"Oversupply" is a common problem facing every industry in China in recent years. According to mainstream authoritative views from academia and industry, in 2024, due to the broader environment, mainstream consumer groups will remain saturated. Is China's housing oversupplied? Data shows that the total number of existing houses in China exceeds 600 million buildings, enough for 3 billion people, far exceeding the purchasing power of the population. Is automobile capacity oversupplied? Data shows that the overall production capacity of passenger cars in China is close to 55 million units, while annual production is about 23 million units, with a utilization rate of only 50%. Are daily necessities oversupplied? By the end of 2022, some regional markets saw the phenomenon of "dumping milk and slaughtering cows." By 2023, oversupply and its chain reactions began to erupt across industries such as beverages, snacks, and condiments. "Inventory clearance" was the main theme for sportswear and footwear in 2023. In such an era of product oversupply, how can brands seek growth? From March 14 to March 16, the 9th China FMCG Innovation Conference, themed "Supply Chain Revolution," was held in Chengdu. During the conference, over 100 guest speakers and more than 2,000 manufacturer representatives and FMCG professionals from across the country explored how distributors and brand owners can seek growth in the current environment. Among them, Zeng Jian, co-founder and senior vice president of Xinchao Media Group, delivered a heavyweight speech at the main forum titled "Brand Methodology in the Era of Oversupply" , which sparked lively discussions among manufacturers present. New Distribution is reporting the highlights for our readers. Scenario-based marketing is on the rise Economic changes affect all industries, but FMCG, as a necessity for clothing, food, housing, and transportation, has the attribute of transcending cycles . Regardless of the times or economic conditions, consumer demand for these necessities persists. Changes in FMCG demand are not determined by short-term economic fluctuations but by lifestyles shaped by medium- to long-term economic changes. In 2024, major FMCG brands are going all out in marketing to capture market share. An interesting point: the 2024 National Online New Year Shopping Festival approached the "Double 11" e-commerce festival with 1.2 trillion yuan in online retail sales, growing nearly 9% daily compared to 2023. The second-largest e-commerce promotion after "Double 11" is no longer "618." Merchants across industries are preparing for the New Year Shopping Festival to achieve growth from different dimensions. Notably, Hsu Fu Chi has delved into consumers' changing needs, focusing on product refinement and consumption scenarios. With the Year of the Dragon new packaging for its New Year candy, it established a deep connection with consumers through "blessing consumption," and the product sold well for two consecutive years. This gives us a revelation: scenario-based marketing is on the rise. Brand Methodology in the Era of Oversupply "Retail Philosophy" mentions: "The only reason for product stagnation and sluggish business is that current working methods can no longer meet the changes in the times and consumer demand." Data shows that the average lifespan of private enterprises in China is 2.9 years, less than 3 years. How to extend the lifeline of a business? The core is to respect common sense, based on common sense itself, and the 4Ps: return to product, return to channels, return to pricing, and return to brand and marketing . Pick up common sense, practice basic skills, and return to the essence of business. In the incremental era, advertising was effective even with eyes closed; in the oversupply era, brand marketing requires more insight and strength. Compared to industries with high barriers, FMCG has low entry barriers and rapid product iteration, so it is even more important to consolidate the brand moat. Therefore, enterprises need to seize product, scenario, channel, and consensus , four major innovations and upgrades, to break through and grow. Product upgrade is fundamental, driving leapfrog growth. The source of all brand growth is the product. Only when the product is well-made, continuously optimized and upgraded, and aligned with the times, can there be repurchase. Repurchase is the king, and acquiring new customers is fundamental. Product upgrades are divided into four categories, illustrated by cases served by Xinchao Media: 1. Category upgrade "Not all milk is Telunsu." Telunsu seized the upstream changes, consumption upgrade, and market gaps, upgrading the category with a new brand, breaking out of the red ocean, escaping low-price competition, and occupying the top position in the high-end dairy segment. In the 2021 China Brand Power Index (C-BPI) liquid milk brand ranking, Telunsu ranked third after Mengniu and Yili. 2. Product optimization "Eat Hsu Fu Chi New Year candy for the New Year." Hsu Fu Chi responded to the return-home trend, expanded into lower-tier markets, further focused on core single products, and comprehensively upgraded its largest Spring Festival IP, New Year candy, without raising prices, achieving strong sales. In the 2023 iMedia Gold List "Top 10 Most Popular Chinese New Year Candy Gift Box Brands," it ranked first. 