Click to read the original article for details. Article Introduction: Old products are a company's wealth and heroes, having dedicated their 'youth' to the enterprise and rendered meritorious service. Over time, those with good sales are retained, either upgraded or maintained to continue their duties, while those with poor sales face discontinuation. How to leverage the advantages of old products? Today, let's discuss the upgrade and renewal of old products. Here, 'old products' mainly refer to those with a 'service life' of over 10 years. 'Old product upgrade' focuses on how to rejuvenate and achieve a second leap. Current Status of Old Products 1. Low Prices Especially for basic old products, due to target audience positioning, prices are low, and some have not increased for a long time. There are still a few miraculous items that have not raised prices for over a decade, carefully 'protecting' the fragile hearts of Chinese consumers, such as lighters. 2. Outdated Design Due to the design context of the time, un-upgraded old products have relatively outdated designs, not fitting the aesthetic standards of today's post-90s and post-00s generations. 3. Fixed Consumer Base Old products have passed long-term market tests, winning favor from some consumers and accompanying their growth, such as glass-bottled yogurt and doll-head ice cream. 4. Gradually Declining Sales With the continuous launch of new products and intensified competition, sales of old products are being eroded and are far from their former glory. 5. Long-term Losses or on the Brink of Losses Some old products, positioned for basic consumption, have stable sales but low prices. In recent years, raw material costs have risen, but many old product prices have not changed, leading to losses. Two Main Reasons for Not Raising Prices: First: These products are basic categories; companies fear price fluctuations will affect sales. Second: Some old products bear social responsibility and will not easily raise prices. Old products are gradually marginalized and forgotten by consumers. The old products that once rendered meritorious service need an 'upgrade' to rekindle consumer enthusiasm. The author summarizes the following directions for old product upgrades, illustrated with case studies. Four Major Upgrade Directions for Products Direction 1: Win Consumer 'Sympathy'; Direction 2: Enhance Product Added Value; Direction 3: Open Up New Consumer Groups; Direction 4: The 'Rustic' the Better; The purpose of product upgrades is to gain consumer recognition, thereby boosting sales. Products with different attributes require different upgrade approaches. One Win Consumer 'Sympathy' and Favor Mining the 'positive' marketing elements of old products, conveying them to consumers through marketing means, and gaining consumer 'sympathy' to win recognition for the company and its products. [Case 1] Guangming Cold Drinks Holds Prices for 17 Years, Netizens Plead for Price Increase A few days ago, I saw a post saying that Guangming Cold Drinks had not raised prices for 17 years. Netizens were deeply moved after reading the article and begged for a price increase. Event Details: Most of Guangming's products follow a mid-to-low-end route with good quality and low prices, generally priced at 1-3 yuan. In recent years, many foreign mid-to-high-end cold drink brands have entered, along with various 'internet-famous cold drinks' from domestic brands, with prices generally above 7 yuan. These products have high profits and good sales, causing many convenience stores to exclude low-priced products like Guangming's. Guangming's red bean and mung bean popsicles were sold at 0.70 yuan for 17 years! Only this year, due to long-term cost increases leading to losses, did Shanghai Yimin Food Factory No.1 reluctantly raise the price to 1.00 yuan. Netizen Comments: _'17 years! How much have raw material prices risen during this time? Watching profits dwindle bit by bit, they still held on until losses before raising prices! And only the mung bean and red bean popsicles increased; ice bricks and orange ice cream remain at original prices. What is a conscientious enterprise? What is the persistence of an old brand? Truly moved to tears!' _'My silly Guangming! You should raise prices when needed! You're an ice cream factory, not a charity! Holding prices for 17 years is already very considerate to consumers!' Whether or not this is deliberate marketing by Guangming Cold Drinks, the article indeed won consumer recognition, successfully making the old product popular and bringing it back to consumers' attention. [Case 2] Japanese Ice Cream Price Increase Ad Boosts Sales by 10% GariGari-kun is also an old ice cream factory in Japan. In 1991, its price was 60 yen (about 3.6 RMB), maintained until 2016. Due to rising raw material costs and competitor influence, it was forced to raise the price to 70 yen (about 4.2 RMB). For this, the factory specially produced an apology video, with all employees bowing deeply to the camera, winning consumer recognition. By shaping a conscientious corporate image, they moved consumers, and sales increased by 10% after the price hike. Akagi Nyugyo, which turned the price increase into a successful event marketing campaign, also upgraded the product image of GariGari-kun. Through a series of marketing activities, 'GariGari-kun' became a beloved brand mascot. Old products leverage their accumulated advantages and reshape an honest and trustworthy corporate image, making it easier to gain consumer recognition. Two Enhance Product Added Value There are many ways to enhance product added value; the easiest is to start with the product's concept, packaging, and design, at least making consumers 'feel' it is more high-end than before. [Case 1] White Rabbit 'Changes Clothes' with Foreign Brand White Rabbit collaborated with the famous French fashion brand 'agnès b.' to launch a collector's edition of White Rabbit candy. What changes occurred after repackaging? 