In the current dairy industry, which subcategory is the hottest? It's undoubtedly cheese. Looking at recent major events in the dairy industry, we find several data points that clearly show the prosperity of the cheese market. 1. Milkground, known as 'China's first cheese stock,' released its 2020 financial report, with cheese business revenue reaching 2.072 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 125%. 2. Yili's 2020 financial report showed that its total cheese product revenue surged 812.56% year-on-year. 3. On December 13, 2020, Mengniu acquired a controlling stake in Milkground for 3 billion yuan. 4. In December 2020, Sanyuan held its 2020-2021 Sanyuan Cheese Development Sharing Conference, officially elevating its cheese business to a 'strategic-level' project and establishing the Special Channel Business Division's Cheese Academy. 5. Innovative consumer brand 'Miaofei' completed a nearly 100 million yuan Series B financing at the end of December 2020. 6. In March 2020, Junlebao launched its first children's cheese product, targeting the children's ready-to-eat cheese market through a dual-brand strategy. ...... Through these events, we can fully believe that China's cheese market has entered the 'eve' of category explosion. Of course, this has also attracted many brands from other fields wanting to enter, and one of the most potential dark horse brands is 'Jisdin Cheese.' Recently, New Distribution interviewed Mr. Chen Huihuang, President of Jisdin, and had an in-depth exchange about insights into the cheese market, Jisdin's recent major moves, and the current development stage and trend changes in the cheese market. (President of Jisdin, Mr. Chen Huihuang) Compared to other giants and newcomers, Jisdin is more impactful. After a short two-to-three-year period of low-key preparation, it has now officially entered the market with the posture of a 'cheese leader.' What is Jisdin thinking about? What has it accumulated in the past? This report will reveal all. Seeing the Opportunity, Quietly Preparing Compared to the emerging consumer brands in recent years, Jisdin is steady yet full of drive. Many new consumer brands create a frenzy as soon as their products launch to boost visibility. But Jisdin, born in 2018, is still in a low-key preparation stage. Of course, this is not only due to the founder's background but also because they have focused more time and energy on invisible aspects behind the scenes. Mr. Chen Huihuang told New Distribution that Jisdin had already started preparations before 2018. Mr. Chen Shulin, the founder, is one of the core founders of the famous brand 'Yinlu' and has 20 years of experience in the dairy industry chain with strong resources. Additionally, Jisdin has the strong support of the Zhonghai Fulin Group as its corporate background. (One of the core founders of the famous brand 'Yinlu', Mr. Chen Shulin) Data shows that per capita cheese consumption has increased to 2.5 kilograms over the past decade. In the last three years, China's cheese imports have increased by more than 20% annually. The clear trend of consumption upgrading in the Chinese market highlights the huge demand in the domestic cheese market in the coming years. Therefore, when we decided to enter the cheese business, it was not with a small-scale approach but with a primary goal: to get a seat at the table, secure a position, and make waves in China's cheese market! Thus, from its inception, Jisdin invested heavily in product development. Jisdin has formed a strategic partnership with Fonterra, New Zealand's largest company, to select and introduce high-quality local cheese resources. At the same time, it has teamed up with cheese experts from Germany, the United States, Japan, New Zealand, and other countries, establishing the 'Jisdin European R&D Center' in Germany to develop processed cheese products better suited to the Chinese market. In terms of hardware, Jisdin has established a 33,000m² modern cheese factory, equipped with world-class cheese R&D laboratories, six high-cleanliness functional areas, over 20 advanced cheese production lines, and a large-capacity low-temperature warehouse exceeding 10,000m². This is Jisdin's confidence to 'get a seat at the table.' Brand Upgrade and Renewal: Reaching Families Through Elevator Advertising On May 17, 2021, Jisdin announced a brand upgrade in Shanghai, changing its name from 'Jisdin' (吉士汀) to 'Jisdin' (吉士丁), and also released a new brand IP, 'Jisdin Cheese Prince.' When asked about the reason for such a major move, Mr. Chen Huihuang believes that the brand name change to 'Jisdin' is to reduce consumers' recognition costs. Naming is cost, naming is invocation, naming