Six appointments, each closer to the price decision

Mandate

Bring pricing communication, claims, membership and channel marketing under one accountable function as the company grows beyond its home province.

Outcomes

• Declined a season-low livestream offer and introduced written channel-pricing rules that the board reviews each June
• Moved claims review to concept stage after the 2023 reduced-sugar launch
• Replaced the monthly member coupon, cutting annualised coupon expense from RMB31 million to about RMB12 million
• Grew live selling to about two-fifths of online revenue with disclosure written into every creator contract

Decisions in context

The chief marketing officer role was created when the executive committee formed after the minority investment. It brought together functions that had reported to different people: brand, membership, online content, shop marketing and consumer insight. My first year was spent agreeing which decisions belonged to marketing and which to operations, finance or the franchise team. Since then, the work has been shaped by pressure on price. Regional chains and discount bakeries have made promotions constant, and live selling has created audiences that expect the lowest price anywhere. I have tried to keep one coherent price and one set of supportable claims across every channel, accepting lower volume where necessary. I report to Jingrou Pan, attend board meetings as an invitee when marketing matters are discussed and present the annual brand and member review. I hold no directorship.

Reason for the move

Still in post; a single board seat is under consideration alongside the executive role, not instead of it.

Mandate

Take the brand into county towns through local partners without creating a second, cheaper version of it.

Outcomes

• Opened 47 franchised shops by December 2021 and closed three
• Kept county and city list prices identical, adapting a smaller 45-item range instead
• Introduced a pricing briefing for franchise partners before each festival announcement

Decisions in context

Combining marketing with franchise development was the founder's idea, and at first I doubted it. It became the most instructive period of my career. A franchise partner invests family savings in a shop, so every promotion, price change or new product appears to them as a direct effect on income. I visited each prospective town, met partners with our franchise manager and learnt to judge a location by household spending, local bakeries and distance from our central kitchen rather than by population alone. We kept city prices in county shops and narrowed the range instead. The pandemic interrupted openings in 2020 and closed shops for weeks, and partners who had opened months earlier needed rent support, which the company funded. The minority investment that year brought new reporting expectations and, eventually, a separate marketing appointment.

Reason for the move

Appointed chief marketing officer when the executive committee was formed.

Mandate

Turn a festival poster calendar into a marketing function with customer data, an online presence and consistent packaging.

Outcomes

• Opened the company's first online stores in 2015, selling packaged lines only
• Launched a free membership programme in 2016 that reached 1.9 million registered members by 2018
• Redesigned packaging around Jiangxi porcelain motifs while stating the 1992 founding accurately

Decisions in context

When I arrived, the marketing department was nine people producing posters and festival gift catalogues. The founder valued customer loyalty but had no way to see it. I proposed a membership programme and online stores, both of which he approved cautiously and funded in stages. The online stores taught us that pastries with short shelf lives needed regional delivery, so we sold packaged lines online and kept fresh items for the shops. Membership gave us our first real view of how often customers returned and what they bought before festivals. I also led the packaging redesign as interest in domestic brands rose. Some colleagues wanted the company presented as far older than it was. I insisted on the 1992 date and the family's real story, because the design could carry tradition without any false claim of age or official recognition.

Reason for the move

Asked to combine marketing with the new franchise programme.

Mandate

Build the company's online stores and marketing as gift purchasing moved online.

Outcomes

• Grew online sales from RMB11 million in 2010 to RMB64 million in 2013
• Ran the company's stores through four November shopping festivals
• Introduced a post-festival analysis of discount cost and repeat purchase

Decisions in context

The founders of Ruiqinglu wanted online sales and were willing to let me learn by doing. In 2010 our tea gifts sold mainly through shops and corporate orders. Within three years online stores were the fastest-growing channel, but the growth came at a price I did not fully appreciate at first. The November festival encouraged us to stack our own coupons on top of platform subsidies, and each year the discount had to be deeper to produce the same headline. After the 2012 festival I built an analysis showing that most festival buyers had not returned at full price within a year. The founders adjusted our approach slightly but kept competing on festival discounts. I left wanting a role in which I could influence pricing across every channel rather than only the online one.

Reason for the move

Moved to lead marketing across every channel in a company with its own shops.

Mandate

Plan supermarket promotions for two biscuit lines, then manage the cream-biscuit brand.

Outcomes

• Reduced deep promotions on the cream-biscuit brand from eleven to six a year
• Introduced a post-promotion review measuring pulled-forward full-price sales
• Held brand share in 2009 while lowering promotional spending by 12 percent

Decisions in context

Huaxinpu was where I learnt the economics of a supermarket aisle. Buyers asked for display fees and regular price promotions, and our sales team often agreed because volume was easier to measure than loyalty. As an assistant brand manager I planned those promotions; from 2008 I managed the cream-biscuit brand and could change them. I began measuring what happened after each promotion, including full-price sales the discount had merely moved forward. The numbers persuaded our marketing director to reduce deep promotions and spend more on in-store sampling and a smaller pack size. Not every sales manager agreed, and two supermarket buyers reduced our display space for a season. By 2009 our share had held on lower promotional spending. The experience gave me the habit of reviewing a promotion's full cost rather than celebrating its peak week.

Reason for the move

Joined a tea company to learn online marketing as gift buying moved online.

Mandate

Manage client relationships, briefs and claim approvals for consumer-goods advertising.

Outcomes

• Coordinated television, print and outdoor campaigns for four consumer clients
• Prepared a claim-substantiation file for each brief before creative work began
• Promoted to senior account executive in 2003

Decisions in context

My first job showed me how advertising is made and how often its favourite lines fail review. I managed briefs, timelines and client approvals for food, beverage and household-goods accounts. Our clients' legal reviewers removed many proposed claims, usually because they used absolute language or compared the product with competitors without evidence. At first I saw those reviews as obstacles. By my second year I was collecting substantiation before our creative teams began writing, which saved both time and arguments. I also learnt how a campaign's promise could be undermined by a retailer's discount the following week. I worked under an account director and made no decisions about client budgets, but I watched how marketing directors chose between proposals. I wanted that responsibility, and in 2005 I moved to a client company to manage a brand directly.

Reason for the move

Moved client-side to manage a brand rather than advise on one.