industry has fallen into a development downturn. Many coatings brands have seized this opportunity to seek industry reshuffle, aiming to rise amid the crisis. From a marketing perspective, every crisis is a “curve”—many successful coatings brands are experts at “curve overtaking”, using their keen insights and bold decisions to surpass competitors and gain greater development space during such critical periods.
However, not all curves are ideal for overtaking, nor can all enterprises achieve it. Curve overtaking requires wisdom, courage, and more importantly, solid corporate operational capabilities. So, in terms of marketing, what should be noted for curve overtaking, and what risks should be avoided? Coatings brands must make accurate judgments to succeed.
Is a crisis beneficial to enterprises?
Accurately judging this is an essential quality of outstanding marketing managers. When facing a crisis, coatings brands must first clarify whether the curve created by the crisis is favorable and whether there is an opportunity to overtake. Otherwise, blindly attempting to overtake at every curve is likely to lead to failure (like a car crash).
In many industries, when foreign-funded enterprises encounter problems, local enterprises often get overly excited, believing it is their chance to shine. They then launch aggressive market offensives, increase promotional efforts, expand distribution coverage, and even develop new products, trying to seize the market. However, in most cases, this excitement often backfires—instead of achieving overtaking, they suffer heavy losses.
Will the market recover after the crisis?
The idea that every crisis is an opportunity is a theoretical assumption. It is somewhat similar to car racing: overtaking is only possible at curves, almost impossible on straight tracks. However, when a coatings brand intends to overtake, it must first analyze the nature of the turmoil—will the coatings market recover after the crisis? Otherwise, any overtaking attempt may leave the enterprise in a predicament.
During the SARS outbreak, the urgent desire of people across the country to boost immunity brought attention to “Banlangen”, a nearly forgotten traditional Chinese medicine. A nationwide buying spree for Banlangen ensued, with some pharmacies even selling expired stock from their warehouses. Many pharmaceutical companies believed this was a “godsend opportunity” and rushed to expand Banlangen production lines, operating factories at full capacity day and night. Unexpectedly, after SARS subsided, their new production lines were just completed and large quantities of Banlangen were produced, but the market demand vanished. Almost overnight, all Banlangen products lost their sales channels, staging a Chinese version of the “Beer Game” (a classic supply chain crisis case).
As can be seen from the above analysis, when a crisis hits the coatings market, if major brands want to change the market structure, they need to make full preparations and plans. Impulsive decisions often only lead to setbacks in the market.