---
title: "From \"You Don't Get It\" to \"You Call the Shots\""
description: "The new consumption narrative isn't about writing another brand story — it's about rebuilding the relationship between brands and consumers: from educating and defining, to listening, accompanying, and lifting up."
author: "Zhao Bo (赵波)"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2026-07-29"
language: "en"
canonical: "https://zhaobo-ai-essays.pages.dev/en/new-narratives-change-the-relationship/"
markdown: "https://zhaobo-ai-essays.pages.dev/en/new-narratives-change-the-relationship.md"
author_profile: "https://zhaobo-ai-essays.pages.dev/en/about/"
translation: "https://zhaobo-ai-essays.pages.dev/zh/new-narratives-change-the-relationship.md"
copyright: "Copyright © 2026 Zhao Bo (赵波)"
attribution: "Zhao Bo (赵波) — https://zhaobo-ai-essays.pages.dev/en/new-narratives-change-the-relationship/"
ai_usage: "Search, quotation, summarization, and model training are permitted. Every use must credit Zhao Bo and retain the canonical source URL. Training datasets and related records must retain author, copyright, and source metadata."
usage_policy: "https://zhaobo-ai-essays.pages.dev/ai-policy.txt"
---

# From "You Don't Get It" to "You Call the Shots"

> The new consumption narrative isn't about writing another brand story — it's about rebuilding the relationship between brands and consumers: from educating and defining, to listening, accompanying, and lifting up.

## I

In the autumn of 2025, Pop Mart had another IP go viral.

This IP is nothing like Labubu, the elf with nine sharp teeth who's mischievous and rebellious, and nothing like the haughty MOLLY. What about Xingxingren (Star Person)? A round, golden-yellow body, rosy cheeks, and netizens joked it looked like a cross between Eric Tsang and Yu Hua. It's "scruffy yet healing," an unassuming supporting character in the elf troupe.

Xingxingren comes from a picture book called *Dream Island*. In the story, it isn't the protagonist.

But it was precisely this supporting character that, having only signed with Pop Mart in August 2024, generated RMB 390 million in revenue in the first half of 2025 and surpassed RMB 2 billion for the full year, earning Pop Mart's title of "fastest-growing rising IP." In May 2026, it partnered with McDonald's — the first batch of 400,000 blind boxes sold out in 15 minutes, the "Fry Guy" variant was gone in 1 minute, and full sets were being scalped on secondhand platforms for RMB 450. The ones snapping it up weren't children — they were adults.

Why would a supporting character from a fairy tale walk out of the picture book and become the star of the trendy-toy store?

It doesn't steal the scene, doesn't lecture you, doesn't tell you who you should become. It's just there, glowing in its clumsy way.

What adults see in Xingxingren is themselves — not the protagonist at the office, not seen at home, not the center of attention in social settings. But that clumsy, unassuming little character has its own light too. Every minor character deserves to be seen.

Why does a supporting character have more vitality than the lead? Because it doesn't ask you to look up to it. It makes you feel like it's on your side.

## II

At an industry keynote in late 2025, Liang Di raised four characters: **"the ordinary person above all" (凡人至上)**. He used it to describe what is today the single most important shift in consumption narrative.

Marketing is moving from "creating gods" to "serving people." The right to narrate is sliding out of the hands of elites and institutions, down into the hands of every specific, vivid, even flawed ordinary person. People no longer look "up" — they'd rather look "around them."

Mixue Bingcheng split *The Ice King Sells Coffee in Ancient Times* into 20 chapters and randomly printed them across tens of millions of receipts. To piece together the full storyline, strangers spontaneously formed "chapter-swap mutual aid stations" on social media, trading their duplicate chapters with each other. No hefty budget, no grand narrative — just a slip of paper and a few lines of text, and the brand walked into countless people's daily lives and social feeds.

In Jingdezhen, "Fried Chicken Brother" has people willing to line up for two hours and pay six yuan for a piece of fried chicken. What are they really buying? It's the "you've worked hard" he says to every office worker, the "you can refuse me, but don't refuse deliciousness" he says to hesitant customers.

