Abstract: Background After five years of painstaking research by experts from the Sino-US Research Center, in July 2001, Galanz's first digital light wave oven was launched in the US Research Center. After the "9.11" incident in the United States, due to the powerful sterilization function of light wave ovens, a "light wave storm" blew up in the U.S. market. The U.S. military service agency sent a large number of orders...
After Sino-U.S. research Experts from the center worked hard for five years. In July 2001, Galanz's first digital light wave oven was launched in the American research center. After the "9.11" incident in the United States, due to the powerful sterilization function of light wave ovens, a "light wave storm" blew up in the US market, and the US military service agency sent large quantities of orders. In 2002, Galanz's light wave oven was exported to domestic sales. Because it is better than traditional microwave ovens in retaining food nutrition and sterilizing functions, it focuses on the advertising theme function appeal of "more thorough sterilization, more nutritious and delicious". Due to the high technological content of its products, Galanz takes the high-end route and attempts to use the high-end image of light wave ovens to reverse the inherent image of "price butcher" that Galanz has long formed.
Since the beginning of the year, "SARS" has spread rapidly in China. Hong Kong, Guangdong, Beijing, Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, and Hebei have become key epidemic areas. "SARS" has had a greater impact on people's work and life. And thus promote the improvement of people's health awareness. For a time, "sterilization", "disinfection", "health" and "SARS" have become the words that people pay the most attention to and have the highest mention rate.
According to an authoritative survey, since the outbreak of SARS, 59.6% of people want to be "healthy", and nearly 60% of people have immediate needs for health. If we calculate that there are 300 million households in the country, that is, 60% of households have immediate purchase needs. If each household invests 500 yuan in purchasing "disinfection appliances" and "healthy appliances", then it will cost at least 90 billion yuan. market capacity.
Light wave oven combines "sterilization and nutrition"
In most people's minds, the main function of a microwave oven is cooking, but its other important function, "sterilization and sterilization", is not considered by people. Cognition.
In fact, the disinfection and sterilization effect of microwave ovens has been used abroad for a long time. According to German food experts, about 5% of high-quality grape wines are mixed with the smell of cork, which greatly reduces the taste of the original wine. The unique smell of cork is produced by fungi and microorganisms in the pores of the bottle stopper. of. Therefore, researchers at the German Viticulture Research Institute used microwave heating and sterilization technology to deal with them at the beginning of the last century. After the cork is heated and sterilized and then used to encapsulate wine bottles, high-quality wine can be stored for a long time without producing cork smell. In 2001, after the "9-11" terrorist attacks broke out in the United States, the anthrax that swept across the ocean made Americans from the president down to civilians afraid to open letters and parcels. In order to eliminate people's fears, Alibik, a well-known American anti-biochemical terrorism expert, introduced at a conference on nuclear non-proliferation that anthrax spores can be killed by using a microwave oven. This statement caused people to rush to buy microwave ovens.
The Galanz light wave oven is a new product. It is an innovative patented digital light wave technology based on traditional light waves. It has excellent performance in preserving nutrients when cooking food and instantly killing bacteria. When Galanz decided to promote light wave ovens in the domestic market in 2002, the company's business decision-makers were faced with the following question: Should they continue to promote microwave ovens, or should they innovate and promote light wave ovens?
Light wave ovens are products with high technological content, and Galanz’s original intention was to take the high-end route. If Galanz continues to promote the concept of "microwave oven", since Galanz and microwave oven products as a whole give people a low-price, low-tech image, it is obviously not enough to support the high-end route of this product. If you start a new stove to promote the concept of "light wave oven", it means that you need to restart a new market concept. If this new "light wave oven" concept continues to demand cooking functions, it will not be very different from the original microwave oven, so it will only It can focus on disinfection and sterilization functions. However, it is still unknown whether the disinfection and sterilization function can be accepted under the background that the overall health awareness of the Chinese people has not been greatly improved. What is even more risky is that once the concept of "light wave oven" is launched, it will require a lot of market investment. If it is not accepted, all marketing investment and time costs will be lost in vain.
Of course, if the "light wave oven" market is cultivated, Galanz will open a "new chapter" and the entire market will be exclusive to it.
