Let’s start from the Chinese food culture. As we all know, there is an ancient saying that “No wine, no feast.” Drinking is the only purpose of a feast. Dishes are served to go with wine. So, the dishes that go with wine create a liquor market worth RMB 500 billion.

 

I have recently found an interesting phenomenon: 80% of the wealth in the world is owned by people who are associated with wine. They are wine consumers, wine producers or wine sellers. The legendary Rothschild family, for example, has the world-famous Chateau Lafite Rothschild and Chateau Mouton Rothschild. Although the chateau is small and earns moderate profits in a year, the family won’t sell it, no matter how tempting the offer is.  

 

Also, the three giants in the field of home appliances in China, “Haier”, “Gree”, and “Midea”. The sum of their market value is not comparable to the market value of Maotai, nor is the sum of the market value of the top 11 listed automobile companies in China. Under the context of national economic growth slowdown and fluctuations, the total market value of Maotai, Wuliangye, and Yangheis close to RMB 1 trillion......

 

I think of what happened in September 2015. I was invited to serve as a judge for the International Liquor Grand Prix of Brussels. A reporter asked me, “What should we learn from foreign liquor?”“Foreign liquor producers admire their Chinese peers! Imported wine was not served on the table. It was Chinese liquor producers who successfully combined Chinese food and Chinese liquor to secure the market position and size of liquor today. It is reasonable to say that the cultural business is profitable than many other businesses,” I replied.

 

That Chinese liquor does so well is known to few. In fact, I can’t figure out why, either. If we simply move on blindly without farsightedness in such a promising industry, how could we seize opportunities? So, I would like to talk about how to catch the future profitable opportunities based on the status quo of and reflection on the liquor industry and the introduction of Jinliufu·Yitanhaojiu.

 

 

 

Jinliufu once did a good job. We have 15 wineries (including 12 liquor factories), but having sold nearly one million tons of liquor for the past two decades, we desire to change. At Jindong, after getting “bigger”, we want to be “stronger”.

 

Jinliufu impresses many people as blessing liquor for the Chinese and an ideal present at festivals, celebrations and visits to relatives and friends. However, as time goes by, we find that it is not welcomed by frequent drinkers. How does this change occur? What should we learn from? My answer is Hermes, MUJI, Maotai, and Wuliangye.

 

Hermes is good but expensive, extremely expensive. However, it is still sought after by many rich ladies, even though they need to wait for four or five years for a bag that costs them as much as RMB 600,000.

 

MUJI is known for its simple, natural, good-quality and reasonably priced products.

 

Maotai and Wuliangye, similar to Hermes, provide high-quality drinks at very high prices.

 

Drawing on these cases, I think we should learn to target at a consumer group accurately from Hermes, to provide good-quality products at reasonable prices from MUJI, and to strictly guard the bottom line of quality from Maotai and Wuliangye.

 

After the whole tone is set, we have to figure out what our strengths are. We have two decades of experience in the liquor industry and 12 liquor factories that produce seven flavors, namely: strong flavor, soy sauce flavor, special flavor, rice flavor, Xifeng flavor, fen flavor, and mixed flavor. We have 9 well-known trademarks in China, 4 China time-honored brands, and 20 national master liquor makers. Relying on these resources, Jinliufu established the China Liquor Innovation Research Center which gathers all the liquor makers across the group and master liquor makers from home and abroad to form an expert advisory group, with determination to make a best Chinese liquor product.

 

Having conducted more than 1,000 tests over the three years of research and development (not including the tests among hundreds of thousands of consumers, and the product was always the winner in each blind assessment), the 12 liquor factories contributed their selected flavoring liquor to the secret formula of the mixed-flavor “Yitanhaojiu”. The formula is known to only three people. 

 

 

 

What is the mainstream consumer group of this product? Those who drink often and those who well versed in liquor. At the beginning, some thought that this product was for young people. I asked them, “Who would like their children to drink spirits when they are still young?” They would be exposed to beer, alcopop and red wine before they could adapt to alcohol. Wouldn’t the consumer groups at their 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s and even 70s are enough? 

 

I think liquor is “a present to celebrate maturation for an adult” rather than a rite. I hope that all the liquor businessmen should advise young people to stay away from liquor when they just try to drink, unless they carry the gene that prevents them from getting drunk. Most good drinkers are trained rather than inborn.

