Brand cross-border innovation

Reason for selection: Driven by internal and external forces, brand cross-border innovation provides a new platform for enterprise development and enhances the value of the brand. only way.

Representative practice: Yunnan Baiyao, through brand cross-border discovery of market segments; Tongrentang, cross-border change "danger" into "safe"

Yonghe Soymilk opened a hot pot restaurant, Dekor floor entered the bathroom... This year's brand cross-border The world is still fierce. Brand cross-border innovation refers to the process in which an enterprise expands a well-known brand or a successful brand with market influence to products that are different from the famous products or original products.

As a brand management strategy, brand cross-border innovation can not only promote product marketing, but also enhance the value connotation of the brand. Therefore, it has been favored by enterprises since it matured in the 1980s. Apple, Japan's Muji, China's Yunnan Baiyao and many other classic business cases. However, behind the bright and successful cases, there are also more unsuccessful cross-border cannon fodder. To cross or not to cross? how to cross? What's the outlook for Trans? Various problems test the wisdom of Chinese enterprises.

Internal and external help "cross"

In terms of internal motivation, the company's brand crossover originates from the natural expansion impulse. Haier extended from refrigerators to freezers and air conditioners, and then entered the fields of computers, mobile phones, microwave ovens and other products. Before crossing the border, Haier positioned its brand as high-tech, high-quality products, and its marketing channels were all over the country. The product can penetrate smoothly and be presented to consumers.

Like TCL in the past, it started out with telephones and developed into TVs, refrigerators, mobile phones, computers, etc. Wahaha, which used to be only a children's brand, used pure water to cut into the adult beverage market. When the accumulation reaches a certain level, there is an inherent motivation to expand, which prompts it to enter new market areas for development.

From the outside, the diversified demands of consumption give enterprises the possibility to provide diversified products, and the fierce competition in the same product field also forces enterprises to look for new growth space across borders. In recent years, the cross-border innovation of brands in the pan-furniture industry has been dazzling. Bathrooms, tiles, cabinets, wardrobes, floors, hardware, real estate... Some companies continue to draw a connecting line on several of them, and cross borders are intertwined.

For example, Oupai, the leader in the cabinet industry, is involved in the overall wardrobe, and plans to become the top three in one year and the first in three years. In fact, the European Party brand is not unfamiliar with cross-border brands. In 2003, it began to expand the kitchen appliance market. Four or five years ago, it realized its joint development strategy of kitchen and bathroom brands through the launch of bathroom products.

For example, Yunnan Baiyao's cross-border practice from pharmaceutical products to daily chemical products provides a valuable reference for how time-honored enterprises can continue and enhance their brand vitality in the brand era. Yunnan Baiyao, which has a history of nearly 100 years, has also encountered the crisis that the market is swallowed by Western medicine. It chose to graft traditional Chinese medicine into material science, and endows products such as band-aids and toothpaste with special value of Yunnan Baiyao, with functions that are three times more expensive than ordinary toothpaste. Sexual toothpaste is a selling point, and it has grabbed food from global giants such as Unilever and Procter & Gamble. Last year, its toothpaste sales exceeded 1.2 billion yuan.

Yunnan Baiyao ranked fifth in the 2011 Chinese popular products published by Nikkei BP, after Sina Weibo, iPhone, Group Buy and Pleasant Big Big Wolf. Yunnan Baiyao has achieved the rejuvenation of the time-honored brand in one fell swoop, and has also set off a cross-border trend of time-honored brands in pharmaceutical companies. Another time-honored brand, Tong Ren Tang, crossed the border into cosmeceuticals, turning the once "dangerous" into an "opportunity". In 2004, the "Jianzihao" drug was banned from the market, which made Tongrentang's batch of popular internal and external medicines to be discontinued. In desperation, it was converted into a "makeup brand", and it was a step by step. Four years later, it was replaced by a subordinate supporting role. Turn into an independent protagonist product, blow the horn to enter the cosmeceutical, and then do make-up. Dr. Sun Yongling, a strategic management expert, analyzed that the reason why Tongrentang can achieve successful brand cross-border innovation is that on the one hand, it has found commonalities based on in-depth research on brand connotation and customer groups; on the other hand, the company regards brand as an intangible asset and It is effectively managed.

