Niu Gensheng Talks About Entrepreneurship: Attaching Importance To Intangible Assets

Since 1980s, " brand Brand Equity is widely recognized as the most valuable asset of a company. Although it is an intangible asset, it is an enterprise. Management Play a huge commercial role, because in the mature market environment, high added value exists only in the brand. Niu Gensheng knows that for the Mengniu in the early stage, the intangible asset of having and making good use of the brand is equal to gaining excess. Profit In this way, Mengniu started a distinctive road of brand building and made remarkable achievements.

Brand is the most worthwhile investment for an enterprise.

Twenty-first Century is the century of competitiveness. Competitiveness has become the basis and prerequisite for the survival and growth of enterprises. From the point of view of strategic management, any enterprise must have its own unique core competitiveness if it wants to fight the storm in the surging market tide. Brand competitiveness is the most lasting external manifestation of the core competitiveness of an enterprise. Any core competitive advantage of an enterprise is that resources, technology, talent, management and marketing should eventually be transformed into the brand competitive advantage of enterprises. Only in this way can enterprises maintain sustainable existence and development in the fierce market economy competition environment and ensure the prosperity of enterprises.

Mengniu just started with 10 million yuan of funds. We took out 1/3 as a brand, made brand building, publicity and accumulation, and added money to any place without adding value to the brand.

In Niu Gensheng's view, the competition between a country, a region and an enterprise is no longer the competition among the number, resources, and size of the territory, but the competition among brands.

Mengniu enterprise has not yet registered. The first CI manual has been made. In the 53 square meter temporary office of the stock company, the most striking painting on the wall is Mengniu's blueprint plan. In the compilation of the CI manual, the main body of Mengniu's corporate culture is also made. The mission, concept and vision of the company are determined before the company's formal establishment. In 1999, a total of 10 million yuan was raised, and Mengniu took out 1/3 money, that is, about 3000000 yuan to start making brand. In February and March, we planned publicity and produced products in April. In June, the brand image appeared on CCTV's screen.

Mengniu vice president Bai Ying once said: "Mengniu is not only selling products, but also paying attention to building the brand meaning of the two words" Mengniu ". To this end, Mengniu has set up a brand management center, mainly to enhance the affinity of Mengniu brand from the perspective of technology, green and nutrition. As for sponsoring Chinese astronauts and naming entertainment programs, these are part of the brand. "

Mengniu's successful interpretation of such a truth: planning is an important means to enhance brand competitiveness, event marketing is the best time to effectively enhance brand communication. At the same time, the attention economy reveals a truth: low cost expansion is capital expansion rather than capital link, rather than brand extension as the symbol of brand expansion. Mengniu, aiming at the national brand, aimed at CCTV's propaganda platform and adopted a high input and high-density media delivery strategy, which greatly saved Mengniu's cost of catching up with its competitors.

Mengniu not only created a very high reputation, but also created a very high reputation, forming a brand with a strong connotation of differentiation competitiveness. From the vision of "one hundred years of Mengniu, strong dairy farming" to the image of "corporate citizen", from the rich prairie milk to China's astronaut special milk, and then to the image of nutrition experts, the secret weapon of the Chinese Olympic Legion: milk dispensing packages, and today's response to the general principle call every day a pound of milk, strong Chinese. Mengniu's investment in brand has been carefully designed, and from the current market share of Mengniu, its investment in brand has achieved good results.

In just 8 years, Mengniu not only successfully sold its products, but also greatly increased its brand influence. According to the findings of the China Federation of Commerce and CCTV market research company, Mengniu has become the first brand of liquid milk in Chinese consumers. Not only the market share is ranked first, but also the market share and market coverage are among the top of the market.

After a hundred years, what an enterprise can really leave behind is actually a brand.

Brand positioning continues to escalate

Niu Gensheng described the importance of brand positioning in this way:

The key to the process is not just the key to the content, but the beginning design can fundamentally decide the fate of the enterprise and the product. The most important part of the design is to make good brand positioning.

