"Whispering" to sell mooncakes, Zhong Xuegao suffered from "hot search phobia"?

I wonder how Zhong Xuegao feels when he sees Hua Xizi's "madness" now?

Author | Easy to give birth

Edit | Fun business

Mid-Autumn Festival meets National Day, and the big year of the mooncake market is here. Various enterprises have already laid out, and the white rabbit has teamed up with Guansheng Park and Bright Dairy to find Luzhou Laojiao, and Haagen-Dazs pulled up Shuijingfang... This year's mooncake market in the Mid-Autumn Festival has unsurprisingly become a moment for major brands to show their imagination.

In terms of the market, according to iMedia consulting data, from 2015 to 2022, the output of mooncakes in mainland China has increased year by year, from 328,000 tons to 437,000 tons; the mooncake gift box market is also rising year by year, and it is expected that the scale of China's mooncake gift box market will reach 24.7 billion yuan by 2025.

Image source: iMedia Consulting

In terms of enterprises, among the A-share listed companies, dozens of companies such as Wufangzhai, Guangzhou Restaurant, Taoli Bread, Yuanzu Shares, Lai Yifen, and Gui Faxiang have laid out mooncake business. According to the data, the average gross profit margin of Guangzhou Restaurant and Yuanzu Co., Ltd., two listed companies mainly engaged in mooncakes, was close to 60% in the past 10 years, far exceeding the average gross profit margin of 25% in the entire food industry in the same period.

It can not only win the attention of traffic, but also increase profits with real money, which has also become the fundamental reason why many companies come to the mooncake market to get a piece of the pie.

01. Zhongxuegao sells mooncakes across borders

Cross-border co-branded products have now become the "traffic password" of brands, and the trillion-scale mooncake industry is no exception, and the innovation boom is infinitely surging. Zhongxuegao, famous for its "Chinese ice cream", tried cross-border co-branding again this year, pulled up the cooperation of Panda Factory, and launched a Mid-Autumn Festival gift box with panda as an innovative element.

This is the second time that Zhongxuegao has co-branded with Panda Factory. It is understood that Panda Factory is an enterprise that became popular by making artificial panda toys, and with the cooperation with Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Base, its high-imitation flowers and Menglan cub dolls are in short supply.

Zhongxuegao's "Flower Good Moon Full" mooncake ice cream gift box launched this time, a box of six, has three flavors; It is mainly sold on Jingdong, Taobao, Douyin and other platforms. According to the e-commerce platform, the gift box was priced at 358 yuan per box in front of the Zhongxuegao flagship store coupon; Based on this calculation, the average price of a single mooncake is 59.7 yuan, which is calculated based on the net weight of 62 grams per mooncake, and the price per gram is 0.96 yuan, which is higher than the 0.73 yuan/g of the co-branded mooncake of the White Rabbit Guansheng Park and the 0.83 yuan/g of the joint mooncake of Häagen-Dazs Shuijingfang.

Image source: JD.com screenshot

As of September 27, the sales of Zhongxue Gao's mooncake gift boxes and delivery cards in the flagship stores of JD.com, Tmall, and Douyin have not exceeded 1,000; It is far from the sales of products such as White Rabbit, Bright Dairy, and Haagen-Dazs that also make mooncakes across borders.

In addition to the price factor, lack of publicity is also one of the main reasons.

This cross-border joint branding, not only marketing advertising and media reports, but also Zhong Xuegao's own voice is very small. Looking at Zhong Xuegao's official account on social media, his official Weibo only posted 4 joint promotions from July 18 to August 3, and no relevant content was released after that; On Xiaohongshu and Douyin, a total of 7 joint mooncake promotion content was released, of which the one with the highest number of likes was Xiaohongshu with 129; Zhongxuegao's official WeChat public account only posted a related tweet on August 11, with more than 8,000 views.

Qujie Business Inquiry Baidu Index found that since August, the information about Zhongxuegao on the Internet has continued to decline, with the daily average value of the information index being 32380, down 74% compared with the same period last year. The white rabbit, which also has a joint mooncake launch, reached a 213752 information index, soaring by 3900% over the same period last year; The Häagen-Dazs Information Index was 52935, an increase of 30% year-on-year.

Image source: Baidu Index

On the one hand, the co-branded Internet celebrity brand sells mooncakes across borders during the Mid-Autumn Festival, and on the other hand, it does not "publicize" in marketing; Zhong Xuegao, who once cooperated with Luzhou Laojiao to launch "Broken Ice Cream" and Mercury Home Textiles to jointly launch "Cool Ice Cream Quilt", this "Internet celebrity" Zhongxuegao, who has crossed more than 40 times in the past 5 years since its establishment and is extremely good at creating hot spots, now seems to be in a situation where he wants to get attention but does not want to be overly concerned.

02. Zhong Xuegao suffers from "hot search phobia"?

Unlike other brands that squeezed their heads and wanted to think about the last hot search, Zhongxuegao's fame is almost linked to the hot search.

