Author |Ari.
Edit | dr
Title Picture |Visual China.
In the past 2023, Moutai has frequently been out of the circle.
From the 29 yuan ice cream "small stick" to the 19 yuan cup of sauce latte, Moutai has grasped the psychology of young people to check in new things, and in the eyes of many people, these attempts made by Moutai in the past two years are all to "become younger".
However, many signs are not enough to show this.
Not long ago, Moutai announced with great restraint that it would stop all co-branding in the future. On the other hand, following the increase in the ex-factory price of products in November 2023, Moutai recently announced that it will achieve a total operating income of about 149.5 billion yuan in 2023 - is it really necessary for such a company to be "younger"?
Moutai is still a mysterious company.
Regarding Moutai, the most familiar impression of the public today is probably a common joke: "The first value of the United States is Apple, a technology company, and the first value of China's A** is the liquor company Moutai." "People are always curious, what is the value of Moutai?Who can be the next Moutai?
With this question in mind, financial writer Wu Xiaobo spent three years, visited Moutai Town more than 20 times, and wrote "The Biography of Moutai". Recently, New Weekly interviewed Wu Xiaobo to talk about Moutai and baijiu in his eyes.
The Biography of Moutai, by Wu Xiaobo.
CITIC Publishing Group, January 2024.
Why is it called "The Legend of Moutai"?
New Weekly: You mentioned in the book that you decided to write about Moutai because of "curiosity", what aroused your curiosity?
Wu Xiaobo: Moutai asked me to write a book in 2020, and my original intention was to celebrate their 70th anniversary in 2021, but I initially declined because of lack of time. Later, Moutai's friend said, whether you write or not, come to the distillery for a walk. I went to Moutai twice, and my curiosity was piqued.
Moutai is a very "slow" enterprise, this year's wine, five years later, to the market, in the distillery can not see particularly advanced equipment, their workshop still has three or four thousand people, every day with their feet to step on the song.
I have been doing business research for many years, and I am especially familiar with manufacturing and Internet companies, each with its own strategic model. But I found that Moutai is different from these two types of companies, it is very traditional, but it is a company with a market value of more than 2 trillion yuan and the first company in China's A-shares.
I often participate in some activities, and every time I talk about the development of China's high-tech in the past, many people say that the largest market value company in China's A-share market actually sells alcohol, so what are chip companies and Internet companies doing?I hadn't studied Moutai in depth, but after visiting it, I thought it was quite interesting, so I decided to write this book.
I told my friends in Moutai that I was going to write for three years, and then they said, "Then Mr. Wu, you can write it, anyway, it has nothing to do with our factory celebration." (laughs).
Probably only in film and television works will people drink Moutai like this. (Picture "Wolf Warrior 2").
New Weekly: What was the biggest challenge in the writing process?There are many books about Moutai, people have recorded its history, and also tried to analyze why it was successful. So is there anything new in "The Legend of Moutai"?
Wu Xiaobo: One of the things that is very interesting is that I wrote about an Internet company, and I have forgotten which office they started the business in and who participated in it, because one of the principles they pursued was "tomorrow is important, and the past is in the past".
But Moutai is different, among the companies I have written, Moutai is one of the companies with the most complete historical materials, it has long recorded the process of winemaking in writing, and even the minutes of meetings from decades ago have been preserved very completely. So, for me, the work of refining is more challenging than figuring out the historical facts. I'm not the first to write about Moutai, but I'm going to retell Moutai in my own way.
In the end, I refined Moutai's strategy into "six laws and twelve styles", which I think will be the universal value of "The Legend of Moutai", which is not only meaningful to Moutai, but also can be used as a reference for other enterprises.
Wu Xiaobo refined and summarized Moutai's "Six Methods and Twelve Styles". (Picture "The Biography of Moutai").
For example, the first article of the "Six Laws and Twelve Styles" is called "Today's people may not lose to the ancients". If Moutai's brewers today compete with Moutai's winemakers a hundred years ago, who will have a higher level?If it's a hundred catties of wine, it's hard to say, but if you brew ten tons of wine, it must be that the current winemakers are of a higher level.
In the industrial sector, it is very important to set standards. A hundred years ago, when Moutai was brewed, the process may have changed with the weather and even the mood of the winemaker, and people at that time may have known how to make a good bottle of wine, but they didn't know why. In the last century, the Moutai people summarized the ten standardized processes, they knew why the water of the Chishui River was better than well water and spring water, what kind of wine cellar design was better, and they were constantly studying more than 1,000 microorganisms in the wine.
Moutai is very traditional, but this generation of Moutai people is not limited to tradition, they have spent more than half a century to turn the metaphysics of a good bottle of wine into science, and the traditional handicraft products into replicable industrial products.
The birth of a good bottle of wine used to be "metaphysics". (Picture "Wine is the Hometown Alcohol").