In the process of transforming from manufacturing to "intelligent" manufacturing, Chinese enterprises want to get rid of mediocre imitation and low-cost competition, and must give high added value to their own brands, and even reshape their brand image globally, and brand cross-border Innovation is undoubtedly a high-quality path. Professor Dai Changjun of Donghua University Rising Sun School of Business Administration further pointed out that innovation is the key for countries and enterprises to obtain competitive advantages in contemporary society, an important part of realizing the transformation of economic mode, and a capability that is still lacking in my country; brand cross-border innovation belongs to enterprises Innovation at the operational level is a cutting-edge field in modern management, and the experience of successful companies is worthy of publicity and promotion.

Lessons from "Crossing" Failures

However, in any explanatory entry for brand cross-border innovation, do not forget to add similar expressions that there are far more failures than successful ones. Haier's medicine, Moutai's beer and wine, Sanjiuweitai's Sanjiu beer, Oaks' cars, Wuliangye's chips, Fangtai, the boss's cupboard, Wahaha's children's clothing, Vitality 28's pure water, traditional Chinese medicine Tasly's Jinshili wine.. Failures abound.

Brand cross-border innovation, money alone is useless, Procter & Gamble spent 1 billion in three years to push a shower gel product but ended up being discontinued. Successful brand cross-border innovation is based on a unique core value. For example, Yunnan Baiyao creates cross-border products with the core concept of "hemostasis and anti-inflammatory", creating a new market segment. Japan's Muji initially only sold household items and food. Its crossover started with maternity clothing. Today, its products cover stationery, food, kitchen supplies, clothing, furniture, beauty and health products, flower shops, coffee shops and even housing construction. It has become a one-stop life industry chain provider from a single manufacturer of daily necessities, and its products are always based on the minimalist connotation of the brand.

Finding the common emotional value or universal value of human beings, and grafting it into the brand or product of the enterprise, and exploring the opportunities for brand cross-border, this is the core element of any successful global brand. It's hard to imagine a day when Google sells clothes and Microsoft sells shoes, but Disney can go from making animations and movies to running amusement parks, selling the happiness that everyone needs.

If Fujifilm turns into cosmetics, the core is to master the technical advantages that others do not have, that is, to apply the research technology of collagen on the previous film to cosmetics, and the cross-border success seems to be successful. In fact, one of the factors for Yunnan Baiyao's cross-border success is also to master advanced pharmaceutical technology. As of the first half of last year, it has applied for 372 patents.

Remember Pierre Cardin, a big French brand who was once popular in China? Now it has already become a third-rate brand that sells authorization and even sells the brand. Brand crossovers are like rubber bands, there is always an upper limit to the span, otherwise it will become brittle or even break. Pierre Cardin entered any field that he could enter, in an attempt to build a brand empire, but instead led to the loss of the brand's core value and fell from the throne of high-end brands. In China, Haier has extended its home appliance brand to medicine. It is difficult for consumers to think of medicine from the original value of the Haier brand. Bawang, which started its brand with shampoo, produces herbal tea. It is estimated that even Jackie Chan drinks it when he drinks it. Be hesitant about whether the tea smells like shampoo.

Backgammon, known as a "cross-border pioneer", announced in February this year that it would withdraw from the field of household appliances and retreat to mobile phones and educational electronic products. Previously, BBK had also abandoned the field of digital audio-visual. Three years ago, BBK entered the field of household electrical appliances in high spirits. BBK copied its advertising bombing model that has been successful in other fields, but ignored the cultivation of supply chains and channels in this field, and did not fully understand the market demand-oriented product competition in this mature field. thus dejected.

Brand crossover is not simply copying and grafting, but based on a deep understanding of the common needs of target consumer groups, the establishment of the core value of the brand and the establishment of extended products that can accommodate brand identity. Find commonalities and inclusiveness, and brands will find concentricity across borders.