At the beginning of 2018, he was born as an advertiser, served FMCG products such as Guansheng Yuan, White Rabbit, Weiquan, and operated the ice cream brand Middle Street 1946 and Lin Sheng, a northwesterner of Madieer, and founded the Chinese ice cream brand Zhongxuegao. In July of the year of its inception, Zhongxuegao received angel round investment from ZhenFund, Dengbusu Investment and Fengrui Capital; Subsequently, in August, it quickly obtained a pre-A round of financing completed by Toushidao Investment Fund and Tiantu Investment.

Based on online sales, Zhongxuegao, who solved the problem of long-distance delivery of ice cream through foam boxes with dry ice at any cost, quickly became popular through cooperation with various celebrities and Internet celebrities, and with the help of social media such as Weibo, Xiaohongshu, and Douyin. Its high price and limited sales create a sense of scarcity, which is very topical and communication value, and some people on the Internet even call it the "god of ice cream" and "Hermes of the ice cream industry".

Image source: Little Red Book

On the day of "Double 11" in 2018, Zhongxuegao's single 66 yuan "Ecuadorian Pink Diamond" ice cream sold 20,000 pieces on Tmall in 15 hours, directly rushing to the hot search. Since then, Zhong Xuegao's name has been constantly associated with hot searches.

After that, Zhong Xuegao constantly tried to send himself to the hot search with an average frequency of almost once a month; Roewe, Wahaha, Wufangzhai, Luzhou Laojiao, Hema Supermarket, Xiaomi Mobile Phone... From cars to food, from supermarkets to games, every joint name can bring a lot of heat to it.

With its high popularity, Zhongxuegao's sales exceeded 100 million yuan in 2019, and in 2020, it sold 48 million ice cream, winning the Tmall Double 11 category sales champion in a row. Luo Yonghao, Wei Ya, and Li Jiaqi, who has recently been put on the cusp of the limelight, have recommended Zhong Xuegao more than once in the live broadcast room.

Image source: Canned Gallery

However, entering 2021, the wind direction of Zhongxuegao's hot search began to change.

First of all, on June 15, when Lin Sheng talked about the 66 yuan "Ecuadorian pink diamond" ice cream in the program "Ai Ask People", a phrase used to describe the extremely high price of raw Japanese grapefruit was sent to the hot search; Immediately after that, it was revealed that Zhong Xuegao had been administratively punished by the market supervision department twice for "false publicity" in 2019, once claiming that the light milk ice cream product "did not add a drop of water" and actually contained drinking water ingredients, and once because the red ice cream product used Turpan "special grade red extract", which was actually "bulk/first-class".

So on June 17, "Zhongxuegao apologizes" together with "Zhongxuegao is IQ tax or value for money", "Zhongxuegao special red mention is actually bulk red lift" and other topics on the hot search, the brand popularity is unprecedented. According to the "2021 "618" Consumer Public Opinion Analysis Report released by the China Consumers Association, 38,439 public opinions related to Zhongxuegao were collected in a few days.

Image source: Zhong Xuegao Weibo

In this year, Zhongxuegao sold 152 million ice cream, a year-on-year increase of 176%, and its revenue also reached 800 million yuan.

In the summer of 2022, the "ice cream assassin" has become a topic of national discussion, and Zhong Xuegao, who came out of the circle with a high price, has become the target of fear. This wave of hot searches, with the explosion of a group of Zhongxue Gao Haiyan ice cream on Xiaohongshu on June 25 in the 50-minute unchanging hunting evaluation at high temperature, gradually entered a climax.

Fried ice cream, lighter-fired ice cream, grilled ice cream... Netizens with entertainment spirit used Zhongxuegao to play a variety of unexpected flower work, followed by a soul-piercing question: how much "technology and ruthlessness" is added to the ice cream that will not melt? Although Zhongxuegao did everything in his power to educate consumers, adding "carrageenan" in moderation meets relevant national food safety standards and is healthy and harmless. However, who really wants to hear about preaching?

Image source: Weibo screenshot

The crisis caused by this hot search has caused Zhongxuegao's sales to drop sharply throughout the summer of 2022; The compound growth rate for the full year also fell to 50% from more than 100% for three consecutive years. At this point, Zhongxuegao seems to have begun to suffer from "hot search phobia", so that in the 2023 order season, there will be dealers to pull Zhongxuegao's management and repeatedly confirm that the company "can ensure that in 2023, there will be no public opinion crisis" - everyone is afraid of hot searches.

03. "Internet celebrity" is old, can you still eat?

For the dealer's question, perhaps Lin Sheng himself could not give an answer.

When the public opinion of burning Zhong Xue Gao broke out, Lin Sheng's remarks were like "adding fuel to the fire". In the circle of friends, he accused himself of being framed by "opponents", hot searches for "no money", "serious traces of the water army", and after the screenshots were circulated by the media, it caused a lot of controversy.

Image source: WeChat Moments

A year later, in an interview with "Tiger Sniff", Lin Sheng was somewhat remorseful, describing the rout as "beaten to his knees" and bluntly saying that "the worst moment" had thought that the brand might be "killed". Such a feeling, I don't know if Wu Chenglong, the owner of Hua Xizi, who was complained about by the departure of his own public relations team, can understand it.

