Article by WeiJiu Team | Editor: Cheng Yu
The Chinese liquor industry is like a martial arts world. In this world, people are the most beautiful scenery. Looking back at this liquor world, there have been generations of influential figures who have left their mark, deep or shallow, in the long river of Chinese history.
Today, WeiJiu takes you into a 'faction' in this world called Jinliufu. The reason we focus on it is that in the baijiu world, one after another, figures from Jinliufu have emerged in recent years. They have formed their own school, each performing their own brilliance, while also being aware of their own ups and downs.
Our attention to this group of people stems from a photo we came across by chance.
This is a photo taken in Beijing in 2002, now 15 years old. From left to right: Tao Shiquan, then secretary to Wu Xiangdong, General Manager of Jinliufu (now of Jiangxiaobai Liquor); Li Ke, then R&D Director of Jinliufu; Wu Xiangdong, then General Manager of Jinliufu; Wang Anshi, then journalist for Tangyan Jiuzhou Weekly; and Yan Tao, then Vice President of Jinliufu.
15 years later, they are respectively: Tao Shiquan, founder, chairman and CEO of Jiangxiaobai Liquor; Li Ke, chairman of Shanghai Mubang Marketing Consulting Co., Ltd., Beijing Saotianxia Information Technology Co., Ltd., and Sichuan Maowu Trading Co., Ltd.; Wu Xiangdong, chairman of Huaze Group and chairman of Huazhi Liquor Store Chain Management Co., Ltd.; Wang Anshi, deputy editor-in-chief of Tangyan Jiuzhou Weekly magazine; and Yan Tao, president of Huaze Group.
Clearly, most of these people in the photo were unknown in 2002, but today many have grown into figures who can stand on their own in the liquor world.
What traces of Jinliufu do they carry? Looking at the entire Chinese liquor industry, why do talents who left Jinliufu have a higher success rate in entrepreneurship? Today, let's step into the Jinliufu entrepreneurial circle together.
One
Tao Shiquan, born in October 1980 in Hunan, graduated from Liaoning University of Science and Technology. After graduating in 2002, he came to Jinliufu and worked there for 10 years. At Jinliufu, he served as Wu Xiangdong's secretary, PR director, head of the Shanghai region, and head of the Southwest region. Unverified rumors say his first month's salary was less than 1,000 yuan, but quickly rose to over 8,000 yuan in the second month, and later reached an annual salary of one million, showing his unique abilities.
In the summer of 2011, Tao Shiquan and several partners jointly invested tens of millions of yuan to establish a liquor marketing planning company with only ten people, which later became Jiangxiaobai Liquor. In just one year, sales exceeded 50 million yuan. In his ten years at Jinliufu, he believes that working in brand and marketing not only helped him accumulate industry knowledge but also sparked an impulse to subvert industry traditions. "I am Jiangxiaobai, life is simple" quickly became popular.
Currently, Jiangxiaobai seems to have become a new myth in the liquor industry. It is said that with capital support, Jiangxiaobai's target this year is 2 billion yuan. Some also believe that Jiangxiaobai, like Xiaomi, will become a brand and not be limited to the liquor industry.
How Jiangxiaobai's path in the martial arts world will unfold, we will continue to wait and see.
Two
Li Ke, from Hunan, graduated from the Mathematics Department of the National University of Defense Technology in the early 1990s. After several twists and turns, he became an editor at Hunan Fine Arts Publishing House. After planning and producing a series of marketing books, he entered Jinliufu, where he reportedly mainly worked on product development, brand management, and media relations.
In 2003, Li Ke left Jinliufu and went to Shanghai to establish Mugu Management Consulting Company, focusing his consulting vision on the tobacco industry, where he achieved success and was respectfully called "Master." In recent years, he has returned to the liquor industry, cooperating with Tan Zhiqiang, former general manager of Huaze Group, to establish Sichuan Wumao Trading, operating a 300-yuan baijiu product - Wuliang Cellar-Aged Wine. Li Ke calls this his "second entrepreneurship."
Three
Ju Gang, from Shaanxi, after graduating from Xi'an Academy of Fine Arts, became the youngest art director in an international 4A advertising agency at age 24. The industry habitually calls him "Old Ju."
At Jinliufu, Ju Gang also worked in product development and design, which he was skilled at. After leaving, he engaged in product development consulting. An industry insider, when talking about Old Ju, clearly remembers that he once brought his work to a company for bidding. Considering various factors at the time, the company did not adopt his plan. Later, Old Ju began to realize his own ideas personally.
Old Ju always considers himself a product concept designer. His entrepreneurship attracted industry attention in 2014. Ju Gang and friends received 5 million yuan in angel investment to do a cloud creative platform, aiming to create a crowdsourcing model for creativity. In the process, they crowdfunded and incubated a yellow wine project, and Ju Gang focused on wine. On November 24 of that year, his crowdfunding project "Ju Gang Zhong Wine" priced at 99 yuan per bottle was officially launched, starting his wine-selling journey in an innovative way at the time.
