Author | Li Dawei Source | Internet Brand Officer
In recent years, national snack brands such as Zhou Hei Ya, Lai Yi Fen, Baicao Wei, etc. have continued to get listed on the market. recently has another "National Snacks" about to knock on the IPO door!
News on November 19 that Weilong, who sells spicy strips, is ready to be listed in Hong Kong! As a "national-level" spicy strip snack, it is the collective memory of many generations born in the 80s and 90s. Z3z is listed on the market with a pack of spicy strips worth 50 cents in our childhood. You may hardly believe it.
Weilong is a veritable leading brand in spicy strips. According to data, Weilong's overall revenue in 2019 reached 4.9 billion, ranking first in the spicy strip market. Weilong Chairman Liu Weiping said that the 2020 marketing target is 7.2 billion yuan, and 2022 will increase to 10 billion.
went from 50 cents to 4.9 billion, how did Weilong achieve sustained growth and then create the Laitiao Empire? The industry unanimously believes that Liu Weiping’s marketing genius is inseparable from the strength of listing. We might as well take an inventory.
"Hermes in the spicy strip world"
from 0 to 4.9 billion, established a spicy strip empire
Liu Weiping's birthplace is a small county in Hunan, located in a mountain col, with a long history of dried soy sauce, dried spicy sauce, spicy bean tendon Manufacturing history. As early as 300 years ago, during the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, the dried sauce in this place was regarded as court tribute.
Due to floods, the cost of soybeans, the raw material for making dried soy sauce, has skyrocketed. Some small workshop masters began to substitute gluten for dried soy and made gluten snacks that taste similar to dried soy. This is the predecessor of spicy noodles.
And Liu Weiping's eyes are dyed, so he naturally learned the good craft of making dried sauce. Deeply feeling that spicy bar is a chance for success, he unswervingly took his younger brother to Luohe, Henan, which is rich in wheat, and started a business using gluten to make spicy bar.
He not only relied on his old craftsmanship to produce "slightly sweet, slightly spicy, refreshing, and full aftertaste" products, also found inspiration from traditional beef tendon noodles, and developed China's first spicy noodles-spicy silk. And successfully "invented" the "eel strips" with caramel and chili noodles, which was the early "spicy strips".
However, Liu Weiping is not satisfied with the output brought by the small workshop. After advocated the improvement of equipment in 2002, the production volume increased sharply. In the following year, Liu Weiping registered the "Weilong" trademark, and "Weilong Hot Strips" was officially born. After
started his career as a marketing genius, invited celebrities to endorse classic products, and expanded e-commerce channels in 2015. Taking its Taobao flagship store as an example, the monthly sales of a snack with a combination of multiple spicy strips reached 95,000+. The monthly sales of Weilong Konjac Shuang exceeded 150,000. The popularity of
Weilong has spurred similar soy products. Baicao, Three Squirrels, Liangpin Shop, etc. have launched spicy strip-flavored foods. Weilong also went out of China. It is said that in the United States, Weilong Spicy Tiao sold at a high price of 12 US dollars, which was nicknamed "Hermes of Spicy Tiao" by netizens.
It can be said that in less than five years, Weilong has become a well-known enterprise in Henan, with an annual output value of 50 billion yuan, and revenue in 2019 has reached 4.9 billion. If is successfully listed this time, the market value will reach 10 billion, Weilong will be among the first echelon of domestic leisure snacks.
factory live marketing
completed the first time out of the circle, creating the image of high-quality spicy strips
In the past 20 years, spicy strips have been labeled as "junk food". This is the awkward situation that Weilong has been facing.
In 2005, spicy strips swept the country, and the large and small workshops producing spicy strips rose wildly, but at the same time it caused uneven production quality and food safety issues were criticized.
is also in this year, CCTV has successively exposed the underground black workshops producing spicy strips. The media also frequently broke out cases of eating spicy strips: often eating three no spicy strips caused liver failure in a 10-year-old boy; what's more, a 24-year-old college student ate spicy strips as a meal and had intestinal perforations..... .
