Click to read the original article for details The industry already has a highly monopolistic leading brand; how to deal with it? I am already the industry leader, market coverage has reached its peak; how to continue growing? Product costs are higher than competitors; what to do? Channel costs are increasing; doing promotions is suicide, not doing promotions is waiting to die; what to do? The core technology of the product is controlled by the opponent, key raw materials are controlled by competitors; can we defeat competitors? Based on my more than ten years of experience in consulting services, all strong brands are beneficiaries of some competitive model, and are paper tigers under other models; all brands with nothing (no funds, no quality cost advantage, no power background, no visibility) have the potential to succeed. Embarking on the road to success is certainly not a one-day achievement; but finding the intersection to success is not difficult, because the intersection has a sign that says: a higher price than the strong brand. When the price changes, the resource structure changes, and many possibilities emerge. I. A Practice That Never Fails In 1993, I had been teaching at a university for 7 years and was still very poor. At that time, there was a 'master' named Du Jiyang who advertised heavily selling 'The Complete Works of Matsushita Konosuke's Management'. Boss Du claimed that anyone who finished reading 'The Complete Works of Matsushita Konosuke's Management' would be highly talented and could become a lifetime employee of his company, with a monthly salary of about 1000 yuan (10 times that of a university lecturer)! So, for the tempting 1000 yuan, I ate pickled vegetables for half a year, saved more than 200 yuan, and bought this set of 'The Complete Works of Matsushita Konosuke's Management'. After reading it carefully, Boss Du's company disappeared (perhaps he was only focused on selling books and didn't read them seriously), and the '1000 yuan monthly salary' became a bubble. But I didn't feel cheated much, because I felt I got more. In the entire set of 'The Complete Works of Matsushita Konosuke's Management', what I felt most deeply was Matsushita's concept, thinking, and model of 'high profit with high sales volume'. He insisted on selling high-priced batteries and high-priced light bulbs, resolutely rejecting customers' low-price temptations and resisting competitors' low-price competition. Along the way, he always defeated low prices with high prices! In 2000, I did my first consulting for 'Songchuan Enterprise Company' in Foshan, Guangdong, a food packaging machinery company with annual sales of about 60 million yuan. At that time, the company's product prices were about 20% higher than those of competitors in Wenzhou and Qingdao, and the salespeople were struggling. I was hired as a marketing consultant. First, we raised prices by 100%, making our products twice as expensive as those from Qingdao and Wenzhou; then, using the profit space from the price increase to support technological advancement and service improvement, we implemented a 'differentiated marketing' strategy; we focused our customer positioning on four food enterprise-intensive areas: Guangdong (Dongguan, Shantou), Chengdu, Shanghai, and Tianjin. With the joint efforts of Chairman Huang Song, the sales team, and the technical team, the company's performance doubled year after year. Two years later, factories were established in Shanghai Qingpu, Tianjin, and Chengdu Pengzhou, and customers in the four major food regions were basically locked in. The position of 'industry leader' was deeply rooted, while the Qingdao and Wenzhou competitors who were excited about price wars were reduced to 'gap-filling' enterprises. This was my first experience of 'price increase marketing'. It was also my 'battle to escape poverty'. During my service to Songchuan Company, I happened to meet the newly formed Guangdong Shuijingfang team. I hit it off with leaders like Jiang Jie and Zhou Peng, and our 'high-price marketing' concepts inspired each other, leading to an 8-year cooperation in the liquor industry. We experienced a series of brands: Shuijingfang (almost twice as expensive as the then most expensive liquor Wuliangye), Shahe Wang (turning a few dozen yuan per piece into 80 yuan per bottle), Wuliangye Red Sun (almost double the price of Wuliangye), Pinzhiwei (the most expensive mid-range liquor), and others. Industrial enterprises in Hainan are always at a cost disadvantage due to the lack of supporting enterprises on the island and being 'two ends outside'. 'Hainan Zhengye Zhongnong Hi-Tech' specializes in pesticides, and the sales team also complains about 'high prices'. If they priced according to similar ingredients on the mainland, Zhengye would lose money. After Chairman Wang Zhan'e heard about the 'high-price marketing' theory, he first invited me to give a lecture to the sales team. The regional managers smiled and said to me: 'Professor, pesticides are not Shuijingfang; insects won't drink high-priced pesticides for face.' I also smiled and replied: 'Don't worry, some insects hope to die from more expensive pesticides.' We adopted a 'two-pronged approach': we kept existing products and channels unchanged, and launched new products for 'high-consumption crops' with prices 50% higher than similar products. At the same time, we expanded the technical