Just on September 26, Hua Xizi, who had been "roasted" for half a month because of Li Jiaqi's remarks in the live broadcast room, was about to be hotly searched, but once again rushed to the hot search with the entry "Hua Xizi is crazy"; Then on the morning of September 28, Hua Xizi ranked first on the Weibo hot search list because of the strength of the "touch porcelain" stationery brand.

Image source: Weibo screenshot

Although I don't know how Lin Sheng feels when he sees Hua Xizi's "madness", compared with Hua Xizi's high profile that is now frequently searched, Zhong Xuegao is "indifferent and quiet".

In order to save the declining performance and "restore everyone's trust", Zhongxuegao began to mention "cost awareness", reduce marketing expenses, reduce exposure, and try to improve the image by launching low-priced products.

At the end of March 2023, Zhong Xuegao, who has been carefully away from the hot search for more than half a year, plucked up the courage to hold a new product launch in Shanghai, announcing the launch of 3.5 yuan AI-named, designed, packaged, and led popsicle product "Sa'saa" and an ice cream product "Dansheng" that looks unique and resembles eggs inside and out.

The launch of the two new products has once again put Zhongxuegao on the hot search, the former was complained about rubbing AI hot spots, and the latter was implicated because of the "overturning" of spokesperson Li Sheng.

Image source: Little Red Book

The reality of being slapped in the face again seems to have made Zhong Xuegao strengthen his belief in "Taoguang Yanghui". In the subsequent company's 5th anniversary, Zhongxuegao did almost nothing public except for discount promotions in the flagship store. He silently uploaded a commemorative video on his official Weibo, confessing that fans "on the slow and clumsy road, thank you for growing up with me." However, this paragraph caused group ridicule among Wang Yuan's fans, and was suspected of plagiarizing Wang Yuan's promotional copy at his 2018 concert. The complaints in the Weibo comment area are still visible today.

Image source: Zhong Xuegao Weibo

Today's Zhongxuegao, in addition to co-branding with the brand, also tells the story of enthusiasm for public welfare, helping farmers and helping the poor and education. In collaboration with the China Rural Development Foundation, he made ice cream with coffee from Menglian in Yunnan; Set up "love freezers" on the streets of Beijing, Shanghai and other cities to provide free ice cream to outdoor workers; Outside the college entrance examination room, distribute ice cream to candidates, congratulations to "cake in the cake"...

All of the above did create enough publicity materials for Zhong Xuegao, but the communication effect was far less direct and violent than that of "fire ice cream"; Whether it was on Douyin or Weibo, it didn't make much waves.

Image source: Zhong Xuegao Weibo

At the same time, various "negative public opinions" about Zhongxuegao continue to appear: 21 branches have been cancelled, products frequently appear in temporary stores, and 5.5 million assets have been frozen and sealed by the court... What is even more embarrassing is that although Lin Sheng has repeatedly said that all new consumer goods and new consumption models "must take quality as the first premise", Zhong Xuegao's reports of eating "foreign substances" have been reported one after another; On the black cat complaint platform, there are more than 1,200 complaints involving Zhong Xuegao.

Image source: Screenshot of Black Cat Complaint

Although with the rise of domestic products and consumption upgrades, a high-end Chinese ice cream brand has been created, whether it is the layout of offline channels or the control of the supply chain, it seems that it is not enough to support Zhongxuegao's ambition.

The former is vividly reflected in the fermentation of the "ice cream assassin" incident. The more expensive Häagen-Dazs has its own exclusive freezer and sales channels, which will not "sting" consumers in the cheap ice cream, and the whole process is unharmed; The latter, on the other hand, continues to consume the enthusiasm of fans in an online post similar to "Zhongxue Gao Foundry the same chocolate ice cream only costs 5 yuan".

For Zhong Xuegao, who was galloping all the way, perhaps the biggest problem was running too fast and fast. Eager to become popular, eager to break the circle, eager to prove themselves to capital; However, the reality is that it is unrealistic to build a truly high-end brand without marketing, but marketing alone is not enough.

Image source: Canned Gallery

In addition to the shortcomings that need to be filled urgently, Zhong Xuegao, who no longer goes out to chase the hot search, is now facing another problem. Fast forward half a year, the new product Sa'saa launched at that time is now rarely seen; and the ice cream "Dansheng", which was pinned on high hopes at the press conference and was responsible for Zhongxuegao to expand the consumption scene, was unsatisfactory in terms of product sales and brand popularity.

At the beginning of the establishment of Zhongxuegao, Lin Sheng once said that to be a brand, you must first make yourself an Internet celebrity, out of the circle, and then work hard from an Internet celebrity to become a long popular, and finally become a brand; "When Zhong Xuegao reaches the tenth year, I don't think anyone will come to talk to us about Internet celebrities anymore."

I just don't know, Zhong Xuegao, who has not been on the "hot search" for a long time, can still stick to that day?

Resources:

1. "Mooncake Market Welcomes the New Year: Cross-border Entrants Increase, Time-honored Brands Test the Water Live Broadcast", Securities Times

2, "Zhongxuegao's "melting"", Tiger Sniff Commercial Consumer Group