1. More expensive: Traditionally, a 227g bag (about 46 pieces) sold for 11.5 yuan, about 0.25 yuan per piece; now, a 128g bag (about 25 pieces) sells for 65-68 yuan, about 2.6 yuan per piece. Nearly ten times more expensive! 2. Better looking: 'It doesn't matter if it's expensive; it's attractive and useful.' 'The appearance is nice; my girlfriend liked it as a gift.' 'The product is good, and the packaging is thoughtful.' From user reviews, a considerable number of buyers purchased the 'collector's edition' for gifting, mainly to girls and children. Some buyers even said they bought the candy for the box: 'The packaging is cute; taste is no longer the focus.' The launch of the White Rabbit 'collector's edition' can be seen as an exploration of innovation for the old brand, not just a price increase. While ordinary White Rabbit candy continues normal sales, it elevates the old product's style and provides consumers with an additional choice. [Case 2] City Memory, a Different Taste of Childhood I remember first drinking glass-bottled yogurt 16 years ago; my memory is just one word: 'sour'. It was mostly sold through door-to-door channels, with relatively old packaging and design, priced around 2.5 yuan. In 2012, New Hope launched the 'City Memory' glass bottle product. Compared to old glass-bottled yogurt, the new product has a fashionable design, more connotation, better taste, and a higher price of 5 yuan at launch. After launch, it was favored by young people. The 'premiumization' of product upgrades actually meets consumer needs; they are willing to pay more for better products. Three Open Up New Consumer Groups Existing products cover existing groups. Facing sales growth pressure and increasingly fierce competition in existing markets, it is necessary to find new opportunity points. [Case] Jiangxiaobai Innovates 'Young People's' Baijiu When mentioning baijiu, one thinks of round-table culture, symbols of status and class, necessities for father's social interactions, and nothing to do with young people. In a domestic high-end baijiu market dominated by old brands like Moutai and Wuliangye, Jiangxiaobai chose to open up a new market, targeting young consumers. Jiangxiaobai positioned its target audience as 'emotional' and 'youthful' young groups, creating a brand-new brand according to young people's preferences. From product packaging to taste, they made bold attempts to cater to this young user group. Jiangxiaobai gradually gained recognition from post-80s, post-90s, and post-00s generations, forming a common atmosphere and topic, and creating a huge social network. From this perspective, Jiangxiaobai is no longer just a small liquor brand; it has created a new liquor culture and opened up a new user group for baijiu. Four Selling on Old Age, the 'Rustic' the Better Now, many online stores sell nostalgic snacks, capitalizing on the psychological nostalgia needs of post-80s and post-90s generations. From a commercial perspective, with material abundance and improved quality of life, consumers need spiritual pleasure and experience. Consumers need to buy a product's function to meet core needs, but beyond basic needs, emotional and spiritual needs are important attributes of product extension. A doll-head ice cream or a bottle of soda can often satisfy consumers' spiritual needs. [Case] Beibingyang Soda Nostalgia Marketing: 'Still the Same Taste' Beibingyang played the nostalgia card. On one hand, through nostalgia marketing, they tried to awaken consumers' memory of the taste by placing products in 'Tmall Memory Supermarket'. On the other hand, they emphasized glass bottles in packaging, with only minor adjustments to the polar bear image, keeping the overall design consistent with the old product packaging. Despite knowing that glass bottles are no longer the popular beverage packaging, Beibingyang still decided to use glass bottles. The reason is that glass bottles have high gas pressure, while portable packaging has low gas pressure. If they used portable packaging, the new Beibingyang soda would not taste the same as before, disappointing old consumers expecting to 'relive the past'. Amid the dominance of cans and Tetra Pak, Beibingyang also hopes to achieve differentiated competition through glass bottles, evoking 'past memories'. While competitors focus on fashion to drive product upgrades, Beibingyang, based on product characteristics, emphasizes strategies like 'nostalgia marketing' and 'still the original taste', at least differentiating from competitors and indeed winning back some consumer groups. Summary Product upgrades cannot be separated from 'youthfulness', not just staying on the surface of content and form, but comprehensively communicating with young groups at the product demand and user channel levels. Collect feedback on new needs from young users and make targeted improvements to the product to fit new usage scenarios. Generally, young groups have higher requirements for product visual design, packaging, product design, interaction, and usability than ever before. Although product youthfulness is a common topic in marketing and brand departments, relying solely on marketing efforts is hard to truly capture young users' hearts. It requires a combined upgrade of product, marketing, and channels to adapt to the new era context and reactivate aging products. Source: Mingtai Mingguan Marketing Consulting (ID: mental1999) -END-