Written by Titan

Sales on July 23 increased more than 52 times year-on-year!

When I think of the Hongxing Erke brand now, the advertising slogan "To be No.1" can still echo in my mind.

When I saw the hot search #红星尔克 aspires to become a century-old brand, I thought it was another commercial promotion, but when I clicked on it I realized it was not.

It turns out that even though Hongxing Erke, which was on the verge of "bankruptcy" and suffered a huge loss of 220 million yuan last year, still expressed its intention to donate 50 million yuan in supplies during the Henan floods.

Note that it is materials, not cash. /Screenshot of Hongxing Erke’s official Weibo

Netizens were deeply moved by this situation. So last night, millions of people flooded into the Hongxing Erke live broadcast room, which is usually watched by a few thousand people.

Some netizens discovered that Hongxing Erke, who was in a "poor situation", could not even "afford" a Weibo membership, so netizens all started to top up their subscriptions until 2140! ——119 years later.

By then it will be a century-old store. /Screenshot of Weibo

It is estimated that the president of Weibo@ will laugh and cry whenever he comes.

This is the origin of the "Centennial Brand Hongxing Erke" meme.

Donate NT$50 million in supplies

"Nyonya, I feel like you are about to go bankrupt and yet you donate so much"

In fact, during this round of floods in Henan, there are many domestic brands that have made large donations -

Anta Group donated a total of 50 million Li Ning Group donated 10 million yuan in cash and materials worth 15 million yuan; Xtep donated shoes, clothing and equipment worth 30 million yuan...

But last year Anta's net profit alone exceeds 5 billion yuan, Li Ning's net profit is close to 1.7 billion yuan, and Xtep's net profit exceeds 500 million yuan. And what about Hongxing Erke? A loss of 220 million.

Hongxing Erke donated the first batch of materials to Henan. /Screenshot of Weibo

Losing money and still being so generous, this pattern will open up immediately. So on July 22, one day after Hongxing Erke officially announced that it would donate 50 million yuan in supplies, #红星erke的微博 comment好综合# became a hot search topic.

How sad is it? Let’s review it——

“A celebrity’s 500,000 hits the hot search, a conscientious company’s 50 million has more than 100 comments, but only 2,000 likes. I’m really confused. "Ping."

"No matter how you promote it, Bao, I'm worried about you."

"Nyonya, I feel like it." You are going bankrupt and you still donate so much? ”

“It feels like your official Weibo is reluctant to open a Weibo membership, but you donated the same 50 million as Anta. It’s really amazing. ! ”

Some comments from Hongxing Erke boss Wu Rongzhao’s Weibo. /Screenshot of Weibo

I won’t list them one by one, because in just 3 days, the number of comments on this Weibo has soared from more than 100 to more than tens of thousands, and it is still It's rising.

The popularity is also reflected in Hongxing Erke’s live broadcast room. On the evening of the 22nd, the number of views in Hongxing Erke’s live broadcast room reached more than 2 million, which was the highest number among Taobao live broadcasts that night. On the evening of the 23rd, this record was broken again, reaching more than 6 million.

Overnight, the number of views of Hongxing Erke’s live broadcast skyrocketed.

/Taobao screenshot

In fact, this donation is not intended for "marketing" by Erke. Looking at past data, we can easily find that Erke has always paid attention to public welfare and fulfilled its social responsibilities - —

Donated clothing worth 20 million yuan to the China Disabled Sports Management Center, of which 3 million yuan was donated to referees engaged in sports for people with disabilities. and volunteers;

Donated 60 million yuan in charity materials to the Fujian Disabled Persons Welfare Foundation;

Donated 100 million yuan to the China Disabled Persons' Federation;

Donation 100 million yuan of supplies were used to help the poor and the disabled...

During the epidemic last year, Hongxing Erke donated 10 million yuan of supplies to Wuhan and also opened an emergency mask production line.

Previously, Hongxing Erke had very low attention on Weibo. /Screenshot of Weibo

However, the total number of likes and retweets on Weibo for these charitable acts is less than 100. If this is marketing, it is too low-key and too real.

Loss of 220 million

“I thought this brand was gone”

Hongxing Erke has had his shining moments.

In June 2000, Wu Rongzhao, who was only 25 years old, founded the Hongxing Erke brand in Jinjiang, the "shoe capital". One year later, Hongxing Erke paid a large sum of money to hire Jordan Chan as its brand spokesperson. With the slogan "Young and confused in the streets", it won the favor of the younger generation.

Chen Xiaochun's "Pheasant" was the idol of many people at that time. /Official poster

In 2005, Erke was successfully listed in Singapore, becoming the first sports brand in the Chinese industry to be listed overseas.

After going public, Hongxing Erke chose a differentiation strategy as a breakthrough route. It became an instant hit with tennis shoes and was once the first choice for domestic sports brands in the field of tennis shoes.

