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Recently, there was an egg shortage in Japan, and the price of eggs soared. Looking at this incident today, it is not news. Yet, what is interesting about this incident is the reports of the egg shortage in the Japanese local media. The focus of many media is not eggs, but a biscuit. This biscuit is called “White Lover”. Many media reports are that the shortage of eggs has led to a reduction in the production of White Lover biscuits.

Why did the media report this? It must be because this biscuit is not simple. Either a local pillar industry or a cultural business card. As for White Lover, both are accounted for. White Lover is an old brand. It has been on the market for 47 years and can still sell 200 million yuan a year. Moreover, the price is not cheap. A box of 12 biscuits costs more than 12 dollars, and a biscuit costs more than 1 USD.

The competition in the Japanese biscuit market is fierce. So, why can “White Lover” sell so expensively and sell so well? If what you are doing is also a highly competitive Red Sea circuit, I suggest you listen to it.

The first is to find a huge market segment. Shiroi Koibito is not aimed at Japanese locals, but at foreigners who come to Japan for tourism. It is positioned as a souvenir from Hokkaido, Japan. How significant is this market segment? Hokkaido has more than 50 million tourists every year.

Why can a biscuit become the specialty of Hokkaido? Of course, Hokkaido is close to the sea, and seafood is a local specialty, but biscuits are available all over the world. This means that white lovers rely on artificial operations to turn themselves into Hokkaido characteristics. How does it do? There are four key operations among them.

The first is the details of the carved biscuits, which fully fit the gift scene. You see, most tourists come to Hokkaido in winter, and the most profound memory of tourists is the snow in Hokkaido. So, White Lover, right in the biscuit, with white chocolate.

That’s not enough. There is a fatal problem with using biscuits as souvenirs, that is, they are fragile. Customers have bumps along the way, what should we do? Shiroi Koibito tried a lot and found that chocolate can be used as glue.

Thus, ordinary biscuits, aren’t they all, the sandwich is a circle smaller than the biscuit. White Lover makes the sandwich bigger than the biscuit. This way, the filling will stick to the biscuit and it won’t crumble easily.

The second is to use the name and packaging to tell a good story. For example, name the product White Lover. For another example, in terms of packaging, the pattern of Hokkaido is made with silver thread. And another example is the main selling point of Valentine’s Day souvenirs. People go to Hokkaido in winter, and Valentine’s Day and it’s just in late winter and early spring, isn’t it?

The third is to choose closed channels to increase the probability of reaching target users. People outside of Japan travel to Hokkaido with a high probability of flying. The airplane is a closed scene, and the only meals that customers can choose from are airplane meals. Therefore, Shiroi Koibito partnered with Japan’s All Nippon Airways to provide Shiroi Koibito cookies on board the Hokkaido route.

In other words, on the way to Hokkaido, when tourists have the highest expectations for Hokkaido, the first Hokkaido specialty they see is Shiroi Koibito biscuits. The time to plant grass is just right.

The fourth step is to extend the perimeter to provide a more profound experience. For example, Shiroi Koibito built a theme park in Hokkaido, Japan. There is a sightseeing factory inside, where visitors can watch the whole process of making White Lovers. There are workshops where visitors can make white-lover cookies by themselves. There are also amusement parks, museums, and more.

In short, it is this a bit like what we often say, every product, in addition to its own functional attributes, must also be a container of meaning. When you keep filling it with new meanings, even if the product itself is simple, its connotation will become richer and richer.