Affected by the media, consumers across the country spontaneously resist eating spicy strips. The entire spicy strip industry has ushered in the darkest moment, and a large number of manufacturers have been forced to close their doors.
In order to regain the trust of consumers, Weilong changed the factory's semi-automatic equipment to fully automatic. However, spicy food is a frequent visitor to the black list of the Food and Drug Administration. For most people, the impression that spicy food is "junk food" has long been ingrained.
In order to break the public's inherent knowledge of spicy strips, Weilong established a food production base and adopted a fully automated aseptic production workshop. At the same time, it is also actively trying to "whitewash" the "junk food" spicy strips through publicity channels.
, especially the live broadcast of Weilong’s factory, broke people's perception of Weilong spicy strips to a certain extent. In 2016, Weilong invited "Foxconn's No. 1 Quality Inspector" Zhang Quandan into the factory to do a live broadcast, which truly showed the production process of Weilong spicy strips. Through this live broadcast of the factory, Weilong Spicy Tiao completed its first brand outing, creating a brand image of "Quality Spicy Tiao".
At the same time, Weilong, who started with spicy strips, began to tear off the label of “spicy strips” and developed towards diversification and health.
fancy marketing routines
reverse the "earth taste" impression of spicy strips and capture young people
. In the industry's cognition, Weilong's performance is inseparable from the extraordinary marketing skills, and some people call its marketing innovation ability. Comparable to Durex team. The successful marketing of
has brought enough exposure for Weilong. has reversed people’s stereotypes about the "earth taste" of spicy strips, making spicy strips a fun and fashionable online celebrity snack, and at the same time making Weilong, an old domestic product It has also begun to rejuvenate and has been active in the sight of young consumers.
1. Create new online celebrity products that continuously stimulate the taste buds of users.
Weilong not only adds sweetness to the spicy strips, but also launches the “konjac” from the spicy strips to the gluttonous products, the rave reviews of the “wind eat kelp” and the spicy “flavor” Internet celebrity products such as "Spicy Duck Neck" continue to stimulate the taste buds of users. In addition, Weilong’s products have all become explosive models. For example, Weilong’s spicy hot pot has the hope that it will exceed 10 billion yuan in 2025.
Weilong, as an online celebrity in the hot strip, coupled with the popular online celebrity products of contemporary young people, makes Weilong’s products sold out once they are launched, which is enough to see the charm of the superposition of double internet celebrities.
2. Celebrity endorsements quickly open brand awareness
Compared with other marketing, the power of celebrity marketing cannot be ignored. Taking advantage of the popularity of top stars and the power of the rice circle, the brand can quickly leverage the young consumer market.
Weilong invited celebrities as early as 10 years ago to help promote brand products. In 2010, he teamed up with Chaowei's "Weilong" classic series, and in 2012, Yang Mi joined the endorsement of the series of products such as "pro-mouth cooking" and "pro-moment dried beans". Through the credibility of top stars and fan economy, not only increases consumers' trust in the brand, but also quickly opens up brand awareness. Z4z
3. Ingeniously take advantage of marketing to enhance brand image
In brand marketing, well-known big brands or Internet celebrity brands are themselves a kind of marketing hotspot, and the brand can take advantage of the opportunity to naturally get twice the result with half the effort.
In the industry, Weilong is a master of taking advantage of this situation, which has become a consensus. For example, Weilong not only gave the new product a western English name: Hotstrip7, but also produced a series of apple-style advertisements for its spicy strips. What's more interesting is that an Apple-style offline Laitiao store was opened.
In addition, Weilong will also take the opportunity to extend its marketing to the product strength level. By upgrading the product packaging, the traditional chili red has been upgraded to a black and white gray design to create a visually sanitary and clean image.
The low-priced spicy strips and the high-end apples are connected. The strong contrast not only elevates the brand positioning of Weilong, but also attracts the attention of young people through novel experiences.
