Moutai and Luckin in the hotel industry
On December 12, 2024, Dongcheng joined hands with Zhang Xuefeng, a famous graduate school teacher, to hold the activity of "This Presentation, Just Support You - Dongcheng Hotel Group's Famous Teacher Postgraduate Entrance Examination Sprint Lecture" at its City Convenience Hotel Guangzhou Baiyunshan Branch to help students make the final sprint.
As a typical demand-driven consumer market, the national examination, postgraduate entrance examination, and college entrance examination are all small peaks of hotel bookings every year. According to the data of previous years, distance, safety, hygiene and quietness are all factors that candidates are more concerned about. In terms of hotel choice, cost-effective budget hotels are also more popular with candidates.
Limited by the extreme segmentation of the consumer market of the "postgraduate room" itself, the hotel has not had much room to play in the "postgraduate room". Most hotels will generally provide some special services for the "postgraduate examination room", such as wake-up service, buffet breakfast, silent floor, etc., but in fact, the final reach effect is not large, and distance and ** as a hard indicator are still the primary factors for most candidates to choose a hotel.
In contrast, the postgraduate entrance examination sprint lecture co-hosted by Dongcheng and Zhang Xuefeng this time did not focus on the "postgraduate examination room". In addition to participating in offline lectures to listen to Zhang Xuefeng's on-site face-to-face teaching, candidates who cannot reach the scene can also broadcast live through Zhang Xuefeng's official Douyin account.
It is reported that a total of more than 100 candidates participated in offline sharing on the same day, and the online live broadcast exceeded one million times.
The core meaning behind it is that Dongcheng pays attention to and supports the needs of youth education as an enterprise, rather than just pursuing economic effects.
Outside the room
How can the cross-border cooperation of hotels truly realize the multiplication of brand value?
Cross-border co-branding is the main means of brand marketing in recent years.
The collision between brands in different fields brings freshness and unique experience is the first step to attract consumers' attention, and it is one of the core purposes of the brand to break through the original traditional boundaries.
This kind of cross-border co-branding combination of two brands that are not very related to each other is a process of complementary advantages most of the time, ostensibly a combination of products and products, but in the final analysis, it is the collision of target consumers behind the brand.
The viral spread brought about by the joint brand of Moutai and Luckin some time ago can be called the most classic marketing case in 2023. This cup of sauce-flavored latte, known as "the first cup of Moutai for young people and the first cup of Luckin for middle-aged people", is the core purpose behind Moutai's ambition to reach more young people.
At the same time, with the rapid development of social media platforms, the link between the occurrence of a brand and an event and the "explosion" is also rapidly shortening. When young people become the main consumer group in the era of Internet consumption, their language symbols and consumption awareness are rapidly changing the stereotype of traditional brand communication, and the Internet is becoming a channel and scene that brand marketing cannot ignore.
In 2016, Zhang Xuefeng became popular on the Internet with "Seven Minutes to Interpret 34 985 Universities". Up to now, Zhang Xuefeng's official account has nearly 24 million fans on the Douyin platform and nearly 7.5 million fans on Weibo, making him a veritable "big Internet celebrity" in the field of education.
Children from ordinary families should not study medicine", "Finance can't be touched, unless the family is engaged in finance" and other highly controversial remarks, which made Zhang Xuefeng bear the pressure of "selling anxiety" for a long time.
However, the fundamental reason for Zhang Xuefeng's continued popularity is that in a social environment where the uncertainty of social and individual development is surging, the "involution" competition in the education system and the labor market continues to spread. When diploma inflation and difficulty in employment have become the main reasons for the "involution struggle" of contemporary youth, Zhang Xuefeng has truly brought back to the present and reality the social context that emphasized idealization in the original examination.
Society is emphasizing caring for young people, and Dongcheng really sees the living situation of young people. In the current social environment, young people need to find external conditions that can meet their demands from the living environment on which they depend, including spiritual power from society, as well as material power provided by schools, enterprises, and communities.
In view of the national master's examination, Dongcheng continued to provide special services for candidates in the past. Candidates who make a reservation on the Dongchenghui APP or Mini Program, and check in with the admission ticket, can enjoy targeted warm-hearted services at stores with the label of "Warm-hearted Service Helps Postgraduate Entrance Examination".
As Zhang Xuefeng said, for students who are going to graduate school, choosing a worry-free and time-saving hotel is undoubtedly the most important thing during the preparation period. "After the admission ticket comes out, if the test center is far away from the school, candidates must be prepared to book a hotel in advance. Relatively speaking, Dongcheng Hotel has the advantage of multiple brands, and the three characteristics of cost performance, safety and wide distribution can also meet the needs of most candidates, and other targeted service experience is a plus. ”
In addition to the empowerment of candidates in these accommodations, Dongcheng chooses to jump out of the guest room scene on the basis of "people have me", and through cross-border linkage, on the one hand, it can truly alleviate the pressure of postgraduate students' exam preparation, and on the other hand, this differentiated way of playing from the outside to the inside also truly reflects the brand value, so that the cooperation between Dongcheng and Zhang Xuefeng not only stays at the topic of heated discussion, but also takes root in the hearts of consumers.
Only by truly focusing on the needs of the target group can we truly inject the proposition of brand rejuvenation into the brand connotation, from this point of view, the cooperation between Dongcheng and Zhang Xuefeng is 1+1 2 in terms of matching the care of young people.
