Yuanqi Forest can be said to be the hottest beverage brand this year. The advertisements of "0 sugar, 0 fat, 0 card" are everywhere. The valuation of this company has soared to 14 billion yuan in just 4 years since its establishment.
Behind the popularity of Yuanqi Forest, the "pseudo-Japanese" marketing method is inseparable. From brand name to beverage packaging, Yuanqi Forest is full of "Japanese" elements. It once made people think that this was a Japanese brand, but it has also been favored by more consumers.
However, recently Yuanqi Forest is quietly tearing off its "Japanese" coat, changing the Japanese "门" of the "门典" logo to the Chinese character "门". The words "门典" on the packaging also disappeared, and turned into "domestic products".
In fact, in the market, it is not uncommon for domestic brands to disguise themselves as foreign brands, and some of the slutty operations behind them are shocking.
What’s more interesting is that in recent years, some "domestic foreign brands" have begun to label themselves as "domestic products". Are foreign names not working well in China?
Yuanqi Forest tore off the "Japanese" coat
How many people are like me? I saw a bottle of Japanese words printed on the packaging in a convenience store, and the main feature is sugar-free beverages. I would think this is a bottle of imported Japanese drinks.
These common "Japanese" tags in Japanese convenience stores are exactly the first impression that Yuanqi Forest gives people. In fact, this is an absolute domestic brand, and its origin is Hengshui, Hebei.
In addition to the obvious Japanese "天" on the packaging of Yuanqi Forest, the words "天" are also printed with "天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天�
All this is to maintain the "Japanese" character of Yuanqi Forest. For this reason, Yuanqi Forest also specially registered a branch in Japan "Japan Guo Guo Co., Ltd., and then transferred trademarks such as "Yoshi Forest" to a Japanese company, thereby realizing its own production operations. The Beihai Ranch series of yogurt launched by
Yuanqi Forest continues this routine. In addition to following the name " color yogurt", the packaging is also marked "co-developed with the Institute of Plant Lactic Acid Bacteria of Hiroshima University, Japan".
Not only that, the little girl's look on the packaging of a milk tea beverage launched by Yuanqi Forest is also considered to be the same as the Peko sauce, a Japanese time-honored food brand. (It is worth mentioning that Peko sauce also copied the brand image of Merry of American brand Birds Eye).
There is no reason why Yuanqi Forest puts itself on a layer of "Japanese" coat. Japan is a major beverage country. It not only has extremely rich varieties, but also has widely recognized quality.
In addition, the trend of sugar-free beverages that has emerged in recent years has become very mature in Japan. On the beverage shelves of convenience stores in Japan, more than half of the sugar-free and healthy beverages are likely to be why Coca-Cola was launched in Japan in the first two years.
As an emerging brand established in 2016, Yuanqi Forest has created an image of "Japanese beverages", which can lower the brand's cognitive threshold and quickly establish a clear brand image among consumers. The "Japanese style + domestic price" strategy has also accelerated Yuanqi Forest's expansion in China.
Whether it is an old beverage giant like Coca-Cola Pepsi, or a new tea beverage brand like Heytea Naixue, in addition to the product itself, marketing still drives the brand very significantly. Even Coca-Cola has to invest US$4 billion a year in marketing.
However, Yuanqi Forest faces a choice in brand positioning, whether to continue to follow the Japanese style, or follow the rising national trend and tell a new story with the image of "domestic products".
Obviously Yuanqi Forest chose the latter. In some recent interviews, Yuanqi Forest has stated that it will adjust its Japanese style strategy, hoping to create a world-renowned Chinese drink classic brand.
The most successful "pseudo-Japanese" brand is , the best-selling product,
, in fact, these marketing routines of Yuanqi Forest are not new, they are all left over from the senior Miniso. This "10 Yuan Store" that has just been launched in the United States is the most successful "pseudo-Japanese" brand.
▲ Miniso has eye-catching Japanese on its signature.
"MINISO" with red background and white characters is hard not to remind people of Uniqlo. The product selection and furnishings in the store refer to Muji. The product manufacturer's address column also reads "Minso Industry, Meguro District, Tokyo, Japan".
