---
title: "Navigating Cycles for Resilient Growth: Building High-Quality Chinese Strong Brands"
description: "At the 2023 (8th) China FMCG Innovation Conference, Jiang Nanchun, founder and chairman of Focus Media, delivered a keynote on building resilient brands. He emphasized that despite market volatility, China's consumption upgrade is driven by the pursuit of a better self, and brands must focus on winning consumer hearts through high coverage, quality, and impact, using a combination of online and offline media."
author: "江南春"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2023-04-15"
language: "en"
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# Navigating Cycles for Resilient Growth: Building High-Quality Chinese Strong Brands

> At the 2023 (8th) China FMCG Innovation Conference, Jiang Nanchun, founder and chairman of Focus Media, delivered a keynote on building resilient brands. He emphasized that despite market volatility, China's consumption upgrade is driven by the pursuit of a better self, and brands must focus on winning consumer hearts through high coverage, quality, and impact, using a combination of online and offline media.

On April 6, at the main forum of the 2023 (8th) China FMCG Innovation Conference, New Distribution specially invited Mr. Jiang Nanchun, founder and chairman of Focus Media. 

_Jiang Nanchun, founder and chairman of Focus Media. He graduated from the Chinese Department of East China Normal University, has over 30 years of experience in advertising and marketing, and founded Focus Media, an elevator media group, in 2003. In 2005, Focus Media was listed on NASDAQ, and in 2007 it was selected as a NASDAQ-100 index stock. In 2015, Focus Media returned to the A-share market, with revenue exceeding 10 billion yuan, becoming the largest cultural media stock in China by market value._ 

_Focus Media covers 400 million urban mainstream consumers in China and is rated as "China's most brand-igniting media platform."_ 

At the conference, Mr. Jiang delivered a brilliant speech titled **"Navigating Cycles, Resilient Growth: Building High-Quality Chinese Strong Brands"**. The following is the content of Mr. Jiang's speech (partially abridged).

**Calculating the "value-for-heart ratio" amid the "three loves and three fears"** 

In the past year, we all know it was a very VUCA year. Behind this, what has changed and what hasn't? The driving force of China's consumption growth will not waver because of one year of VUCA events. China has formed a middle class and above of 470 million people. The real driving force is that the Chinese people are very hardworking and diligent. Behind this hard work and diligence, there is a need for self-compensation and self-reward, which is the core driving force of China's consumption upgrade. Every year of striving is to become a better self, whether it's a healthier self, a wealthier self, or a more beautiful self. I believe these driving forces have not changed due to one year of VUCA events. In summary, China's longing for a better life is called "three loves, three fears, and three lacks": love to eat, love to drink, love health; fear of aging, fear of fatigue, fear of loneliness; lack of love, lack of mood, lack of stimulation. So as long as your business is within the "three loves and three fears," I believe there is huge potential for long-term growth. 

In fact, the consumption psychology of China's mainstream population has undergone many major trend changes over the past years. Low-priced things are increasingly untenable. We see that quality, brand, and psychological satisfaction are replacing rigid needs with self-labeling. The choice of any brand is a projection of self-personality. Pragmatic things are replaced by emotional atmosphere and scenarios. "Bro is not eating a bowl of noodles; bro is eating loneliness." **When demand is excessive, products must not only provide functionality but also soothe the soul and emotions.** 

Last year, online traffic halved, and the online traffic dividend disappeared. We saw interest e-commerce rise vigorously, but it's hard to make a profit, and customer acquisition costs continue to rise. All tactics cannot change the fact of involution. Traffic is not the root of business growth; it needs continuous optimization, but relying solely on traffic can neither retain volume nor win hearts. Because traffic doesn't belong to you; it belongs to the platform. No matter how you calculate algorithms, you can't outsmart the platform. So the core of branding is to calculate accurately the hearts of the people. Calculating accurately the hearts of the people is the fundamental point of all business growth. Previously it was a world of cost-performance ratio, then a world of appearance-performance ratio, and now it has become a world of heart-performance ratio.

**How brands achieve high-quality development** 

Today, with the demographic dividend and traffic dividend disappearing, how can brands achieve high-quality development?

First, what functional or emotional needs does the brand actually solve for consumers?

Second, it's not just about being different, but also about leading trends. Being different is not enough; can you lead trends in the face of a new world?

Third, prominence: when thinking of a category, can consumers think of you reflexively? Are you synonymous with the category or a subcategory?

Look at the development of China's stock market over the past 11 years. The China equity index has only risen 20%, but the China Brand 100 Index has firmly grown 170%. So only those who persist in brand building during crises can strongly navigate cycles. High coverage, high quality, and high impact are the core.

**1. High coverage**: According to Kantar's 2021 study on Chinese urban residents' attention to advertising, high coverage refers to: internet ads 95%, elevator ads 79%, TV ads 51%. These are China's three major high-coverage media.

