Introduction Demand is the fundamental driver of product success in the market; only products with significant consumer demand can sell well. Xiaoyang Lactate made a strategic mistake in understanding consumer demand, as 'light exercise' is a false need and concept, merely a wishful fantasy of the company. In February 2015, Sequoia Capital invested 200 million yuan in Haocaotou Group, the parent company of Xiaoyang Lactate, to support the company. In November 2015, Haocaotou launched its new product Xiaoyang Lactate, conducting extensive and intensive above-the-line promotion, enlisting Wang Luodan and Jia Nailiang as spokespersons, sponsoring the popular Zhejiang TV show "Burning Youth," and sponsoring the China Badminton League. Brand awareness was rapidly amplified, but there is still a gap to achieving market success. Consumer purchasing behavior follows a mental model of "motivated by need, thinking in categories, and expressing through brands." That is, when consumers purchase any product, it is based on a need that triggers the purchase behavior. For example, if a consumer is thirsty, it is a physiological need; at that point, the consumer needs a product to quench thirst, and then the consumer will think in terms of categories to decide which category of product to use to solve the thirst problem. Therefore, demand is the fundamental driver of product success. Only products with significant consumer demand can sell well. Currently, Xiaoyang Lactate has a strategic mistake in understanding consumer demand. Light Exercise: Actually a False Concept and False Need In brand communication, Xiaoyang Lactate positions its product value as "light exercise." However, light exercise is not a real consumer need. Although there are many products in the market that use the concept of "light" to express value, such as "light luxury," why does the concept of light luxury hold up? First, in consumer perception, luxury has the value of "expensive," which is clear, specific, and an expression of high price. Consumers understand "light luxury" through the high-price concept of luxury, interpreting it as relatively affordable products. This is valid in terms of value perception. Second, products advocating light luxury achieve luxury quality but at a much lower price than luxury goods. And there happens to be a segment of consumers who cannot afford true luxury brands, so light luxury fits this need. However, not every new concept created with "light" is valid. Xiaoyang Lactate coined the concept of "light exercise" and arbitrarily proposed the value of "better taste, better thirst-quenching, more happiness," which has errors in perceived value, need value, and communication effectiveness. From the perspective of perceived value, consumers have no concept of light exercise. Light exercise is a creative concept that easily triggers associations with "light vs. heavy exercise." However, consumers do not have a clear cognitive distinction between heavy and light exercise. Furthermore, light exercise has no intuitive value manifestation. From the perspective of need value, light exercise has no consumption value. As a thirst-quenching sports drink, consumers' focus when consuming sports drinks is not on whether the drink is for light or heavy exercise. The core concern is whether the drink can quickly replenish energy after exercise and quench thirst. Xiaoyang Lactate's communication of "Xiaoyang Lactate, light exercise better taste, light exercise more thirst-quenching, light exercise more happiness" fails to address consumer pain points. First, the value of good taste is not unique. Good taste is the basic value of any beverage; all beverages must taste good, and a bad-tasting drink inherently loses its qualification as a beverage. Happiness is also not a unique value. Almost all leisure drinks highlight happiness in their brand personality. Second, consumers cannot perceive or experience whether Xiaoyang Lactate's claim of "light exercise more thirst-quenching" is truly more thirst-quenching than other sports drinks. Because on the key issue of thirst-quenching, any drink that can quench thirst will satisfy a thirsty consumer. Sports drinks have already differentiated within the beverage category based on the attribute of thirst-quenching during exercise; compared to other drinks, sports drinks already offer the benefit of better thirst-quenching. Xiaoyang Lactate forcibly compares itself to sports drinks on "who quenches thirst better," entering a stage of over-differentiation. From both cognitive and experiential perspectives, consumers cannot perceive the value of light exercise. Third, consumers have no mental recognition of "light exercise more thirst-quenching." As a creative concept, light exercise itself requires education. Whether light exercise is more thirst-quenching has no basis in the mind, is not credible, and lacks recognition. From the perspective of communication effectiveness, educating the market with multiple concepts is extremely difficult. Xiaoyang Lactate has built multiple layers of value in its product. First, Xiaoyang Lactate is a light exercise drink. This is the first layer of