In the end, Galanz adopted a compromise approach, choosing the concept of "light wave oven" and using advertisements with dual appeals of "more thorough sterilization and more delicious nutrition" in terms of product function appeals. language. Since 2002, Galanz has gradually increased its efforts to promote the concept of light wave ovens, including terminal displays, outdoor promotions, TV and newspaper and magazine advertisements, terminal POP and other advertising materials. When taking stock at the end of the year, the results were pretty good. A preliminary light wave oven concept was established in mind, and product sales reached the 1.2 million unit mark. But as the decision-makers analyzed, the market at that time was mainly for "nutritious and more delicious", and the recognition and acceptance of the "sterilization" function was not very strong.
Focus on sterilization
Every crisis not only contains the root cause of failure, but also breeds the seeds of success. Discovering, rescuing, and nurturing in order to harvest this potential opportunity for success is the essence of success. If a company takes a crisis as an opportunity, seizes the crisis and seeks for vitality from it, the crisis can make a company successful.
The raging "SARS" across the country is, from a macro perspective, a crisis for the country and a huge test of the country's ability to respond to crises. From a micro perspective, except for the medical and health care industries, it can be said that it is a crisis for any company, but the degree of impact is different. How to minimize the losses caused by the SARS crisis? How to eliminate the crisis? Or even how to turn a crisis into a potential business opportunity? When SARS came, these issues were faced by every company.
When SARS first started to spread in Guangdong, Galanz Group executive Liang Zhaoxian approached his assistant Zhao Weimin: "This may be an opportunity for Galanz. Can our sterilization function be vigorously promoted? You guys Do some research." A few days later, Zhao Giliang wrote in his research report: Citizens' health awareness of disinfection and sterilization is gradually increasing. This is an excellent opportunity for light wave ovens to improve the concept of sterilization. Galanz can take this opportunity to redefine microwave ovens. functions, redefining the microwave oven market, and the "New World" may be discovered.
As a result, Galanz launched a massive "SARS" war. A three-dimensional combination of public relations war, news war, technology war, advertising war, and blocking war was completed in a very short period of time. A brand new market is gradually changing the inherent image of Galanz. For now, the entire battle continues and the market is moving forward at a rapid pace. The author tried to conduct some preliminary market operations of Galanz in order to provide reference and evaluation to other companies and colleagues in the industry.
1. Advertising is advancing at full speed, and the full-contact advertisement for disinfection and sterilization does not mention "SARS" at all, and does not mention its nutritional function for the time being. It only positions the light wave oven on the disinfection and sterilization function, and informs the audience of the light wave oven. The microwave oven has surpassed the ordinary microwave oven and is an upgraded version of the microwave oven. It has a high technological content and can kill bacteria. Examples of successful disinfection and sterilization such as being able to kill anthrax virus are cited to enhance the sterilization convincingness of the light wave oven. TV, newspapers, websites, terminal posters, single pages, etc. formed a three-dimensional publicity offensive, which immediately formed a shock wave of "disinfection and sterilization" of Galanz light wave ovens in the market, giving people the impression that Galanz light wave ovens are professional "anti-virus king" specially designed for disinfection and sterilization. "Image.
When citizens fell into a "SARS" panic, when people's "health" awareness began to emerge due to SARS, when citizens went out and took masks home to disinfect, Galanz light wave oven "disinfection" Functional advertisements for "sterilization" frequently appear in various media. They undoubtedly have strong catering and penetrating functions, reaching the top of demand and forming immediate purchases. After the purchase was made, Galanz publicized these purchase cases, thus forming a "linkage effect." For a time, people who already had a microwave oven at home bought a light wave oven to disinfect masks, gloves, underwear and other items. A certain foreign company provided benefits to employees for group purchases, a certain canteen purchased more light wave ovens, and Galanz light wave ovens were out of stock. The people in charge of Gome and Suning stores are happy to report that Galanz light wave ovens are selling like hotcakes. Queues have appeared at Galanz counters in major stores to buy light wave ovens, etc., which has become a hot topic in the streets.
2. Public relations war to protect the concept of "disinfection and sterilization" When SARS spread, it can be said that every company was tempted and thought about making money from SARS, but little did they know that " "SARS" is both a business opportunity and a murderous opportunity. If it is not handled properly, it is very likely to get burned, especially when the country has issued a strict prohibition on using "SARS" for any form of advertising, publicity, and false propaganda. As a result, we have seen incidents of companies, health care companies, daily chemical companies, and even home appliance companies being investigated and rectified being constantly exposed to the public by the media.