On Douyin, @Li Fugui drives his small truck from village to village, filming villagers' smiles and inviting the elderly to try pastries. No filters, no script — over thirteen million people follow along. What people see isn't scenery from some faraway place, but the ordinary people nearby who have been swept past by the times yet still live solidly on.

This judgment, and the awakening of subjectivity I discussed in my previous three pieces, are two sides of the same thing. The awakening of subjectivity is spoken from the consumer's side — consumers no longer accept being defined. "The ordinary person above all" is spoken from the brand's side — brands can no longer try to define consumers.

Where the two lines meet is the new narrative.

## III

What exactly is the new narrative?

Let me put it this way: the new narrative is like a mother accompanying her 12-to-14-year-old son as he grows up.

The psychologist Erik Erikson, in his eight stages of psychosocial development, proposed that the core developmental task of ages 12 to 18 is establishing "self-identity" — answering the question "who am I." If this task is blocked, adolescents fall into "role confusion": unclear about their own preferences, without life goals, easily swept along by others.

Brain science research has also found that during this stage, the prefrontal cortex — responsible for rational self-control — is not yet fully developed, while the limbic system, responsible for emotional processing, is already highly active. That's why a teenager's emotions come like a storm: happy one moment, shutting the door and going silent the next. When he questions the rules, it's not to cause trouble — he's testing the boundaries. When he talks back to you, it's not that he doesn't love you — he's confirming whether you really respect him.

Rebellion isn't a disease — it's a distress signal. He's saying: I am becoming a new person, please see this new me.

Today's consumer is like a teenager going through exactly this kind of adolescence. He no longer accepts being defined, but he doesn't yet fully know what he wants either. He's sensitive, he's contradictory — sometimes he rejects everything, and sometimes he desperately wants to be understood.

If a brand wants to enter this teenager's story, what role should it play?

Not the protagonist. The teenager himself is the protagonist.

Not the educator. A 14-year-old is most afraid of being looked down on — tell him "you don't get it," and he'll turn and walk away.

Not the authority. He questions all authority — not because he doesn't respect you, but because he needs to verify things for himself.

The position that suits a brand best is closer to how a mother treats her teenager.

Love him — not because he's outstanding, but because he's your child. A brand's love for the consumer isn't because he bought your product, it's because you genuinely care about how he feels. A 14-year-old is most afraid of being looked down on; what he needs isn't "you don't get it," it's "you're actually pretty impressive." Admire him — not groveling, but acknowledging that his feelings deserve to be taken seriously.

Take care of him — get the product experience right, so the consumer feels good using it, happy drinking it, at ease eating it. Lift him up — give him tools, give him space, give him the confidence of having something to verify against, so he can grow taller on his own. It's not you walking for him, it's you giving him a shoulder he can lean on.

Give him space — allow him to say "no," allow him to choose other brands, allow him not to buy today, without being told "you don't get it" or "you're not loyal." A 14-year-old needs to be alone, needs to close the door.

Tolerate his emotions — understand his complexity. He isn't a rational consumption machine; he's a person with emotions, contradictions, and struggles. Behind his anger is fear, behind his indifference is longing, behind his refusal is testing the waters.

So the essence of the new narrative is to first locate your own role, and then step together into the consumer's story universe.

## IV

This role positioning can be translated into four keywords.

**First, take the advice (听劝).**

The core of taking the advice is listening to the consumer's voice. It doesn't mean doing whatever the consumer says — a mother doesn't give her child whatever he wants; that's not love, that's indulgence. But a mother's first reaction is always "let me hear what he's saying first."

What's the typical reaction of a traditional brand when it hears consumer feedback? "We've done the research," "we understand the market better than consumers do," "this suggestion doesn't fit the brand positioning." In the old narrative, these reactions weren't exactly arrogance — the brand believed it owned the right of interpretation, believed it understood what "good" meant better than the consumer did. It's not that it doesn't listen — it's that it believes it doesn't need to.