An industry insider said that Ju Gang has also carved out a unique path, with annual sales exceeding 10 million yuan despite a small team.
It is said that in 2017, Ju Gang mainly did two things: one was to comprehensively upgrade all products before the Mid-Autumn Festival, and also launch more expensive products, with the future positioning being "Drink real original pulp, find Old Ju."
The other was to cooperate with Xinjiang Shadi Winery, giving it a new role positioning - "Shadi wine pairs better with Chinese food."
Four
In interviews with people from the Huaze system, I found that entrepreneurs who left are mainly composed of two lines: product and sales. The three mentioned above mainly come from the product line. On the sales line, there is Tan Zhiqiang, former general manager of Huaze Group, mentioned earlier. Shuai Yanhua, former general manager of Heilongjiang Yuquan Liquor Sales Company under Huaze Group, also set up his own business and became an excellent liquor distributor in Heilongjiang. Starting as an agent for Wuliangye vintage wine, he is now also a Moutai distributor. It is said that many sales talents from Huaze have taken the agency route after leaving.
"In Huaze Group, those from the sales line often continue to leverage their strengths and work in the sales system, but a large number have taken the path of professional managers, becoming the backbone of China's liquor marketing front." An insider familiar with Huaze introduced.
Five
Why can Huaze produce so many outstanding talents? Do other companies have this incubation capability? Why did they leave? During interviews, these questions kept troubling me. As the interviews progressed, the answers might be as follows:
All interviewees, when talking about Huaze, would mention its soul figure - Wu Xiangdong.
"Strategic thinking, vigorous and resolute, bold and decisive, strong enterprising spirit, kind to people, cherishing talents, respecting talents, willing to delegate power" - these are roughly the evaluations of Wu Xiangdong.
"People from Huaze who have made a mark in liquor entrepreneurship are generally the first batch who followed Wu Xiangdong. They all carry a strong enterprising spirit, which makes them want to continuously break through and not fear difficulties."
Cherishing talents and delegating power allow these talents to fully exert their abilities in their respective positions, and also enable their abilities to continuously rise.
"For example, in the product R&D system, after settling down to do the work, you become very clear about every link in the product R&D industry chain, so entrepreneurship based on your own strengths naturally has a good start."
Second, Huaze has the dual identity of "liquor enterprise + liquor distributor," which gives people within it the ability to think comprehensively, thus making entrepreneurship more likely to succeed.
In interviews, some who once worked at Huaze believed that Huaze acquired many distilleries, and the distilleries were actually learning from and competing with each other secretly. In such an atmosphere, their upstream and downstream management and sales capabilities were not weak. "There was a saying that the regional general managers of Huaze Group's sales regions could take on key sales positions in any liquor enterprise without problems. Because they understand the upstream and also know the way of liquor distribution."
Third, Huaze's unique corporate culture.
This point is highly recognized by those familiar with Huaze. In their view, Huaze's corporate culture has a strong commercial atmosphere. Wu Xiangdong has said more than once, "I am just a liquor seller," which makes all company personnel very focused on the marketing field. "Huaze's marketing level is at a relatively high level in the industry."
Secondly, there is a strong professional manager culture. In the early days of Jinliufu, a large number of people came from Hunan, but quickly, Wu Xiangdong's inclusiveness played a role. Outstanding talents from all over the country gathered at Huaze, allowing Huaze to quickly go national.
"Many enterprises have a boss culture, but Huaze is not like that. It respects professional managers, who perform their duties in their respective positions. There are not so many factional struggles. Rules, systems, and transparency are its great characteristics. This enterprise has strong modern corporate culture characteristics." A person familiar with Huaze commented.
In addition, it is worth noting that among the people mentioned above, their educational backgrounds are not low. Wu Xiangdong has always attached great importance to the cultivation and introduction of talents.
A friend once told a small story about Huaze: its HR director was recruited from IBM. This is hard to imagine in Chinese liquor enterprises and distributors, and it also reflects Wu Xiangdong's emphasis on talents.
So why did some of them choose to leave? It should be noted that Huaze's treatment is at the middle-to-high income level in the liquor industry. Regional general managers earn an annual salary of one million, are provided with Audi cars, and the annual selection of group pacesetters rewards 3 million yuan in cash, which has always been praised in the industry.
When discussing this issue, many people believe that Huaze's platform and culture gave capable people space to showcase their talents, and on this basis, they could also see their own potential.
"Their departure should not only be about hoping to gain more wealth, but also about realizing their own ideals." An industry insider said.
Source: WeiJiu
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