Ganz has taken great care in the promotion of light wave ovens. It did not mention the word "SARS" at all. Even when it promoted the concept of "sterilization and disinfection", it still made itself famous and well-established. There is evidence, and public relations work is advanced layer by layer and closely linked. The entire public relations process of Galanz is also worthy of study and discussion by the industry and theoretical circles.
The first battle of public relations is to test first and then study, making the light wave furnace "disinfection and sterilization" famous.
At the first time, Galanz sent the light wave oven to a third-party testing agency, the Guangdong Provincial Testing Center, for testing. The test results showed that after experiments, Galanz digital light wave oven artificially contaminated milk samples with golden grapes. Cocci and water samples were artificially contaminated with E. coli, and the sterilization rate reached 100% when heated for 3.5 minutes; for naturally contaminated bacteria in raw pork, raw fish, raw milk, and tap water samples, the sterilization rate reached 100% when heated for 3.5 minutes and 10 minutes; for pork and fish meat samples were artificially contaminated with Salmonella, and the sterilization rate reached 100% when heated for 10 minutes. During the critical period of SARS, everyone understood the weight and significance of this test report. In the shortest possible time, Galanz formatted and printed this report into a promotional leaflet and quickly sent it to all sales outlets and dealers at all levels.
With this authoritative test report, Galanz can straighten its back and promote the "disinfection and sterilization" function. With the authoritative report, it is necessary to let more people in urgent need of care know about it, so that more people can get the health care of Galanz light wave furnace. Galanz took measures to make donations and hold seminars at the same time. On April 27, 100 Galanz light wave furnaces were urgently transported to eight universities in Guangdong Province including Central, Southern and Sun Yat-sen University Affiliates in Yangcheng for daily disinfection of medical staff. It also held the first "Expert Forum on Prevention of SARS" and "Seminar on Disinfection of Home Appliances" in Yangcheng with the "Information Times". Eight leaders of Guangzhou and many medical experts attended the meeting and fully affirmed the "disinfection and sterilization" function of Galanz light wave oven. He praised Galanz for his righteous deed.
It can be said that Galanz fought very well in the first public relations battle. So, what card should Galanz play next?
The second step of public relations is to carry out the donation to the end! Galanz's decision-makers understand very well that if the manufacturer only relies on itself to promote the many effects of its products, it will inevitably arouse doubts. However, the products chosen by medical staff can undoubtedly serve as a demonstration, because in extraordinary times, medical staff are working in a certain area. To a certain extent, they have become spiritual leaders, through whom they can not only dispel concerns, but also guide consumption.
On May 12, Guangdong Galanz Group donated 1,000 digital light-wave microwave ovens worth nearly one million yuan for free and arrived in Xiaotangshan, Beijing. Without any fanfare or formality, after a brief handover, Galanz light wave ovens were quickly installed in the rooms and various restaurants of Xiaotangshan medical staff. Due to the special nature of the treatment of SARS patients, medical staff are also particularly important. This batch of light wave ovens provided by Galanz Group are specially designed for the special environment. The 1,000 light wave ovens that integrate sterilization and food nutrition and preservation functions took less than 10 days from materials, technology improvement, production and assembly to transportation from Guangdong to Xiaotangshan, creating Galanz's "special customization on demand" "The myth.
Ganz’s donation of light wave furnaces has been ongoing since April. On April 28, Galanz, together with the Chinese Society of Preventive Medicine and the Beijing Municipal Bureau, provided 100 light wave ovens with high-efficiency sterilization and disinfection effects to the six major hospitals in Beijing. On May 5, "Beijing Youth Daily" issued an initiative to collect electric fans from the society. Galanz Beijing Center did not hesitate after seeing the news of the initiative. It immediately called the company headquarters and requested rapid shipment to Beijing and sent 1,000 additional electric fans to Beijing Youth Daily. 》. In the shortest possible time, all 1,000 electric fans arrived at the newspaper office.
In addition, Galanz has also organized donations of "anti-SARS" materials in many places, and has donated digital light wave ovens to Guangzhou, Hubei, Inner Mongolia, Zhejiang, Henan, Shaanxi, Liaoning, etc. Thousands of microwave ovens have been sent to The front lines of SARS medical treatment in various provinces and cities provide strong support to the medical staff fighting on the front line and the majority of patients.
