On April 22nd, Meizu founder, Chairman and CEO Huang Zhang returned the first product of the Meizu 15 series and finally came out 'long-awaited.' After the conference was over, Yang Wei, Senior Vice President of Meizu Technology, also went to Beijing. For the first time, the Daily News reporters responded to the Meizu internal disturbances that have occurred recently. Over the past year, Meizu has been repeatedly pushed to the center of public opinion. This position is very important for the company’s product sales and corporate image. Can the future be able to Laying the status of the mid-to-high end market is also in this battle.
Internal storm rises
For Zhang Mei, a former director of Meizu’s former cultural innovation department, who openly questioned Yang Lan and his ability, Yang Hao responded to reporters of Beijing Commercial Daily. Yang Lan stated that this was an organized, large-scale public opinion offensive or coercion. From a certain point of view, this kind of situation is a sign that the Meizu people have long been accumulating to change. It has always been difficult to change the law since ancient times. It has been easy to see a change.
Previously, Zhang Jiafa issued a review of his work history with Meizu. He pointed out that since Yang Hao entered the ranks in May 2017, he had successively proposed the Meizu Cultural Asset Enhancement Plan, Meizu Finance Business Development Concept and Flyme Cultural Assets Enhancement Plan. 3 programs, but all did not come to an end. Zhang Jia believes that Yang Hao does not have the ability to take Meizu out of trouble.
The Meizu subsequently issued an announcement confirming that Zhang Jia used venting personal emotions, used abusive terms for colleagues, spread rumors against the company, and caused multiple media reports about the company. As a result, he decided to expel him and terminate the contract to pursue legal responsibilities. Zhang Jia stated in the Weibo release statement that he does not accept the evaluation of himself in the company e-mail and will take legal measures to safeguard his own rights and interests.
Yang Hao believes that the Meizu are currently in the midst of a change. 'So in the process it was doomed to be uneasy, someone panicked, and it was destined that some people would feel that this was not right and even did not hesitate to use retaliation in violation of the law; but after careful consideration, In the end, we decided to take care of the overall situation. This is why we do not want this issue to be biased in the rhythm of new listings. Under such circumstances, we will certainly use appropriate legal means to regain fairness. After all, this is The society under the rule of law. 'Yang Hao disclosed to a reporter of the Beijing Commercial Daily in private that the company had already found a lawyer to draft a lawyer's letter. However, in order not to affect the release of new products and cause greater impact, it has not been announced yet.
In addition, according to Yang Hao, with the deepening of the reform, there will be more adjustments in organizational structure. This incident further explains that Meizu has reached a point where it cannot be changed. 'I think in front of the main issue, the Qing Self-cleaning, the gentleman is frank and the villain is long. We must solve this problem through appropriate legal channels. There was too much psychological pressure before, including various personal threats. '
Huang Zhang came back again
In his response, Yang Lan also mentioned Huang’s reaction to the incident. He pointed out that after the above incident, Huang Zhang had contacted him almost immediately and supported the Meizu team to go on firmly. Huang Zhang said: In any case, it is necessary to firmly advance to the correct brand strategy. A company should not be vilified by brutal cyber attacks or even organized network public opinion. It must firmly follow its own path.
Speaking of Huang Zhang, I must mention his significance for Meizu. It was he who founded the Meizu. On February 18th, 2009, the Meizu M8 went on the market. The Meizu store had a long queue, only two months. Meizu M8's Sales volume has reached 100,000 units. In just 5 months, Meizu M8's sales have exceeded 500 million yuan. After that, Meizu launched the same successful Meizu M9, and the MX series designed by Huang Zhang is also widely acclaimed. Meizu brand became a representative of domestic boutique mobile phones. From then on until last year, Huang Zhang of 'famous for success' retired from Meizu's daily management and retreated to the second line.
Since 2015, Meizu has been dragged into the sea tactical strategy: 14 products released in one year became a sensation in the industry at that time. Although a large number of thousand Yuan machine successfully pulled Meizu's shipments to 20 million units. However, the negative effects have come one after another. The brand image has been continuously lowered. The boutique positioning has been rapidly diluted. A lot of loyal fans have started to leave. Many people are asking: Where was the exciting Meizu once? ?
