"Mad Men" Ye Maozhong left.
"The person who makes the most money in the advertising planning industry", "the person who is the most controversial in the circle", and "the person with the most works in the industry", these three labels all come from the evaluation of Ye Maozhong in the advertising planning industry.
"This year's New Year does not receive gifts, only receive gifts of brain platinum", "everyone on the earth knows", "visit Heilan Home twice a year", these familiar advertising slogans are from Ye Maozhong's hand.
On January 14, Shanghai Ye Maozhong Marketing Planning Co., Ltd. WeChat public account "Ye Maozhong Planning" released the news that Ye Maozhong, the founder of Ye Maozhong Marketing Planning Agency, died of illness in Shanghai on January 13 at the age of 54. "In accordance with Mr. Ye Maozhong's last wishes, everything is simple. Mr. Ye Maozhong's family hereby expresses their gratitude to all sectors of society for their concern."
On January 14, Wang Yugang, a disciple of Ye Maozhong, said in an interview with the surging news reporter, "He (Ye Maozhong) is the guiding light for practitioners and has influenced many people, and I am one of them." ”
Wang Yugang sighed many times in his conversation with the surging reporter, but finally said, "(Ye Maozhong) is so open-minded, we should also inherit (his open-mindedness)." ”
Before the interview, Wang Yugang went to Ye Maozhong's company to present flowers in remembrance. Wang Recalls That Mr. Ye said his favorite song was "Farmer (Chinese Edition)" by Hong Kong rock band Beyond. "What heart forms what fate, a blood and sweat to harvest a field, unbelief has long become thin, not afraid of treating people with sincerity and not retaining", the lyrics of the lyrics for hard work and sincere human feelings also take care of Ye Maozhong's life.
"Probably [the lyrics] are what he wants to say." Wang Yugang said that Ye Maozhong named the company hall Juyi Hall, and employees have always been known as brothers.
"The excitement of his life, I think many people can't compare." In the eyes of his disciple Wang Yugang, Ye Maozhong is a man of temperament, who values righteousness and respects sincerity, and is also a highly controversial figure, and he is also a person who has won dignity and established rules for China's advertising industry.
"Pioneer of China's Advertising Industry"
Ye Maozhong's position in the advertising circle is "similar to the benchmark figure of the Kaizong founding school", an advertising industry practitioner who has been in contact with Ye Maozhong told the surging news reporter that in his view, Ye Maozhong is a "commercial wizard emerging in the advertising industry".
Hua Shan, the founder of Hua & Hua, a well-known planning company in the industry, left a message under the mourning message of Ye Maozhong's official WeChat public account that the company learned of Ye Maozhong's death at the annual meeting, and all employees collectively observed a 3-minute silence and called Ye Maozhong "the pioneer of China's advertising industry".
The aforementioned advertising industry practitioners believe that "on the scale of the operation and development of advertising companies, Ye Maozhong company is not very large; on the influence of local planning companies' personal IP out of the circle, Ye Maozhong can indeed be in the forefront." ”
"No more than the draft, one price, one-time full payment after the start of work", Ye Maozhong is not like Party B in the eyes of many insiders, "he is the Party A of Party A". Wang Yugang stressed that this rule was set from the time when Ye Maozhong was not yet big.
Ye Maozhong's short and powerful, conflict-creating, and memorable planning style has launched many successful advertising planning cases, which are highly respected by the industry and are known as "the first person in China's marketing planning".
In 1989, Ye Maozhong only used a budget of 50,000 yuan to shoot an advertisement for the Taizhou enterprise Chunlan Air Conditioner for "one shot and six goals" and broadcast it on CCTV. Since then, he has officially entered the advertising industry.
In 1997, Ye Maozhong founded his own advertising company in Beijing, successively serving a number of brands such as Arctic fleece thermal underwear, real kung fu fast food, and qi brand men's clothing, which greatly improved the popularity and sales performance of these brands.
He created advertising slogans that are familiar to the public, such as "everyone on the earth knows" of Arctic velvet, "Catch the net, everything" of the catch-up network, "Wash more healthier" of gynecological Yanjie, "Hengyuanxiang, sheep and sheep" of Hengyuanxiang and so on.
