On March 31, Mengniu Dairy (2319.HK) held its first annual results conference in Hohhot China Dairy Industrial Park. The performance announcement shows that in 2021, Mengniu’s revenue will reach 88.1415 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 15.9%, and the net profit attributable to the parent will be 5.0255 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 42.6%, achieving a strong start to the five-year strategy of “creating a new Mengniu”.
For Mengniu, a top ten dairy brand in the world, to continue to lead and make breakthroughs on the basis of large volume, it is inseparable from the emotional connection with every consumer. Especially in the past 2021 Year of the Ox, Mengniu has done a lot on the word “ox”. The women’s football team won the championship, Gu Ailing won the gold and silver, Universal Studios, Yiti Milk… The Mengniu brand resonates with the Chinese people and the world at the same frequency.
On April 2, when the draw results of the 2022 Qatar World Cup were released, Mengniu upgraded its global slogan to “world quality, born to be strong”. Mengniu, which holds the global sports IP Grand Slam, will stand on the world stage this time and tell the story of the “strong” of China’s dairy industry.
Born to be strong with Chinese cattle
“Chinese cow” and “Born to be strong”, these words accompanied Gu Ailing’s excellent performance not long ago, and swept the whole country and the world.
On February 18, after winning one gold and one silver in the freestyle skiing women’s U-shaped field, Gu Ailing played perfectly and successfully won her second gold medal. In an interview after the game, Gu Ailing couldn’t hide her excitement, and said to the world, “I’m so happy! China’s cattle!” and made the “Chinese cattle” gesture again.
As the spokesperson of Mengniu brand, Gu Ailing spelled out the Mengniu spirit of “born to be strong”, shouted out the connotation of the Mengniu brand of “Chinese cow”, and made the “Chinese cow” gesture exclusive to Mengniu, so that the symbol of Chinese cow is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Gu Ailing has two gold and one silver, and has also become a top-notch, imprinting the culture and gesture symbols of “born to be strong” and “Chinese cow” in the hearts of every winter audience.
As the spokesperson of Mengniu brand, Gu Ailing shouted “China’s Niu Niu Niu” in front of the world, and also promoted Mengniu’s “world quality is inherently stronger” attribute to the world. .
The Chinese women’s football team reversed South Korea on February 6 and won the Women’s Asian Cup, which interprets the spirit of “Chinese cattle” and “born to be strong” throughout Asia. As a partner of the Chinese Football Association Team China, Mengniu responded quickly after the women’s football team won the championship and announced a bonus of 10 million yuan for the women’s football team, becoming the first dairy company to give the women’s football team a heavy reward. The official Weibo of the Chinese Women’s Football Team also expressed its gratitude to Mengniu for the reward. Over and over again, Mengniu has maximized its brand value in this women’s football championship.
2021 is the traditional Chinese Year of the Ox. Mengniu will focus on the “Ox” culture to cheer and cheer for China. At the beginning of the year, Mengniu sent New Year wishes for the Year of the Ox by lighting up 15 cities.
On the evening of January 20, the curtain walls of landmark buildings in 15 cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, etc., lit up Mengniu’s Spring Festival blessings. “The city of heroes will never fall. Wuhan belongs to cattle”, “Times pioneer cattle Shenzhen belongs to cattle”, “Xianyi’s angry horse is a thousand-year-old cattle”… Mengniu cleverly uses the cultural symbol and national symbol of “bull” to cheer for China.
The Chinese women’s football team kicked out, Gu Ailing jumped up, 15 cities lit up, the gods called and cheered, Mengniu made “natural self-improvement” and “Chinese cattle” a positive spiritual energy that swept the north and south of the country.
New Marketing, with the younger generation
In recent years, Mengniu has also frequently introduced whimsical ideas in marketing, and has continued to sing along in innovation and creativity.
First, there is no limit to creativity.
During the 2020 epidemic, Mengniu, in order to relieve the psychological pressure of candidates, selected topics in various subjects, printed these topics on the packaging box, and launched the college entrance examination test milk. In 2021, Mengniu further launched version 2.0 of Yiti Milk, which received a greater market response. Mengniu invited professional teachers of various subjects to write questions and printed the questions on the milk carton. It also cooperated with Qufu Sankong Scenic Spot to launch the “Hidden Packaging of Qufu Confucius Temple Blessings”, which printed the image of Confucius on the packaging and used the blind box to play. Set the prayer fund as a hidden fund.
In this marketing, Mengniu also carefully prepared copywriting under each of the milk products. “Persist in X, you will improve a little in Y”, “Effort is like aluminum sulfide, you can’t accept a little moisture” and other texts, not only help candidates to decompress before the big test, but also encourage candidates to build confidence. In addition, through the slogan of “everything is right, everything is good”, he also actively interacts with netizens, causing heated discussions on social networks.
After the release of the 2.0 version of Yiti Milk, Mengniu made a ghost animation short film with IP Niu Mengmeng as the protagonist. Using the current popular stalks, it strung together classroom characters such as Lu Xun, Zhu Ziqing, Li Bai, Madame Curie, etc., and penetrated into young people’s life. The context, in line with the tonality of the network, fully fills the interactive effect of the question milk. Many graduates have participated in the topic of #高考乳#, sharing their experience in the college entrance examination that year, and cheering for candidates. It has formed a good brand benefit and social benefit.
Secondly, it is to walk in front of the peers and hold the “big IP”.
In September 2021, Universal Beijing Resort will be grandly opened. As early as 2017, Mengniu became the first Chinese brand enterprise partner of Universal Resort. In Universal Resort, Mengniu built Cutie Cones, an ice cream & milk workshop, where tourists can DIY make all kinds of novel ice cream and enjoy the wonderful and delicious coexistence of ice cream. “Ice Cream Heaven”.
