no one expected that once the 315 party was broadcast, Laotan pickled cabbage, an instant noodle industry, had painstakingly created a taste category for several years, which instantly ushered in a cold winter, and even the whole market was caught in an overwhelming abuse.

however, what is even more unexpected is that in the stormy weather, a brand of instant noodles, which has been away for a long time, holds its head high and keeps drawing a beautiful arc in the public eye.

It made a high-profile response on Weibo:

Figure 1: White Elephant responded to netizens' concerns

Many stories about it emerged at this opportunity, and the white elephant, which was originally facing brand aging, was suddenly rejuvenated. As the saying goes:

There is no way for mountains and rivers to regain doubts, and a village is bright.

so, what did the 315 party reveal? What kind of story does the white elephant have?

All this should start from Huarong County, the northern border of Hunan Province:

Huarong County, with abundant rivers, rivers, wasteland and beaches, is a famous mustard producing area in China. Huarong mustard is a famous geographical indication brand with light yellow color, slightly sour and crisp taste after pickling.

but at the 315 party in 222, the mustard here became a nightmare for the people of the whole country.

CCTV footage recreates such a scene for us:

At the edge of the endless mustard field, there are artificially dug pits. In early spring every year, after the mustard is ripe, the unsalted and unwashed mustard is thrown into these pits at will. After the ragged mustard sleeps in the soil for several months, rusty trucks will come to buy it.

at this time, farmers rush headlong into action and stomp on the mustard. The platform scale was put on the food pile, cigarette butts were thrown into the food at will, and impurities such as feathers and feet skin were not uncommon.

When asked who collected this dish, the old farmer beside him flicked his cigarette ash and said

"Flag planting" unhurriedly.

these two words can't help but make people gasp, because the pickles in flag-cutting vegetable industry will be sold to many downstream manufacturers such as Master Kong, and through these well-known enterprises, the sauerkraut in Tukeng will reach consumers all over the country.

Flag-planting is not an isolated case, and the person in charge of another Tantan Qiao food company is even more complacent. In the office, he bluntly said,

"I know the products we are making now, and I (preservatives) are exceeding the standard when I put them in.

The problem sauerkraut has implicated many vegetable enterprises. For Huarong, this is a sleepless night.

The law enforcement officers watching the program put down their chopsticks and went out without looking back. At 9 o'clock that night, the first team arrived at Chaqi Vegetable Industry and Jinrui Food, and another team called the heads of more than 3 pickles enterprises in the county for a meeting overnight.

Not only the law enforcement officers and vegetable enterprises in Huarong County have no sleep, but also the heads of instant noodle enterprises and public relations teams have got out of bed.

Because while Huarong County was burning with eyebrows, the whole network was caught in a huge panic and anger. Naturally, consumers' anger was directed at the instant noodle enterprises that were closest to them, and they were unable to be excused due to poor supervision.

"Unified Apology" and "Apology by Master Kong" have successively reached the top of hot search, and e-commerce platforms such as Taobao and JD.COM urgently blocked the entry of "Laotan Pickled Noodles".

Figure 2: Taobao and JD.COM blocked the "Laotan Pickled Noodles"

After the market opened on March 16th, the share prices of Master Kong Holdings (322, HK) and Uni-President China (22, HK) fell sharply, both of which once exceeded 1%.

It is in this cry that white elephants come into consumers' sight.

White elephant is easy to get old

In the instant noodle rivers and lakes today, white elephant is a brand that many young people don't know, but in fact, its ancestors were also rich.

About 2 years ago, Bai Xiang and diamond cut diamond, Jinmailang, were inextricably linked in the low-priced ring, but Jinmailang had not changed its name at that time, so it should be called Hualong.

Figure 3: "See you every day at Hualong Noodles" is a childhood memory of many people.

At that time, there was a fairy fight in the urban instant noodle market. Many star enterprises were fighting in the venue, and the price basically started in 2 yuan. Master Kong and Uni-President of the first echelon raced around the big city desperately, so it was really not a good policy for junior players to rush into the market.

Hualong's swordsmanship is unique, and it's called encircling the city from the countryside.

The first style of this swordsmanship is a low-cost strategy. The instant noodles produced by Hualong are kept below 1 yuan, which is the basis for cutting into the market of 8 million rural people and the guarantee for many children to spend with pocket money.

"Holding crumpled paper money, I ran to the grocery store, took a bag of Hualong noodles from the counter higher than myself, crushed the noodles through the bag, tore open the salt bag and sprinkled it into the noodles, stood at the back of the house and happily grabbed the noodles into my mouth. Finally, I didn't forget to bump, and looked up and let the last residue pour into my stomach along the package"-this is a memory that many people will never forget.

The second form of swordsmanship is multi-brand strategy. Different from today's brand families, Hualong takes a unique approach and takes regional differences.