As a private enterprise, Galanz Group has been holding high the banner of "responsibility, love and concern for the country and the people" since SARS spread across the country, and has stood by our "angels in white" and the vast number of people. patients, giving them courage and confidence. Donations one after another reflect Galanz’s concern for society and people’s livelihood. Through donation activities, Galanz's image has been greatly changed. Galanz has won praise, support and market.
3. Technology war, applying the latest technology to products. If we want to examine the comprehensive strength and development potential of an enterprise, the level of technology research and development and the size of technology development funds are very important aspects. It is difficult for a company that ignores technology research and development to become bigger and last longer.
Since 1998, Galanz has invested more than 100 million yuan in research and development every year. In 2002, the investment in research and development was as high as 400 million yuan. The strong research and development strength has enabled Galanz microwave ovens to have a new generation of spherical light waves. Technology, multiple anti-microwave leakage technology, magnetron life extension technology, and more than 500 patented technologies. It is precisely because of its technological leadership that the value of Galanz's "global manufacturing" has been greatly enhanced, and its domestic and export sales are booming. From January to May 2003, the export sales of Galanz's series of products increased by 100%, and the domestic sales increased by 50%.
The invention of the Galanz light wave oven is a high-tech product spurred by the demand for sterilization and disinfection. In 2001, after the "9-11" terrorist attacks broke out in the United States, the anthrax that swept across the ocean made many Americans afraid to open letters and parcels. In order to eliminate the fear in people's hearts, Alibik, a well-known American anti-biochemical terrorism expert, introduced at a conference on nuclear non-proliferation that anthrax spores can be killed by using a microwave oven or a steam iron. After Galanz's first digital light wave oven was launched in the US research center, American merchants frequently contacted Galanz. Due to the powerful sterilization function of the light wave oven, a "light wave storm" blew up in the US market, and the US military service agency sent large quantities of orders. .
During the SARS period, in order to support the "anti-African" work in Xiaotangshan, Beijing, Galanz integrated global resources, jointly tackled key problems through American research centers and relevant scientific research institutes, redesigned, re-opened molds, and re-designed It only took 7 days before and after the product was rolled off the production line. The latest sterilization technology was applied to the light wave oven, and a new generation of light wave oven was quickly launched that integrates sterilization, food cooking, nutrition and preservation. The light wave oven can produce sterilized food in 30 seconds. High temperatures above 200°C can effectively kill bacteria and viruses. This kind of light wave oven was recommended by the Ministry of Health, and Galanz donated 1,500 new-generation light wave ovens to SARS in Beijing, such as Xiaotangshan, 302, China-Japan Friendship, and the SRAS Gene Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
In order to share more with the country, Galanz, while increasing production capacity, also decided to set aside a certain amount of money from sales as a special fund for "disinfection home appliances" and cooperate with domestic and foreign scientific research institutes. We will tackle key problems and take the lead in applying the latest sterilization and disinfection technology to household appliances, creating more disinfection "star products" to "protect" your healthy life.
Fourth, news war, show off the role of leader. As an enterprise, profit and pursuit of profit maximization are the ultimate goals. How to make your product known and accepted in the shortest possible time is a problem that every company must face and solve. As for behaviors such as donations, they fall within the moral scope of enterprises. They are welcomed by society but are not required by enterprises.
Looking at the entire promotion process of Galanz's "disinfection and sterilization" of light wave ovens, its news publicity and planning capabilities are also considered masters. They are always surrounded by news and public opinion, and are able to control public opinion well. Developing in a direction that is beneficial to oneself has a good communication effect. Galanz’s news war uses national media as the main battlefield, local urban and evening newspaper media as the flanks, and financial media as the backbone. The overall news strategy can be divided into three stages:
The first is the momentum building stage , mainly publishes reminders and educational information on appeals such as the popularity of disinfection home appliances, the ability of light wave ovens to sterilize, etc.
For example, ""Disinfection appliances" become a hot commodity", "Disinfection appliances: a huge gold mine highlights the market", "Microwave ovens took advantage of the momentum during the SARS period", "SARS triggered group purchases of microwave ovens", "Light wave oven sterilization and disinfection" The article does not highlight the company, but mainly emphasizes that the light wave oven has the function of sterilization and disinfection, which arouses the appetite for the light wave oven.