department and moved it forward to high-consumption crop areas. After half a year of exploring new terminals and new models, at the year-end distributor conference, orders from old customers remained unchanged, but orders from new model customers were equal to those from the old model. This meant the company's sales increased by 100%! Of course, the profit contribution from new model customers was much greater than that from old customers! From then on, Hainan Zhengye entered the fast lane and became the second largest in China's 'compound pesticide' industry. In 2007, Shandong China Tobacco Industrial Company, in order to change the image of 'Shandong cigarettes being low-grade', hired us to develop 'Shandong's most expensive cigarette' (Rufeng Taishan). Subsequently, we also served Fujian Jiatong Group to plan the 'most expensive diaper'--- For more than ten years of 'only doing expensive, not doing right', we have continuously deepened our understanding of 'high-price marketing'. II. High Profit with High Sales Volume Is the Right Path 1. Conventional Prices: Live to Old Age, Tired to Old Age Catering to the market, producing according to sales, drifting with the tide, speculating, cutting corners, counterfeiting—on the surface, making money is easy, but in reality, the world is dangerous. (1) Consumers Are Never Loyal: With conventional or low prices, consumers compare follow-up products to industry benchmark products. Follow-up products only have reference value, not life elements, and leave no special impression. There is never brand recognition or brand loyalty. (2) Competitors Keep Raising the Stakes: Strong brands have obvious cost advantages, such as large scale, which reduces production and transportation costs; high visibility, which reduces channel costs. To prevent followers, leading brands continuously lower prices and increase quantities, constantly refreshing the industry's 'break-even point'. For example, instant noodles: in the early 1980s, the break-even point was about 1 million packs; now it might be 20 million packs. If you adopt 'lower prices' or conventional prices, your profit margin is always lower than the industry leader's. The small profit you earn each year must be used for additional production investment and expansion because the industry's break-even point has moved forward. After several years or decades, profits are all used to increase machinery and factory buildings, and you may even have new bank loans; continuing forward means never having cash income; retreating means selling the factory at a low price to the industry leader or selling equipment as scrap, just enough to repay the loans. Countless followers, if they don't imitate or cheat, can probably only be 'teased' for a lifetime. For example, facing Coca-Cola, countless mediocre players chose 'lower prices, similar channels, similar communication methods', and so 'Future Cola, die for sure', 'Fenhuang Cola, crazy and losing money'. Instant noodle companies that followed Master Kong also mostly couldn't last to the end. (3) The Impossibility of Improving Operational Strategies Under low prices and low profits, the operational strategies a company can choose are very limited. Usually, they imitate the industry leader and strengthen violent marketing tactics, such as terminal coverage, terminal interception, terminal promotions, or bribery marketing by increasing distributor profits. Their own operational technology remains at a low level. 2. High-Price Competition: Overlooking from a High Position, Strategically Dismantling Strong Brands with Ease Compared to countless enterprises that struggle endlessly with admirable spirit but questionable wisdom, other enterprises easily achieve high profits with high sales volume. They always cut the most important market of the industry leader brand at high prices and high ends, forcing the leader to compromise. After passing through the short 'hills and rivers' phase, they immediately achieve success 'with a feather fan and a silk scarf, laughing and talking'. Matsushita Konosuke was like this, Songchuan Machinery was like this, Zhengye Zhongnong was like this, and Shuijingfang was like this. Among them, the most successful was Virgin. Virgin is not well-known, but its asset scale ranks 11th among the global top 500, and its profitability far exceeds famous brands like P&G and Coca-Cola. The core of Virgin's strategy is high-position cutting. From records, cinemas, cola, kindergartens, to airlines, Virgin entered more than 200 industries, cutting the most profitable parts from the territories of 'alliance leaders, gang leaders, and sect leaders' at high prices, achieving the status of 'the first challenger' and 'a strange hero in the martial arts world'. Take cola as an example. Facing Coca-Cola, Virgin did not struggle like Future Cola or Fenhuang Cola. Its Virgin Ginger Ale and others, with high pricing and high profits, easily cut the most profitable share of the two colas. 