Click to read the original article for details. "My product is so good!" "What does that have to do with me?" This is a true reflection of the mindset of companies and consumers. Having worked in advertising for over a decade, I've met countless corporate clients who can talk about their products with great familiarity and eloquence: "Look at our product, it has complete functions, outstanding quality, leading technology, excellent design, and it's reasonably priced and good value for money..." So why don't consumers buy it? I can't help but wonder. Manufacturers think their prices are "affordable," but consumers would rather pay high prices for big brands; Manufacturers think "my brand is so famous," but consumers' inner monologue is "Who are you?" Manufacturers desperately promote "my product is so good!" but consumers think, "What does that have to do with me?" Manufacturers think "my product line is so rich, covering high, medium, and low needs," but consumers think, "There's not a single one that can compete." In 1960, Theodore Levitt, known as the nuclear weapon of marketing, published his famous work "Marketing Myopia," which caused a strong reaction in both academia and business. In it, he pointed out: The reason for corporate decline is that they focus on "products" rather than "customers." If you don't pay attention to users and only focus on existing products, any company is doomed to be eliminated, no matter how successful and glorious your current products are. Zhou Chengjian, the founder of Meters/bonwe, came from a tailor background and worked hard to build the brand's success. These days, Jay Chou's super topic has exploded across the internet. I think every Jay Chou fan remembers his endorsement of Meters/bonwe and the slogan "Walk a different path." (When I was in college, I was also a fan of Meters/bonwe; half my clothes were from them.) However, after reaching its peak in 2011 with revenue of 10 billion yuan and net profit of 1.2 billion yuan, Meters/bonwe began to decline continuously. In 2017, it suffered losses of over 300 million yuan. Seven years later, Meters/bonwe's revenue is around 6-7 billion yuan, far below its peak, with market value shrinking by 80% and stock price hovering around 2 yuan. Zhou Chengjian repeatedly emphasized in interviews that he doesn't understand fashion, saying, "I just want to be a tailor for life." When Meters/bonwe faced difficulties, the remedy was to find that tailor again. The word "tailor" might emphasize quality, craftsmanship, and artisan spirit, but for users, buying clothes isn't about buying craftsmanship; it's about trends, fashion design, and personal style. What's the use of just good craftsmanship? As the classic copy from Zhongxing Department Store says, "Cultivate your temperament in clothing stores, and display your clothes in bookstores." Clothing is fashion psychology and social culture. Product quality and value for money are basic, but products that meet consumers' psychological needs and individuality are the key to successful marketing. So Meters/bonwe lost to fast fashion brands like ZARA, H&M, and Uniqlo. With the rise of a new generation of consumers and the wave of consumption upgrading, we are entering an era where big brands are failing. Consumer needs are changing rapidly, and leading big brands are gradually being replaced by emerging brands. According to IDG Capital's estimate, in the next 10 years, most existing brands will be replaced by new brands, possibly by more than 50%. Procter & Gamble, once revered in traditional marketing, has been declining continuously, and its myth is no more. In March this year, there were even rumors of P&G delisting (though it turned out to be a misunderstanding). Head & Shoulders, Rejoice, and Pantene once held over 60% of the Chinese market share, but now it has dropped to 30%. Another FMCG giant, AB InBev, saw total revenue decline by 3.2% in 2018, and net profit fell by 45.4%. Fortunately, AB InBev China performed well, but in the first quarter of 2019, AB InBev China's sales also began to decline. The crises faced by big brands are ultimately caused by being far from the market and consumers. For many companies, especially successful ones, it's easy to fall into an internal perspective and a client-side mindset, thinking that as long as they produce good products, consumers will naturally follow. So they focus all their attention on production efficiency, quality management, operational level, and technological improvement, while ignoring changes in the external market environment, social culture, and consumers. This is exactly the marketing myopia that Theodore Levitt pointed out: focusing only on the production and promotion of specific products without understanding what consumers truly need. Then being eliminated by the market and abandoned by consumers becomes inevitable. There's a famous metaphor in marketing: consumers don't buy a drill; they buy the hole in the wall. If new technology or substitutes appear that help consumers make that hole more conveniently and cheaply, then without a doubt, consumers will immediately abandon buying the drill. No matter how good your product is or how famous your brand is. Let's take another industry: consumers don't really buy cameras; they buy photos. This easily explains why film cameras were replaced by digital cameras, and digital cameras were defeated by smartphones. Since phones can also take high-quality photos and are more convenient for viewing, editing, and sharing, why would I buy a camera? The logic of ordinary consumers is that simple. Your product is just a temporary means to satisfy consumer needs. Once there's a better way to satisfy users, you'll be replaced in no time. If consumer needs change, then your entire industry will be disrupted and inevitably decline. So Michael Porter, in his Five Forces model, warns companies not to only focus on themselves and existing competitors, but also to pay attention to substitutes, potential entrants, and upstream