Click 'Read Original' for details. As an FMCG professional, the term marketing is all too familiar. When we discuss markets and marketing in our daily work and meetings, what words do we most often use? "Where is your target market?" "Your district's foodservice channel is okay, but the number of distribution outlets is too small." "My boss keeps pushing me to promote products, but without advertising, sell-through is too slow." I'm sure that any FMCG professional has said some of these keywords in the past week or month. Although these words constantly appear in our work, there are other words that flash before our eyes from time to time, and some even linger in our minds. "Online traffic costs are rising, too expensive; even Alibaba is going offline." "It's okay; in your Moments, you can like your customer's posts and interact with them." "Our company's official account has too few users/fans." In the past, when we talked about marketing, what were we discussing? Actually, we were discussing concepts like the 'P's: product, place, price, and promotion, which Professor Jerry McCarthy proposed in his book 'Marketing' as the 4P theory. Later, 6P and 12P theories were extended. These marketing concepts have influenced several generations of marketing professionals. Mastering these concepts means mastering a set of underlying marketing logic. With this logic, and by adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing, different tactics and models, even new theories and frameworks, have been derived. The traditional marketing concept system, from target market, market segmentation, brand positioning, customer value delivery, to marketing campaign selection, to product, price, place, promotion, sales promotion, etc., when applied to the FMCG field, gradually becomes practical concepts like distribution, sell-through, terminals, merchandising, channel cultivation, secondary wholesalers, distributors, price system, circulation, base markets, and so on. After nearly 20 years of development, the Chinese FMCG market has formed a mature and complete marketing system. FMCG professionals who master this system, combined with their company's industry attributes, category characteristics, and development stage, ultimately form the basic marketing paradigm for the enterprise and even the industry. The practical concepts become widely circulated terms that drive sales growth. For example, the traditional brand's 'three axes': find 'big entrance' media for promotion (CCTV, Hunan Satellite TV), recruit distributors everywhere to fill channels, and establish offices and sales offices with a large number of field staff for channel cultivation. In today's era of information explosion and mobile internet, the original marketing model is facing failure. The old trick of putting new wine in old bottles is gradually losing its effectiveness, replaced by new marketing and new models, characterized by the emergence of new marketing concepts. For example, from early traffic, users, communities, QR codes to IP, scenarios, communication, social, and then to connection, attracting new customers, conversion, repurchase, fans, empowerment, and so on. In the past two years, these new marketing concepts have become louder and louder. New Distribution has summarized and organized the currently popular and effective marketing elements for readers' reference. 1. Channel—Traffic In the FMCG field, the term 'channel' is the most frequently used. To match the deep distribution strategy and expand sales, the industry divides channels into 10 major categories and 68 channel types, including mainstream modern channels, traditional channels, education channels, transportation, hotel channels, etc. The popular slogan in the past was 'Channel is King.' Whoever controls the channel and the terminal controls sales. In the past, manufacturers maximized product placement in retail stores (channels). Now, with channel fragmentation and diversified consumer purchasing paths, a single channel or a few channels can no longer bring more sales. At this point, we need to shift our thinking to be user-oriented and consider new growth methods. Where users are, products should be 'placed'; where traffic is high, products should be sold. The underlying logic of channel thinking is deep distribution, while the underlying logic of traffic thinking is omni-channel marketing. In the past, it was channel king, channel sovereignty, and manufacturer-dealer co-marketing. Today, it is consumer sovereignty, emphasizing traffic. 2. Advertising—Communication Advertising, as the name implies, means to inform the public widely. In the past, when media resources were single and centralized, consumers' vision was limited to traditional media like CCTV, local satellite TV, newspapers, and magazines. For example, CCTV's News Broadcast reached almost every Chinese household. Once an ad was placed during prime time, it meant the product would sell well, and sales could quickly jump from tens of millions to over a billion. At that time, advertising just needed to be 'wide and announced'; as long as it was broadcast, whether it was passed on didn't matter. In the mobile internet era, as long as consumers are willing, any information can be reached instantly. The era of simply 'widely announcing' is over. Information fragmentation makes it hard for corporate advertising to find a grip. Consumers no longer rely on ads to discover the true value of products, and they increasingly distrust one-sided brand advertising. Today, we talk about communication; broadcasting