Among them, "true kung fu" is one of the classic cases that are regarded by the industry. "True Kung Fu", formerly known as the "Double Seed" company founded in Dongguan, under the planning service of Ye Maozhong, transformed and positioned itself as "Chinese fast food" and focused on Chinese nutritious fast food. "True Kung Fu" has developed rapidly after its successful transformation, and in 6 years, it has expanded from several small shops in Dongguan to 464 directly operated stores across the country, becoming the first brand of Chinese chain fast food in China, and launching the name of Chinese nutritious fast food.
Ye Mao has a number of industry honors. From 1997 to 2000, Ye Maozhong was named one of the top ten planners of Chinese enterprises; in 2001, he was named one of the top ten influential figures of Chinese marketing; in 2002, he was named one of the top ten influential figures of Chinese planning and the top ten influential figures of Chinese advertising; in 2003, he was named one of the top ten advertising company managers in China; in 2004, he was selected as one of the 25 influential people who influenced China's marketing process and was selected as "50 People of Chinese Creativity"; and in 2005, he was selected as one of the top ten marketing experts in China.
According to his disciple Wang Yugang, Ye Maozhong published books almost every year. After years of practice, Ye Maozhong has successively published many books such as "16 Keywords of Marketing", "12 Methodologies of Marketing", "Conflict" and so on, summarizing his more than 20 years of local planning practical experience and exploring the methods of local marketing.
Not afraid of controversy
Ye Maozhong's characteristic advertising style also caused heated discussion for a time.
During the 2018 World Cup in Russia, Ye Maozhong's team planned the "brainwashing advertisement" - the horse honeycomb advertisement "Why do you want to get on the horse honeycomb before traveling", as well as the "Do you know" and "Do you really know?" "Are you sure you know?" "Are you really sure you know?" "Play in prime-time ad slots. This marketing method has caused controversy, and some people have questioned whether the lines are brainwashing shouting and PPT-style repetition, lacking artistic beauty.
Screenshot of the official website of "Ye Maozhong Conflict Marketing"
In this regard, Ye Maozhong once responded: "Advertising is put into the stage of the World Cup, and the most feared thing is that there is no conflict and wave of perfectionism. ”
He said in an interview with the media: "In the face of the World Cup hotspots that we have seen once in 4 years, we must interfere with people's attention, let them remember us, remember our products, we can't be willing to just do normal advertising." The key to supporting the reputation of the brand is the product strength, the stronger the ability of the product to solve the consumer conflict, the higher the consumer's reputation and viscosity to the brand. On the contrary, the product is not good, the more touching and beautiful the advertising is, it is an overdraft for the brand, isn't it? ”
"There is nothing wrong with using the most effective methods to achieve business objectives." His understanding of advertising, in addition to the information conveyed by the advertisement itself, pays more attention to the change of information on user behavior.
After the ad was launched, Ma honeycomb's daily activity and downloads soared, which he believes is a sign that successful advertising should be.
"Zhihu, the president of Mafengwo and the investor Xu Xin are very satisfied with the results of the launch. Judging from the data such as baidu index and download volume, as well as the phenomenon of online controversy, we have already made a huge splash in the traffic pool of the World Cup. Ye Maozhong once said in a media interview.
"There has been controversy since the day he (Ye Maozhong) advertised, because he alone challenged the entire Western advertising system." Wang Yugang believes that Ye Maozhong is not afraid of controversy, on the contrary, Ye Maozhong hopes that "the bigger the controversy, the better" and "hope that the storm will come more fiercely."
Conflict and calm in Ye Mao
The last two years of Ye Maozhong's life, according to Wang Yugang's understanding, were spent in landscape paintings.
"Throughout these years, I have been doing marketing planning, painting at the same time, and sketching footprints throughout most of the world's famous mountains and rivers. At the same time, it is also constantly collecting the works of ancient and modern masters, smoking and dying, and enjoying learning in them. Ye Maozhong once wrote in a self-statement on the public account of "Ye Maozhong Planning" in 2020.
