What is a brand? Brand is the symbol of goods, which integrates all tangible and intangible impressions and feelings such as product value and consumer cognition. And what is a good brand? A brand that has a relatively unified understanding in the industry and can bring positive value to consumers, the industry and society for a long time is a good brand.
To borrow the words of Iris & Jack Trout in "Positioning": the brand represents the name of a certain category, and when consumers have corresponding needs, they immediately think of this name, which is the real establishment of the brand.
Just like Apple in the mobile phone industry and BBA in the automotive industry, when it comes to good brands in the field of edible oil, Lu Hua must be on the list. Beijing, China, January 10, 2023 – The most convincing footnote is that Chnbrand, a brand rating authority, released the 2023 (9th) China Customer Recommendation Index SM (C-NPS®) Brand Ranking and Analysis Report.
It is reported that since 2017, this is the fifth time that Luhua has ranked first in the consumer satisfaction ranking. The edible oil market is highly competitive, and Lu Hua, who has repeatedly reached the top of the list, has done the right thing? The reason is that it meets the definition of a good brand, from corporate philosophy to product thinking to brand value, Luhua has made excellent examples in the past 36 years.
First, the corporate philosophy of home and country feelings, resonate with the same frequency with the times
Mission is the direction of the enterprise, the original intention is the source of the enterprise, a good enterprise, must benefit the people for the good, this is the foundation of the long-term existence of the brand. In other words, the corporate philosophy determines the direction of products and marketing internally, affects consumer cognition externally, and ultimately becomes the core value of attracting consumers.
Sun Dongwei, chairman of Luhua Group
Behind the award of being the first in the 2023 China Customer Recommendation Rankings is not only a deep insight into consumer needs, but also contains Luhua's original intention and mission of "serving the country by industry and benefiting people's livelihood".
To borrow the words of Sun Mengquan, the founder of Luhua, "When the enterprise is small, it is its own, and when it is large, it is the country's and the people's, which is our responsibility." ”
Industry serves the country and benefits people's livelihood, this is Luhua's corporate purpose, and it is also the "iron law" of Luhua's guidance work for many years. What we see from it is the feelings of an enterprise's home and country, and we also see a high-level brand value - the achievements of an enterprise should not only rely on the independent operation of the enterprise, but should be coordinated with the development of the country and resonate with the needs of the times.
Being rooted in society and feeding back the needs of the times is Lu Hua's code of conduct for many years. Among them, its emphasis on seeds, the "lifeline" of agriculture, is proof that there is still a gap between the independent innovation level of the mainland seed industry and that of developed countries, especially the lack of core technological innovation. Over the years, Luhua has actively promoted the upgrading of peanut varieties in mainland China and protected the domestic peanut planting industry. Finally, the whole industrial chain of peanuts from the cultivation and promotion of fine seeds to the research and development, production and sales of high-quality products has been closed, breaking through the key technologies of peanut seed breeding, protecting the domestic peanut planting industry from foreign impacts, winning the "defense war" of domestic peanuts, and making the peanut seed industry lead the world.
At the same time, Luhua has integrated enterprise development into the trend of rural revitalization. As a "connector" connecting thousands of farmers and consumers, Lu Hua actively participates in the tide of rural revitalization with a sample of Chinese-style agricultural innovation and development, not only making the flower production industry an important starting point to help rural revitalization, sending the industry to the field, leaving the income to the society, distributing dividends to farmers, and realizing government tax increases, enterprise efficiency, and farmers' income; It has also formed the advantages of the whole industrial chain from peanut breeding seeds to peanut oil processing and production, and brand sales, driving agricultural progress with industrialized development and protecting the scientific and technological innovation and progress of the industry.
"Industry serves the country, benefits the people's livelihood", has never been an empty phrase, but in Lu Hua's words and deeds. As a peanut oil giant that reaches hundreds of millions of families every year, Luhua applies the corporate philosophy of serving the country by industry and benefiting people's livelihood to all aspects of its own development, and cooperates with the needs of society and the times to jointly promote industrial progress. It can be seen that its self-requirements have gone beyond the definition of a commercial brand in the general sense, not only becoming a part of Chinese business, but also a part of building Chinese society, which is precisely the starting point of Luhua's value as a good brand.
Second, respond to consumer needs with innovation-driven product thinking
In the business era, products and consumers are like a pair of "twin brothers", forming two sides of a good brand. As marketing guru Theodore Levitt said: If companies focus all their energy on meeting customer needs, other problems will be solved. Although this statement is suspected of being "absolute", it also proves to the greatest extent that the brand does a good job of self-expression and effectively responds to consumer needs, and the product is the core strength.
