In
recent years with the cooling down in the economy, substantial growth has
become a rarity rather than the norm. Yet in the past few years, Illuminera has
had the privilege to witness and contribute to the making of a blockbuster
brand: Mosilian by Bright Dairy.
A
much studied case by many companies, Mosilian which was launched in 2009 went from zero to
RMB 6 billion in sales within just five years. While the success had everything to do with timing,
the strength of the product, and a brilliant brand team, Illuminera also made
long lasting impact on the brand since the Year 2.
Taking
a consumer centric approach, Illuminera helped guide and safe-guard Mosilian’s phenomenal
success by offering strategic guidance in many aspects:
Shift in brand essence: grasping and reinforcing the
true essence of a brand is the prerequisite for success. Contrary to the common
belief that Mosilian’s main selling points were in the convenience inherent
with ambient yogurt and its bacteria culture, we persuaded the client to focus
instead on premium-ness and taste indulgence – the two essence aligned with
consumption trade-up. This seemingly small change resulted in refocus in major
decisions in brand communications, packaging format, pricing, and etc. Without
a doubt, Mosilian’s success would not have been as brilliant without this shift
in brand essence.
Refocus in brand
communications: at the beginning, Mosilian’s communications were heavy on L99, the culture
strain in the product and the “longevity village”. With the shift in brand
essence, we recommended to shift the focus on premium-ness as supported by
foreign exoticness and product taste indulgence.
Changes in competition frame: initially it was commonly
believed that Mosilian would compete head on with chilled yogurt, and thus
touting L99 made sense. Based on the new brand essence and hard facts on source
of business, a reframe to target premium white milk was taken which had
profound impact on target group selection and, later on, city prioritization.
Prioritization in geographic
expansion: Mosilian was arguably Bright Dairy’s very first national brand. After its
initial success in the Pearl River Delta area, the company’s stronghold, which
new cities to go to and how to conquer them given resource constraints became major
issues. Armed with a deep grasp of the refined brand strategy as well as
sophisticated data models, we prioritized the cities in terms of desirability
and formulated different tactics for different types of cities.
Partially
thanks to Illuminera’s strategic support spanning seven years, Mosilian became
a legend in the dairy industry and beyond. Throughout the process, we not only
had the privilege to leave a small mark on a blockbuster brand, we also had the
luxury to learn how to grow a brand from 0 to 6 billion together with one of most
inspiring brand teams in the market.
