China Q3 Vape Brand Rankings: RELX No.1, Laimi the Surprise No.2

On November 18, news broke that BlueHole, a new media outlet focused on electronic vaporization, and the digital brand ranking research institution DBRank jointly released the third quarter brand awareness ranking for electronic cigarette brands in China, based on data from the third quarter of 2021.

Since the second quarter of last year, we have adopted the current quarter's digital brand assets as the basis for ranking, rather than relying on past data, to better reflect the brand's operations and immediate feedback during the quarter. This approach rewards brands that perform well in the current quarter and eliminates those that rely on historical rankings.

Readers should also note that the brand awareness rankings can change each quarter and are not as static as one might think.

Both parties have committed to producing this ranking based on original, authentic data without any manual intervention or commercialization.
 
BlueHole Commentary:

Observant readers may have noticed that only 17 brands made the list in the third quarter, down from 28 in the second quarter, a reduction of 40%.

Brands that did not make the list had insufficient citation data; while they may generate some data, their share of mind was ultimately 0 and thus disregarded.

From a policy perspective, on March 22, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced that electronic cigarettes would be managed similarly to cigarettes, which caused a stir in the industry. Additionally, on May 26, the National Health Commission released a report stating there is sufficient evidence to suggest that electronic cigarettes are unsafe, which raised concerns among experts. This led the electronic cigarette industry to enter a downward trend this year.

From an industry standpoint, many electronic cigarette brands have halted store openings and subsidies, and some have adopted a more passive operational approach, ceasing regular business activities.

From the perspective of offline terminals, surveyed electronic cigarette stores have seen sales decline for seven consecutive months, and with lease expirations, a wave of store closures may occur by the end of the year.

The rankings indicate quarterly trends: rising, falling, or unchanged, to help readers reference brand performance over two consecutive quarters.

Let's briefly comment on individual brands:

1. RELX continues to rank first, with a share increase of about 7% from the previous quarter. Last quarter it was 74.8%, and this quarter it is 82.5%. The growth primarily stems from RELX's initiatives in the third quarter, including a recycling program for empty pods and funding for the return of Northeast tigers and leopards, both of which have led the industry and received extensive coverage from authoritative media.

2. Laimi has entered the top three for the first time, soaring from 18th in the second quarter to 2nd in the third quarter, akin to a rocket speed rise. The reason lies in the significant increase in topic mentions and planning related to Laimi this quarter, both for Laimi itself and the Zero HNB brand, especially with the clever integration of Laimi products into the history of electronic cigarette development. Although it may seem overly self-praising, it is a clever marketing strategy. From the social media of Laimi's CEO and all employees and agents, it is evident that the brand has undertaken extensive planning in the third quarter.

3. Pod has risen 3 places to rank third. This quarter, Pod continues to benefit from the residual warmth of PMTA, frequently creating buzzworthy events, such as the 7% and 2% of the FDA's pending reviews, which Pod has cleverly leveraged for topic dissemination. It is understandable that they have not been rejected by the FDA, which serves as a form of endorsement. Pod has played the role of Zhuge Liang, borrowing arrows with straw boats, but there are concerns about what will happen if they are indeed rejected. But who cares? Enjoy today, worry about tomorrow when it comes.

4. Xiaoye remains unchanged at fourth place. There are not many highlights, but the presence of two major celebrities, Luo Yonghao and Chen Guanxi, keeps Xiaoye in the spotlight.

5. Weita has risen 7 places to rank fifth. Weita launched new products X and a new brand, New Bee, in the third quarter, benefiting from a grand launch event and the momentum of the new brand, re-entering the top five. Unlike Laimi and Pod, who stirred up controversy, Weita adopted a product launch strategy to drive topic dissemination.

6. Yuzu has dropped 1 place to rank sixth. Yuzu has been focused on internal restructuring and self-improvement in the third quarter, with minimal external promotion.

7. Mozi has fallen 4 places to rank seventh. Mozi entered the top three for the first time in the second quarter due to multiple new product launches but has been relatively quiet in the third quarter. Mozi excels in product development but needs clearer communication strategies for external promotion.

8. VAZO has risen 5 places to rank eighth. VAZO has re-entered the top ten, related to its frequent collaborations with well-known IPs for new product launches.

9. Bolan continues to rank ninth. There are not many highlights, mostly regular promotions.

10. Xihu has dropped 8 places to rank tenth. From second in the second quarter to tenth in the third quarter, Xihu's decline is normal due to fewer highlights in the third quarter.

11. Jigan continues to rank 11th, while Feiwo and MYX have both declined, falling out of the top ten.

12. Fulu, Xuejia, and Longwu have re-entered the TOP 20 rankings, with Fugou continuing to rank 17th.

13. Some newly established brands have also made significant moves in Q3, such as COEE and Muxi. However, due to ranking rules, they were not included in data monitoring before the quarter began, and related data will only reflect in Q4. Whether they can enter the rankings will depend on individual circumstances.

Due to space limitations, this concludes our commentary on individual brands.

As always, the BlueHole Mind Ranking reflects the volume of related information and mention rates for brands on platforms like WeChat, Weibo, Zhihu, and news websites, and does not represent actual market share or sales volume. It is intended for reference regarding brands.

We hope all brands approach this with a calm mindset. We also hope all brand agents do the same.

Overall, brands that can consistently maintain their positions on the rankings may have new product launches, store opening policies, or more unique strategic communications.

Brands that did not make the list do not necessarily indicate poor development; they simply may not have had significant activities in the third quarter.

Additionally, the BlueHole rankings will never include generic data and will not monitor data from electronic cigarette industry media accounts that engage in long-term volume manipulation. Several media accounts that have engaged in such practices have already been blacklisted.

In other words, no matter how many articles you publish on these fake volume accounts, they will ultimately generate no data and have no impact on the rankings. Because you know, those are fake reading numbers.

We have to emphasize once again that the BlueHole rankings do not accept any commercial sponsorship or requests for assistance.

Furthermore, let me reiterate: do not ask us how the rankings are calculated anymore.

This ranking is generated based on the proprietary calculation model of the Digital Brand Ranking, covering news media, information websites, news apps, Weibo, WeChat, and other platform accounts, as well as content platforms like Zhihu, calculating the brand's user mind share based on media reports and user-generated content.