New Weekly: At the moment, the significance of writing "The Biography of Moutai" is **?Why "biography" and not "history"?
Wu Xiaobo: If it is called "History of Moutai", it mainly focuses on the history of the past, but "The Biography of Moutai" is more contemporary. I agree that "all history is contemporary history", and when I write books, including Thirty Years of Turbulence, I project my understanding of contemporary China onto specific people and events.
Before writing "The Biography of Moutai", I, like many people, felt that it was a unique myth. But after writing it, I think that Chinese companies that are making consumer goods today can learn more from Moutai than they can learn from Internet companies and technology companies.
Ten years ago, China experienced an era of "fast and undefeated" from PC Internet to mobile Internet, and Moutai is a representative of "slow". Ji Keliang, chairman of Moutai who has worked for 50 years, once said: "We are all stupid people, if we can't understand a problem, we will think about it for ten years." "Today, it's still important for many brands and entrepreneurs to slow down, but it's hard to do.
Since the reform and opening up, China has experienced 40 years of rapid development, and Chinese enterprises are "only fast and undefeated". (Picture "Chicken Feathers Fly to the Sky").
I hope that all the people in China who want to be a brand, those who believe in slow kung fu, those who think they are stupid, and those who are still doing business, I hope it will help them. I also hope to see that people who read "The Biography of Moutai" are not necessarily making liquor, they may be engaged in other consumer goods, they may be engaged in the Internet industry, or they themselves do not study business, and they can be inspired by it. Don't worry about young people not drinking liquor.
New Weekly: In recent years, the competition in the liquor industry has become more and more fierce, and the market has concentrated on the head enterprises
Wu Xiaobo: There are many factors to ensure the long-term survival of enterprises, such as product research and development, channel construction, management structure, etc., each sector is very important. Other aspects of Moutai may not be learned by other companies, but what can be learned is its construction of consumers' minds. The liquor brand must not be established by playing a few advertisements at the airport and inviting a celebrity endorsement, it has nothing to do with technological progress and has nothing to do with ** choice. Addictive products such as tobacco, alcohol and tea are not necessities of life and can be replaced, so consumers' recognition of the brand is particularly important. I went to various places to meet with entrepreneurs, and they basically didn't drink the wine in the hotel, but bought their own Moutai to drink. When they had finished drinking, they knocked the bottle into a small notch and took it home. I was shocked when I first saw it, and when I asked why, they said they couldn't let someone else sell fake wine. 
Consumers in Moutai tend to spontaneously boycott fake wine. (Picture "I am Yu Huanshui").
What does it have to do with consumers when someone takes away the packaging and sells fake wine?This is actually the behavior of consumers to take the initiative to maintain the brand, which shows that Moutai has built a strong consumer mind. Every brand should think about whether it can form such a mental relationship with consumers. New Weekly: Moutai's brand power largely comes from its unique history and culture, but in recent years it has begun to reach out more to young people. Whether it's coffee or ice cream, most of the people attracted by these cross-border products may not contribute to the consumption of Moutai in the short term, so what is the benefit to the brand?Wu Xiaobo: In a sense, the rise of China's liquor industry in recent years is behind the continuous development of the country. For example, 20 years ago, entrepreneurs in Guangzhou were drinking Remy Martin, and now they basically drink liquor in business situations. The biggest reason for this change is that as China grows stronger, people are more and more identified with Chinese culture. Some people think that when Chinese men reach the age of forty or fifty and have wealth and income, they will definitely drink Moutai, or they will definitely drink Chinese baijiu, and I agree with this view today. Because baijiu is part of Chinese culture, you don't have a choice. In China, as long as you have an identity and a need to socialize, you will definitely drink baijiu. 
On the wine table of entrepreneurs, from red wine to white wine, it reflects the changes in society. (Picture "Chicken Feathers Fly to the Sky").
I'm not good at drinking, I was very passive at the wine table when I was young, and now basically no one persuades me to drink, but I still naturally drink Moutai in some social situations. I can drink a little bit more now than before, but with a new ability, I can probably distinguish the difference between strong fragrant wine, fragrant wine, and soy sauce fragrant wine, and I can drink real and fake Moutai. Moutai ice cream and coffee are not for young people to drink Moutai now. I don't think it's a sales act, it's an reach and communication act. Moutai did not print a *** on the packaging of ice cream for consumers to buy Moutai, it also knew that this was impossible, it ended here, and the sense of boundary was very clear. I don't think Moutai wants the average age of people who drink Moutai to drop by five or ten years, which doesn't make sense to it. It is meaningful that when a person is in his twenties or thirties, he first comes into contact with a brand called Moutai, and there is a fragrance called Maoxiang. Maybe many years later, some people drink Moutai and remember that when they were younger, they once stupidly bought a cup of sauce-flavored latte, and that was enough. New Weekly: Many people will worry about what young people will do in the future if they don't drink baijiu. What do you think of the attitude of contemporary young people towards wine table culture?Wu Xiaobo: I don't think young people reject the table culture. The underlying logic of wine table culture is social, and some people like to socialize, and some people don't. It is part of China's social culture, and Chinese wine has been around for more than 2,000 years, and it cannot be concluded that this generation of young people is particularly rejected. 
