Source: Shen Ke Xin Consumer (ID: xinshangye2016) Success comes from consumers, failure comes from consumers. When discussing the process of brand cultivation, we also emphasize user value. Only with good user value can a brand be cultivated; this is a two-way process. There is a question on Zhihu: How should a bald head like a monk's be cared for? Among the unanimous recommendations for facial cleansers, a different voice emerged: bald heads also need professional product care, and scalp care lotions are just as essential. Of course, unless you can be as shiny as Old Man Ge. As the last bastion of hair care challenges, 'bald head hair care' has always been an anticipated yet timid existence for girls suffering from hair problems. Because it's really hard for girls to care for their hair! A netizen once summarized how complicated it is for modern women to wash their hair: Step one, massage scalp with scalp massage cream; step two, wash hair with shampoo; step three, wash hair with another shampoo; step four, use conditioner; step five, apply essence after drying; step six, use hair fragrance spray; step seven, blow dry. Regardless of how long this process takes, completing these seven steps is like enduring the 'seven deadly sins.' After all, every step might lead to the tragic experience of hair loss! Shocked as we may be, what's puzzling is: how did something that used to be solved with one packet of shampoo become increasingly complicated? In fact, as early as 30 years ago, some people were already keen on making hair washing more complex. In the 1980s, Chinese people were accustomed to using soap or even laundry powder to wash their hair, and those slightly more backward might use homemade soapberry. For them, whether it was soapberry, soap, or shampoo, as long as it cleaned the hair, it was fine. At that time, 'clean washing' was the highest praise consumers gave to hair care products. But these consumers, who insisted on 'just clean,' unexpectedly fell at the feet of shampoo. In 1985, on a small road in Minhang District, Shanghai, relying on shampoo and conditioner priced at two or three yuan per bottle, Bee Flower successfully made its mark in Shanghai. Although only 200ml per bottle, the emergence of Bee Flower undoubtedly amazed the era. Since its launch, Bee Flower became a sensation in the Shanghai market, even reaching a point where a bottle was hard to find. At that time, Bee Flower used its brand story to tell Shanghai residents: hair needs protection, and a truly good hair care product should not only clean but also protect hair. The effect was remarkable. From then on, Shanghai residents fell in love with Bee Flower and also with shampoo. However, statistics show that Bee Flower's consumer base at the time was mainly middle-class Shanghai citizens and people from Jiangsu and Zhejiang. In lower-tier or remote cities where Bee Flower had not yet penetrated, people still used soapberry to clean their hair. Undoubtedly, Shanghai residents learned hair care from Bee Flower. Bee Flower was keen on conveying hair care concepts to consumers and insisted on cultivating good hair care habits in them. This is somewhat similar to today's brand operation logic. Bu Ming, director of Xiaohongshu, once stated at an event that Xiaohongshu users like to be cultivated. For this reason, he specifically cited Lancôme Advanced Génifique as a successful marketing case. As a skin care product, Lancôme Advanced Génifique was launched with a focus on repair. However, during market promotion, they gradually found that the selling point of 'repair' was hard to stimulate consumer demand. Users often only realized the need for repair after skin problems appeared. To address this, the brand started from users' lifestyle habits like staying up late, making consumers aware of the importance of skin repair, and ultimately achieving brand cultivation. Indeed, after adjusting the marketing logic, Advanced Génifique became one of the highest-rated essence products on Xiaohongshu. In this regard, Bu Ming emphasized, In the new consumption wave, brand cultivation plays a key role for a brand. However, the fact is that brand cultivation is not limited to new consumption. Undoubtedly, Bee Flower pioneered the domestic hair care market, which was the 'brand cultivation' of that era. This is also reflected in other industries today. Lululemon pioneered the yoga apparel track, and ffit8 became the number one protein bar brand through protein bars... These brands that seize the first mind of users are all doing the same thing: brand cultivation. So, what happens after brand cultivation? What follows is that lululemon faces apparel giants entering the yoga wear market, and ffit8 faces new meal replacement brands competing for the protein bar market. How to tell a good brand story? It requires giving the brand new connotations, which is the significance of brand cultivation. The Knife Method Research Institute once mentioned: Among Chinese consumer brands, there is a type of brand called 'hammer improvement type.' Its product logic is to first choose a track, then study competitors, take competitors' shortcomings as entry opportunities, amplify differences to the extreme, and then seize channel dividends and traffic dividends to increase product sales. Whether it's today's lululemon, ffit8, or the former Bee Flower, they all form differentiation in their respective fields, continuously breaking through to cultivate their brands. But as 'hammer players,' they also need to be wary of later 'hammer-type players.' In 1988, Guangzhou P&G Co., Ltd. was established. At this time of 'invasion,' P&G clearly had both ease and difficulty. On one hand, there was already a precedent in the domestic hair care market, making it easier to attack than starting from scratch. On the other hand, Bee Flower had already won people's hearts, making it not easy to compete for market share here. To this end, targeting the current situation of single-function, cleaning-focused domestic hair care products, P&G's first step into China was: Focus on anti-dandruff, promote Head & Shoulders, and build national