 

 

 

To brew good wine, the geographical environment matters. The first consideration is the ecological problems. Now the ecological environment has undergone great changes, but brewing good wine must need good water, good grain, and appropriate climate.

 

There is a magical place called Qionglai in China.It is known by the Tibetan people as “land of beautiful wine under the Laishan Mountain”. “Qiong” means good wine in Tibetan. According to research, Qionglai has more than 2,000 years of wine brewing history and almost every household had a wine workshop in the past. Qionglai is close to the largest transverse mountains in the Eurasian continent and cut through the north altitude of 30 degrees where the four ancient civilizations are located. The best liquor brands such as Maotai, Wuliangye, Luzhou Laojiao, Jiannanchun, and Shaoxing rice wine in China are near here. As a result, the north altitude of 30 degrees is known as “the golden wine belt in China”.

 

Qionglai is surrounded by mountains in three directions and a cliff valley with a unique climate is naturally formed. The widest part of the valley is 38.5km wide. It has a unique cliff valley climate. The northwest wind, blocked by the mountains, has little impact on the producing area, while the southeast wind, lifted by the transverse mountains, brings abundant rainfall in the eastern foot of the mountains. It is warm and wet in the cliff valley, with slow air flow. The enrichment, constant multiplication and optimization of liquor-making microbes make the place a natural brewing pit. The melting glacier from an altitude of 4,000m above penetrates to the valley after being filtered and mineralized for billions of years and forms the most abundant mineral water system in Asia. Coincidentally, there are transverse mountains in Europe and it’s the Alps, the source of the French Evian. The mineral water system in the transverse mountains where Qionglai is located is highly mineralized, with leading potassium and strontium content in the world. For this reason, the mountains are called “the Alps of the East”. The original liquor and flavoring liquor of most wineries in China are sourced from here. More than 10 years ago, Jinliufu built its brewing base in this blessed land of brewing, Qionglai.

 

 

In addition to good water, the raw materials are “grains from diverse origins”. This choice was inspired from a discussion.

 

We discussed why many people prefer to buy rice from diverse origins? This preference can be attributed to a saying that “Eating rice from diverse origins keeps doctors away.” Rice from diverse origins withstands the natural conditions and contains minerals in different places, and the trace elements in these minerals have much to do with the human survival and health. Thus, we not only select the grain from Chengdu Plain, but also use the glutinous sorghum from the Northeast and the selected wheat from Shandong and Henan to make the liquor.

 

 

Dmitri Mendeleev, a great Russian great chemist, said that the best ratio of alcoholic and water molecules is 40% vol. Cognac, whiskey, vodka and other world-renowned wine all have alcohol content of 40% vol to 42% vol. The best ratio of alcoholic and water molecules in “Yitanhaojiu” is about 40% vol. Through countless tasting tests, we found that 40.8% vol delivers the most comfortable taste. The Russian people could not live without drinks and preferred spirits with alcoholic content of about 70% or 80%. Now they all choose vodka with alcoholic content of about 40%, and this change makes sense scientifically.

 

 

First of all, the liquor is safe

 

Without any chemical additives and all the processes in line with European and American food safety standards, the product will be exported to Europe, the United States, Japan, South Korea and other developed countries and regions.

 

Secondly, the liquor is healthy

 

40.8% vol, good raw materials, good water, rich in potassium, strontium and other trace elements, comfortable taste, short time to recover sobriety.

 

Thirdly, the liquor is mellow

 

Liquor that is not mellow is not good liquor. In order to make mellow liquor, our 20 national master liquor makers participated in the whole process of liquor making and spent three years in R&D and design. Essence was extracted from 12 liquor factories under the Group as flavoring liquor, and the secret formula is mastered by 3 people only. We also use the “496” process - 80% of the 4-year-old ageing liquor as base + 20% of the 9-year-old old liquor, and 6 months of storage before delivery from the factory.

 

To make consumers better understand, we put forward three criteria: mellow liquor; no dizziness and no dry mouth; good raw materials and good water.

 

 

 

 

Those who want to be the agents of Yitanhaojiu should give up if they do not agree with the business rule of “Seven Sincerity”.