This is the same as Yuanqi Forest registering a company in Japan. In the past few years, Miniso also marked the words "100% Japanese quality" on its products, and said on its official website that it is a "Japanese brand headquartered in Tokyo."
▲ Picture from: Xinmin.com
This is not enough. Miniso also found a Japanese founder for itself.
In the official introduction of Miniso, Miniso was co-founded by Ye Guofu and Japanese designer Miyake Junya in Tokyo, Japan, but it is difficult to find more public information about Miyake Shunya.
Except for the resume of Miyake on Google and Wikipedia, Miniso mentioned the Cultural and Clothing Academy where he graduated, and did not list him as a well-known alumni along with Yamamoto Yoshiji and Ketsuda Kenzo . Do you think of Miniso's "10 Yuan store"?
Some time ago, Miniso was listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and Shunya Miyake, the legendary co-founder and chief designer, did not appear.
Although many media and curious people have tried to investigate, Shunya Miyake's identity is still a mystery. In this Internet era where ordinary people can be easily humane, it is really not easy.
Many people suspect that Shun Miyake is just a fictional character, and the man in the photo is an actor. Some netizens discovered that Miyake Yoshiya's Japanese pinyin "Miyake Junya" is actually taken from two well-known Japanese designers, Issey Miyake and Junya Watanabe.
However, these doubts have not affected the rapid development of Miniso. Currently, Miniso has opened more than 4,200 stores in more than 80 countries and regions around the world, with a market value of more than US$6 billion. Ye Guofu, founder of
, once said that a large part of the credit for Miniso's rapid entry into the overseas market is attributed to the LOGO and the name
How to build a domestic "foreign brand"
There are many domestic brands like Yuanqi Forest and Miniso that intend to put a "foreign brand" on themselves. According to different styles and techniques, there are many factions in the "domestic foreign brand" in the world, and of course the ranks are different.
These brands also interpret with actions how to create a domestic "foreign brand".
Bronze rank: Just a virtual name
This is the easiest way to get started and the lowest cost. Just give it a fashionable name. A common practice is to first give an English name and then reversely translate it into Chinese.
Among them, clothing brands can be said to be the best in this faction, such as Giordano, Bosideng, and Metersbonwe have become "foreign brands" in this way. Metersbonwe is not only fashionable, but also the meaning of promoting the power of Guobang, which is rarely thoughtful among these brands.
, but rather unscrupulous brands simply use the full spelling of Chinese names as English names, such as Bosideng, and the "Jin Ke Trash" that has become a classic ghost animal.
This fertilizer manufacturer from Henan uses "Jinkela" as its English name, and even the registered company name of "American Shengdiyage" is also used in English Pinyin Double Pinyin.
Silver rank: Big brand
This rank is basically walking on the edge of the law and misleading consumers by catching well-known foreign brands.
Jordan Sports is the representative of it. How many people, like me, thought this was a brand founded by NBA superstar Michael Jordan, but they didn't know much about Air Jordan.
It's no wonder, in addition to the name, even the brand's logo is also a silhouette of Jordan's classic action. The domestic Jordan Sports has also applied for more than 100 trademark registrations related to Michael Jordan, including "QIAODAN".
What's more magical is that this foolish faked the real person. In the eight-year trademark lawsuit, Air Jordan lost several times and was even sued by Jordan Sports until this year.
Similar counterfeit foreign brands include " New Balance " and "Valentino". Their fights New Balance and Italian luxury brand Giovanni Valentino.
These counterfeit foreign brands are numerous, and there are hundreds of domestic "Valentino" and "New Balance" alone, which are often difficult for ordinary consumers to distinguish.
Golden rank: Export to domestic sales
The "domestic foreign brands" in this stage mainly register shell companies and trademarks overseas. In fact, the research and development, production and sales of products are all in China, just like those "bathing crabs" that impersonate "Yangcheng Lake Hairy Crabs" after being shipped to Yangcheng Lake for a few days.
The Yuanqi Forest and Miniso mentioned above are all listed here, which has also led to an industrial chain of overseas registered shell companies and trademarks. Many domestic milk powder brands are well aware of this.