3. Opening new tracks "People who love cleanliness use Deyou." Deyou uses pregnancy and infant-grade standards for home cleaning and care products, with extreme product strength, seizing the trend of consumers' increasing hygiene awareness, opening a new track, and winning the category awareness battle for vertical brands. As of July 31, 2023, Deyou wet wipes had cumulative sales exceeding 100 million packs. 4. Creating hit products "Wear Yaya when it's cold." Yaya down jackets bear the responsibility of promoting excellent Chinese design and manufacturing, launching the "YAYA Design Platform," establishing a digital collaboration platform, efficiently creating hit products, and quickly becoming popular with catchy ads, rejuvenating an old brand. It achieved TOP1 in the mass market for down jackets under 1,000 yuan. Create diversified consumption scenarios to generate new demand and vitality. Zhou Hei Ya segments consumer groups, enriches consumption scenarios, and offers nearly 40 meal packages to meet various needs such as home use, entertaining friends and relatives, and New Year gifting. From the first to the eighth day of the Lunar New Year, the hottest store sales exceeded 1.4 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 48.6%. During the Spring Festival, sales increased by 12.6% year-on-year. Adapt to channel diversification; omni-channel development is the way. Omni-channel development is a trend and a path, but it is a strategy, not a tactic, related to capabilities and development stages, and cannot be achieved overnight. For example, Xiangpiaopiao has continuously deepened its presence in lower-tier markets for ten years, covering over 80% of retail terminals nationwide. When its Meco drink was launched, it targeted young consumers, seized the window of opportunity for live-stream e-commerce and interest e-commerce online, and relied on Xiangpiaopiao's strong market channel promotion and market penetration to maximize sales and build the brand, becoming a nearly billion-yuan single product. The more mass-market, the more attention to individual emotions. When consumers are at a specific moment and place, they naturally generate needs and a series of tasks they want to accomplish. Luckin Coffee seized the popular "tipsy" state among consumers, launching "Sauce Latte," selling 5.42 million cups on the first day, with sales exceeding 100 million yuan, setting a single-product record. Many specific cases have been cited. If a good product is fundamental, then differentiated positioning is the success code for brand power. After enterprises build product and channel strength, consulting firms sort out core selling points, refine content, and produce excellent ads. Then, through Xinchao Media, they reach thousands of households, and finally prove the effect with math problems. Xinchao Media has had deep cooperation with Maoren, from a rapid breakthrough from 0 to 1, to digital transformation in 2021, to reshaping the brand and comprehensive strategic upgrade in 2022. In 2023, Double 11 saw counter-trend growth across the board, with total annual sales reaching 11 billion yuan. At the 2023 Third China Xinchao Brand Conference, Maoren Group Chairman You Lin said: "Maoren and Xinchao achieve mutual success." The marketing strategy behind it is: only with a sufficiently large user base and deep brand awareness can a brand support its national character. Focus on centralized media to build a brand All business grows on media. In the past, television was centralized media, but now TV startup rates have declined, and online media advertising audiences are too fragmented to build brands. Centralized media is shifting from living room TVs to elevator TVs. There are over 400,000 residential communities with property management in China. Xinchao plans to select 150,000 quality communities, invest a total of 8 billion yuan, install 2 million elevator smart screens, and create a community digital media platform covering 100 million households and 300 million people daily. According to statistics, Xinchao elevator TVs currently cover 180 million urban middle-class people nationwide. Every enterprise needs to be ignited, and different diseases require different medicines. In terms of digitalization of offline media, Xinchao has achieved phased results. Zeng Jian said that the company has obtained over 100 patents and successfully developed seven digital products, including brand ignition, e-commerce traffic diversion, brand anti-forgetting, offline-to-store, bidding transactions, and lower-tier market , using a "math problem" approach to make advertising more precise and help clients save half of their advertising costs. Zeng Jian said that in the next three years, China is expected to add 71 million middle-class households. Their aspiration for a better life will never change, so this is also an opportunity for FMCG brands to gain growth. Xinchao Media is willing to move forward hand in hand with more FMCG brands, fulfilling its mission: In the next decade, help 100 national trend brands achieve revenue or market value exceeding 10 billion yuan. Bring clients more precise and technological traffic. Do something valuable, persist in it for the long term, and wait for the rewards of time! PS: Friends interested in the on-site speech content can follow the recent posts on the WeChat official account of New Distribution. We will compile and publish all guest speeches for our readers. Click Read the original text to see more about the 9th China FMCG Innovation Conference and the 2nd China FMCG Hard Discount Conference & the 2nd China FMCG Distributor Conference...