 

 

Many people accept Yitanhaojiu because of its good quality. It is a rare product that integrates “the elegance of soy sauce flavor, the sweetness of strong flavor, and the purity of fen flavor”. We use the “496” process to make the liquor. Therefore, we assure the agents of its quality. We would rather get out of stock than change the liquor-making and storage standards.

 

 

The bottle is designed with a classic cylindrical shape, with highlighted texture and other details; ceramic and linen, materials that are typical and are closely related to people’s daily life, are used for packaging; the logo on the bottle is made from hand-made earth paper. The overall design is environmentally friendly, simple, elegant, classic, and cultural.

 

The ceramic jar is hand-made. Limited by the production capacity, the demand is not even met by 10 ceramic glaze factories. Arguably, we are one of the few liquor enterprises that dare to try simple packaging like this in China.

 

 

Only with sincerity can we achieve cohesion and build a team that can win hard battles. Why does the benchmarking enterprise Maotai do so well? Because it respects a good faith culture from top to bottom. We hope that all the stakeholders of Yitanhaojiu to uphold integrity, avoid aggressiveness, and move forward step by step. We want the agents to accumulate wealth rather than make quick money. We expect talents born after the 198s to be traders.

 

 

The future marketing strategy must be sincere. We sum up a “four-step marketing strategy”:

 

Firstly, pay sincere visits. You will never sell the products well if you simply stay at home and bribe your customers via WeChat. You must visit customers, outlets and group buyers with your young traders.

 

Secondly, carry out activities constantly. We need to launch endless activities that allow us to interact with consumers. Currently, we are running a pottery painting competition. 

 

Thirdly, make use of picture publicity. This is an era of We media and pictures. How could Yitanhaojiu receive 5 million + hits over four months? We relied on the transmission of scene pictures and news links by the majority of employees and partners continuously.

 

Fourthly, organize parties for drinking buddies. Yitanhaojiu is served for those who drink often and those who are well versed in drinks. Parties of drinking buddies bring infinite joy, and we should dig out the value of this. Even the most powerful Internet cannot provide the real enjoyment of toasting together!

 

 

 

There is an old saying in China, “There may be plenty of fish in the sea. But there is only one fish for me.”We should hold the market and competitors in awe instead of trying to eliminate them all the time. An aggressive policy won’t take us far. We need to slowly foster the consumer groups that like our brand. Do not haste to sell before the foundation is made solid, the recognition from consumers is won, or the market is opened. Otherwise, the market price will fall into chaos and we will have to abandon it eventually. Making quick money is very dangerous!

 

Our goal is to occupy the market for a long term and make Yitanhaojiu a brand as powerful as Maotai. Here is our vision: people would think of Jinliufu·Yitanhaojiu when they want to drink liquor.

 

 

In the future, we will stop supply to and terminate the cooperation with an agent who does not manage his goods well. After the first batch of purchase, the agent should not stock more than 500 products. The agent who commits commodities fleeing will find his next application unapproved. No refund will be given and there are no rectification opportunities.

 

 

Everything we do is based on the sincerity culture. We are sincere about this business and towards the partners and consumers all over the country. In the future, all agents must respect the rule of “sincerity”. Imagine, if Maotai were not endorsed and supported by the integrity culture, would it be as well developed as it is now? Therefore, we need to be messengers of a sincere brand culture.

 

 

 

The past fifteen years witnessed the prosperity of famous liquor brands “that offered good quality at high prices”. This branded liquor is limited. The production output of Maotai is 30,000t, or 60 million bottles. A fan may drink at least 60 bottles a year and one bottle a week. Many of my good friends drink more than one bottle a day. So, the price of Maotai is expected to remain strong for a long time in the future. In the long term, Yitanhaojiu can serve up to 2 million people. There are 200 million Chinese who drink liquor, and the number may be increased to 300 million in the future. Now women begin to drink liquor as well. According to a research report, it is a trend for women to drink spirits in the world, as they like to buy bags.

 

Now, liquor consumption is ushering in a “Twin Power Era” - famous liquor brands that “offer good quality at appropriate prices” and that “offer good quality at high prices” will go hand in hand. The liquor market value will soon reach RMB 2 trillion. I hope that our clients do not miss this wealth opportunity, and I sincerely invite you to join the agent team of Yitanhaojiu.