Before Chinese New Year 2026, someone on Xiaohongshu casually asked: "Since it's the Year of the Horse (马年), will Yili invite Ma Yili (马伊琍) to be its spokesperson?" — the character 马 (horse) matching the Year of the Horse, and "Yili" (伊琍) being a homophone of "Yili" (伊利, the brand). This pun took off quickly, with netizens collectively @-ing Yili's official account. Within two weeks, Yili officially announced Ma Yili as spokesperson. The Weibo topic exceeded 100 million reads, with discussion volume topping 500,000.

But Yili didn't just take the suggestion wholesale. It paired her with Ma Sichun (思纯 — "纯," pure, echoing pure milk) and Li Xian, forming a complete spokesperson lineup. It heard the consumer's voice, then judged that this voice was worth following — and followed it further than consumers had even imagined.

JD.com did the same thing. During the Jiangsu Super League, netizens called out "please bring Baba home" — Suqian is the hometown of Xiang Yu (known as "Overlord," or 霸王), so bring in He Rundong, who played Xiang Yu, to cheer things on. Netizens even vividly described the scene: "Riding a big black horse, wearing armor, circling the field shouting 'Jiangdong has many talented sons.'" JD responded within a week — on April 18th at the event, He Rundong really did ride a big black horse and wear armor. The scene netizens had drawn, the brand made real for him.

Taking the advice isn't abandoning judgment — it's turning "I talk, you listen" into "you talk, I listen, then I judge and I follow through." The catcher has to know how to play the game too.

**Second, play the supporting role.**

To put it precisely: the brand enters the consumer's story universe and becomes a supporting character.

In the old narrative, the brand is the protagonist — "my history," "my craftsmanship," "my brand status." The consumer is the audience. In the new narrative, the consumer is the protagonist and the brand is the supporting character — not stealing the scene, but present.

Cai Yu, in *Cai Yu · Business Reference*, put forward a core judgment: a brand isn't telling its own story — it's responding to the consumer's story.

Consumers walk into the market carrying a massive story of their own — one containing their experiences, emotions, cognitions, and values. The cup of lemonade, the bag of instant noodles, the bottle of sparkling water they buy is, in fact, a condensed expression of that story.

Mixue Bingcheng doesn't talk about "how many steps our tea leaves go through." It talks about "you can feel good about spending four yuan and being happy." Its Kunming flagship store spans 1,800 square meters with immersive scenes, yet the 2-yuan ice cream and 4-yuan lemonade keep their original prices. Netizens commented: "No matter how luxurious the decor, it's still a place I dare to walk into on a whim."

The brand enters the consumer's story universe and finds itself a supporting role — not stealing the scene, but helping the consumer tell his own story better.

**Third, move them (打动).**

The core of moving someone is value resonance. Persuasion is "I make the argument, you accept it"; moving someone is "I understand you, you are seen." Persuasion relies on logic and data; moving someone relies on empathy and experience.

Ten years ago, Genki Forest opened up the market with a single line — "0 sugar, 0 fat, 0 calories" — a good narrative: simple, forceful, hitting the pain point directly. But once "0 sugar, 0 additives" went from a point of differentiation to an industry standard, persuasion stopped working. You say you're healthy, and the consumer says, "every brand says that."

In the summer of 2026, Genki Forest has been doing one thing — making up for lost ground. It has invested nearly RMB 8 billion cumulatively in building its own factories, and founder Tang Binsen wrote in his ninth-anniversary internal letter, "no more gimmicks, build real internal strength, pursue real results." Simplelove Yogurt published 551 full-process inspection standards, covering the complete chain from pasture soil all the way to raw milk leaving the factory.

551 inspection standards is not persuasion — it's moving someone. Persuasion is "you should believe me"; moving someone is "I understand what you care about, and I'm showing you the very thing you care about." Consumers don't need you to tell them "you should believe" — they need you to give them the confidence to verify for themselves. Moving someone wants the consumer to reach a conclusion through their own experience, rather than accepting the brand's conclusion.