**2. High quality**: On short video platforms, these media rely mainly on content, so it's necessary to create high-quality content. Consumers' attention to ads on these media is very limited. And in outdoor squares and open spaces, people pass by so many ads every day, but few can be remembered. KANTAR research found that in more enclosed and smaller spaces, consumers' attention to ads is higher. When asked what ads you can recall from the past day or week, elevator ads average 3.3, short video ads 2.1, and social media ads 2.5. These are the numbers of ads that can be recalled from consumer minds with relatively high-frequency exposure.

**3. High impact**: I often share on Douyin and WeChat Channels, and I've already created tens of thousands of pieces of content, with dozens going viral. Under such circumstances, how easy is it to create high-quality content? Today, everyone is doing "grass planting" (seeding). It's now planting grass on the prairie. After planting, sometimes I can't even find my own grass. What is high impact? It's your completion rate and loop rate. The main communication is called "Double Micro, One Dou, One Focus": Weibo, WeChat, Douyin, Xiaohongshu, Bilibili. Online, you create content, topics, placements, and content that can be spread. Offline, in apartment buildings, office buildings, shopping malls, and cinemas—the core living spaces of consumers—Focus Media is there waiting for you. So the resonance of online and offline is the core of today's brand communication.

There are only three paths for a brand to be ignited and spread: **First, integrate into or create major social events and topics.** For example, when Zhengzhou flooded, Erke donated; during the Wenchuan earthquake, JDB donated; Li Ning at New York Fashion Week. These are major social events that ignited brands. **Second, integrate into major social entertainment.** Like "The Voice of China," "Happy Camp," for example, we see Yili's title sponsorship of "Dad, Where Are We Going?," Anmuxi's "Running Brothers," Mengniu's "Super Girl," and Head & Shoulders' "China's Got Talent." I think integrating into major social entertainment is also very valuable. **Third, integrate into consumers' core living spaces and life scenarios.** This is Focus Media. Actually, you'll find that these three integrations are indispensable ways for brand communication. Everyone wants to bet on the hottest variety show of the year, but it's hard to come by and the success rate is low. Use a certain media logic to win against uncertain media logic. Investing in advertising is like investing; it requires certainty. China's 400 million mainstream consumers pass by every day on their essential routes, creating a certain connection with consumers. Focus Media is doing this kind of connection.

**Three paths and three suggestions for driving growth** 

Currently, there are three paths to drive growth: **Brand breakthrough**: For example, Milkground, as a milk company, what was the important issue? It focused on a niche track: cheese sticks. Mengniu and Yili weren't doing it at the time, so this created an opportunity. After Milkground was ignited on Focus Media, it started from 170 million, growing to 500 million in the first year, 1.5 billion in the second year, and 4.5 billion in the third year. "Better to be different than to be better." The real value lies in creating a new category and investing all your energy in a new opportunity track. **Scenario triggering**: A famous Harvard theory says that people don't need the product itself, but the scenario problem the product solves and the emotional and life meaning in the scenario. Scenario is a core trigger for consumption. On Valentine's Day, Florasis told everyone, "Sending flowers is not as good as sending Florasis." On 520 (May 20), "Love of a lifetime, forever united." If you didn't give your girlfriend a lipstick with a lock, it means you don't want to lock her down. Nongfu Spring encountered the pandemic in 2020 and 2021, with reduced external demand, which gave rise to a new home water usage scenario. "Good water cooks good rice, good water makes good soup, good water brews good tea," pushing the large-barrel water business. Many times in the world, demand doesn't exist; when you trigger a scenario, you trigger demand. So for old brands, an important issue is that scenario triggering brings more opportunities and choices. **Channel assistance**: After advertising, many people say they don't know who saw it. So Focus Media and Alibaba's current combination is that after advertising, data can be returned to Tmall's data bank. Those who saw Focus Media ads can be targeted for a second round of targeting, or you can click on the "delicate moms" segment within the audience. Having seen Focus Media ads is a label, plus the "delicate moms" label for a second round of targeting, forming an effective closed loop. So placement is not just a one-time investment; it's an accumulation of digital assets. Offline channel assistance is also important. In the overall market where subsidiary food declined 9% last year, one brand continued to rise 40%-50% against the trend. It not only won the brand mind-share battle but, more importantly, linked with offline channels to drive traffic to stores.

Finally, I'll give three suggestions.

First, with today's limited resources, focus on core single products, reduce long-tail products, and iterate and innovate on core single products.

Second, focus on core assets. Brand is the core asset. Reduce dependence on traffic and promotions.

Third, focus on changing consumer behavior. With so much fragmented communication, only a few are truly useful. Reduce ineffective placements and iterate on new scenarios and new audiences for the main brand to create new growth.

In 2023, the demographic dividend has ended, but the dividend of people's hearts is unfolding. The traffic dividend has ended, but the dividend of brand rise is unfolding.

_PS: Friends interested in the on-site speech content can follow the recent posts on the WeChat public account of "New Distribution". We will organize and publish all speakers' speeches for readers._

_Click **Read Original** to see more highlights of the 8th China FMCG Innovation Conference..._


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