Looking at Luhua again, behind the top honor of winning the 2023 China Customer Recommendation Ranking is also Luhua's tireless innovation achievements, adhering to the product philosophy of "altruism", Luhua has always regarded creating higher value for consumers as its original intention, and never let consumers consume a drop of oil that is not conducive to health is Luhua's solemn commitment to consumers.
Stretching the timeline, what we can observe over the past 36 years is that Luhua's focus on consumer needs has long been rooted in the DNA of years of product development and innovation. Taking user thinking as the starting point, it has formed a unique patented process and product value through continuous application of science and technology and technological innovation, and has been intimately protecting the health of hundreds of millions of Chinese families for many years.
1. Vertically, Luhua continuously consolidates the intrinsic value of the brand in depth through continuous technological innovation.
From Lu Hua, what we see is that core technology can not only change the fate of an enterprise, but even change the fate of an industry.
In the early days of reform and opening up, the concept of packaging edible oil entered China, but limited by technology and other factors, industrial mechanized scale production could not be formed, various physical and chemical indexes could not meet the standard, food safety became the main problem of the industry at that time. Later, the international grain and oil giants entered, although the food safety problem was alleviated to a certain extent, but the chemical leaching method commonly used in the industry at that time damaged the aroma and nutritional content of crude oil of oil crops to a certain extent, and the oil became less and less fragrant.
To this end, the Luhua team strives for perfection in technology and details with an almost crazy craftsmanship spirit, making the product itself a material presentation of professionalism. Finally, after 6 years of tackling tough problems, Luhua finally successfully created Luhua's unique 5S pure physical pressing process in 1992, and created Luhua's differentiated competitive advantage in the edible oil market with scientific and technological innovation. The peanut oil produced by this process fully retains the inherent nutrients in peanuts, which is not only natural green, nutritious and healthy, rich in aroma, but also more economical. This move not only successfully fills the technical gap at home and abroad, but also gives the traditional industry of peanut oil a solid technical support, and is recognized by the industry as creating the "second revolution" of China's edible oil industry.
In this way, Luhua directly drove the overall category of peanut oil to grow into a major edible oil category, and built itself into a representative brand of peanut oil. Through in-depth research in the field of peanut oil, it not only consolidates the consumer awareness of "peanut oil = Luhua" in the minds of consumers, but also creates the first brand of peanut oil in China.
Only by basing ourselves on technology can we achieve big brands. With the 5S pure physical pressing process, it has won many affirmations from the country and the industry over the years. Whether it is in June 2003, the "5S pure physical pressing process" passed the national scientific and technological achievement appraisal, or in 2007, the process was rated as the first prize of Shandong Province Science and Technology Progress Award, or was selected as the "designated oil for the Great Hall of the People State Banquet", was awarded the "nutrition and health advocacy product" by the National Public Nutrition and Development Center, was rated as "China Famous Brand" product by the state, or won the National Science and Technology Progress Award... It is the most convincing footnote of the country and industry for its product technology innovation.
Product technology is the lowest expression of the brand concept, which directly determines the direction of the product and affects the consumer's perception of the brand. This is evidenced by the fact that it has been ranked first in the consumer satisfaction rankings five times since 2017.
It is true that the breakthrough of 5S pressing technology has achieved Luhua's career development, but Luhua's innovation has not stopped. As consumers put forward higher requirements for the quality of edible oil, they must not only eat well and eat deliciously, but also eat healthy. To this end, Luhua continues to promote scientific and technological innovation and layout the healthy upgrading of the industry. Luhua launched high-end positioning of high-oleic peanut oil products in 2017, behind which Luhua's long-term silent investment in high-oleic peanut oil breeding and planting promotion.
The starting point of Luhua's innovation lies in the high-value attributes of oleic acid for consumers. Oleic acid is a kind of monounsaturated fat, is a natural, precious nutrients in edible oil, known as "safe fatty acids" by the nutrition community, and the higher the oleic acid contained in edible oil, the higher its culinary value, nutritional value, health value and commodity value, and Luhua with oleic acid content of more than 75% ultra-high standards not only become China's high-end edible oil leader, but also in line with the trend of healthy China to meet the new expectations of consumers, like a humanized product value.
2. Horizontally, Luhua uses diversified product innovation strategies to continuously broaden the extended value of the brand around high-quality ingredients in family kitchens, and comprehensively enhance consumer demand experience.