3. High Profit with High Sales Volume Is the Responsibility of Entrepreneurs This is what Matsushita Konosuke said; without high profit, even if you make a lot of money, you are just a rich person, not an entrepreneur recognized by Mr. Matsushita. Entrepreneurs drive the market and integrate resources. This is the responsibility of entrepreneurs. (1) Channel Responsibility: What Is 'Maximizing Customer Interests' 'Conceding profits' to distributors, retailers, or terminal salespeople, bribing channels, stimulating channels, attempting to mobilize channel enthusiasm and shirk brand responsibility—some channel partners will definitely use the manufacturer's concessions to fight price wars, and high prices will quickly evolve into chaotic prices and collapse prices. The 'concessions' that channel merchants superficially get are just virtual profits and short-term profits. Only when brand operators use high prices to gain greater resource space, innovate resource allocation, and convey special brand value, making the brand a famous brand that consumers recognize at high prices, can channel partners get reasonable returns. From Coca-Cola, Nestlé, and P&G to Wuliangye and Moutai, all brands that give channel partners long-term and generous benefits have prices higher than similar products, but the price difference given to distributors is smaller than that of similar products. (2) Consumer Responsibility: 'Conceding profits' harms the old and benefits the new; high profit protects existing consumers. Mid-way price reductions make consumers who have already purchased feel 'cheated', and those who haven't bought wait and see (buying on the rise, not on the fall). (3) Employee Responsibility Matsushita often talked about the hard work of his employees when customers asked for concessions, and refused to concede. Europe and the United States have formed laws that firmly prohibit 'sweatshops' and oppose 'cheap labor advantages and low-cost competition' that sacrifice employee interests. 4. A Single Slip Can Cause Lasting Regret; Looking Back, a Hundred Years Have Passed Some people say you can start with low prices, earn easy thin profits, and later raise prices and build a brand. My view is that low prices are a road of no return. Once you concede profits to distributors (which will eventually be passed on to consumers), you have blocked the path to brand success. III. High-Price Strategy—Consumer Value With conventional prices, consumers are satisfied; with low prices, consumers are pleasantly surprised. What about high prices? High prices are not about deceiving consumers. No one wants to be a fool, and the rich are no exception. Poor consumers are already hard to deceive, let alone the rich. High prices are about making consumers 'overjoyed', 'unexpected, truly unexpected, surprisingly so'. Look at Kotler's original text to understand the accurate meaning of 'good value for money': 1. What Is 'Good Value for Money' From consumer satisfaction to consumer overjoy, the foundation is, of course, 'good value for money'. Countless enterprises fall into price wars, promotion wars, and attrition wars because they haven't fully understood two of the four characters in '价廉物美' (good value for money): '价' (price): refers to the consumer's total payment (cost), not the price; '物' (goods): at a shallow level, it means the offering; at a deeper level, it means the benefits the offering can provide, that is, the total value the buyer can obtain; not the goods. It's another case of translation causing trouble. The differences between cost and price, offering and goods, are clear in English, but when translated into Chinese, the first two words both have '价' (price), and the last two both have '物' (goods), which is easy to misunderstand. The success of high-price marketing is the highest level of 'good value for money': Not only does it significantly reduce the consumer's total expenditure (cost) and increase the consumer's total value (value), but it also brings consumers to a new world and shows them a new realm. 2. Reducing Consumer Total Expenditure It doesn't necessarily mean lowering prices; lowering prices is too simple and uncreative; lowering prices also makes those who bought regret it and those who haven't bought wait and see. You can definitely raise prices, as long as the increase is less than the decrease in the consumer's total expenditure, the consumer's overall expenditure is still decreasing. (1) Improve products to reduce consumer total cost For field crops (like cotton, rice), the labor cost of spraying pesticides accounts for a large proportion of consumers' pesticide payments. Many times, farmers lay water pipes in the fields and spray remotely when pesticides are needed. Hainan Zhengye Zhongnong Company, according to the seasonal patterns of crops, launched integrated products with prices higher than the sum of individual product prices, but farmers can reduce the number of spraying times and save labor costs. After the product was launched, Zhengye's product prices increased, income increased, farmers' direct monetary expenditure increased, but labor costs decreased. Overall costs decreased. (2) Increase technical services to address customer concerns and reduce consumer total cost After puffed food is produced, it must be packaged immediately; otherwise, it may get damp, waste, and increase production costs; delaying orders may also affect market competitiveness and sacrifice corporate profits. Any packaging machine can malfunction, such as conveyor belt wear, breakage, or some parts breaking. Whether a packaging machine failure is repaired in 2 hours or 24 hours can be more important than the value of the machine itself for puffed food enterprises. Foshan Songchuan Machinery, to reduce customer total costs, significantly increased product prices, such as biscuit