Click the image for details. Liu Chunxiong has clearly defined new marketing: the core theory is that all 4Ps are communication. Regarding new marketing organizations, they correspond to traditional marketing organizations. Therefore, I define traditional marketing organizations as B-end organizations and new marketing organizations as C-end organizations. The Past 30 Years: Sit-selling, Mobile Selling, Connected Selling. The backdrop of this era is that we are experiencing a time of material abundance, even surplus. The shift from material needs to aspirations for a better life inevitably brings major changes at the marketing level. 1. Sit-selling Era: Because demand was strong and materials were scarce, marketing was as simple as having goods made you the boss. Most manufacturers' marketing systems were in a state of waiting for customers at the door. A group of capable individuals or distributors converted from the supply and marketing system rose, solving wholesale issues. Secondary wholesalers chased profits and sold whenever they could make money. Marketing organizations were so simple that a few people sufficed. 2. Mobile Selling Era: Productivity soared under strong demand, and the drawbacks of sit-selling began to show. Some manufacturers and distributors evolved into mobile selling, cutting out big accounts and going to terminals as standard practice. Strong manufacturers began bypassing distributors to directly control terminals, leading to large-scale marketing organizations: deep distribution, channel refinement, channel flattening... This period eliminated countless sit-selling distributors and personnel, evolving a large number of service-oriented mobile-selling distributors. Manufacturers and distributors engaged in a game of mutual sabotage: manufacturers tamed distributors into delivery agents, while distributors dragged manufacturers into management quagmires. Because controlling tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of terminals required rapid expansion of manufacturer marketing organizations, sales teams grew tenfold or a hundredfold: strengthening sales but forgetting brands; capturing terminals but forgetting consumers. Resources and energy were all given to channels, leaving no room for consumers! 3. Connected Selling Stage: The internet was the biggest dividend of this stage, and the essence of the dividend is connection. Traffic thinking became a concept that traditional marketers could not understand, even looking down on and cursing Alibaba and JD.com's e-commerce. Unfortunately, while they ignored it, these companies used the internet dividend to go straight to consumers (C-end), leaving everyone behind, and evolved a new type of distributor and marketing organization. This was only the first half. In the second half, mobile internet began a new round of connection dividends. Community-based micro-business organizations emerged, which traditional marketers also cursed as a scam to cheat people! Reflecting on B-end Organizations: Too Much Debt? After nearly 20 years of prevalence, the B-end organization management system has become basic martial arts in the internet age. B-end organizations often achieve greatness or regional dominance, built on the basis of abundant demand and driven by execution as a spring. Therefore, with strong sales, there is no need to bother with consumers, and thus no need for a so-called marketing department. At most, they use the name of marketing department but do the work of sales support or sales service. In several articles I wrote last year, I called the sales department the "kamikaze team" and the marketing department the "pig teammate"! This is the root cause of why some major brands have been continuously declining in recent years with no solution. Many companies shout that consumers are gods in their strategic slogans, but in their bones, consumers are nonsense! The sales department has tens of thousands of people, the marketing department has dozens, brand expenses are a fraction of sales expenses, and R&D expenses are not even listed properly... What goes around comes around! The Great Wall built by channels, execution, and capital may still stand tall, but the connected merchants have already flown over it gracefully, without even saying goodbye! The essence of a B-end organization is a pyramid organization led by sales, a sea of people driven by execution, KPIs, and linear management, a zombie organization that believes "what you assess is what employees do," but forgets "what you don't assess, the organization won't do"! No company assesses caring for consumers, no company assesses product R&D, because even the almighty KPI doesn't! What Does a New Marketing Organization Look Like? Do all companies need to abolish B-end organizations and transform into C-end organizations? The answer is definitely no! I have written several articles on organizational transformation, studied the transformation cases of several major brands, and also studied the game between stock and increment within the same organization. The realistic conclusion is: The natural enemy of increment is stock. In plain words: in the transformation of traditional enterprises, most innovative people are basically eliminated by their own people, venting private anger through dismemberment and a thousand cuts. This may be a pessimistic view. Traditional enterprises have a strong need for transformation, but they will also fall into confusion during the process. Perhaps it also means opportunities for new brands. There is no C-end gene in B-end organizations. This is also the fundamental reason why people who have been in traditional marketing organizations for a long time cannot transform. A basic logic to distinguish a B-end organization is to look at its organizational framework: sales-led territory management, channel-operation-focused model building, performance-assessment-based management, and daily life centered on the division and contention of responsibilities, rights, and interests. So, what does a C-end organization model look like? The two organizations are theoretically opposed. Where B-end organizations do heavy work, C-end organizations do light work, and vice versa. So, should C-end organizations abolish the sales function? That depends on where your channel lands. Only by clarifying where your channel is can you match your organization. Perhaps one day, traditional marketers will not only learn to sweep the streets but also learn to sweep people. Of course, remember that 4Ps are all communication, whereas in the past, the emphasis was that 4Ps are all sales. Also remember: sales is just one leg of marketing; if the leg of communication and cognition is lame, you will still fall behind! The past 30 years of marketing have been a process of F2B2b2C2c (and in the future, this logic may reverse), evolving into three stages: sit-selling, mobile selling, and connected selling. F=Factory, B=Distributor, b=Terminal, C=KOL, c=Consumer. F2B = sit-selling era, core solving wholesale and channel issues. F2b = deep distribution, core solving terminal issues. F2C = traffic and connection, core solving consumer and user issues. Organization is the result of strategy. Only by clarifying this logic can the organizational transformation of new marketing find its footing! Source: New Beer (ID: newbeer_BJ) New Distribution will hold the 2019 (5th) FMCG + Internet Conference during the Chengdu Spring Sugar and Wine Fair from March 16 to March 18. This conference will focus on the topic of "Breaking the Game" and engage in in-depth discussions with numerous brand owners, supply chain service providers, distributors, retailers, and others. Compared to previous conferences, this summit will be fully upgraded. In addition to original topics such as channel innovation, city distribution logistics, and distributor transformation, it will add multiple parallel forums on new marketing cases, IP + FMCG empowerment, community group buying, and innovative retail. Through three days of ten high-density, high-quality expert sharing and exchanges, we believe every brand owner and distributor can learn the latest business models, expert opinions, and implementation methods, finding new tools and methods to break the game in 2019 and return to a track of rapid growth. Review of Previous Conferences -END-