions into a universal functional drink for hotpot without getting上火. They both successfully captured consumers' minds as leaders of new categories, making people willingly open their wallets. But after flipping through RIO's various ads, including placements, posters, and PR articles, I find that RIO's slogans, from "Let's Rio" during Zhou Xun's endorsement to "Super Free" with Yang Yang and Guo Caiyun, fail to convey a clear, unique, and deep brand recognition. This is precisely what a correct brand positioning should deliver. A vague positioning, even with all the best methods, can lead to failure. RIO's failure, on the surface, is marketing failure, but in reality, it's more about improper branding. Compared to cocktails, the most likely competitors are beers, which have lower alcohol content and are suitable for gatherings. The beer market is also highly competitive and brand-intensive, with emotional appeals and spiritual resonance already overused by giants like Tsingtao and Carlsberg. In contrast, "Super Free," which also follows an emotional route, is essentially homogeneous output. No matter how much entertainment marketing or media advertising is done, it may be futile and end in vain. It's like a pretty girl who might be the campus belle at a sports school, but once she enters the Central Academy of Drama exam, she immediately disappears into the crowd. Summary ▼ Brand positioning is the direction; all subsequent actions are marketing actions that continuously reinforce the brand positioning in the audience's mind, ultimately achieving brand awareness, preference, and loyalty. As one of the most important outputs of brand strategy, we often say brand positioning is crucial, but such an important positioning concept is rarely directly communicated; it's usually conveyed through more creative slogans. In other words, a slogan is the external expression of a brand's positioning philosophy. To use a somewhat inappropriate metaphor: It's hard to reach a person's soul, but their catchphrase somewhat reflects their inner world.