packaging machines from 60,000 to 110,000 yuan. At the same time, in food factory-intensive areas like Dongguan, Shantou, Shanghai, Chengdu, and Tianjin, they established raw material warehouses, stored backup machines, and deployed professional technical personnel to ensure '2-hour recovery'. This reduced customer total costs. For high-priced cash crops, farmers have 'high input, high output', and indirect costs are high. For example, winter jujube: the output value per mu is about 10 times that of rice, but the input is greater, and the pesticides used are about 100 times that of rice! If there is a good harvest, the income per mu is several thousand more than rice; if there is a pest disaster, the investment loss is also far greater than rice. Hainan Zhengye Zhongnong Hi-Tech Company, in 'high-consumption crop' production areas, selected 'core terminals', deployed experts in agrochemicals and plant protection, and provided full guidance to reassure growers. For this, they raised prices by 25% (an additional 200 yuan per mu), and growers had no worries, only feeling 'too cost-effective' (ensuring an output value of 10,000 yuan per mu!). 3. Innovating Value to Increase Consumer Total Benefits (1) Output 'personnel image' benefits to create 'emotional' value Some high-end consumers in Shanghai, Guangzhou, and other places have already accepted the 'sommelier' service of imported wines: high-priced quality wines with professional sommeliers. When consumers entertain guests, the presence of a sommelier increases the host's personal brand value; the sommelier's professional handling of the wine enhances the value of the product and the drinker. Consumers are willing to pay for this. How much McDonald's food is worth is one thing. McDonald's creates novel toys every year, only giving them away, not selling; McDonald's service staff lead young consumers in singing and dancing every day; McDonald's launches reference patterns for children to assemble with fries—when McDonald's becomes a children's paradise with these 'image benefits', the cost of the fries themselves and the current price no longer matter. (2) Turn 'utensils' into 'tools' to change to a higher value scale The value of the product's use itself is something everyone has a scale for. When the product's use changes, consumers will have new evaluation standards, and the price scale in their minds will be elevated. The rice noodles in Guangdong and Vietnam can only be used to fill the stomach, so they can only sell for 5 yuan. Vietnam's Annan Group's '24 rice noodles' are 'exotic', not only not losing face when entertaining guests but also conveying concepts like 'work hard, save time'. Enjoying Annan Group's rice noodles saves on 'entertaining clients' expenses, reducing the consumer's total cost. (3) Turn 'utensils' into 'props' to raise price tolerance again At high-end banquets, some people don't drink wine or liquor. Previously, they had to reluctantly drink cheap beer or soft drinks. To meet this demand, Blue Ribbon Company launched beer at over 100 yuan per bottle, and many companies launched fresh corn juice or purple sweet potato juice at over 100 yuan per pitcher. The product cost itself is still below 5 yuan, but the total value has changed. When signing a contract with an important client, if you use a 'Montblanc pen' to sign, and then tell the other party that the agreement for Hong Kong's return, the Middle East ceasefire agreement, and the German ceasefire agreement all used this brand. Then, each Montblanc pen sells for only a few thousand to hundreds of thousands of yuan—isn't that cheap? When entertaining a superior leader, you don't know their preference for alcohol; but if you bring out Wuliangye, even if the leader doesn't drink liquor, they can't blame you. Isn't spending 800 yuan for 'personal brand image safety' a good deal? With the same drinks, if you drink 5000 yuan Lafite at a banquet, the client feels pressure, and the 1 million yuan contract must be signed; if you only drink 300 yuan 'local specialty famous liquor', although it doesn't lose face, the client feels it's just ordinary hospitality, a matter of courtesy. Then the contract may or may not be signed. One of my clients, 'Beijing Hanjin', is a professional company for 'high-price marketing'. One of their proud achievements last year was selecting some tea leaves and bundling them with specific calligraphy, paintings, and Go sets, giving the combination the meaning of 'never asking about business again, just drinking tea and playing Go to enjoy old age', especially suitable for 'farewell to leaders stepping down' and 'rich first-generation handing over power'. The highest price reached 500,000 yuan per jin of tea. (4) Turn 'utensils' into 'toys'—the useless can be the most expensive Useless things can be worthless or 'priceless treasures'. The most expensive wines are not the best-tasting wines, but some wines that have missed the drinking period, stored for 30 or even 50 years or more, and can no longer be drunk. Bricks are building materials. Bricks that cannot be used as building materials are more expensive than useful bricks. The rubble from the Berlin Wall, when dismantled, is certainly less useful for construction than new bricks. But new bricks cost only a few cents, while Berlin Wall rubble costs 5 to 30 marks! Some waste stones with artists' paintings sold for up to 40 or 50 marks. People who