and downstream players. Today, many companies are not defeated by competitors within their industry, but by opponents from unexpected corners. Master Kong's decline wasn't caused by Uni-President, but by the rise of food delivery platforms Meituan and Ele.me; delivery food is a substitute for instant noodles. P&G's decline is due to the decline of its upstream TV media and downstream large supermarkets. The logic of traditional retail is people finding products: when consumers want to buy something, they naturally go to supermarkets, convenience stores, or small shops. So channel is king, and shelf thinking is important. The bigger and more prominent your display on supermarket shelves, the better your sales. But the logic of new retail is products finding people: e-commerce platforms push products they think you need based on your purchase history and demand predictions. So for new brands, it's very important to precisely define your target audience, consumption scenarios, user experience, and social relationships. Consumers don't lack products, because today is an era of product explosion. Whatever you want to buy, when you enter a supermarket or search a shopping website, aren't there dozens of brands queuing up for you to choose from? Consumers don't lack quality or information, with so many planting platforms, review opportunities, and review websites. Of course, consumers don't lack ads either. Bombarded with ads all day, if you're still shouting your wares inappropriately, you'll undoubtedly be ignored by consumers. Who do you think you are? You should know that for marketing, the first question is not "Who are you?" or "How is your product?" but "Who is most likely to buy you?" Marketing doesn't start with the product; it starts with the user. For a company, it's not enough to just produce a product and then loudly promote how good it is. You must first know what products consumers need, what products can move them to open their wallets, and what their real demands are when they buy your product. However, we see that the vast majority of ads on the market are self-talk and self-praise, and consumers simply don't care; including the extraction of core product value, differentiating for the sake of differentiation, without considering what consumers are really buying when they buy your product. Japan's Uniqlo was once seen as a cheap brand. Consumers who bought its products would first cut off the label to avoid being seen with it. At that time, as Uniqlo, would it have been useful to promote its quality, craftsmanship, and value for money? It wasn't until Uniqlo redesigned its entire brand, from store location, store decoration, VI design, website construction, and advertising, to a comprehensive transformation and reshaping, that it became a fast fashion icon and won the hearts of consumers worldwide. That's what consumers really care about and where their pain points lie. Similarly, Taiwan's PX Mart (全聯) also focuses on saving money and cheapness. We know that cheapness is a strong purchasing motivation, but this works for older consumers, not for young people, who feel embarrassed carrying PX Mart shopping bags. So in 2015, PX Mart launched a "PX Mart Economic Aesthetics" campaign, turning saving money into an attitude, a new lifestyle, and a consumer aesthetic for young people, making it legitimate to shop at PX Mart. In this way, young people accepted PX Mart. This series of ads didn't talk about how good PX Mart was, but about how young people should view their money and what consumption values to embrace. Having said so much, it also proves the fundamental value of agency companies. Agency companies don't know the industry as well as the client, nor do they know the product as well as the client. So why don't companies do their own consulting, promotion, and communication, and instead hire agencies? The most important premise is that agencies provide an external perspective and user thinking that companies lack. The fundamental value of an agency is to think from the user's standpoint, making it easier to discover problems and shortcomings in the company's products and operations, and to create ads and content that move and persuade consumers. Li-Ning once shouted the earth-shattering slogan "90s Li-Ning" to attract post-90s consumers, directly and crudely declaring that Li-Ning is a brand for the post-90s. But the post-90s didn't buy it, and Li-Ning also offended the post-70s and post-80s, losing both ways and declining for years. I think at that time, Li-Ning's management must have been very frustrated: "We even shouted '90s Li-Ning,' why don't you still buy it?" That's because "90s Li-Ning" is, after all, a slogan from a client-side mindset, like a clumsy middle-aged person trying to please young guys and girls. "90s Li-Ning" and "90s, come buy me, I love you" are essentially no different. It's just a sales pitch, not a value proposition. It wasn't until Li-Ning walked the New York Fashion Week and raised the banner of national trend that the post-90s truly bought it. Why? Because Li-Ning understood what young people want to express, what style and personality they want, and what changes are happening in their society. Traditionally, consumers are the end point of a product, and marketing is the effort to move the product from the production workshop to the supermarket shelf and then to the user's living space. But if you think deeper, you'll know that consumers are not the end point of a product; in fact, consumers are the starting point of a product. In the operation of a company, I think it's very necessary to separate the product business from the corporate mission. The corporate mission is to create customer value. If the current main business and products are insufficient to achieve this mission, then the company should innovate products and transform its business to return to the benchmark of customer value. This benchmark measures the entire process from production, management, distribution, to promotion.