In 2024, why do we need a summit forum that connects youth and the automotive industry and focuses on the great changes unseen in a century?
Because young people are the new force in the development of China's automobile industry and the driving force behind industry innovation, the two-way rush and ideological collision between young people and industry leaders will correct the direction of China's automobile industry under the wave of change and provide the power to resist anxiety.
On April 23, on the eve of the 2024 Beijing International Auto Show, the Youth Dialogue Automobile Future Forum, guided by CB20, the Joint Conference of Chief Brand Officers of Chinese Automobile Enterprises, hosted by Shuidi Automobile, and co-organized by Tencent Advertising, was held as scheduled. Hundreds of people, including leaders of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, heads of domestic mainstream automobile brands and leading suppliers, student representatives from universities across the country, and the media, gathered together to talk about the future of automobiles and change the direction of sails together.
Mobilize the power of the back wave to promote the automobile marketing from "the emperor's edict" to "the book on the bus"
As an important landing project of the CB20 "China Automobile Youth Camp", the Youth Dialogue Automotive Future Forum held its first event before the Shanghai Auto Show last year, building a bridge of communication between young people in the new era and the automotive industry. This year, the Youth Dialogue on the Future of Automotive Forum has gone one step further to face the current pain points of the automotive industry, promote the in-depth interaction between Houlang and the industry, and introduce the wisdom and strength of young people to find solutions together.
Since last year, many milestones have occurred in the domestic automotive industry: in 2023, the mainland's automobile exports will rank first in the world, the share of independent brands in the domestic market will exceed 50% for the first time, in the first half of April, the penetration rate of domestic new energy will exceed 50%, and new energy vehicles have officially become the mainstream of the auto market. Cutting-edge technologies such as solid-state batteries have begun to accelerate their entry into the car, BYD has soared, Huawei has set off a wave of intelligence, and Xiaomi cars have entered the market quickly......
But along with it, the market involution has reached the extreme, business is becoming more and more difficult to do, the smell of competition is becoming more and more sufficient, and new players, new gameplay, new stories, new public opinion fields, and new consumption environments are emerging in an endless stream, breaking the original balance, and enveloping every Autobot into it, running blindfolded.
If we can't change the direction of the wind, then change the direction of the sails together. In the face of anxiety and confusion in the industry, Wu Weiqiang, founder and CEO of Shuidi Automobile, first threw out three questions that hit the pain point in his speech at the forum, causing everyone to think: "Who said that only a zero-sum game is the background color of the 'people's war' in the field of public opinion?" "Who said that the industry is involuted, there is only a way out of the price war?" "Who said that product creation, long live A goods can defeat the original royal road?"
These three questions are in fact the pursuit of the right to define products, the right to set prices, and the right to speak. Wu Weiqiang pointed out, "In 2024, what will plague the vast majority of car companies is not products, technology, or costs, but marketing. ”
"Today, a new page has been opened in automotive marketing. Behind this is a complete reversal of the position of potential energy of car companies and consumers. Wu Weiqiang said, "Today, car companies are already the weak side, and users have become extremely powerful." "The reason for this is mainly reflected in two aspects: one is the opening of social platforms, every consumer is the media, and it is also the car owner media, which is an authoritative KOC; ”
When the user becomes the real god, the "emperor's edict" style of communication that car companies used to make by issuing a few press releases and holding a few test drives will no longer be effective. Wu Weiqiang believes that what is needed now is the precise planning of the "book on the bus", "the head circle is initiated, the waist circle is promoted, and the majority of people follow up, which requires car companies to upgrade from small-scale battles to phased battles to deal with the current car war."
Since its establishment in 2017, Shuidi Auto has clarified the background of facing ordinary car users, determined the goal of "making the most valuable connection", and clarified the development idea of gradual evolution from a media platform to a content management organization. In addition, Shuidi Auto has always been with young people and has formed a broad mass base in the back wave. Today, in order to adapt to the changes in the automobile marketing environment, Shuidi Auto officially released the largest young creator cultivation project in history based on the video number platform - "Houlang Star Project".
Wu Weiqiang is full of expectations for the future waves, "I believe that these new young people of the era will rub the hottest and most traffic-oriented youth sparks with cars, and the original content they create must be a new force of automotive content with full emotion and unlimited creativity." It is foreseeable that the "Houlang Stars Project" will bring more textured native car content to the video account based on acquaintance traffic, and it will also become a powerful attempt to detonate the attention of young people to cars in 2024.
Open microphone dialogue to discuss the key variables of the great changes unseen in a century
At the first Youth Dialogue Automotive Future Forum, the "Open Microphone Dialogue" session of youth VS industry leaders was eye-catching and became the biggest memory point talked about by the outside world. This year, this creative part has been preserved.
The theme of this year's forum is "Revisiting the Key Variables of the Great Changes Unseen in a Century", which hits the root of the current anxiety in the automotive industry - the times are changing too fast, there are too many variables, which are the key to winning the future, which are the lively floating clouds, and how to balance the right and the unexpected?
In this regard, Ma Zhenshan, executive vice president of Chery Jaguar Land Rover Automobile Co., Ltd. and executive vice president of Jaguar Land Rover China and Chery Jaguar Land Rover joint marketing sales and service organization, believes that Apple's software and hardware integration can be referred to, and Apple's supply chain cost and quality control are the top. The moat for future development of car companies needs to find unique competitive advantages, such as the resilience of the supply chain, the speed of customer response, and the sustainability of technology. At the same time, it is also necessary to find a positioning and strategy, whether to go to sea, whether to make up for shortcomings or to make a long board first, whether to change the mechanism, and all of this requires decision-making.
Huang Zhaogen, assistant general manager of Chery Automobile Co., Ltd. and general manager of Xingtu Marketing Center, believes that in the face of rapid changes, it is necessary to achieve three extremes, the ultimate traffic, the ultimate pricing, and the ultimate user operation are the core of the next stage of brand competition.
Zhang Hongyu, general manager of Chery New Energy Automobile Co., Ltd. and general manager of the iCAR brand business department, believes that first of all, we must think clearly about who to build a car for, what kind of car do young users want in the future, what can we provide to users, and secondly, we should recognize our own ability and grasp the amount of certainty to cope with the uncertainty of change. Finally, it is the heritage of car manufacturing, long-term technology research and development, manufacturing supply chain and large system support. In short, in the face of competition, we need in-depth insight, insight into the brand, and insight into demand.
Yongjun, vice president of AVATR Technology, believes that more and more R&D personnel are moving from behind the scenes to marketing, adding new blood and new changes, which is the marketer taking the initiative to change. He believes that there are 4 changes now, the first change is that the market has changed, the market has stopped growing, and it is necessary to find a new direction of development. The second is that the participants have changed, in the past, joint ventures were dominant, now Chinese brands account for a large market share, in the past, overseas brands entered China, and now more Chinese brands go overseas, in the past, it was traditional car people, and now Xiaomi Huawei is involved. The third is that the technology has changed, the first half is electrified, and the second half is intelligent. The fourth change is that the traffic has changed. AVATR chose to unite China's scientific and technological forces to quickly build a high-end intelligent luxury brand.
Of course, being in an era of change also means that everything is still inconclusive, we still have too many doubts and confusions, waiting for time to give the answer: does traffic really represent sales? How far can we go if we are too anxious? How to deal with the rampant chaos of the water army?
We may not be able to change the direction of the wind, but reshaping the right values again and again and building a broader consensus will help the whole industry adjust the sails, correct the course, and move closer to the other side of the dream.