Then the momentum stage, with donations as the main appeal, Galanz and light wave ovens were "bundled" and launched, paving the way for future market segmentation. The news at this time includes "Ganz and the Chinese Association of Preventive Medicine care for the angels in white", "Information Times and Galanz care for the angels in white", "Ganz FireWire develops thousands of sterilizing light-wave ovens and rushes to Xiaotangshan", "Ganz will carry out the donation to the end", etc., especially donations. The news about Xiaotangshan was also featured in the "News Network" column of CCTV, which greatly highlighted the public welfare image of Galanz Enterprises.
The third is the closing stage. Galanz breaks out of the shackles of the concept of light wave ovens and puts it in the disinfection and sterilization industry to describe and promote, so as to achieve a certain degree of opening and closing. Articles such as "Who Will Become the "Columbus" of Disinfection Home Appliances", "Antibacterial Disinfection Appliances Trigger Evolution in the Home Appliance Industry", "The Popularity of Disinfection Appliances Reveals China's New Code for Home Appliances" were quickly reprinted by major newspapers, radio stations, TV stations and websites. , Galanz has become the leader in disinfecting household appliances, and light wave ovens have become synonymous with disinfecting household appliances.
The successful promotion of Galanz's light wave oven has made some competitors unable to sit still and launched so-called "light wave ovens" one after another. Galanz released "Expert Reminder: When purchasing a light wave oven, confirm the patent and prevent it" in the media. Articles such as "Counterfeiting" and "Ganz uses patents to uphold its reputation as light wave ovens" do not give opponents any chance to take advantage of the situation.
5. Fight the war and defend the light wave oven market. In May, the famous domestic portal Sohu.com held a national selection event for the "Disinfection Home Appliances Competition", breaking the so-called self-evaluation stereotypes of experts and enterprises, trying to start from From a market perspective, “sterilizing home appliances” are identified from the perspective of recognition and acceptance. Sohu.com has collected related products that are well-known at home and abroad. During the event, more than 300,000 people viewed the products, and 15,200 netizens participated in voting for the most satisfactory products. According to the voting results of netizens, Galanz light wave oven won the first place in "Disinfection Home Appliances" with its excellent disinfection and sterilization function. The market is the most fair judge, and it once again confirms the success of Galanz's light wave oven marketing.
However, just as Galanz was embarking on its next marketing plan, it was surprised to find that it had spent several years, spent a lot of manpower, material and financial resources, and gathered the efforts of many scientific researchers to bring the light wave oven market to When it was cultivated and recognized and accepted, competitors had already played a "black hand": seeing that the light wave oven market had been formed, they changed the labels of ordinary microwave ovens and started selling "light wave ovens" in public. The product price is only about 300 yuan!
The reason why Galanz light wave ovens are conceptually imitated by competitors is for two reasons: First, light wave ovens have formed a market and are widely accepted, and are very likely to be regarded as modern products. There are alternatives to microwave ovens (which maintain the cooking function of the original microwave oven, but also have sterilization and disinfection functions). If we do not follow up, we may lose the light wave oven market, so we havetily launched the so-called "light wave oven" in an attempt to "Split the pie." 2. To combat Galanz. "You can't have what I can't have." They just keep doing the same thing, naming a low-priced microwave oven as "Light Wave Oven" to attack Galanz's high-end light wave oven market, in order to disrupt the market and give Galanz a blow in the head. The approach is undoubtedly terrible.
As everyone knows, Galanz has been prepared for this and already has a "magic weapon" to block the market: the application of light wave technology is Galanz's original and first patented technology, and has applied for patent rights in dozens of countries around the world. Anyone who dares to imitate this technology will have no choice but to face him in the property rights court. At the same time, Galanz also posted the "LIGHTWAVE" logo on its products for market segmentation, providing the most intuitive reference for selection. With the "double ID card" of the light wave oven of "Light Wave Patent" and "Light Wave Logo", supplemented by market guidance and reminders, the uniqueness of Galanz's light wave oven market has been highlighted and guaranteed, and market segmentation has been achieved.
Looking at the whole process of the successful promotion of Galanz light wave ovens, it is like playing chess. Every step is cautious and not isolated. It requires a vision of ten steps ahead, the speed of immediate action and comprehensive understanding. Strategy, this may be what we should learn from.