For example, in the three northeastern provinces, Hualong's face is called "Dongsanfu", and countless Northeasters regard it as their local brand; In the eastern coastal towns and villages, Hualong used the Japanese name "Liudingmu" to cater to the popular Japanese culture. In some southern cities, due to the relatively developed economy, the "Hualong Well-off Society" has been introduced, and it has become a noodle for people who live a well-off life!

Figure 4: The transvestite of Hualong

The white elephant can become an opponent who loves and kills Hualong, naturally because it bet on the rural track.

American scholars al ries and Jack Trout once summed up a rule of offensive warfare in the commercial field: attack in a narrow strip as far as possible. The essence of this principle is to gather all the strength to build fist products to occupy the market and expand the market based on fist products.

In the rural market, low prices are standard, and the profits are pushed to the lowest level. If the latecomers want to recreate the miracle, they must go through a unique and ingenious gap, but they can't fight on all fronts, because the white elephants can't afford to fight on all fronts, so this gap must be perfect.

the white elephant really found a gap to meet these harsh conditions.

In p>23, Baixiang introduced "noodle soup with bone", which creatively focused on "bone" and "soup".

On the one hand, bone soup is a nourishing drink in the traditional concept of most Chinese people. On the other hand, the research results of Harvard Medical School in the United States show that the key to the healthy growth of bones is the continuous protection of bone collagen.

Many ordinary people have heard such propaganda, which is simply a brief encounter. You used to publicize the noodles every day, but I don't know that I care more about that soup.

Even if more and more people begin to refute the view that "nutrition is in soup", there is still one thing that cannot be denied: drinking soup is a beautiful thing!

Figure 5: White elephant with big bones

The reaction of white elephant with big bones in the market, in the current words, is crazy.

In p>25, the sales volume of single white elephant with big bones has reached 57 million yuan, and one single product supports the whole white elephant food.

this is the highlight moment of the white elephant, but the market situation is changing rapidly, and soon, the pace of the white elephant is a little behind.

White elephants can successfully cut into the rural market from the narrow strip, thanks to the products and Yu Hualong's distraction. Because Hualong wanted to go up, he went to wrestle with Master Kong.

Hualong catered to the name of xx Lang, which was popular at that time, and launched Jinmailang, which was laid out in the middle and high end.

in April, 24, Hualong group established Hualong Nissin Food Co., Ltd. with a joint venture with Japan Nissin Food Co., Ltd., and Nissin invested RMB 1.554 billion to hold 33.4% of the shares. (In 215, Nissin withdrew from the instant noodle joint venture business in China, and sold its shares for about 8.6 billion yen. )

Ando Baifu, the founder of Nissin Food Co., Ltd., invented instant noodles in a 1-square-meter hut in Osaka, so Nissin was the first enterprise to produce instant noodles in the world, which also determined the leading position of Japanese enterprises in this field.

Figure 6: China's early equipment was mostly imported from Japan

Thanks to Nissin's technology, experience and management model, Jinmailang's development entered the fast lane and began to enter the urban market.

Baixiang, on the other hand, has never introduced foreign capital, and has always been an authentic Henan enterprise.

The watershed of fate appeared in 28.

Seeing many opponents walking upward, the white elephant suddenly "self-destructed the Great Wall".

As the preparations for the Olympic Games are in full swing, Baixiang Group has developed a special instant noodle product for Tibet mountaineering team-Baixiang 8848 Daguhuang, which will climb Mount Everest together with the first torch of the 28 Olympic Games.

This was originally a marketing with a punk color, but the bad reason lies in this. In late winter in Beijing, when the North Sea ice has not melted, Yao Zhongliang, chairman of Baixiang, told reporters:

"Quit the low-end noodle market completely, that is, no more instant noodles below 1 yuan will be produced.

Figure 7: White Elephant cooperates with Tibet Mountaineering Team

It seems that none of the products named 8848 have been successfully promoted to the high end, and the spring of White Elephant has never come again.

In the mid-to-high-end market, White Elephant has been slow to launch amazing products, fresh noodles are unremarkable, and drinks are ruined. After the melee, Master Kong and Uni-President attacked the rural market on a large scale, and White Elephant was left with no money.

In this cruel battlefield, after all, the white elephant is still young in qualification, and there is no giant to mention it. In the lost decade, the products on the shelves are less and less run.

When more and more young people have never heard of the white elephant, the brand image of the white elephant is also facing aging.

reunification is hard to seal

The white elephant and Jin Mailang in the second echelon are wonderful, and Master Kong and Unity in the first echelon are even more deadly.

Uni-President and Master Kong are both enterprises from Taiwan Province. In Taiwan Province, Uni-President is an out-and-out industry leader, but when they went to the mainland for development, Master Kong took the lead.

The reason why Master Kong can push the boss into a corner is that he uses the method of an old Beijinger:

authentic!

Uni-President sells its trump card in Taiwan Province: instant noodles with shrimp flavor, but this taste is really bland for most people. In the era when materials are not abundant, food and meals are tasteless, and it is not easy to buy instant noodles, which is also a light mouth. Who will be a repeat customer? Unity obviously didn't learn to empathize.

and what is the answer sheet handed in by master kong?

braised beef noodles!