How to make good brand positioning? Niu Gensheng explains:

We should do the whole nation according to our own characteristics. For example, we can imagine the intuitive response of customers everywhere to see Inner Mongolia products. If it's a car, he might think, oh, Inner Mongolia, don't break down halfway, not buy. If it is carpet and milk powder, he will think, oh, from Inner Mongolia, genuine goods, buy. Of course, I do not mean that Inner Mongolia has only prairie and no high technology. What I want to say is that after hundreds of years of accumulation, we have formed the Centennial brand of Inner Mongolia, which is a national culture and carrier with strong regional colors. This is our biggest intangible asset. Only by identifying our strengths and doing our "strengths" can we go to the whole country. If we fail to pick up the "weak points", we may be thankless.

The location of the brand in the prairie not only is Mengniu, but also with the Mengniu city's Erie, who can move from a borderland city to China in the same year, because it grabs a concept -- the grassland, and turns the Yili product into a scarce product.

At that time, the emergence of Erie led people to set a good milk standard in mind, that is, milk from the prairie can be considered as a good milk. Inner Mongolia prairie is the fourth largest grassland in the world. The quality of milk in Xinjiang is good, but it is difficult to develop to the whole country because of its geographical location. So when milk is divided into urban milk and prairie milk, city milk is not an opponent of Erie. {page_break}

In 1999, Mengniu was born and stood on the shoulder of Erie with the brand of "the second brand of Inner Mongolia Dairy". Mengniu's products are also located in the prairie brand. Mengniu's series of symbols are based on grassland. At that time, Erie made a strategic mistake and threw away the concept of "Grassland". Roland Begg, the second largest consulting company in the world, has shown that it is easy to associate Inner Mongolia prairie with sandstorms. When Erie got the report, he abandoned the original grassland location and repositioned it as "the natural pasture of the soul".

Niu Gensheng seized the opportunity. When everyone put aside the grasslands and gave up the concept of nature, Mengniu established a new standard: Inner Mongolia has the most advanced cattle farm in the world. So smart people shifted their attention. Therefore, Mengniu has always been the representative of "prairie brand" and is constantly upgrading its brand positioning.

As mentioned earlier, Erie looks for new brand positioning. Before 2003, it was "natural pasture of the mind". In 2004, it changed to "everyday nature". In 2005, it changed to "natural world and shared Erie" - they all adhered to a common core: nature. It can be seen that Erie is based on the rational psychological division of personality and has stronger product attributes.

In contrast, Mengniu is more brilliant in repositioning its brand. It firmly grasped the concept of "coming from the grasslands" and continued to increase the new concepts needed in its development stage on the brand of prairie, such as "products equal to character" (1999), "China dairy capital" (2001), "Inner Mongolia cattle, China cattle, world cattle" (2002), "every Chinese people's physical and mental health" (2003), "astronaut special milk" (2003) and "astronaut athletes' special products" (2004). In recent years, Mengniu has found a new competitive field in the increasingly competitive market in order to change its low price image, and has launched Deluxe and upgraded its brand image. However Since 2007, Mengniu has put forward a new brand positioning: only for quality life. Not only to provide natural, green, nutritious products, but also to create a better quality of life for consumers. It can be seen that unlike Yili, Mengniu mainly focuses on social development psychology and emphasizes development and public psychology.

Erie is the traditional Inner Mongolia dairy industry leader, so its brand will revolve around the "natural" attribute in many directions; Mengniu is a catch-up journey from the latecomer to the leader, which means that it can not follow the conventional way completely. It must constantly seek the next opportunity to improve itself according to the current situation, and this process must be carried out on the occasion, so the development and stage of its brand appeal are very obvious.

The origin of Mengniu

For entrepreneurs, some people focus on the construction of tangible assets, while others are concerned about the development of intangible assets.

Brand is a very important part of intangible assets. The way of brand often starts with the name of brand. Whether the brand can be heard quickly depends on whether the brand name can correctly convey the culture and connotation of the brand.

There is a small interlude about the origin of the name "Mengniu".

One day in early 1999, Tara, Niu Gensheng, Sun Yubin, Yang Wenjun, Qiu Lianjun, Bai Jun, Deng Jiuqiang, and so on held a secret meeting at the Bayan restaurant in Hohhot.