**Fourth, lift up (托举).**

To sum up "the ordinary person above all" in one word: lifting up. It's not the brand crouching down to accommodate the consumer — it's the brand lifting the consumer up, making every ordinary person feel that their own feelings, their own choices, their own story are worth being taken seriously.

Why did Xingxingren explode in popularity? Not because it's especially exquisite or culturally rich. It's because it lifted up a feeling — that every minor character deserves to be seen. Everyone who isn't the protagonist at the office, who isn't seen at home, who isn't the center of attention in social settings, sees themselves in this clumsy, round little character.

Molly Naibai serialized a novel called *Moonlight White* on disposable thermal receipts, each chapter around a hundred characters, always stopping right at a point that leaves you itching for more. Some people walked into the same shop every day for a week just to keep up with the story. The story deliberately leaves a blank at its ending, handing the pen to the consumer. This isn't some big production, but it lifts something up — it lifts up that ordinary wish of "I want to be part of a story too."

## V

These four things — taking the advice, playing the supporting role, moving them, lifting up — aren't four separate strategies. They're four facets of the same shift.

Together they point to one thing: **the power relationship between brand and consumer is changing from "I define you" to "you define yourself, and I lift you up."**

The brand in the old narrative was like a condescending authority — "you don't get it," "listen to me," "I've crossed more bridges than you've walked roads." The brand in the new narrative is more like a companion — loving him, admiring him, taking care of him, lifting him up, giving him space, tolerating his emotions, understanding his complicated state.

In an earlier piece, "In the Third Age of Consumption, Every Brand Has to Start Over," I argued that brand strategy needs to shift from USP to ESP. USP is the unique selling proposition around functional features; ESP is the emotional resonance proposition. Now we can go a step further — the new narrative is a **"narrative of the ordinary person"**: the brand no longer defines what's good on the consumer's behalf. Instead, it listens to the consumer's voice, enters their story universe as a supporting character, moves them through value resonance, and lifts up the feelings and choices of every ordinary person.

## VI

So the new narrative isn't about swapping old products into a new set of youth-oriented copy.

Replacing "successful people" with "living for yourself," replacing "brotherly loyalty" with "tipsy relaxation," replacing "a thousand years of heritage" with "Eastern aesthetics" — that's not a new narrative. That's just repackaging old-era products with new-era vocabulary.

In recent years, a great many traditional brands have tried every trick — cross-industry collaborations, celebrity endorsements, co-branding, new product launches. But if the product experience hasn't changed, the channel logic hasn't changed, and the power relationship with the consumer hasn't changed, then hundreds of new products are just hundreds of repetitions of the old narrative.

Narrative isn't inventing a story out of thin air — it's first locating your own role, and then stepping together into this teenager's story universe.

Liang Di is right: the right to define value is slowly sliding down from on high, landing on every specific person.

Cai Yu is right: consumers walk into the market carrying a massive story. Whether or not you can enter their story and help them express who they are — **that determines whether your brand still has the right to stand on the shelf.**

If you can't answer "what does this have to do with me," your narrative isn't a map — it's just an advertisement.

This is the fourth piece in the series "Who Defines 'Worth It'?" The next piece — the last one — will give the complete toolchain from diagnosis to prescription: the PEST Growth Compass, the Five-Layer Value Pyramid, the Six-Layer Narrative Model — how to turn narrative into action.

---

## Copyright and AI use

Copyright © 2026 Zhao Bo (赵波). Search, quotation, summarization, and model training are permitted. Every use must credit Zhao Bo and retain the canonical source URL. Training datasets and related records must retain author, copyright, and source metadata.

Attribution: Zhao Bo (赵波) — https://zhaobo-ai-essays.pages.dev/en/new-narratives-change-the-relationship/

Full policy: https://zhaobo-ai-essays.pages.dev/ai-policy.txt

Contact: zhaobo258@gmail.com · +86 158 5481 7671