At the age of four, Ye Maozhong's father made a painting in his childhood, which influenced Ye Maozhong's life. His love for painting runs through both primary school and junior high school, and at the age of eighteen, he was admitted to the stage art major of Jiangsu Provincial Drama School, and the teacher of calligraphy and painting is Fu Baoshi's student Tai Qiyou.
"I was engaged in collecting, and the first thing I bought was Fu Baoshi's paintings, and I also liked to use boulders when I painted landscapes, which shows the profound influence of the two teachers on me." Ye Maozhong wrote in his self-description.
Ye Maozhong said that a person living in the world and having his own real hobbies is really interesting. The things that taste in the world, such as poetry, such as painting, such as philosophy, are often useless. Singing useless poems, making useless paintings, reading useless books, but living more tastefully. "If you don't do something useless, how can you give a life?" Thanksgiving has painted, leaving an open spiritual space for yourself. Gain an inner composure and leisureliness.
Originated from the "Ye Maozhong planning" WeChat public account
"Smoke Trees Two Passers-by Color on Paper 34×45cm 2020
Sit and forget The Clear Garden, Color on Paper, 15×27cm, 2019
Xia Shan Tu Color on paper 51×70cm 2015; Fang Yan Inscription Poetry Hall on paper 21×70cm
Artist Tang Zheming once posted, "The collection of Lao Ye (Ye Maozhong), mainly based on modern masters such as Fu Baoshi, Xu Beihong, and Huang Binhong, is very well-known in the circle. Many years ago, Huang Binhong's sky-high masterpiece "Small Scene of the South Peak" was auctioned by a famous auction company in the north, and he was once captured by him in a fierce battle, which made him famous for a while. ”
In October last year, the "Ye Maozhong Painting Exhibition" was held at the Long Art Museum (West Bund Pavilion), and the curator Liu Yiqian, the founder of the Long Art Museum, posted, "After more contacts, I found that he (Ye Maozhong) was a person who was not good at expression, and he used his thoughts on expressing communication to plan enterprises or give lessons to enterprises." From then on, he knew that in addition to liking art, he was actually a simple person. ”
According to the public account of "Ye Maozhong Planning", on December 8, 2021, Ye Maozhong made his first appearance as an artist in the special topic of "Thanksgiving paintings and the ink world in Ye Mao". The 16 works auctioned were finally sold for 2,386,250 yuan, of which the highest-priced work "Hengling Cangsong Youjia" sold for 448,500 yuan, and all the proceeds from the final auction were donated to public welfare projects.
After the terminal stage of cancer was detected, Ye Maozhong's family "respectfully followed the doctor's instructions" and did not allow Ye Maozhong to continue working. During this period, Ye Maozhong often copied Buddhist scriptures and traveled to the outer clouds to sketch.
"He (Ye Maozhong) is a very conflicted person and needs peace of mind." Wang Yugang explained that in the past two years, Ye Maozhong "placed his love between landscape paintings and calligraphy, looking for inner peace." ”
Wang Yugang recalled that in the past two years, Ye Maozhong had said that he did not plan to advertise anymore and would dedicate the rest of his life to calligraphy paintings.
Wang Yugang recalled that in 2020, when Ye Maozhong was preparing for the "Ye Maozhong Painting Exhibition", he often interacted with friends and disciples in WeChat to publicize the exhibition. At that time, the doctor advised Ye Maozhong's family not to let him overuse his mobile phone, "[the family] asked him to delete everyone's WeChat."
But Ye Maozhong still can't put down the advertising business.
"How can it stop?" Wang Yugang asked rhetorically.
Every case (project), "he (Ye Maozhong) must personally do it", Wang Yugang said, from receiving customers, to running the market, as well as sharing creative ideas, and then to the final trial of the final planning case, Ye Maozhong will participate.
Wang Yugang recalled, "[Ye Maozhong] said such a sentence, 'Today Ye Maozhong's company is still opening, then my big banner will be planted on this land, and this bright light will continue to be lit for this industry'. ”