Recently, Zhong Xuegao, who has been in the whirlpool of public opinion for many years, has frequently reported new developments. First, a topic #Zhongxuegao price dropped from 60 yuan to 2.5 yuan# reached the top of the Weibo trending search, causing public uproar. But before the price cut crisis had subsided, the founder who had "disappeared" from the public eye for a long time Lin Sheng, however, received news that his consumption was restricted.
became an instant hit with a hit of 66 yuan, earning it the name "Hermès among ice creams." Behind every controversy Zhong Xuegao has taken, its founder and boss Lin Sheng is indispensable. Faced with several twists and turns in recent days, this once almost high-profile advertising man has also ushered in his darkest moment.
When ice cream has a "story"
Before becoming the founder of Zhong Xuegao, Lin Sheng was best known as a "senior advertising man".
"If you don't want to be president, then you will be an advertiser." Lin Shengwei was born in 1978. After graduating from the history department at university, he chose to "Beijing" and joined an advertising company and became an advertiser.
After accumulating enough experience, Lin Sheng chose to take root in Shanghai in 2005 and founded Shanghai Shengzhi Advertising Co., Ltd. with a registered capital of 500,000 yuan. Relying on Lin Sheng's solid literary skills and unique marketing style, Shengzhi Advertising quickly became famous in the industry. Big brand companies such as Master Kong, White Rabbit, and Guanshengyuan have all become Shengzhi's clients.
What really made Lin Sheng famous was his successful operation of two ice cream brands in the northeast - Madier and Zhongjie. This also paved the way for his second venture in the ice cream field.
The success of the "Madiel" and "Zhongjie" brands allowed Lin Sheng to figure out the path for Zhong Xuegao to start selling in the future - high-end, brand upgrade, and Internet celebrity promotion.
In 2015, Harbin’s Madier Ice Cream found Lin Sheng, hoping that he could help this remote brand go nationwide. Advertiser Lin Sheng seized on the sign of "time-honored brand", focusing on Madier's ancient palace recipes and traditional craftsmanship, combined with the historical heritage of Harbin, the "Little Paris of the East", to tell the story of an ice cream. Madier also took this opportunity to expand from one store in Harbin to 30 stores in a short period of time, with sales exceeding 10 million yuan in one fell swoop. Although
eventually parted ways with Madier, Lin Sheng's exploration in the ice cream field did not stop. In 2016, Lin Sheng took action again and operated the Shenyang "Zhongjie" ice cream brand, also from the Northeast.
This time, Lin Sheng proposed "Zhongjie 1946" with the birth year of "Zhongjie" as the suffix to highlight the long history and connect with the influential figure Zhang Zuolin. At the same time, it uses the high-end brand strategy to raise the Zhongjie 1946 series of ice cream to a high price range of more than 20 yuan. Combined with the promotion of new media and self-media, "Zhongjie 1946" became the first generation of Internet celebrity ice cream single product. In 2017, the ice cream category that had always been unpopular on Tmall suddenly became popular. The Chinese ice cream brand "Zhongjie 1946" had annual sales of over 100 million. During the 618 period, it sold 100,000 pieces in 4 minutes after going online. Lin Sheng's marketing strategy The law shocked the market again.
Through two successful ice cream brand trading experiences, Lin Sheng has thoroughly understood the ice cream industry. He believes that Internet celebrity is the only way to a brand. Only through continuous innovation and promotion can one compete in the fierce market. stand out.
When an advertiser became the boss of a new consumer brand
In 2018, Lin Sheng finally came to an end. Taking the meaning of "Chinese ice cream" and inspired by the surnames of hundreds of families, "Zhong Xuegao" was born.
Zhong Xuegao, which was born in 2018, does not have the historical aura of a "time-honored brand" like the previous two products.Not being able to tell historical stories, Lin Sheng started with "Chinese style", using national trend elements as inspiration, and using the "Hui" tiles of Chinese architecture as the design prototype, which also means "returning" to the original flavor; and the price is even more... Previously, the price of "Zhongjie 1946" increased by 3-5 yuan, reaching 4-5 times that of ordinary ice cream.
