How Does A Four-Month-Old Brand Rank #1 On Xiaohongshu Search?

Zhongxuegao (钟薛高, English name Chicecream) is a premium domestic ice cream brand that has become extremely trendy in China in 2019. Only 4 months after it was created, it became the most searched food on Xiaohongshu. Within a year, its sales ranked first among Tmall’s frozen foods. 

The catch – it costs 3-4 times as much as other ice cream bars! So how did they do it? 

Accurate positioning

• It may come as a surprise, but China has become the largest market for ice cream in the world. Yet there are very few competitors when it comes to high-end, healthy, domestic ice cream brands (most are foreign).
• It promotes itself as low-sugar and low-fat. Chinese consumers are becoming increasingly focused on their health. In the past they might not be willing to pay a premium price for ice cream, but now they care more about the calories and what health problems the ice cream may bring and will pay more for better quality
• The brand targets middle-class post-80s and post-90s consumers. Consumers in these two groups are typically part of the lifestyle upgrade trend and are very comfortable with online shopping, even for food.
• Zhongxuegao is also cultivating Chinese consumers’ habits to store food, instead of buying just one, buy the whole package and same some for later
• Zhongxuegao doesn’t produce many flavors as other brands do. And they produce a lot of unique flavors. They feel like if they provide too many options, it will make it hard for consumers to choose. So they make it simple.

Strong Marketing: 

• To differentiate its ice creams from the market, Zhongxuegao shapes the ice cream bars after Chinese tiles. And this unique shape is what is mentioned most in XHS posts and helping the product go viral. 
• Zhongxuegao advertising creates a lot of emotion around its products, creating special moments and sentimental value around when and where consumers have the product
• But the founder admits he is actually worried that the brand has done so well because there is generally a short lifespan for trendy products and he is already working to set the brand up for long-term success. 

Read more: 中式雪糕钟薛高，又一个打透细分市场的新品牌！值得借鉴
 

We Have KOLs, KOCs, and Now KOBs?!

This article introduces a new influencer marketing term is called KOB which stands for Key Opinion Business. Really, it’s more like key opinion business manager or salesperson. These people typically work at a physical store and have both an offline and online connection with their audience. KOB usually have nearly 5,000 WeChat friends, and have more than 2 WeChat groups with 500 members each. They often do more than 10 product posts every day. 

People follow KOLs because of the KOL’s content and personality. But people who add KOB’s WeChat account are doing it more specifically because they want or need to buy something the KOB has access to, for example, a daigou or a luxury brand sales associate. What differentiates KOBs from regular business owners and sales associates is that consumers go to them specifically for their in-depth product knowledge, personal recommendations and advice. 

Really the concept is not new, just the term is, and the article is saying the term was coined because this type of influencer is becoming more important as brands are trying to reach consumers in lower tier cities. 

Read more: 下沉市场，得KOB者得天下

Chinese Celebrities are Tired of Weibo Yet Unable to Stop Using it

Originally, Weibo was a platform for users to share their lives and express themselves. Now, it’s more like an entertainment and gossip forum. It has become the base camp for girls to chase their idols, and a tool to examine how popular an idol is. This group of users have changed Weibo’s position in the market, and it brings new risks for celebrities. 

Celebrity content on Weibo is extremely curated. Every post is planned, proofread and approved. Most of the time it’s not even the celebrity using the account, their agents are operating it. At the same time, it’s a highly viral platform and one wrong move could cause a flood of criticism.  

Under these circumstances, a growing number of celebrities have made Weibo the platform where they post things about their work and advertisements, and they seek comfort on Instagram. On the one hand, they don’t want to give up Weibo – it will be a big loss for them if they do so because every post, every interaction with fans is linked closely to marketing and traffic. They need it for their career to survive. 
And as you probably already know, there’s a lot of fake data on Weibo. Fans will form Shuijun Groups (水军群) to increase their favorite idols’ popularity. Every day, the group leader will assign tasks, telling members they need to make an original Weibo post about a certain topic, repost or comment, or participate in a hashtag. People who follow the instructions will get 3 RMB per post. If this person has achieved Daren level on Weibo, they will get 5 RMB instead. If they give a vote, they will get 0.6 RMB. Reports have shared that if you took away all these fake fans only about 1 out of every 1,000 followers a celebrity has would be a real fan. 

Read more: 如果失去明星，微博还剩下什么？

China Influencer Marketing Podcast Episode 54: Becky’s Fantasy COO Tristan Cui Shares the Key Drivers of Becky Li’s Success

About two months ago when I was in Guangzhou I had the great honor of visiting the headquarters of Becky’s Fantasy, the company owned and operated by top WeChat fashion influencer Becky Li. While I was there, I got to sit down with Becky’s COO and close friend Tristan Cui and pry into the inner workings of a company and KOL I really admire. 

Tristan has been Becky’s close friend for a long time and has been with Becky and the company since the beginning.  In the interview she shares what differentiates Becky from other influencers in China, some of the key drivers of her success, and why Becky’s WeChat article open rates have remained extremely high while other accounts are struggling. 

Listen online here and on iTunes here.

Austin Li (Li Jiaqi) Reveals His Future Career Plans

The famous top beauty influencer Austin Li/Li Jiaqi(李佳琦) publicly shared his career goals for the first time during a speech in Shanghai on November 17. 

He outlined three core areas: 

• First, of course, he would continue his e-commerce livestreaming. 
• Secondly, he would go offline, opening a beauty store like Sephora, featuring only products that he has selected and approved. 
• Third, Austin said he would create his own beauty brand. Not just a Wanghong(网红) brand, but a world-class domestic brand. He said this is his biggest dream. 

Brands beware….influencers are coming for ya! 

Read more: 李佳琦公开演讲首秀：我的终极梦想是做享誉世界的新国货品牌