is investment. Changing the brand name is beneficial for Jisdin's brand investment efficiency. Additionally, the purpose of establishing the Jisdin brand IP is to occupy the symbolic archetype of cheese, forming Jisdin's unique super symbol of the Cheese Prince. In addition to the brand upgrade itself, in terms of brand communication, Jisdin has partnered with Xinchao Media. Jisdin's President Chen Huihuang and Liang Chunhua, co-founder and senior vice president of Xinchao Media Group, signed on behalf of both parties. The new advertising film for Jisdin's big cheese sticks will be aired on community elevator media in first- and second-tier cities nationwide. Through elevator advertising, Jisdin aims to achieve broader coverage, use precise community media traffic to strongly seize user mindshare, and continuously strengthen brand power. (Jisdin and Xinchao Media strategic signing) Mr. Chen Huihuang told New Distribution, 'Elevator media has become the first medium to seize consumer mindshare, which is an important reason for Jisdin's choice to cooperate with Xinchao Media. Jisdin offers exclusive cheese products for different family members and ages based on the nutritional needs of the whole family, with the core consumer group being families. Xinchao Media's main scenario is in communities, which highly aligns with Jisdin's target audience.' (Jisdin brand IP - Cheese Prince) Growing the Pie Together, Not Fighting Over Market Share As mentioned above, today's cheese market not only includes the listed newcomer Milkground, but also giants like Yili and Mengniu, as well as many foreign brands that dominate the market. Behind the prosperity, there is also intense market competition. On this point, Mr. Chen Huihuang believes that the cheese market is far from true competition, especially for local cheese brands. Instead, he sees it as a state of blooming flowers, where local cheese brands do not have a life-or-death strategy but should work together to grow the pie. Mr. Chen Huihuang further explained that due to Chinese consumers' dietary habits, there are relatively few local cheese brands, and they started late. On one hand, leading dairy companies have long focused on liquid milk as their core business, and have not vigorously expanded their cheese industry layout; on the other hand, cheese production is complex, with high production costs and barriers, making it difficult for small local enterprises to enter. As China's dairy consumption is about to enter the cheese era, local cheese brands must first make a full-force effort to confront imported brands head-on. The advantage of local brands is to find their position in the market. Jisdin positions itself as 'pioneering the cheese snack+ era, being the fun and professional cheese that best understands Chinese people.' Although imported cheese brands currently dominate, they also face issues of 'not adapting to local conditions,' such as being too salty and greasy, which does not suit Chinese tastes. Of course, from another dimension, the current cheese market can still be considered at a low level, but it has the potential for a hundred-billion-yuan market. In 2019, China's cheese market size was only equivalent to Japan's in 1990. Japan's cheese market grew from 1.5 billion to 6 billion over 20 years, while China took only 8 years. Compared to Japan's 27.2 billion market, China's population is 10 times that of Japan, so the cheese market has a hundred-billion-yuan scale. Although China's overall dairy industry has entered a slowdown trend in recent years, the development of the cheese snack market maintains a compound annual growth rate of about 25%, especially in third- and fourth-tier markets, where growth exceeds 200%. Benchmarking against the development process of foreign dairy industries, under the backdrop of consumption upgrading, the category upgrade generally follows the path of 'milk powder - liquid milk - cheese.' It can be said that the overall industry is currently at the initial stage from liquid milk to cheese, and the cheese category is at the 'eve' of explosion. Although Milkground has become the first cheese stock, there are many pursuers behind it. The eve of category explosion is also the beginning of market volatility. Who can truly stand at the center of the market? Yili, Mengniu, Junlebao, Jisdin, Miaofei, Milkground? It remains unknown. Although it is unknown, two things are certain: first, local brands are rising, and imported brands will find it hard to defend; second, no one is willing to let go of this 'cheese,' and the real competition has not yet begun; everything is subject to change. Who will win? The best is yet to come! Are you 'watching' me?