At the same time, the launch of ultra-high-end ice cream products caused market controversy. On Double Eleven in 2018, Zhong Xuegao launched "Ecuador Pink Diamond" priced at 66 yuan. It is said that only 20,000 units were produced. Lin Sheng’s copywriting for this Internet celebrity product is also gorgeous enough: scarce natural pink cocoa, expensive Japanese grapefruit and environmentally friendly sticks made of straw.
relies on the three magic weapons of high-end, brand upgrade and internet celebrity promotion. Zhong Xuegao "hit the top right after his debut" and once again became the "Hermès of the ice cream industry" in the eyes of netizens. For a time, Zhong Xuegao became an Internet celebrity ice cream that young people rushed to check in. The high price could not prevent it from being out of stock frequently. .
At that time, it coincided with the period of consumer investment craze in the primary market. Investors with large sums of money were looking forward to the next Heytea. Since then, Zhong Xuegao has conducted four rounds of financing. In July 2018, Zhong Xuegao received angel round investment from Zhen Fund, Dengbusu Investment, and Fengrui Capital; in August of that year, he also received pre-A round financing from Toudou Shidao Investment Fund and Tiantu Investment; in December 2020 In August, Tiantu Investment added an additional equity financing; in May 2021, Zhong Xuegao completed a round of financing of 200 million yuan, led by Yuansheng Capital, followed by hcapital and Wanwu Capital. Since then, Zhong Xuegao has not received new financing.
When consumers no longer pay for stories
Times have changed. With the downgrade of consumption and the sharp withdrawal of capital, the era of collective rush for new consumer brands has gradually come to an end. In just six years, compared with the image of the domestic ice cream brand, which was known as the "Hermès of the ice cream industry" when it was first launched, Zhong Xuegao is now deeply involved in various public opinion whirlpools, and Lin Sheng, who has always been high-profile, has gradually become low-key.
Starting from the "ice cream will not melt" door in the summer of 2022, Zhong Xuegao started a journey of regression. Lin Sheng's once "love to buy or not to buy" remarks were revealed again, but this time, consumers really don't want to. Paying the bill: Going back and forth, there is no escaping the marketing methods of upgrading raw materials, improving appearance and co-branding, coupled with product quality that is the same and even inconsistent with the publicity... "Zhong Xuegao" is no longer a representative of high-end. On the contrary, Cheng It has become synonymous with "assassin" and "IQ tax".
Along with the falling prices and the controversy over employee salary disputes, Zhong Xuegao, who was once very vocal in marketing and publicity, has also uncharacteristically fallen into a long silence: the last post on Zhong Xuegao’s official WeChat account was in August 2023 , and the updates of its Weibo, Xiaohongshu and other accounts are also at a standstill, and the latest update times are between August and September 2023.
Zhong Xuegao, who has always been somewhat "arrogant", also changed his goal to "survive". At the 2024 dealer conference, Zhong Xuegao silently set the theme of the conference as "Darkest Moment, Walking towards the Light." Lin Sheng announced that "this year will only do 300 million business." The number of its dealers It will drop from more than 580 to more than 100.
As one of the domestic ice cream brands that has emerged in recent years, Zhong Xuegao once won the favor of consumers with its unique product positioning and innovative marketing methods. The lessons of its brand development that have continued to decline have also sounded the lesson for new consumer brands. Alarm bell. Lin Sheng, who is well versed in marketing, ran too fast on the road of entrepreneurship, but ignored the foundation of the company's life: products.
is in full swing. When consumers are disenchanted with the brand’s grand narratives or concepts, the shortcut of traffic + capital is no longer feasible. Brands also need to return their attention to product quality and corporate heritage management in order to compete in the fierce competition. to gain a foothold in market competition.
Xiaoxiang Morning News reporter Chen Yingzhi comprehensive report