Today, more and more companies are taking creating a great customer experience as their core strategy and achieving a win-win situation for both brand and user experience. Luhua is obviously one of them, with 5S pressing technology as the basis for continuous industrial extension, further moving towards multiple varieties and fields, while becoming a comprehensive grain and oil enterprise dominated by peanut oil, it has also brought a leap in consumer experience. With 5S pressing technology, Luhua has successively carried out technology migration since 2007, launching shelled and peeled pressed sunflower kernel oil, particularly fragrant low-erucic acid series rapeseed oil, pressed special fragrant flaxseed oil, high oleic peanut oil, virgin raw fragrant camellia oil and other high-quality edible oils, and set off a new upsurge of innovation in condiments and rice panels, and successively launched high-quality products such as natural fresh soy sauce, natural spice wine, micro-fermented active noodles, activated wheat flour and other high-quality products that have been loved by consumers. At present, Luhua has formed three major industrial sectors of edible oil, condiments and rice noodles, adhering to the product concept of "Luhua products, must be boutique", with great product differentiation and high-quality product value, it has fully met the needs of consumers and improved consumer experience.
It is true that the standard of a good brand is not related to the industry or region, but only whether it leads the new industry trend and meets the needs of consumers on the basis of inheriting the spirit of craftsmanship and extreme product innovation. What Lu Hua does is always to make the product do more, give full play to the "altruism" of the product, and lead the consumption trend of the times with core technological innovation. This undoubtedly laid a solid foundation for Luhua to become a good brand.
Third, from business to social brand upgrading, consolidate the value of long-termism
Wu Xiaobo, a well-known financial writer, said in his 2023 year-end speech: "From 2023, the future market will forever belong to long-termists. We see in 2022 that in the period of sudden industrial change, those enterprises that adhere to the basic industrial plate, adhere to product priority, and adhere to the value chain priority have become the survivors and survivors after the tide recedes in 2023. ”
Although this is Wu Xiaobo's prediction about the future, it has been perfectly reproduced in Luhua's past brand practice. Adhering to the long-term development logic, Luhua has always intertwined the development of enterprises in the dual dimensions of business and society, leading the brand from the commercial field to a broader social field, and bringing about the upgrading of brand value.
1. Long-term advocate of business value.
In a way, 36 years of perseverance is the best interpretation of Luhua's long-term identity. Starting from the original intention of "serving the country by industry and benefiting the people's livelihood", Luhua has insisted on seeking development for the industry, seeking benefits for farmers, and seeking health for consumers for many years, and the continuous realization of scientific and technological innovation has become the driving force for the development of enterprises and has become a better driving force.
This is not only the root of Luhua's 36 years of insistence on scientific and technological innovation, but also deeply embedded itself in the chain and tide of industrial development, while providing strong technical support for the long-term development of the enterprise, raising the Luhua brand from the height of the enterprise to the height of the national industry, but also sketching the evergreen "password" of the brand with the background of a national brand.
2. Long-term advocates of social values.
In today's society, the yearning for a better life is the concern and expectation of the whole society. It is the result of the joint promotion of various forces, including enterprises, individuals, social organizations and other forces. Indeed, when we enter the era of social value-oriented responsible brands, any growing enterprise will strongly feel the indispensable driving force of social responsibility for the development of corporate brands.
In the process of Luhua's development, from the day of its birth, it has always adhered to the value orientation of "serving the people", and extended the brand philosophy of altruism. As Sun Mengquan said: "Only when enterprises always stand with the people and truly seek benefits for the people can they have the possibility of success." ”
This can be clearly seen from the development history of Luhua, in the social responsibility, industry mission, customer value responsibility and efforts. Luhua single-handedly promoted the edible oil industry from leaching and refining process to pressing process; Luhua has not used genetically modified raw materials to produce its products; Luhua took the lead in announcing the blended oil formula ratio in the industry, so that consumers can clearly choose and consume clearly; Luhua starts from seeds to enhance the international competitiveness of the flower production industry... This series of actions explains what it means to be a responsible and qualified corporate citizen.
It can be seen that transforming consumers into "people" is a change and upgrading of brand perspective, which not only expands Luhua to create higher value for consumers, but also indicates that Luhua is not only a unilaterally constructed "corporate brand", but also a "social brand" co-created with the people and society. It not only allows the brand to extend to a broader social world outside of business, but also allows its own business system to participate in the development of society and the progress of the industry, and seeks long-term growth space for the brand.
Family and country feelings, innovation as a medium, long-termism, following such a logic, Lu Hua has won her own highlight moment and witnessed the great turning point of herself and the industry.
When 2023 opens a new chapter, when the wave of consumption and industry surges again, and the clearance password of breaking the wave has long been held by Lu Hua!