Mengniu has also launched more than 20 customized packages for Universal Resorts, inspired by Universal Studios IPs such as Minion Land, Transformers Base, Jurassic World Nublar Island, Kung Fu Panda Unrivaled Land, etc.
Third, organically combine new marketing and hot-selling items to play countless fission effects.
In 2021, Telunsu will launch a series of “Better” micro-movies, which will make Telunsu’s “better” echo with Mengniu’s “born to be strong” and support each other. On Youth Day, Children’s Day and Teacher’s Day, Telunsu successively launched “Better Youth”, “Better Childhood” and “Better Gift”, declaring that youth is the master, inclusive and diverse, understanding and encouraging youth culture, and young people People empathize, causing heated discussions on short video sites such as Douyin. Telunsu launched the “Teluunsu Better 2022” series co-starred by Chen Daoming, Jin Dong and Yi Yangqianxi, and has accumulated millions of hearts on Douyin. The help of innovative marketing has also made Telunsu stand at the top of the world‘s largest single product in the dairy industry.
And the youthful, fashionable and trendy items that Mengniu has polished and achieved successful cross-border out of the circle through creative marketing are far more than the Telunsu one.
Mengniu, which has been in hot sales for 20 years, will launch trendy products such as caramel pearls, rum-flavored liquid cores, and hard and hard nut series in 2021, successfully attracting young consumers.
In 2021, the combination of real fruit granules and yoghurt and yogurt will be upgraded and refreshed, successfully interacting with young consumers, and successively launched a variety of products such as red pomelo four seasons spring, milky 0-sugar lactic acid bacteria sparkling water and yoghurt and yogurt with a lemon. The new products have contributed to the industry a new idea of rejuvenation of domestic dairy brands.
Fourth, combined with the patriotic tide culture, Mengniu has also carried out a large number of cross-border marketing innovations.
For example, Tilan Shengxue’s co-branded small pot tea brand launched a series of Chinese tea cup products, which naturally integrates traditional Chinese culture into the ice product consumption experience.
Finally, in response to the new trend of “virtual idols”, Mengniu launched virtual idol marketing, successfully attracting the younger generation in the virtual world.
In 2021, “Suixian” signed the virtual idol RICHBOOM combination for the first time to assist in the rapid establishment of a new brand concept of Suichuang, and launched the virtual idol YOY, with the second dimension as the core, and co-created with house dance, hand-painting, vlog, etc., breaking the circle More young people who “dare to change”.
Mengniu’s new marketing has brought more elements of youthful publicity and hard work to the brand. At the same time, through targeted product innovation and cross-border marketing, Mengniu is closely coupled with young groups. The Mengniu brand also gives people a feeling of youthful agitation and a new look.
The long-termism behind the top IP Grand Slams
2022 is the year of aerospace and sports. These two fields are the battlegrounds for major consumer brands including the dairy industry. Mengniu has already made a layout early, and will achieve the grand slam of aerospace and global sports IP in 2022.
In 2022, China will have more than 50 space launch missions, launching more than 140 spacecraft, and the number of launches will reach a new high. So far, the Chinese space station is expected to be fully completed by the end of 2022.
Space launch has attracted much attention and is the top of the top stream, and major brands naturally flock to it. Mengniu, which has insisted on “long-termism” for many years, has already made a layout.
As early as 2003, Mengniu became associated with China Aerospace, and Mengniu was awarded the “China Aerospace Contribution Award” and “China Aerospace Strategic Partnership” and other honorary certificates. In the aerospace year of 2022, Mengniu will do its part, and the brand spirit of “born to be strong” will cheer for China Aerospace.
In sports marketing, Mengniu’s “long-termism” and early discernment are also envied by its peers.
As the latest generation of “born to be strong” spokesperson, Gu Ailing has just emerged in 2019, and Mengniu has become one of the earliest companies to sign contracts. The cooperation between the two is by no means purely commercial cooperation, but also a kind of sympathy with spiritual resonance.
In addition, in 2018, Mengniu signed Messi, one of the most famous and best players in football history, to become the brand spokesperson. At the World Cup held that year, Messi was lying on the lawn, and the narration read the slogan “I am not born strong, I am just born strong”, which inspired a generation of young people. In the next World Cup in Qatar in 2022, the world will once again see the football spirit of Messi, the world champion, who is “born to be strong”.
In 2021, Mengniu also signed Mbappe as a brand spokesperson. The young and famous Mbappe is regarded by industry insiders as the most promising young player after Melo, who has the strength to advance to the next generation of football champions. The signing of Mbappe has also become an important step in Mengniu’s future marketing strategy, successfully attracting the attention and support of Generation Z fans. Mengniu’s brand slogan, “The world‘s quality is inherently stronger”, will also be resounding around the world with the Qatar World Cup, Messi and Mbappe.
At that time, when the World Cup whistle sounded on November 21 this year, and when the World Cup songs and cheering horns sounded in bars, streets and squares around the world, Mengniu’s brand spirit of “born to be strong” will definitely appear again. In every most exciting time in the world.
For 2022, Mengniu is full of hope. At the annual report performance briefing held on March 31, Mengniu President Lu Minfang bluntly said, “We played very well at the beginning” and expressed confidence in achieving better results in 2022.
2022 is the year of Mengniu brand IP grand slam. Mengniu’s “born to be strong” will surely further capture the minds of global consumers through the deep integration with China’s aerospace spirit and World Cup sports spirit, and comprehensively enhance the global influence of Mengniu’s brand.