The cotton era, which took the high-quality route in recent years, overturned due to advertising not long after the arrival of the New Year.
Late on the night of January 10, Cotton Times posted a “letter of apology” on the official Weibo, saying that its makeup remover wipes advertising video violated corporate values and betrayed everyone’s trust, and apologized to all consumers.
But this “apology” not only did not calm the doubts of netizens, but was considered that the apology letter only began with the content of the apology, and then introduced the brand-related promotional content in a large paragraph, is this really an apology?
According to the data, the parent company behind Cotton Times is Robust Medical (300888), which landed on the Growth Enterprise Market in September 2020. At that time, Prudent Medical disclosed that the revenue contribution of Cotton Times was as high as 60%.
1
Apologies turn into self-praise
Regarding the overturning of the letter of apology in the Cotton Era, it is like this.
Earlier, Cotton Times released an advertisement that a young girl found herself being followed on her way home late at night, and then she “moved wisely”, took out the makeup remover wipes in her bag and began to remove her makeup, turning her head into the appearance of a man, scaring off the stalkers.
The hashtag of this video on Douyin is: When you go home late at night and meet the man in black following, what method will you use to get rid of it?
As soon as the video was played, netizens believed that the subtext of the advertisement of the cotton era was:
The ugly do not deserve to be sexually harassed, and the good-looking deserve to be harassed. Not only is it disrespectful to women, but it also attacks all men.
In the face of the doubts of netizens, at the beginning, Cotton Times only replied in the comment area: The video is an advertising creative and is only used as a cleaning function to highlight the product.
But with the fermentation of public opinion, late on the night of January 10, Cotton Times urgently issued a letter of apology. However, this apology letter, issued late at night, was completely fried.
Specifically, Cotton Times only apologized in the first two paragraphs of the article, and then turned the conversation around, all of them were reviewing the brand road, corporate culture, and public welfare deeds of the Cotton Era… In short, almost all of the two-page apology letter says “I’m awesome.”
Picture according to Weibo
In the face of such an apology, many netizens said that it was the first time they saw 1% apology and 99% boasting in the apology letter.
2
Things sold expensive in the cotton era
After the letter of apology from Cotton Times caused doubts on the whole network, on January 11, a reporter from Financial Investment News visited the Cotton Times Chengdu store.
On the fourth floor of Ito-Yokado on Chunxi Road in Chengdu, Cotton Times is next to other baby brands.
Cotton Times Chengdu store Financial Investment News reporter photo
It is said that women and dolls have the best money to earn in the world, and this sentence is not false at all.
In the store of the cotton era, the reporter of the Financial Investment News saw that a pack of baby cotton wipes cost 49.8 yuan, a box of basic cotton swabs for babies costs 19.8 yuan, and a baby gauze handkerchief costs 46 yuan…
Small things are so expensive, let alone large ones. Among them, about 320 grams of cotton quilts, the price is as high as 688 yuan, a winter baby outing clothes is 368 yuan, and a set of winter boys’ cotton thickened pajamas home clothes are sold for more than 400 yuan.
In short, in this 20 or 30 square meter store, the cotton era reveals one
“Expensive”
Word.
On Zhihu, the reporter also found that many people said that things in the cotton era were “expensive”. Some netizens even said that others gave me 3 packs of cotton era wipes, and the result of checking on Taobao was 100 yuan, which was really shivering~
In this regard, some industry insiders said that the expensive things indicate that the brand has a premium effect, but many of the things sold by some brands are domestic OEM, so they all rely on concept marketing. “Sometimes, brands are just fighting psychological warfare to make consumers think that what is expensive is good. This is especially evident in products such as babies and women in the cotton era. ”
The Financial Investment News reporter learned that in infant products, the price is generally more arrogant. Because the baby’s skin is delicate, it must be soft and skin-friendly, coupled with the traditional concept, it is believed that cotton products are breathable. Therefore, the marketing of the cotton era is almost all hit on the point.
3
Can robust healthcare performance continue to grow?
Because it occupies the good track of mother and baby, women’s products, plus things have concepts. According to the prospectus, Robust Medical landed on the capital market in September 2020, according to the business division, medical dressing business, healthy life consumer goods business, cotton spunlace non-woven fabric are the three major business sectors of Robust Medical, of which Cotton Times, which belongs to the healthy life consumer goods sector, is an important source of Robust Medical revenue.
From 2017 to 2019, Cotton Times achieved operating income of 2.14 billion yuan, 2.38 billion yuan and 3.03 billion yuan, and contributed 62.4%, 62.9% and 67.2% to the overall revenue of the parent company Robust Medical (300888), respectively.
It can be said that half of the successful listing of Robust Medical relies on the cotton era.
In the first three quarters of 2020, Robust Medical achieved revenue of 9.523 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 205.36%; The attributable net profit was 3.150 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 678.64%. Among them, the company achieved 2.118 billion yuan in the third quarter, a year-on-year increase of 1112.76%.
In terms of business, the sales of medical protective products such as medical masks and protective clothing increased significantly, and the sales revenue of the company’s masks and protective clothing reached 6.927 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 68 times. The business of daily consumer goods reached 2.316 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 16.52%.
It can be seen that in 2020, Robust Medical took the east wind of masks. In the secondary market, the stock price continued to rise sharply. Up to now, the stock price has reached 17.682 billion yuan, and the market value is 75.41 billion yuan.
The enterprise investigation shows that Li Jianquan, as the founder, also firmly grasps the control of Robust Medical and Cotton Era. As of September 30, 2020, Prudent Group held 68.1% of the equity of Prudent Medical, and Li Jianquan was the major shareholder of Prudent Group with 73.74% of the shares. According to this calculation, Li Jianquan’s corresponding net worth reached 58 billion yuan.
However, no matter how hard the performance is, it still cannot hide the fact that its products or consumer goods have been “blacklisted”.
On May 26, 2020, the Shaanxi Provincial Drug Administration released the Shaanxi Provincial Medical Device Quality Announcement on its website. Among them, the medical care masks produced by Robust Medical (Huanggang) Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Robust Medical, were inspected unqualified due to the “mask belt” problem.
On the other hand, some people also pointed out that after Robust Medical eliminated the mask and protective clothing business, the sales revenue of the company’s other products in the first three quarters of 2020 was 2.596 billion yuan. In this way, the corresponding revenue growth rate will not be so amazing.
As we all know, 2020 is a big year for masks, but after one year of the epidemic being controlled, will the business of medical masks and protective clothing continue to increase significantly in 2021? If revenue declines, does that mean that Robust Medical’s performance will also change? And in the cotton era that supports half of the sky, will there be consumers to pay after this advertising storm? Financial Investment News reporters will also continue to pay attention!