awareness. To achieve this, Head & Shoulders took advantage of the popularity of the Four Heavenly Kings of Hong Kong cinema at the time, using novel packaging and overwhelming advertising to capture consumer psychology: for dandruff, choose Head & Shoulders. As a product focusing on anti-dandruff, Head & Shoulders also became the first to have functional differentiation from other brands in the domestic hair care market. Today, we call this track segmentation. Of course, Head & Shoulders' success also gave many brands new opportunities: besides Head & Shoulders' anti-dandruff, Bawang began to focus on anti-hair loss, Oni laid out black hair, and after P&G, new brands Rejoice and Pantene explored smoothness and shine... As segmented tracks were continuously explored by brands, shampoo categories became increasingly complex. Until later, brands that had exhausted their ideas in segmented tracks began to play other tricks. In 2006, P&G's sales in the Chinese market reached 20 billion yuan, while Unilever, which had entered the Chinese market early, had sales of only 5 billion yuan. To this end, Unilever, left behind, came up with a big move. According to the 'Survey Report on the Scalp Health Status of Chinese Residents,' since the first appearance of anti-dandruff products represented by Head & Shoulders in China in 1988, the dandruff problem among Chinese people has not decreased but has continued to worsen, with the dandruff population rising from 70% to 83%. Therefore, in 2007, anti-dandruff was still the most important demand in the shampoo market, accounting for 40% of the share. To this end, Unilever launched 'Clear' and made a bold statement: the company would rely on Clear's professional advantages in the global anti-dandruff shampoo field to seize China's billion-yuan anti-dandruff shampoo market. At this time, there were many products focusing on functional segmentation in China, and countless brands specializing in anti-dandruff, but gender segmentation in the hair care track had not yet emerged. To this end, Clear not only emphasized the different properties of its products in anti-dandruff but also focused on gender segmentation. By officially announcing Cristiano Ronaldo as the spokesperson for Clear's male anti-dandruff product, Clear directly conveyed to consumers through the spokesperson: my product is designed and serves specifically for men. As a result, Clear gained the courage to battle P&G again in the domestic hair care market. Statistics show that in 2013, the top five shampoo brands in China were Head & Shoulders, Rejoice, Pantene, Clear, and VS Sassoon, with shares of 17.5%, 12.7%, 10.1%, 7.9%, and 4.8% respectively. It can be seen that Clear firmly occupied a place in the domestic market. In summary, whether it's functional segmentation or gender segmentation, these are differentiated concepts that brands bring to users during marketing. This amplified differentiation is the dividend point brands insist on, and it's also the 'being cultivated' consciously reflected in consumer purchasing processes! Behind these 'being cultivated' logics, besides brand marketing strategies, the deeper reason lies in the improvement of consumers' quality of life. More and more consumers have more objective income to enhance their more detailed experiences. Statistics show that the per capita disposable income of urban and rural residents entered a fast growth track after 2000, and since the second quarter of 2014, consumption's contribution rate to GDP growth has exceeded investment, and has remained high since then, becoming the main force driving national economic growth. The advent of the consumption era has made people's willingness to consume stronger and stronger, which has become increasingly evident in the new consumption era in recent years. As the saying goes, 'Every consumer product deserves to be redone,' the former 'palace struggle history' of shampoo is now being re-enacted in the new consumption era, and even intensifying. On one hand, there is functional segmentation of products. From the initial anti-dandruff and anti-hair loss to today's anti-aging and repair, domestic hair care brands are keen to introduce facial skin care concepts into the hair care track. For example, Bloomage Biotech once added hyaluronic acid and other facial skin care ingredients to its launched hair mask. On the other hand, there is a focus on scalp care. In recent years, the growth rate of the domestic hair care market has slowed down, with only 1% growth in 2018, and some functional products even experienced negative growth. In contrast, the scalp care segment has risen against the trend, with a growth rate of up to 24%. This is related to the current state of the domestic consumer market. Statistics show that 99% of people suffer from various scalp problems, about 35% have problems such as hair loss, thinning hair, and oily scalp and hair, 34% face dandruff and itching, and about 20% face problems like dry, damaged, and easily broken hair. At the same time, more than 200 million people in China face hair loss problems, and this number is continuously growing. Solving scalp problems is urgent for consumers. How to capture and cultivate this emerging consumer group has also become a challenge for brands. Whether it's the functional segmentation emphasized by brands or the commitment to solving scalp problems, the root lies in the fact that current consumers are more willing to pay for product ingredients. According to the '2021 National Scalp Health White Paper' released by CBNData, when choosing hair care products, consumers value the efficacy and ingredients of products, and the proportion of post-95s consumers paying attention to product ingredients is on the rise. Success comes from consumers, failure comes from consumers. When discussing brand cultivation, we also emphasize user value. Only with good user value can a brand be cultivated; this is a two-way process. To attract these consumers, product functions are continuously segmented, and ingredients are constantly changing. But hair washing has indeed become more and more complicated. Are you 'watching' me?