is secondary, the core is passing on. The logic of communication is similar to the ripple effect: a brand or IP influences the core audience, then through Moments, WeChat, and Weibo reposts, it spreads to surrounding people. The more ripples and the higher the frequency, the better the promotional effect. In a mobile and social environment, information is highly fragmented. Traditional marketers must form self-propagation to do good promotion. Broadcasting is the foundation, passing on is the key. 3. Brand—IP The purpose of branding a product is to establish a unified identity, output that identity, and then make consumers trust that the product is safe and quality-assured. The initial purpose of branding was to solve the trust mechanism problem. When brands became more numerous, the purpose shifted to differentiation and premium pricing. In the past, brands were like gods, and consumers were subjects. The brand told you, 'My product is good quality and tasteful; I speak, you listen.' Brand building was usually derived by advertising agencies using a set of theoretical tools. Now, product quality is just a basic parameter. In addition, a brand must have values, emotions, content, personality, and a community. This is what we often call IP. If we think of a brand as a person, their speech, behavior, personality, emotions, values, age, gender, height, interests, skills, etc., gradually form personal labels. With labels, some people will like it, some will dislike it. Those who like it will become friends, and eventually form a circle of friends. The same goes for brands. The process of a brand outputting content is the process of establishing a label IP. From the popularity of these three marketing keywords, we can see the changes in FMCG marketing. Perhaps the underlying core has not changed, but the application methods and boundaries have undergone fundamental changes. New marketing emphasizes being user-centric, not marketer-centric. You might think these new marketing keywords are still far from your actual work, but in fact, some of our behaviors are quietly changing. 'Visiting' is the most common in FMCG sales management. The purpose of a visit is to build relationships, behind which is to make customers remember you, understand you, trust you, and then close deals. Visiting means face-to-face communication with customers, standing in front of them, talking and interacting with them, and impressing them with sincerity and professionalism. Information transfer between people relies on face-to-face interaction, so in the past, anyone in sales emphasized the visit rate the most. Today, with mobile phones as the main carrier of information exchange and WeChat as the connector between people, work has also changed. Have you ever liked a customer's post in Moments, agreed with a certain statement, or appreciated and praised a photo? Isn't that also building a relationship with the customer and making them remember you? When you post in Moments, say something, and attach a picture, isn't that also letting customers understand you? In a sense, a like or a Moments post is a visit. In the past, we said 'visit'; now we say 'like.' This is also a change in marketing keywords. Zeng Ming of Hupan University said that traditional brands can still survive with new methods, but new brands using traditional methods can no longer rise. This shows that change has truly begun. What other marketing keywords do you think have changed? Feel free to leave us a message. From August 22-24, the '2018 China Digital Innovation Conference (2018FDIC)' with the theme 'Finding New Engines for Growth' will be held in Shanghai, hosted by the China FMCG Industry Association and organized by New Distribution. The conference will last 3 days, focusing on two main themes: marketing and supply chain, with six parallel forums: brand, channel, communication, B2B, intra-city logistics, and innovative retail. We will invite industry experts, CEOs, and senior brand executives to deeply interpret the trends and drivers of digital transformation in the FMCG industry. We will invite over 500 FMCG enterprise executives, 200+ B2B industry CEOs, and 1000+ major FMCG industry merchants to gather and discuss how the FMCG industry can use digital tools to achieve rapid growth again in the digital era. This conference will build a bridge for brand owners, distributors, retail enterprises, and marketing agencies, helping FMCG manufacturers obtain the latest information, understand best practices, and master more transformation skills. Proposed Companies Conference Time August 22-24, 2018 Conference Venue Shanghai Baohua Marriott Hotel Conference Content August 22: Full-day check-in Afternoon 14:00-17:30: Distributor intra-city logistics parallel forum Evening 18:30-21:00: New Distribution Night Gala Dinner August 23: Theme: Marketing Digital Innovation Morning 9:00-12:00: Marketing Digital Innovation Main Forum Afternoon 14:00-17:30: Brand, Channel, Communication Parallel Forums August 24: Theme: FMCG Supply Chain Digital Upgrade All day: FMCG Supply Chain Conference Registration Method Long press the QR code below or click 'Read Original' to register. Special early bird tickets are available for the last day, with a 50% discount. First come, first served! Registration Consultation Ticket inquiries: Media cooperation inquiries: Highlights of New Distribution's Previous Conferences Click the links below to review the highlights of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th FMCG + Internet Conferences: -END-