At the wine table, some people will have to drink for work. (Picture "Thirty Only").
As for forcibly pouring alcohol on the wine table, no generation is so unique that it is completely different from its own parents, and everyone will be disgusted. When I was young, once the secretary poured water for the leader and poured me wine, and I was reluctant to drink it. This is not a problem that only the present generation has. However, the act of pouring alcohol has nothing to do with liquor companies, and the problem of culture needs to be solved by people themselves, and enterprises only need to concentrate on running themselves. Some young people may fall in love with Moutai, while others will never drink for life. I don't think there's a need to worry about young people not drinking liquor, it's good not to drink it, the sun still rises, it's not a big deal. There is no need for wine companies to think about this problem, everything will eventually say goodbye to the world, and it is enough to live every day now. A crossroads for Chinese brands.
New Weekly: Is Moutai replicable for other companies in China?On what track, China is most likely to create another "Moutai"?Wu Xiaobo: In the context of China's rise, China's cultural symbols often give birth to commercial value. Therefore, I think that in the future, there may be culture-related, original, and even regional products, such as ceramics and tea, and there may be a company with a market value of more than 10 billion or 100 billion yuan within ten years, and China's cultural and clothing companies also have opportunities. But these companies certainly can't copy the development model of Internet giants or manufacturing companies to scale up production and seize the market – the time for doing so is over. Another idea provided by Moutai is more valuable for reference, which is rooted in China's cultural system, reconstructing the norms of the industry in a subdivided track, and forming a brand premium based on its own culture. 
Wine is part of Chinese culture. (Picture "If I Love You").
There is an incredible thing, that is, the raw materials of Moutai are very cheap, but they are sold very expensive, and the gross profit margin is as high as 93%, so people should buy it or buy it. Moutai serves less than 1% of China's people, but it still lives quite nourishingly. Moutai doesn't care about the speed, scale, and cost that should be important to the enterprise. Technology-driven is the core of technology enterprises. Consumer goods, such as tobacco, alcohol, tea, clothing, home furnishings, etc., have low technical thresholds and little difference, so they largely need to rely on the cultural power of the brand to attract consumers. This is the value of Moutai for reference. New Weekly: A new phenomenon has emerged in 2023, many new domestic consumer brands also have high gross profit margins, but they have begun to be criticized by consumers for "too much marketing" and "not cost-effective".Wu Xiaobo: For a long time, my Wu Xiaobo channel has been researching new domestic products, and we are proud that some new domestic brands can finally be sold as expensive as international brands. 
In 2023, some new domestic beauty products will be criticized for not being cost-effective. (Picture unsplash).
However, in the past two years, several ** have become very popular, 1688, Pinduoduo, Xianyu, Douyin local life, and many products have begun to "roll" low prices. I feel a little sad that some companies that originally insisted on being a brand have now given up and turned to fight the first war. When it is good, we can't see the resilience of a company, which day is not good, the first thing it does is to discount, and it may not believe the slogan it shouted back then, then its image in the hearts of consumers will plummet. Today's consumption in China is K-shaped and polarized, and cheap things will be very cheap, and expensive things will be very expensive. Today, Chinese companies have also reached a critical crossroads – going up, the air above is thin;Going down, there are a lot of people below. So is the brand going up or down?In fact, they all go through and can live very well. Moutai represents the top half of the K-type enterprise. In the 80s of the 20th century, the state clearly required the liquor industry to use less grain and encourage a large amount of alcohol blending. But this is in conflict with Moutai's values, and Moutai continues to insist on quality first, which is why it is today. If a company is determined to build its own brand, it must be able to hold on to it in the toughest of times.
Only by sticking to the original intention can the brand stand. (Photo: "Chinese Partners").
New Weekly: Does the observation of the liquor industry and the creation of "The Legend of Moutai" provide some kind of answer for the industries and companies you continue to study?Wu Xiaobo: The theme of my 2023 year-end show is "Above Concentration". Hu Linyi, a general in the late Qing Dynasty, said: "The world is chaotic and my heart is autonomous, and it is the right way." "No matter how turbulent the world and external things may be, as long as our hearts can be settled, then everything in the world will be stable. Many people think that Moutai is not to be learned, and I think it can be learned. Today, everyone has to ask themselves: Why am I worth living?What is my original intention?What are my core competencies?Figured it out, don't rush to Rome tomorrow, Rome is there, although we will go through a lot of difficulties. I think Moutai's long-termism of "trying to understand a problem in ten years" may be particularly inspiring for many companies and many people today. Proofreading: Yang Chao, Operation: Ono, Typesetting: Liang Ningyan.