Chen Weiwen: Building a "cool" brand

Loud noises and harsh lighting are what many people think of an ordinary mall, not the Oregon Scientific store. Walking into this flagship store in Beijing China World Mall, the atmosphere created by the powder-green walls, soft lighting and glass showcases makes people feel very comfortable. On the left side of the showcase, the fabric sofa, weight scale, and several fashion magazines that seem to be randomly placed on the low cabinet make the feeling of "home" come out.

On January 19th, Osia International Trade Store officially opened. Before the opening ceremony, Ren Xiaoyan, the manager of the marketing department, and several shop assistants were doing the final preparations in the store. Seeing that the landscape paintings hanging on the wall were a little crooked, Ren Xiaoyan walked over to straighten them, and told the store manager, "Classical picture frames are not suitable for Osia, because we are a young and fashionable brand. We need to replace them."

Brands need to be managed carefully. Regarding this, Chen Weiwen, Chairman and CEO of Ossia, is well aware of his saying: "Maintaining a brand is not so easy. A little negligence can destroy all efforts." In 2004, Ossia worked with Prada and Hermes in Italy. Ranked in the Top50 brand list together. Let's see how Chen Weiwen created such a cutting-edge and unique "cool" brand.

How do you understand the brand? What is the brand meaning of Osia?

A brand is not just a name, behind the name, a successful brand can often tell a story, or the experience of a brand leader. These stories represent a spirit, an attitude to life, which is what a brand is about. For example, why do ladies spend a lot of money to buy a LV leather bag, because the LV brand is already a symbol of middle and high social status.

"Smart Life" is the meaning of the Osia brand. Today's young people often like to buy novel and unique things, they want to be different from others, and our products are fashionable and practical, just to meet their needs. For example, we have the world's first waterproof and shockproof Mp3 machine, the thinnest Mp3 machine, a projection clock that can transmit time, etc. With these, you can listen to Mp3 music while swimming, and you can clearly grasp the time in the dark, all of which are It brings great convenience to life and increases the joy of life.

Unlike some successful luxury brands on the market, Osia is a "new luxury". The so-called "new luxury" can play a role in Products that maintain emotional effects are products that represent a way of life, and the prices of most products are acceptable to ordinary people.

There are many brands in the market that are labeled as culture and life. Osia is promoting this product. How do you feel about this lifestyle?

Everyone can use the word "lifestyle", but do they have a history? Do they have a cultural heritage? Osia was born in Portland, Oregon, USA in the 1980s , it is a very beautiful place, people pay great attention to the quality of life. Osia came to Europe in 198_9, there are so many countries in Europe, each country has its own culture, they have very high requirements for product quality, which requires us to improve Standards in design and product quality.

Another element is the consistency of innovation. Ossia now covers 16 countries, we have a dedicated design center, there are world-class designers, can accurately grasp the fashion trend. And we have R&D centers all over the world, and more than 600 engineers are responsible for R&D work. Innovation is not something that every brand can do, it depends on whether it has strength, and this is what we have been focusing on. Customers visit our store every month. If they can't see new products, what can attract them?

There are many consumer electronics brands at home and abroad, some of which have successfully occupied the Chinese market. What is the difference between Osia? How are you going to deal with these competitors?

Ossia is not an ordinary electronic consumer product, it is fashionable and can represent a way of life. These products have its particularity, which is the greatest strength of our brand. For example, it is also Mp3, we have made it very user-friendly, some can be worn for swimming, and some are the thinnest. Ossia has a number of world's first products, and some of them are listed in the Guinness Book of World Records. From this point of view, we do not have a clear competitor, and no other brand in the market has such a feature.

In addition, we have a wide variety of products, involving communication, learning, fitness and other six categories. Ossia products can be placed and used anywhere in the home, which is also the strength of our brand.

Who are the target consumers of Osia? How to make people from different cultural backgrounds accept its products?

Nowadays, people don't just buy things for cheap, they also think about function and design. There are three types of people who will consume our products: one is those who find our products special and bought for their own use, the second type is for others to use, and the third type is corporate group buying customers. The common characteristic of these three groups is that they like new concepts and unique products.

Although the culture of each region is different, fashion design is favored by everyone. We collaborate with world-renowned designer Philippe Starck to launch a collection. He is already well-known in the world, and people who have bought his works already have a certain understanding of his style and will naturally accept our products.

In addition, we have partnered with Ferrari, the world's No. 1 racing car manufacturer, to launch products such as alarm clocks with Ferrari engine sounds, Ferrari time projectors, etc., enabling our brand to be successfully promoted. Ferrari is known for its top-notch design and high-performance engines. There are loyal fans of Ferrari racing cars all over the world. Based on this, our series of cooperation with Ferrari has also achieved great success.

Osia has achieved considerable success in the European and American markets. What is your experience in brand promotion?

As an international brand, the most important thing is to maintain word of mouth. We have some loyal consumers. The customers who come to the store are generally people who have used our products or visited our store. This was the case with a customer I met in the store the other day.

We take great care in leveraging the history of our brands when promoting them. The promotion will focus on the technical content of the product, emphasizing the differentiated characteristics of the product. Therefore, we will choose the media for promotion through different angles for different products.

Opening a store is a high level of learning. The location of the store has a very important relationship with product positioning and target customer groups. For example, our store chooses the most high-end shopping mall in Beijing, and our Shanghai flagship store chooses Nanjing West Road, which is known as "China Champs Elysees", together with the specialty stores of other international brands such as Cadia and Chanel , is to attract customers with mid-to-high-end spending power to patronize and enhance their sense of identity with the Osia brand.

Is there any difference in brand promotion in the Chinese market compared to foreign countries?

As an international brand, global promotion will not make much difference. One of the characteristics of the Chinese market is that a large proportion of customers are group-buying companies, and many companies give our products as gifts to customers. These corporate consumer groups are very important to us, and promotions will also target companies and encourage group purchases.

After entering the Chinese market, our products have also been improved accordingly, such as the Chinese language of the e-learning series. In addition, I believe that novelty and fashion are the common language of the world, and China is no exception.

In the past two years, what do you think is the biggest difficulty in entering the Chinese market?

Overall it went well.

To say it is difficult, there is a point in human resources. If we want to guarantee the best service to our customers and pursue service quality, we need to find the best employees, the best promoters, not ordinary shop assistants, and then provide them with the best training. The enthusiasm of the store staff for the product and the customer is very important. We want customers to come to our store and feel at home even if they don't buy anything. So we do not rush to expand, step by step. Now many old customers have developed the habit of visiting the store, and they feel good when they visit our store.

Just like Häagen-Dazs ice cream or Starbucks coffee, the storefront should not only be a place to sell products, but the whole environment should make people feel comfortable and be a place for emotional transmission.

- Jenny Ding