trucked wall bricks home at the time suddenly became rich. IV. High-Price Strategy—Integrating Market Resources 1. The 'Integrating Market Resources' Strategy Is the Most Important Strategy for Enterprises Is science and technology the primary productive force? Production technology is definitely not the primary productive force; because the value of production technology in 'high-priced products' accounts for certainly less than 10%. Usually only 1%. The 'operational technology' of integrating market resources is the primary productive force. Only when 'science and technology mainly refers to the technology of integrating market resources' can 'science and technology are the primary productive force' hold. Germans master the core technology of beer, but that doesn't prevent an American company like AB from having performance far exceeding the total of all German beer; Germans monopolize almost all core technologies of solar energy, but that doesn't prevent Chinese companies from buying German technology and then driving German companies out of Africa and Southeast Asia: Shenzhen's 'copycat phones' bought technology from European and American companies, selling 1.5 billion units a year at their peak, sweeping Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. Many small and medium-sized liquor factories in Sichuan have quality and cost advantages in liquor, but that doesn't stop Yanghe Blue Classic from buying Sichuan liquor and then far surpassing Sichuan liquor factories; even if Lanzhou pulled noodles technology charged patent fees, each bowl would be worth at most 1 yuan, which is a drop in the bucket compared to Ajisen Ramen at 25 yuan per serving. 2. High Prices Provide the Economic Foundation for Integrating Resources Sima Qian said, 'Long sleeves are good for dancing, much money is good for business.' As the saying goes, 'People looking for money is not as good as money looking for money.' This all means that integrating resources requires not only concepts, goals, technology, strategies, and methods, but also a certain price space to support it. The success of high-price enterprises is based on a correct understanding of the value of high prices: high prices may not immediately manifest as higher 'direct profits'; even if high prices temporarily reduce sales and total profits, it may be very worthwhile because high prices amplify the 'operating space' for integrating resources. If this space is used well, it can support more resource integration techniques and achieve the most competitive advantages. The Taiwanese boss of '24 beef rice noodles', Chairman of Vietnam's Annan Group, LY QUITRUNG, has a famous saying: 'I was once penniless; but my philosophy determines that I cannot be poor. Even if I pick up stones on the roadside in Vietnam and sell them to Vietnamese at high prices, I can become a billionaire.' During Vietnam's anti-Chinese movement, his property was confiscated. In June 2003, he picked up a stone—rice noodles common everywhere in Vietnam—first proposed a new high price, then used the new operating space to support its new terminal model, differentiating terminal resources and terminal cooperation models. The chain quickly expanded to Southeast Asia and the Middle East, and recently entered Guangdong and Zhejiang. He became a billionaire again. 3. Re-evaluating the Value of External Market Resources Distributors, retailers, and terminal service providers who follow the industry leader most hope the enterprise will lower prices, give gifts, promote, buy-one-get-one, and pay entry fees— Before consumers recognize it, they instinctively reject products priced higher than the market. High pricing means re-evaluating existing channel members. When Shuijingfang first appeared, its first battle was in Guangzhou. Salespeople visited restaurants with the product and the most common response was: 'Crazy! Wuliangye is only a bit over 200, how can you, a small factory, sell for over 400?' When the brand's unique benefits began to be accepted by consumers, distributors and restaurants were still excited about the price. In the 'customer feedback' returned by salespeople, you could often see this: 'A distributor boss said that if the price were reduced to that of Wuliangye or Moutai, he would be willing to pay 1 million yuan.' Behind it, you could occasionally see the foolish salesperson's suggestion: 'Our costs can't be higher than Wuliangye or Moutai, right? Selling at the price of Wuliangye or Moutai, we won't lose, right?' In short, when you set a high price, you have to be prepared to do your own brand promotion, cultivate consumers' 'value feeling', and make consumers willingly pay for the high price. Distributors are just logistics providers, and retail terminals are just 'promotion platforms': 4. Optimize the Structure of External Market Resources, Compress 'Sales Partners' Profits, and Expand the Space for 'Marketing Partners' The interests of sales partners (distributors, retailers) are inversely proportional to brand competitiveness. The expenditure of marketing partners (advertising agencies, PR companies, brand communication companies that undertake consumer education) is the key to brand success. Shuijingfang's success in Guangdong relied on compressing 'sales link' expenses (refusing to follow the trend of 'entry fees') and increasing marketing link investment (giving terminals a series of differentiated benefits, such as intelligent PR, training marketing, liquor ceremony demonstrations, etc.). The recent success of a series of imported wines, I believe, is also related to the new model of 'specialty stores + group buying'. The new model increases marketing and reduces sales. Ajisen Ramen can be priced 5 times higher than Lanzhou pulled noodles, and the '24 beef rice noodles' run by a Taiwanese-Vietnamese sells for 24 yuan, about 5 times higher than ordinary beef rice noodles, also relying on the change in the 'sales and marketing' structure. 