Friendly reminder: Click the blue text above to follow 'FMCG Distributor Professional Consulting' for more insights on marketing and distributor internal management. Philip Kotler, the pioneer of 'Marketing Management', popularized the concept of the product life cycle for marketing elites, but he seemed to say little about how products can remain 'evergreen and long-selling'. Why has Coca-Cola sold well for a century with one formula, breaking the product life cycle curse? Why did JDB (Wanglaoji) turn from slow-moving to best-selling with the slogan 'Afraid of getting heaty? Drink Wanglaoji'? Below, we decode how old products maintain their best-selling status!
I. Why Find the Secrets to Old Products' Sustained Best-Selling Status To maintain continuous performance growth and profitability improvement, most companies bet on the development and promotion of new products (though some are 'three unclear' about new products: unclear about their importance, how to develop them, and how to promote them), which is indeed a good method. However, there is a more cost-effective and simpler way to maintain performance growth and profitability: promoting old products to rejuvenate them, achieving best-selling, volume growth, and profit growth.
High failure rate of new products. Western scholars' statistics show that the success rate of new product launches is about 10%. The reasons for new product failure are numerous, such as product concept, packaging, promotion, concept communication, and quality; any mistake in these areas can lead to failure!
High investment and long cycle for new products. From preliminary research, concept proposal, product testing, formal production, trade promotion, consumer awareness, to successful volume growth, the cycle is long and the costs are high.
Re-promoting old products carries lower risk. Even if the promotion fails, it has little impact on the original product.
Re-promoting old products has a relatively shorter cycle. The consumer base is stable, and product acceptance is higher.
Therefore, to some extent, it is not enough to learn how to develop and promote new products; we must also master how to promote old products, keep them vibrant, and sustain growth!
II. 9 Practical Secrets for Sustained Best-Selling Old Products
Secret 1: Emotional Appeal Method Representative Company: Coca-Cola; Technical Difficulty: ★★★★; Effect: ★★★★★ Case: Coca-Cola uses high-tech and music to appeal to youth and happiness across different eras, keeping the product close to contemporary trends, such as the recent 'lyrics bottle', 'nickname bottle', 'music cap', 'music vending machine', and 'music barcode'.
Secret 2: Concept Innovation Method Representative Company: JDB (Wanglaoji); Technical Difficulty: ★★★★; Effect: ★★★★★ Case: JDB (Wanglaoji) herbal tea originally had average sales, with annual sales below 300 million yuan. Through concept innovation, promoting 'afraid of getting heaty in various scenarios', it successfully achieved a single-product breakthrough, and now the single product achieves annual sales of over 20 billion yuan.
Secret 3: Technological Innovation Method Representative Company: INTEL; Technical Difficulty: ★★★★★; Effect: ★★★★★ Case: Intel continuously revolutionizes itself through technological innovation, launching successive generations of products, establishing an unshakable dominant position in the industry.
Secret 4: Changing Consumer Group Method Representative Company: Marlboro; Technical Difficulty: ★★★★★; Effect: ★★★★ Case: Marlboro was originally a women's cigarette with average sales. After changing the consumer group to men—Western cowboys—it successfully broke through.
Secret 5: Changing Usage Method Representative Company: Evergrande Spring; Technical Difficulty: ★★★; Effect: ★★★ Case: See the sections on Evergrande Spring for tea brewing and soup making.
Secret 6: Diversifying Specifications and Flavors Method Representative Company: Uni-President; Technical Difficulty: ★★★; Effect: ★★★★★ Case: Uni-President's Old Altar Sauerkraut Noodles was originally a sub-brand of Qiaomian Guan (due to Uni-President's strong innovation capability, other companies are not listed here). After successful trial promotion in Hubei, it was promoted nationwide and became a major product.
Secret 7: Consumption Method Innovation Method Representative Company: Want Want; Technical Difficulty: ★★; Effect: ★★★★★ Case: Want Want had poor sales back then and almost withdrew from the mainland market. After packaging many of its products into 'Want Want Gift Packs' for promotion, it quickly brought in revenue of over 100 million yuan.
Secret 8: Changing the Soup but Not the Medicine Method Representative Company: Bayer (Germany); Technical Difficulty: ★★★; Effect: ★★★★★ Case: Bai+Hei is actually an ordinary cold medicine, but the white tablets do not contain chlorpheniramine, so you don't feel sleepy during the day.
Secret 9: Changing Packaging Method (Keeping Main Color Unchanged) Representative Company: Many beverage and food companies; Technical Difficulty: ★★; Effect: ★★★ Case: There are many cases; almost all large and medium-sized enterprises use this method. But some have good effects, some have poor effects, varying case by case.
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