Under such circumstances, at the Meizu annual meeting in 2017, Huang Zhang said that the new year will return to the beginning of the heart and return to the product to create a new dream machine. After Huang Zhang regained his high profile, Meizu performed the largest range of structures and personnel in recent years. Changes. In the aspect of senior management adjustment, Qi Weimin was appointed as the company's senior vice president, CFO, responsible for financial management, reporting directly to the company's CEO Huang Zhang; Meizu vice president Yang Hao served as the company's CMO.
In terms of organizational structure, in addition to the original Meizu, Charm Blue, and Flyme 3 business units, Meizu raised three lower-level businesses to the business unit level, including upgrading its overseas marketing department to an overseas business unit. The Business Department will be upgraded to the E-Commerce Division and the Addition of New Parts Business Unit. The Parts Business Unit will be responsible for the Meizu and Charm Blue related accessories products. The establishment of the Overseas Business Unit clearly demonstrates that Meizu will expand overseas markets. To the company's strategic height.
According to the data released by Meizu, in 2017, Meizu mobile phone shipments totaled nearly 20 million units, a decrease of 2 million units from the 22 million units in 2016, with sales exceeding 20 billion yuan.
Return to an important battle
On April 22nd, Meizu released 3 new models of M15, 15, 15 Plus, and brought with it a newly upgraded system Flyme 7. It can be seen that Huang Zhang spent a lot of effort on 15 and 15Plus this time: The top camera, the narrowest border technology in the world, and the haptic system of Apple's mobile phone are comparable to Meizu's ability to return to the former fine image. The market performance of these three models is crucial.
In the view of Kang Jie, editor of the operator WorldCom, Meizu 15 is much stronger than last year's Pro7. Products are more grounded, cost-effective, practical features increase; marketing is also more open, cooperation with channels, such as Jingdong , Obviously have advantages over the previous channel, but there is no way to estimate what level can be achieved. 'Yang Hao's own ability is still relatively strong, Meizu 15 is the king of mid-range mobile phones, compared with similar grade products, There are still advantages. '
However, the current overall mobile phone market does not look optimistic. The "China Mobile Phone Market Operational Analysis Report for March 2018" released by the China Institute of Information and Communications shows that from January to March 2018, China's smartphone shipments were 81.37 million. The Ministry of Commerce, with a year-on-year decrease of 26.1%. Among them, the domestic brand mobile phone shipments totaled 75.764 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 27.9%. This inflection point is called 'dividend vacuum period'.
In addition to the overall market decline, the current mobile phone market has become more competitive. Apple, Huawei, etc. have basically occupied the high-end mobile phone market. The low-end market also has strong competitors such as vivo, OPPO, and Xiaomi, and the models released by Meizu are facing In the mid-market, Yang Ye believes that if Meizu wants to do a good job in the mid-end market, the key is whether it can truly make a difference. This differentiation is also accepted and recognized by consumers. To do so, there is no difference between high school and low school.
In addition, Ding Shaojian, the observing observer of the observatory, pointed out that head brands Huawei, Xiaomi, OPPO, and Vivo are taking up a larger share. While the brand concentration is increasing, the second-tier brands such as Meizu have been severely squeezed. This market trend will continue in the next two to three years.
Regarding this issue, Yang Hao said that although the mobile phone market is concentrated in large manufacturers, the world will be divided for a long time. It will be a matter of time. Since it is a personalized product, there will certainly be a variety of personalized space. Meizu’s existence and healthy development will be achieved because the Meizu space is large enough and has a huge consumer population and differentiated aesthetic needs. In China, there are several thousand mobile phone models that are added each year, and the product price ranges from RMB 20,000 to RMB 10,000. To a few hundred dollars, because of too many hierarchies, this market is too rich.
On the whole, Meizu is still facing a lot of pressure. In order to be invincible in the mobile high-end market, besides having differentiated technologies, it is necessary to work hard in many aspects such as marketing and channel building. The more important point is that internal management differences must be resolved as soon as possible.