value, establishing a unified value concept. Second, as a light exercise drink, it establishes multiple values of "better taste, more thirst-quenching, more happiness." Based on the analysis of cognition and needs, these values are entirely the result of internal corporate thinking and have no potential cognitive association in consumers' minds. This multi-layered value communication, in today's internet era with explosive and fragmented media, makes market education extremely difficult. So, how should Xiaoyang Lactate leverage consumer demand to ignite the market? Lactate: Creating a New Category of "Fermented Sports Drink" As a new category within sports drinks, Xiaoyang Lactate's fundamental to igniting the market is understanding consumer needs. As a sports drink, the product name of Xiaoyang Lactate already differentiates it from other sports drinks such as Pepsi's V动力, Danone's Mizone, and Coca-Cola's Aquarius, highlighting its unique difference. This significant difference is the key to igniting market demand, but Xiaoyang has not amplified this unique value. Current sports drinks mainly contain vitamins + fruit pulp (flavoring) + edible salt. For example, Pepsi's V动力 mainly contains Vitamin C + Vitamin B6 + flavoring + edible salt; Coca-Cola's Aquarius mainly contains Vitamin C + Vitamin B6 + fructose + edible salt (sodium chloride); Danone's Mizone mainly contains Vitamin C + Vitamin B6 + Vitamin B12 + fruit juice. It can be seen that current sports drinks use vitamins + edible salt to provide energy to athletes and use fruit pulp to enhance taste. As for Xiaoyang Lactate, from the category name, "lactic acid + salt" are its main ingredients, but what exactly are lactic acid and salt? It is hard to tell from Xiaoyang's above-the-line communication. By studying the ingredient list of Xiaoyang Lactate, we see that in addition to vitamins like other sports drinks, it includes unique "fermented lactic acid bacteria" and "Australian snow salt." Australian snow salt has the same value as edible salt in other sports drinks, with no uniqueness. However, fermented lactic acid bacteria is an ingredient that other sports drinks do not have and is unique to Xiaoyang. Therefore, Xiaoyang Lactate should amplify the unique point of "fermented lactic acid bacteria," based on the fermentation process itself, to create a new category of "fermented sports drink," and based on the concept that fermentation aids digestion and absorption, propose the value of "fermented sports drink, faster thirst-quenching!" Fermented Sports Drink: High Demand and High Attention From the perspective of consumer cognition and needs, fermented sports drinks have high demand and high attention. First, cognitively, "fermented sports drink" is not a coined term; it is a new category differentiated from sports drinks based on fermentation technology, and consumers are not unfamiliar with it. Moreover, from the perspective of the source consumer group, sports drinks target athletes, who are highly health-conscious. This group has significant awareness of fermentation technology. Second, in terms of needs, fermented sports drinks align with consumers' pursuit of healthy eating. In recent years, fermented products have sold well, such as enzyme drinks popular in Japan and Korea, ambient yogurt popular in the dairy industry, and lactic acid bacteria drinks popular in the breakfast market. These are all based on the health value of fermentation promoting metabolism and have ignited the market. Third, as a cross-category new beverage, fermented sports drinks satisfy consumers' desire for novelty and difference, easily attracting attention and stimulating demand. Therefore, Xiaoyang Lactate's proposal of fermented sports drink is more in line with consumer demand trends. From a competitive perspective, there is currently no fermented sports drink in the market. As the pioneer, Xiaoyang has a significant first-mover advantage in the mind. From the perspective of the parent company Haocaotou, its previous innovative products such as Xiaoyang Sour Q Candy and Xiaoyang Xiao Lactic Acid are all fermented products, already possessing advantages in production technology and raw materials. Additionally, with the support of Sequoia Capital, Xiaoyang Lactate has the capital advantage to quickly seize the value of fermentation attributes and create the fermented sports drink category. In summary, Xiaoyang Lactate creating the "fermented sports drink category" has more market demand. Xiaoyang should concentrate its communication on the value of "Xiaoyang Lactate, fermented sports drink, faster thirst-quenching," and vigorously promote the strain and content of fermented lactic acid bacteria in fermented sports drinks to support the fermentation concept, thereby making Xiaoyang stand out among numerous sports drinks, stimulating consumer demand for the healthy fermentation concept, and igniting the market. This is the product strategy opportunity for Haocaotou to establish itself in the beverage market and pursue a billion-dollar mega product. Email: 380829298@qq.com Art Editor: Liu Yao Your old friend, Sales & Marketing **Content Cooperation QQ: 976847