The purpose of the conference is to name it. It has been discussed many times before. In order to give a new name to a new company to be registered, brainstorming is applied again and again.

In line with the principle of "simple thinking, success can be achieved", Sun Xianhong said, "you see" Australian cattle "simply, that is," Australian cattle ".

A word awakens the man in dream. I do not know who blurted out, "then we call it Mengniu!"

Everyone applauded.

Only Niu Gensheng has objections. He said: "my surname is cattle," Mengniu "has the suspicion of" family business ".

Previously, he has repeatedly said: "I must make the enterprise into" everyone's business "; if it has become a certain family name, it will be my biggest failure.

A new name has been put forward: Mongolian milk. But "milk" is the upper voice, "cow" is Yang Ping, and read "milk" is not as strong as "Mengniu".

A stalemate. Some people came up with ideas to write down all the names of the previous meetings, and then voted collectively, which one would get the highest votes and decide which one to finish.

At this point, "Mengniu" the name of the final word!

"Meng" - Inner Mongolia. Behind is: blue sky, white clouds, grassland, cattle's hometown, milk cradle.

Cows, cows, milk. Behind is: Niu Gensheng, bull, bull market, diligence like cattle, vigorous as bull.

As the saying goes, "a good brand can speak." If you want to make the brand familiar to people and impress, you need to give the brand some unique personality characteristics. Something with individuality can attract attention. Therefore, if a brand wants to be dynamic, it must create unique and distinct brand personality, which has strong exclusiveness and can cater for consumers' personalized consumption needs. {page_break}

There are some successful brand names without any additional explanation. People will know what it is and what it means. Most brands do not know what it means if they do not make additional explanations. If the brand name is misunderstood, it will be a failure.

Therefore, brand names can convey "brand genes". There is only one criterion for the quality of brand names. That is to see whether the brand name is right and effective to pass the "brand gene". Therefore, the key to brand naming is to require the brand name to transmit the brand "gene" correctly and effectively.

It can be said that "Mengniu" is a "successful brand" name. This name gives people a sense of image. It is easy for people to think of the magnificent cows on the green grassland and think of the beautiful picture of "the sky is blue, the wild is boundless, the wind is blowing grass to see the cattle and sheep". This is also the prairie cultural heritage handed down by the ancestors for centuries, and the intangible assets of Inner Mongolia milk accumulated by generations for decades. This has also saved millions of advertising fees for Mengniu.

When Luo Gan visited the Mengniu, the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau said that Mengniu had a good name and industrial characteristics.

Mengniu logo is the corporate name Mengniu's ideographic modeling. With a thick and elegant brush, it symbolizes the vast and fertile land of Inner Mongolia. The unique regional advantages show that the development conditions of the enterprise are as good as heaven and earth. The bending angle is strong as the peak, indicating the tenacity and diligence of the cattle, which symbolizes positive, steady and enterprising ideas. It also implies that the products of enterprises are halal food. The whole logo is made of white and green, highlighting the theme of natural pursuit and away from pollution.

"Glass brand" and "diamond brand"

The common mistake of brand line is to attach importance to advertising, ignore news, or pay attention to "soft smell" and ignore "hard news". We say that advertising can tell people "ran", but can not tell "why". Therefore, the brand that is accumulated solely by it is not strong. It does not provide enough trust foundation to consumers. Once it is in danger, it will collapse suddenly, split into pieces, belong to the "glass brand", and news can elaborate on the ins and outs, merits and demerits, people know deeply, love is cut, and the ability to resist risks is greatly enhanced, belonging to the "diamond brand". As for "soft smell" and "hard smell", its effectiveness depends on whether it is in depth communication with consumers or whether the soul of consumers is demarcation. The true reputation of enterprises is "hard news" rather than "soft smell". Many soft smells don't see or look at, nor do they see, nor do they print, but Haier's refrigerator smash is 20 years.