At its peak, Hongxing Erke had more than 7,000 stores nationwide, which was already among the top five in the industry at the time, as famous as Anta, Li Ning, Xtep and other national brands.

Back then, Erke was a popular star. /Tu Chong Creative

However, around the 2008 Beijing Olympics, due to being too optimistic about the market prospects of sporting goods, blind expansion burned too much money, and the business suddenly fell into trouble. In 2010, Hongxing Erke, which had only been listed for less than 6 years, was forced to delist from Singapore.

What was once a first-tier brand has just taken a backseat.

In 2011, Hongxing Erke was found to be involved in a financial fraud scandal. An audit found that its cash and bank deposits were actually only 263 million yuan, and the inflated cash and bank deposits reached 1.154 billion yuan. .

When the house leaked, it rained all night. In 2015, a fire burned down half of Hongxing Erke’s production equipment. Production was stagnant and orders could not be supplied. “In the most difficult time, the goods on hand were The cash flow is not enough to last a week."

Reports of the fire that year. /Screenshot from Minnan.com

Various versions of the bankruptcy of Hongxing Erke began to spread. Some said that the quality of Hongxing Erke’s shoes had deteriorated and the situation was precarious, and some said that Hongxing Erke could not pay wages. , about to run away...

In fact, people are not that miserable, but they just can't spend much money on advertising. Especially in the past few years, traffic stars have been in the limelight. Not only the clothing, shoe and hat industry, but also mobile phone manufacturers will invite traffic stars to create fan effect marketing. Such a huge investment is obviously something Hongxing Erke cannot afford.

As a result, Hongxing Erke’s business scale has become smaller and smaller. If it hadn't been for this explosive breakout, Hongxing Erke's future path would probably have been to become a "rebound" player. Because after its business has shrunk, Hongxing Erke has been pursuing a "channel sinking" strategy to strengthen the county-level market.

But after this wave of popularity, Hongxing Erke’s trajectory may change.

To be No.1

"Please consume rationally"

During this round of Hongxing Erke’s popularity, there is an interesting phenomenon worth mentioning.

Wu Rongzhao, the boss of Hongxing Erke in the live broadcast room, is particularly young and shy. /Taobao live broadcast screenshot

The netizens who flocked to the live broadcast room were so enthusiastic that every shoe released by Hongxing Erke was sold out. The anchors in the live broadcast room have to persuade netizens to "consume rationally". It is interesting that merchants advise customers to think twice, but customers insist on spending money——

Dialogue 1

Hongxing Erke Anchor: Please consume rationally and don’t buy shoes because of donations. I know money is hard to make...

Netizens who insist on spending money: No! We want wild consumption!

Dialogue 2

Hongxing Erke Anchor: This pair of shoes is discounted by more than 200, you can take a look.

Netizens who are worried about price: Is there anything more expensive? I want to buy it! Please introduce the most expensive model!

Hongxing Erke anchor: I have more than 200 yuan. This pair is the most expensive. There is nothing more expensive...

Dialogue 3

Netizens who didn’t buy any shoes: I bought the dress worn by another anchor girl!

Hongxing Erke Anchor: This skirt belongs to her! No link!

The live broadcast room was extremely popular, and the boss Wu Rongzhao also came to thank him personally, with a green face, which made netizens call him "so handsome".

Wu Rongzhao also posted a large thank you text on his Weibo, and his writing style is also quite simple and cute.

He is responsible and stands up when the country is in trouble; he puts himself in the shoes of consumers and calls for rational consumption and not spending money indiscriminately; people Assuming that he is simple, cute, and down-to-earth...

It is probably difficult not to make contemporary young people like such a popular star Erke.

But this wave of being out of the circle, no matter how popular it is, will eventually pass. What to do in the future is the more critical question.

In fact, Hongxing Erke also has some new attempts. For example, participating in the "2020 Shanghai Fashion Week"; increasing cooperation with the UP owners of Station B; positioning "technological new domestic products" and designing new styles that suit the tastes of young people, etc.

The shoes pictured are sold out. /Hongxing Erke Poster

Yang Fei, associate professor of economics at Nanjing Audit University, believes that it is important to reshape one's image and positioning in the eyes of consumers and use national trendy Chinese elements to focus on mid- to low-end products. feasible path.

Indeed, with Li Ning and Anta already occupying the mid-to-high-end market, focusing on mid-to-low-end products can be regarded as a kind of differentiated marketing. Perhaps in the near future, we can see Hongxing Erke return to the top of the market through price, To be No.1!

However, improving quality is also key, because it is not uncommon to complain about the quality of Hongxing Erke products on the Internet.

In the long run, quality must be improved to win by word of mouth. /Hupu screenshot

Moreover, after this wave, Hongxing Erke still needs to publish the detailed accounts of donated materials, so that it can be truly responsible to the end.