What Chinese marketers can learn from a 40-year old soy sauce brand
Heinz is the top selling ketchup brand in China, holding a 27% market share. Yet most of the company’s China revenue from sauces isn’t from the tangy red condiment, but sauces holding more localised appeal such as their Master Weijixian soy sauce.
Kraft Heinz acquired the premium soy sauce brand in 2010, recognising that it needed a foothold in local sauces to truly capitalise on the growth of China’s sauce, dip and condiment products. The category grew 48% between 2017 and 2022, and is forecast to grow another 27% to hit ¥220.7 billion ($31b) by 2027.
Last month, Master Weijixian celebrated its 40th anniversary in style, with a campaign which drew on many current China trends, providing lessons for other brands to develop resonant communications in the market.
The campaign was centred around the current buzz of Artificial Intelligence. Like in many markets, AI is increasingly being incorporated into Chinese marketing plans, such as AI-generated livestreamers and product images, to our AI-powered Brand Tracker, to customer support chatbots.
AI initiatives increase efficiency, saving time and money, but they also appeal to tech-craving Chinese consumers. In countless research projects at the Skinny, we’ve found consumers have a preference for brands that embrace the latest tech – much more so than in other parts of the world. That’s why we particularly liked Master Weijixian’s AI campaign, ‘Artificial Intelligence vs the Taste of Home,’ where a mother battles it out with an AI robot in a cooking competition in an interactive campaign on Douyin.
The campaign didn’t use AI as a background process, but brought the tech to the front and centre. It also coupled it with two other Chinese passions: food and tradition. Facing tech off against tradition is something many Chinese consumers grapple with in their daily lives – whether consciously or not – and Heinz masterfully matched the two in an engaging and entertaining format.
Heinz delivered the campaign in a way that resonated with the masses. They used more than 200 key opinion consumers (KOCs) to amplify the campaign on Douyin to test AI-generated recipes against their own signature recipes. Viewers were encouraged to engage with the videos, voting for their favourite recipe and getting a different ending based on what they chose.
To bring the campaign even closer to life, Heinz hosted pop up activations in Guangzhou’s Mall of the World, where AI competed with three KOLs (key opinion leaders) and 12 home chefs.
The brand generated 33.3 million views and 388,000 engagements on Douyin as a result of the campaign. The pop-up in Guangzhou earned another 9.8 million views and attracted 5,000 visitors. Behind its campaigns, Master Weijixian’s products are increasingly aligning with what Chinese consumers want, including a soy sauce with high quality ingredients and 28% less salt which launched in 2021, and ensuring there are zero added preservatives in its products by next year.
As Eric Yu, the head of marketing for Chinese sauces Kraft Heinz said, “If, as a brand, you are not adding value for your consumers, entertaining or (positively) disrupting their day with high-quality experiences, you are simply not going to stand out or be remembered.” This is true across the China market, which is why companies such as Alibaba prioritise entertainment in their offering to stay current.
A brand can have the best products in the world, but if consumers are not entertained by, or learn something from them, their wonderful products are unlikely to tap into the real opportunities of this enormous market. Contact China Skinny to ensure your end-to-end plan will connect with your target audience in China and ultimately grow sales and loyalty.