4. Cross-border makes eating spicy strips cool and enriches brand connotation. Z4z
cross-border marketing has become very common. Through cross-border marketing, you can give yourself brand tonality in another field, thereby enriching the connotation of the brand.
Weilong cross-border marketing cases can be said to be extremely rich. Weilong has demonstrated brand marketing innovation through various cross-border marketing. has launched emoji packs in cooperation with Bozou Comics, launched retro-style marketing in cooperation with Tmall, and tried game-style advertising.
For example, on the eve of Double Eleven in 2017, Weilong entered the fashion industry and displayed photos of high-street-style models with the theme of northeastern florals in the official flagship store.Shanghe traditional Chinese style makes eating spicy strips a trendy thing.
5. Self-hacking marketing to promote new product series
In June 2016, Weilong launched a self-hacking marketing event for "6.18". First, a message that Weilong Tmall flagship store was hacked was screened and restored. Soon after being normal, he was once again overwhelmed by "I want to show you some color" and other comic expression packs such as Runaway.
Weilong then officially announced that it was marketing, and at the same time, took the opportunity to announce the cooperation with Bozou Comics to launch a series of customized hot strips for Baoman. This wave of new product marketing routines is brilliant! Many consumers have expressed their favor.
6. Anthropomorphic content, giving the brand "life"
In the marketing field, anthropomorphic marketing is to use emotional and humanistic content to interact with users.
Weilong expresses its products with consumer's life characteristics and personal preferences in copywriting, giving products personification and emotion, increasing the tension of the brand, and shortening the distance with users. For example, during the Dragon Boat Festival, Weilong launched the "Weilong Have You" contest, giving new products of glutinous rice, meat, and corn soul, making marketing more flexible and interesting, and winning the attention and love of consumers. After the IPO of
, the national brand Weilong of
spicy strips has moved towards
's profound marketing skills, which has created a large amount of traffic dividends and consumer attention for Weilong, and has also brought continuous growth in performance. It can be said that in recent years, Wei Long has walked steadily and steadily, but Wei Long has also entered a dilemma of difficult entry and defense.
First of all, although the “junk food” label is gradually torn off through ghost marketing, as the new generation has higher and higher requirements for products and the awakening of health awareness, their demand for healthy food is also increasing. The higher it is, Weilong completely reverses the perception of consumers and still needs some effort.
In order to catch up with the general health trend and break the limitations of a single category, Weilong has been enriching food categories in recent years. For example, has expanded its products to seasoned noodles, soy products, konjac products, vegetarian products, and meat products. Dozens of products such as categories.
On the other hand, Weilong's base camp spicy strip market has also faced many challenges. Snack brands such as Three Squirrels, Liangpinpu, Baicaowei, and Yanjinpu have all entered the game. At the same time, in the era of consumption upgrades, a large wave of new consumer brands are constantly emerging.
For example, the "Xiaoxinwangji" coarse grain spicy noodles launched by Yanjin Shop uses whole grain health as a breakthrough and declares that no preservatives are added. The entry of hot strip products with various selling points into the market puts a lot of pressure on Weilong.
For Weilong, it is necessary to cope with the impact of competitors, while also insisting on improving the low-end unhealthy label of spicy bar food. There is still a long way to go after the IPO.
However, we are also seeing that Weilong has been changing the status quo through product innovation and fancy marketing. From our childhood national snack brand to still active among young people, Weilong’s old domestic brand has been renewed. This road is worth learning and affirming. Reference for
information:
1. Investment circles: These Hunan brothers rely on small spicy sticks to impact IPO: a year to sell 4.9 billion November 22, 2020
2. Tide Business Review: “One Brother” Weilong Foods listed on the market "Remember" November 21, 2020, author David
3. Marketing Art of War: From 0 to 4.9 billion, this is the underlying logic of Weilong's marketing! On November 23, 2020, the author Mr. Art of War
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