For example, "French Homobile", which claims to "the research and development and production of products are from France", indeed registered a company called SARL Biostime in France in 2008. In fact, China's "Hmobile" was established in Guangzhou in 1999.
This international strategy through "export to domestic sales" can double the value of many domestic brands, and obtain extremely high brand premiums at extremely low costs
King level: Acquisition of nesting dolls, becoming "true foreign brand "
When it is true, it is true and it is false. When it is true and it is false, the highest level of "domestic foreign brand" is to turn yourself into a real foreign brand. Jieshibang , which has caused controversy on the Internet recently, is one of them.
Although the brand of Jieshibang was founded by Wuhan Renfu Pharmaceutical and started to be sold domestically in 1998, JISSBON (UK) was established in the UK in 2002. If it comes here, it is just a "export to domestic sales".
After the establishment of the British company, the domestic Jieshibang publicized to the outside world that it was just a general dealer in China, assisting the "British parent company" in expanding the global market.
to 2006, Jieshibang sold 70% of its equity to the world's well-known isolation and protective sanitary products brand, Ansell, Australia, thus gaining authentic foreign ancestry.
The more sensible operation is that in 2017 Renfu Pharmaceutical acquired Jieshibang from Anser and completed the acquisition of the "internationally renowned security protection brand".
asked a question, a brand that was born in China and was later acquired by foreign companies. Its manufacturers are spread across many countries around the world. Is it a brand that has been acquired by Chinese companies? Is it a domestic brand or a foreign brand?
The national trend is rising, are domestic "foreign brands" good?
So many Chinese companies try to put themselves in the guise of "foreign brands". The reason is very simple. is that foreign brands often mean better quality assurance in the minds of Chinese people, while domestic brands give people the impression of cheap and low-end .
However, such stereotypes are being reversed. The rise of the national trend in recent years has attracted more domestic products and the scale of consumption has also increased significantly. Domestic brands do not need to hide their domestic identity, which can be seen from the brand image of Yuanqi Forest abandoning the "Japanese" system.
The national trend has attracted attention, probably starting from Li Ning's debut at New York Fashion Week. At that time, the "national trend" also specifically referred to domestic trendy brands, but now it has evolved into domestic products and products with Chinese characteristics as a whole and has become popular, becoming a mass consumption trend.
▲ SING girl group "National Trend Era" MV.
"Baidu National Trend Pride Big Data" shows that from 2009 to 2019, the proportion of Chinese brands' attention increased from 38% to 70%. In addition, Suning.com's "Domestic Products Consumption Big Data Report" points out that the post-90s generation has become the main force in domestic product consumption. Chen Yalei, head of China Consumer Research at Credit Suisse, said:
Chinese consumers, especially the younger generation, do not think foreign brands are better. Now, Chinese consumers are optimistic about China, and they think there is nothing wrong with ‘Made in China’.
This change in brand awareness has a lot to do with the development of China's economic and cultural development. Strong economies are often more likely to export their own culture and values to the outside world.
This is also why Disney can use fairy tales from various countries as a carrier for the output of American values. Most of the impression of foreign audiences of Sun Wukong comes from the Japanese anime "Dragon Ball".
is not only in the entertainment field, but also in the business world, because the promotion of commercial brands is often an output of culture and requires stories to be told to consumers.
AJ It can develop from a sneaker brand to a cultural symbol. Without Jordan's legendary experience, even if Nike 's sneaker technology is advanced, it will not be possible.
And Supreme's popularity is inseparable from the popularity of street culture. Just as Aifaner said in a previous article, Supreme uses its own works to replicate American culture, and you can't help but think about the social and cultural phenomena behind each product.
Supreme has a "big brother" temperament, and it will show you what it thinks is important or worthy of attention around the world. And they are not selling you what they do, they are selling you ideas they think are valuable.
Nowadays, the national trend is in full swing, and more and more brands are proclaiming "domestic products". Even Nike and Adidas are launching the so-called "national trend series" in China. This may be the best era for domestic brands.
Of course, domestic products still have a long way to go. When people buy domestic products not because of "patriotism", but because of their recognition of brands and products, when "national trends" can go abroad, or even be "copied" by foreign brands, national trends are truly rising.
