Since January 14, a message has been widely shared: "Ye Maozhong, a famous Chinese marketing planning expert, died in Shanghai on January 13, 2022, at the age of 54, due to advanced cancer." Ye Maozhong Marketing Planning Company confirmed the news on its WeChat official account, stating, "In accordance with Mr. Ye's last wishes, everything was kept simple. Mr. Ye's family hereby expresses gratitude for the concern from all sectors of society." In the comments on the official account, there was a message: As an old planner, I say three points:

  1. He had the most successful cases for major brands, unmatched in the industry;
  2. He had the most readers of his brand theory, unmatched in the industry;
  3. On the day of his passing, he had the most mourners, unmatched in the industry. In our line of work, there is no absolute standard; we rely on data. Indeed, Mr. Ye Maozhong was like the "Steve Jobs" of the marketing circle, known to everyone. Regarding the news of Mr. Ye's death, many netizens expressed regret: "The advertiser I admired most in my university major courses." "Anyone in marketing knows Ye Maozhong; he can be called a master of the marketing planning industry, having created many legendary marketing cases." The Logic Behind Those Once-Popular Advertising Slogans Before Mr. Ye's death, perhaps many outsiders did not know his name, but they must have heard the slogans he created. (Image source: Visual China) Naobaijin's "This year, don't accept gifts; if you do, only Naobaijin"; Ganji.com's "Ganji.com, everything you need"; Fuyanjie's "Washing is healthier"; Hengyuanxiang's "Hengyuanxiang, sheep sheep sheep"; Beijirong thermal underwear's "Everyone on earth knows"; "Blue bottle calcium, tasty calcium"; "Tired and sleepy, drink Dongpeng Special Drink"... Among them, slogans like "Everyone on earth knows" and "A 30-year-old with a 60-year-old heart, a 60-year-old with a 30-year-old heart" became popular sayings. "A man should be harder on himself" was rated as one of China's top ten advertising catchphrases. Yin Xiaotian's most famous work, still repeatedly memed on Bilibili, is Heilan Home: "Visit Heilan Home twice a year." It can be seen that in the mid-1990s, among the slogans known to all and spread across the streets, those from Ye Maozhong's planning accounted for half. This shouting-style advertising, though simple and crude, was the most effective. Why? Because Ye Maozhong grasped the most fundamental advertising appeal during the rise of China's private economy in the 1990s. This era had several characteristics: Era background: The generation that grew up during famine lacked a sense of security about life, so their consumption needs were basic necessities. Their perception of good products largely came from widely disseminated advertising slogans. Brand perspective: The underlying business logic of this era was "people looking for goods," with supply lower than demand. For brands, "I have a good product; selling it to you makes money." User perspective: Users in this era were at the bottom of Maslow's hierarchy, i.e., physiological needs. What are physiological needs? Basic needs like food, water, air, and sleep. In their transitional stage from just having enough food and clothing to being moderately prosperous, these basic needs were the most powerful. Based on these three dimensions, Mr. Ye hit the mark, helping a large number of Chinese local brands solve the problem of letting people know "who we are" and "what we do." Thus, we saw slogans that are still recited today, and many Chinese brands were promoted. "To make advertising successful, you must use scientific methods, the first being to constantly repeat the brand name until the audience is annoyed," Ye once said. "Effective communication must satisfy two points: make people remember who you are, and make people remember what you can do and what conflicts you can solve for consumers." This advertising inspiration that Mr. Ye always adhered to may have come from a personal experience. Once, while waiting at an airport, Ye noticed that ten minutes before takeoff, the boarding gate would urgently call the names of passengers who had not yet boarded: "Mr. XX, Mr. XX, Mr. XX, please proceed to the boarding gate immediately." This repeated broadcast left a deep impression. From then on, he would delay at the boarding gate, waiting until the staff called "Ye Maozhong, please board" several times before feeling it was effective. With this repetitive advertising style, Ye's only goal was: not to tell stories, but to make people remember the brand. It was this marketing approach that made many Chinese local brands successful, and he was regarded as "China's first person in marketing planning." The Disrupted Chinese Advertising Market Looking back, Mr. Ye's brainwashing "earthy advertising slogans" once swept the Chinese market. But in fact, when he entered the advertising industry, the Chinese market was always "worshipping foreign things." Advertising is a business that spread from the West to the East. In the 1970s, European and American advertising agencies began entering Asia to build their Greater China operations. The destinations were usually Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau, or Singapore. Under foreign executives, local advertisers began to grow and form their own styles. By the late 1980s and early 1990s, Chinese-language advertisers began to gain momentum. At that time, foreign companies were flocking to the mainland market to make money, and the 4A agencies serving these large companies followed. Ogilvy, McCann Erickson, Saatchi & Saatchi, J. Walter Thompson, and other advertising giants entered China in the 1990s. 4A companies quickly gained a first-mover advantage and firmly controlled the development direction of advertising in the Chinese market. Slogans like "Not about eternity, but about having had it" and the translation of De Beers' slogan by lyricist Lao Shuang'en, "A diamond is forever," were spread at that time, all with a style that was both foreign, grand, and literary. So, in the era when 4A dominated the industry, if you didn't plan in a "foreign" direction, you were considered "earthy." In their eyes, Mr. Ye's slogans were representative of this "earthy" style. So why did both styles become popular at that time? The fame of 4A advertising lay in the fact that Chinese people at that time looked up to imported goods. In Maslow's hierarchy, the brands packaged by 4A companies represented, for users at that time, an aspiration and longing for high-end products under growth needs, and a potential desire for self-actualization. Compared with the 4A approach, Ye's path was more localized, more in line with China's national conditions and market at the time: popular, simple, repetitive, easy to replicate, and more directly covering the brand information from rural to urban areas, forming a large-scale communication. So, from a certain perspective, the 4A advertising at that time represented the higher needs in Maslow's hierarchy, namely the respect and self-actualization in growth needs. Ye's "earthy" advertising represented the lower needs we mentioned earlier, namely the basic physiological needs. From this perspective, we can also see the complexity of the Chinese market. In Hong Kong, you only need to please the citizen class; in Taiwan, you only need to target cities like Taipei to control the market. But in the Chinese market, there is no market with unified aesthetics and needs. First-tier cities, second- and third-tier cities, and townships each have their own characteristics; there are distinct cultural differences between the south and the north; state-owned enterprises, private enterprises, and foreign companies have their own needs and preferences. The Chinese market is not only complex, but any segment has a huge population base and profit opportunities. It is said that Ye Maozhong had visited 300 cities, 2,860 counties, over 40,000 towns, and over 60,000 villages. Being deeply involved in the front-line market, he better understood the lower-tier markets and the demands of private enterprises at that time. So, his slogans could always hit the national market in one go. Brands like Yake V9, Qipai, and Septwolves, all from Jinjiang, used Ye's planning to turn around on CCTV. Final Thoughts: Over the years, the Chinese market has undergone earth-shaking changes. The former 4A companies are no longer as glorious, but the "miracles" Ye Maozhong created still remain in people's hearts. Although the current Chinese market is different from the past, and consumers have undergone an upgrade and change in underlying logic, Has the definition of good advertising changed? Is Ye's methodology outdated? "Brainwashing" vs. "creativity" - which one is more "popular"? Leave it to everyone to judge. Are you "watching" me?