The cross-border itself "competition" is a kind of differentiated management, and there are not many examples of hotels playing cross-border, including Atour's earlier cooperation with NetEase Cloud**, Zhihu, Muji Hotel, etc., the former is more of an art exhibition space, and Atour's humanistic attributes have been greatly blessed since its establishment, while the latter is more like an extension of the MUJI brand retail scene, and the operation of the retail format is also successful to a certain extent.
As the competition in the hotel market becomes more and more fierce, the consumer market is also constantly segmented, and it is understandable that hotels want to bring high traffic in a short period of time through cross-border brand cooperation, but at this stage, the cross-border cooperation of the hotel industry is still in the initial stage of exploration.
In order to jump out of the limitation of the scene of "room", the market is emphasizing the rejuvenation of the brand, but most of them only focus on the environment of room service, do not blindly follow the trend, blindly pursue the outlet, and truly pay attention to the psychological and emotional needs of the new generation of young people, and the cross-border of Dongcheng truly arouses consumers' sense of identity and belonging to the brand.
In the final analysis, brand cross-border cooperation is not a simple brand grafting, how to find out the needs of brand consumers on both sides, and find the key points of segmentation, only with deep integration can we truly realize commercial value and brand added value. The cornerstone of the success of cross-border cooperation is the compatibility of the DNA of the two brands, and only in this way can it bring about a leap in brand value and market value.
Young people are the best futurists
As young consumers become the main force in the recovery of holiday travel and wine tourism, the brand concept, product form and communication mode of chain hotels are also changing, and Dongcheng wants to play with young people. Cheng Xinhua, founder, chairman and CEO of Dongcheng Group, said.
With the iteration of the consumer market, young people are becoming the main group of travelers. With the continuous development of the economy and the change of information media, the new generation of young people has a more informational and culturally confident growth environment. Whether it is the rise of the "new economy" in recent years or the recent explosion of domestic products, the young people behind it are the existence that cannot be ignored, they have a stronger sense of consumption, and pursue the satisfaction of social, respect and self-realization needs.
As a direct-to-consumer industry, Gen Z has gradually become the top priority in the marketing and business strategy of hotel brands.
But how to really fit young people and do a good job in the idea of youth?It is to superimpose smart products on the basis of the original hardware of the hotel to cater to the consumption Xi of young peopleIs it out of the circle for new formats such as e-sports hotels
To truly achieve "rejuvenation", hotel brands must have coherent thinking, and fully integrate into young consumers online and offline, rather than only relying on small-scale innovation at a certain level to achieve short-term value.
2023 is the first year of Dongcheng's "All in Young".
At the beginning of this year, Dongcheng's new brand image "Green Cat" super IP was unveiled. In Cheng Xinhua's view, when traditional hotel brands embrace the Internet, interacting with Gen Z's familiar language symbols is the easiest way to reach users.
Understanding anxiety" is the core thinking of Dongcheng for young people. In this year's college entrance examination season, as another step of Dongcheng Group's "all in young" strategy, Dongcheng will cooperate with the three major brands of Dongpeng Special Drink, Flash Delivery, and Durian Moment to loosen the spirit of candidates through the innovation of some popular stalks.
In fact, Dongcheng's rejuvenation is already underway. In the past three years, most hotels have been under pressure on revenue under heavy blows, and in the middle of 2022, Dongcheng's City Convenience Hotel will focus on the sleep problems of people in different circles, and jointly launch a co-branded** sleep handbook with QQ**, as well as jointly customized "Sleep Playlist" and **theme rooms.
Dongcheng has also hosted the "Insomnia Front Alliance" to fully integrate with young people through the boot market and camping, which young people are keen on.
Product rejuvenation is also the product concept that Dongcheng continues to practice. Not long ago, Dongcheng officially launched the Echarm Plus hotel brand 20。Up to now, Dongcheng Group has 14 independent hotel brands such as City Convenience, Eshang, Berman, Yicheng, etc., and its main brands have launched City Convenience 40, Yishang 30, Yicheng 30, Berman 30. Yishang Plus 20Five new iteration products continue to provide more levels of hotel products for the young public.
The age** of Dongcheng members is also decreasing. From 2019 to 2023, the proportion of 19-25 year olds among Dongcheng members increased from 13% to 17%.
It is undeniable that even though the hotel market is gradually recovering this year, the overall economic environment is still a downward trend, the recovery of the tourism industry is still uncertain, and residents' consumer confidence has not yet picked up. However, consumer demand is still upgrading, and under the structural changes in the source of tourists in the hotel market, the previous "most sensitive" users prefer to choose products with higher cost performance, brand reputation and service quality.
Only by truly meeting the needs of consumers can we bring greater premium space to the brand. Dongcheng's multi-location in the expression of young and innovative expression enables the brand to achieve real long-tail value while adhering to the grasp of standards, and also makes the strategy of "all in young" an important part of Dongcheng's journey through the market cycle
As Cheng Xinhua said, the domestic hotel industry has long been bound by some stereotypical and serious images, and it is not close enough to the current users. Over the years, Dongsheng has made every effort to strengthen its innovative DNA and deeply integrate Internet thinking, hoping to change the consistent image of the hotel industry, provide more imagination and innovation space for the industry, and promote the diversification of the value empowered by the platform of the wine management group.