5. Adjust the Weight of Internal Market Resources (Human Resources) This issue deserves a separate article, but here I can only briefly mention a case: There is a liquor factory in East China, supported by the government, with a huge market behind it and strong financial strength. It has always made low-end liquor. The boss is the hardworking type, previously 'a boss during the day, sleeping on the floor at night', and after success still 'lives a healthy rich life (that is, never goes to high-consumption places)'. The team he leads is loyal, obedient, hardworking, and dedicated; The entire corporate culture looks down on 'drinking, bragging, and counting money' public relations men and social beauties. Forced by government requirements and market temptations, they tried several times to break into the high-end market but failed. The boss invited me many times to join, and each time I had to politely decline. Of course, the boss also understood that our difference lay in 'values'. The talent values for high-end products and low-end products are vastly different, and the corporate culture is also very different. The boss is accustomed to the culture of low-end liquor and can only tolerate the high-end team at most; and any tolerance has its limits; The original team is like the 'Red Army' at Jinggangshan: straw sandals, rifles, strong bodies, acting collectively for 15 hours a day, loyal, trusted by the boss; but poor performance. The new high-end team is like a modern missile force: they surf the internet, check missile devices, may not be physically strong, even wearing glasses is fine; they may only need to work collectively for 2 hours a day; but they win from thousands of miles away, and their killing effect is incomparable to the Red Army. They are knowledgeable, independent, and perhaps even less dependent on the boss than the 'Red Army'. The mutual contempt between the two teams is inevitable. If you can't change the culture, any talent who goes in will die! V. Waiting to Die, or Dying for a Cause? Chen Sheng and Wu Guang decided to rise up because not rising was a dead end, but rising could lead to a great undertaking. With market competition where it is today, low prices, mediocrity, and catering to the market lead to a war of attrition with homogenized customers, products, channels, operational models, and teams. From then on, it's a lifetime of storms and unrest. Even if you occasionally succeed, life has little meaning. High prices do not guarantee success because there are many details to handle ahead; but you only need to pass through a dark tunnel to enter 'a bright future'. How long is this tunnel? My opinion is that it's about 'from Shuijingfang to Wuliangye'. That year, Shenzhen Guixing Liquor Company took over Shuijingfang's market in six southern provinces (Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Fujian, Hunan, Jiangxi), and I performed on stage with Ding Bangqing, creative director of Guangdong Advertising Company. Ding sang a march; he introduced the meaning of his 'noble life elements' positioning and explained why he could get Taiwanese writer Lin Qingxuan to give his poem 'Warm a pot of moonlight to drink with wine' to Shuijingfang for free—he believed Shuijingfang was China's only luxury brand: 'Wuliangye can be drunk in slippers at a roadside stall, but Shuijingfang must be enjoyed in a luxurious atmosphere.' I sang an inspirational song. I said, 'I must be devout. I must be solemn. We can criticize Wuliangye's brand technology as crude; but the problem is, it can afford to be crude. It has no promotional items, its counterfeit control is weak—but consumer loyalty is hard to shake. Shuijingfang, on the other hand, we deliberately build associations with noble life elements, including carefully planned promotional items, sponsoring the Three Tenors concert, and the 'Dialogue between the World's Top Liquor and Top Wine' with Bordeaux wines, and other moves to build luxurious associations; why must we be so careful and diligent, while Wuliangye can act freely? How dare it? Why does it dare? This is because Wuliangye has already passed through the tunnel, while Shuijingfang has not! But Shuijingfang has already chosen the right intersection—high prices; and it has already passed through that tunnel; in the first two years, we ignored the gloating expectations of peers, ignored the indifference of distributors, with no applause, no flowers, no flashlights. After passing through the tunnel, although there is still a distance from Wuliangye-like 'self-rotation orbit', it is already a bright future! This kind of effort is just a temporary pain, a short pain, and then it's all the way singing; it's much better than the lifetime of wandering for low-price enterprises! High prices, taking the high-price shortcut to growth, is the easiest choice for enterprise success. -END-