The name of braised beef sounds atmospheric, and the publicity picture is mouth watering. More importantly, the sauce package was creatively added to the braised beef noodles, which was half a position ahead of all competitors in the instant noodle Jianghu in the 199s.

heavy taste, sufficient materials, heavy oil and heavy salt. Watching the sauce spread out in the bowl, my heart is full of happiness.

For a long time, Master Kong's braised beef noodles dominated the standard of instant noodles industry, that is, three packages of seasonings were put into one package of instant noodles: vegetable beef package, seasoning package and sauce package.

figure 8: master kong's classic braised beef noodles

unification can't keep up with one step, and it can't keep up with each step.

In the following years, Uni-President made every effort to launch an all-round war against Master Kong, from children to adults and from low-end to high-end.

but as we said earlier, we must not fight on all fronts in an offensive war, because the attacker cannot afford it.

Master Kong, as an industry leader, occupies half of the instant noodle market, and it imitates whatever is unified-

When the raccoon crisp noodles are unified, Master Kong will introduce Little Tiger crisp noodles;

When each package of 2 yuan's "Unified 1" is uniformly launched, Master Kong will engage in "Mianba 12";

each package of .8 yuan's "Good Way" was put on the shelves, and Master Kong introduced each package of .7 yuan's "Fumando";

Master Kong copied "Master Tang" by racking his brains to launch "Master Tang".

This is the "Li Guang is hard to seal" in the Jianghu of instant noodles.

After several years, Uni-President always figured it out, so we have to concentrate the strength of the whole group on one point to make a breakthrough.

Looking at the whole product line, we found that one of our products had a good response in southwest China and had the potential to be promoted to the whole country.

Laotan noodles with Chinese sauerkraut were born.

In order to seize consumers' minds, and for the sake of Yin and Yang Master Kong, a special advertisement was put out:

"Some people imitate my face, and others imitate my face? Imitation is not the unification of the old altar.

The flavor of pickled cabbage once again caters to consumers' love in the new era, giving a shot in the arm to the long-silent instant noodle market, which quickly swept the country north and south.

fig. 9: unified advertisement of sauerkraut noodles in Laotan

The sauerkraut mouth in Laotan has become a unified life-saving straw, and it is no less important for unification than it used to be for white elephants. Under the constant promotion of unification, analysts believe that the taste of Laotan sauerkraut may also account for more than 2% of the whole instant noodle taste.

but reunification always seems to be unlucky and doomed.

at the 315 party in p>222, the sky collapsed.

Defeated at Huarong Road

In 28 AD, Cao Cao defeated Chibi and led his troops back to Jiangling from Huarong Road (now northwest of Jianli, Hubei Province), leaving a bridge for later novelists and storytellers to "defeat Huarong Road".

more than a thousand years later, on the mustard road in Huarong county, Master Kong, Uni-President and other instant noodle giants once again fell heavily.

this fall also pushed the white elephant that is easy to get old and the unification that is difficult to seal into the spotlight.

Although Uni-President denied the cooperative relationship with flag-cutting vegetable industry and invited 1 people to visit his sauerkraut factory, the first announcement it issued that night still recognized the cooperative relationship with the pothole problem enterprises in Hunan.

In fact, it doesn't matter whether it is recognized or not, because the anger of the whole network has declared the end of this industry. After the credit collapse, consumers will look at everything with suspicion, and this category is likely to withdraw from the stage of history.

it is difficult to rebuild the trust of the market.

Figure 1: Unified Statement on the Use of Pickled Sauerkraut Bags (First Edition)

Although Master Kong's plates are bigger and less dependent on Laotan Pickled Sauerkraut, until the program was broadcast, Master Kong was in close cooperation with the flag-cutting vegetable industry, and was located in the center of the whirlpool, so he couldn't wash them if he wanted to.

Figure 11: Master Kong's statement on the use of pickled cabbage

Under the extreme anger, other categories of Master Kong will be affected in the short term, but in the medium and long term, Master Kong will be more calm than Uni-President.

When Kang Tong's huge body slipped, people suddenly discovered the white elephant shrouded in a huge shadow. It never left and has been quietly ploughing in the industry.

In fact, as early as the closing of the Winter Paralympics, CCTV highly praised the white elephant's integrity.

Baixiang Food Company in Jining, Shandong Province has 237 employees with disabilities, accounting for 3.15%;

Hunan Branch * * * has 485 employees, and 117 employees with disabilities are employed, accounting for nearly 25%.

......

White elephants never call them disabled employees, but replace them with self-improvement employees, who have silently helped the disabled to integrate into society for so many years.

Figure 12: White elephants are "self-reliant employees"

Not only that, but also small white elephants are always at the forefront in public welfare.

Donate to Soong Ching Ling Foundation of Henan Province.