In today's world of advertisements, consumers tend to be excluded from advertisements. Most advertisements leave memories to consumers fleeting. Therefore, if we want to keep the brand for a long time and continue to attract the attention of consumers, enterprises will continuously put different advertisements. So Niu Gensheng said that advertising created a "glass brand", and its ability to resist risks is weak. The news is different, it not only tells consumers what the brand is, but also shows the story behind the brand to consumers, which is easy to be understood and accepted by consumers, forming a long-term memory. So Niu Gensheng said that the news was built with a "diamond brand" and had strong anti risk ability.

Reviewing Haier's smashing fridge can bring us more enlightenment. One day in 1985, a customer went to Haier to buy a fridge. He picked it up and found that many of the refrigerators were defective. The customer was sent away. Zhang Ruimin sent people to check all the more than 400 refrigerators in the warehouse, and found that there were 76 kinds of defects. Zhang Ruimin made a startling decision: all of them fell.

At that time, the price of a refrigerator was at least eight hundred or nine hundred yuan, and many people strongly recommended that these products should be processed to internal employees. Zhang Ruimin disagreed. He said, "if I allow these 76 refrigerators to be sold, I will allow you to produce 760 such refrigerators tomorrow." So all these fridges must be smashed, and who will do it, Zhang Ruimin himself swung his sledgehammer to smash the first hammer. Over the next month, Zhang Ruimin launched a "quality movement" inside, focusing on a theme: "how to start with me and improve the quality of products". Three years later, Haier people won the first national quality gold award in China's refrigerator industry.

A smashing refrigerator incident not only changed the quality concept of Haier people, set up the concept of "quality based", but also made Haier a synonym for "focusing on quality". "Haier smashed Fridge" has become the most typical event of Chinese enterprises' attention to quality, and has become a "classic case" of numerous, large and small media, books, and institutions of higher learning. The act of frying the refrigerator made a marketing for Haier. Through the dissemination of this news event, Haier's image of focusing on enterprise management and product quality has been formally established.

Niu Gensheng clearly obtained many inspirations from this case. In the trade-off between advertising and news, Mengniu's most distinctive innovation is "the news production method of advertising films". The purpose of its advocacy is to achieve "grafting" between advertising elements and news elements, that is, taking into account the advantages of advertising and news, making them both advertising and new, and setting up corporate brand images consciously and purposefully with news events. From the perspective of advertising, consumers are more easily accepted because of the integration of news factors. From the perspective of news, it is more conducive to brand promotion, and the controllability of news has also been strengthened, making it easier to break from "fragile news" to "long-lived information".

Sun Xianhong, vice president of Mengniu and former press spokesman, once said in a speech: "advertising, we use all the news pages, not placed in the advertising page."

The advertising film "sky astronauts and athletes on the ground" is a classic case of Mengniu's "news making method of advertising films".

Mengniu's products have become special products for astronauts and special products for athletes. This advertising film integrates the "astronaut special products" with "athletes selected products". In the advertising production techniques, the control method and analogy method are adopted, such as "heavenly astronauts" and "ground athletes", "peacetime" and "racing time", "green field" and "assembly line", "athletes strive for excellence" and "Mengniu pursue the best"...... It not only embed the launching scene of Shenzhou five, but also captured the scene of the "special news conference for athletes".

After the air astronauts and ground athletes were broadcast, they were called "one of the most successful advertisements" and played a significant role in promoting the overall brand image of Mengniu. Mengniu's image of nutrition experts who "enhance physical fitness, develop physical fitness, maintain body shape and provide an efficient, scientific and comprehensive nutrition system for Chinese people" is once again vividly displayed in front of people.

There is no shortage of opportunities, for fear of lack of barriers.

The core of brand protection is to establish an intellectual property barrier for the brand, that is, the protection of brand owners' possession, use, income, control and disposition rights. If the image of a brand is damaged and its reputation is reduced to consumers, it may take years of time and energy to recover.

In the market, the person who takes the lead often takes the initiative. But this is not always the case. If there is no necessary competition barrier, it is also very possible for the "pioneer" to become a "martyr". First place does not necessarily win, and later does not necessarily lose, but it does not necessarily kill.