FLOW Founder Zhu Xiaomu: How Product Design Supports Brand Marketing and Communication

I am Zhu Xiaomu, previously the first employee and Vice President of Product at Smartisan Technology, and now I am working on a pod-based vaping brand, specifically FLOW, which is called 福禄 in Chinese.

At Smartisan Technology, I was involved in two main tasks: giving speeches and product development, needing to ensure that after the launch event, everyone would share on social media. Here, I want to share how to create a qualified product that influences users without any data or feedback before product development.

Next, I will illustrate how I specifically approach product design and brand communication with a few examples.
Product design primarily stems from user pain points, but it is essential to communicate this effectively to users.

First, here’s an example of systematic product design.

Smartisan Technology previously developed a quick phrase feature. For instance, if someone on WeChat says, "Give me an address to send you food!" the question arises: where should the address be sent? In the dialogue box, if you long-press, the first option is paste, and the second is a button for "quick phrases," which allows users to quickly send stored phrases like addresses or emails.

This feature is very useful, but how do I introduce it at the launch event to make a lasting impression?

Product design originates from user pain points, but how do we explain it to users?

In the quick phrases feature, I designed many "hahahaha" options. Imagine a scenario where a new friend shares something they think is hilarious. If you immediately respond with 20 "hahahaha," they will perceive you as a close friend or someone easy to communicate with, thus establishing your persona. Although this feature is meant for recording addresses and phone numbers, from a communication perspective, such examples are highly effective.
When designing products, always consider brand marketing.

In addition to making a good product, it is also essential to sell it well. This requires thinking not only about how to make the product but also about how to communicate it.

I wonder if you have ever attended a long, tedious English class where students can hardly stay focused. So New Oriental came up with a new approach: telling jokes to engage students' attention. We applied this concept to our launch events, ensuring that we not only create user-friendly products but also make them sound fun and desirable to buy.

In summary, when designing products, always think about brand marketing.

Grasp the essence of the product and extend it, and you can spread this product effectively.

Next, I will discuss some current initiatives we are undertaking with FLOW, the pod-based vaping product.

As we all know, e-cigarettes have recently gained immense popularity, becoming a hot project in the investment circle. Previous trends included AI, VR, AR, and blockchain, but this year's trend is e-cigarettes. However, have you ever wondered why e-cigarettes have become so popular?

Many people have heard of e-cigarettes for a long time; the market has had this product for a while. E-cigarettes were originally invented by Chinese people, modified from atomizers, and have undergone many changes over the years. Initially, they were large devices that required refilling and often leaked, producing thick vapor like a chimney.

The reason those early devices failed was due to chemical issues. They contained nicotine, which is necessary for stress relief, but the nicotine in those early e-cigarettes was in a freebase form, which meant that the absorption rate into the bloodstream was slow. They could only simulate the feeling of smoke but could not replicate the stress relief provided by traditional cigarettes.

However, an industry leader, the American e-cigarette brand JUUL, achieved a market valuation of $8 billion within just over two years by inventing a substance called nicotine salt at the end of 2015. This substance allows the metabolic rate and absorption rate of nicotine when vaping to be nearly identical to that of traditional cigarettes.

The introduction of nicotine salt to the e-cigarette industry brought improvements akin to the transition from resistive to capacitive screens in smartphones. Although resistive screens were used in many PDA devices, they were functional, but the advent of capacitive screens, which were faster and more precise, transformed the entire industry. Subsequently, the iPhone emerged, and the capacitive screen smartphone market exploded.

E-cigarettes are similar; it is precisely because nicotine salt has brought such improvements that the market for smaller e-cigarettes has exploded since 2015. This improvement has made this generation of e-cigarette products revolutionary. It’s not just about one brand; it’s about an entire generation of products. The new generation of e-cigarette products features six characteristics: zero tar, reduced secondhand smoke harm, no open flame, portability, high cost-effectiveness, and no ash. This generation of e-cigarette products will significantly replace the habits of traditional smokers. We can also see that major tobacco giants in the US and Europe are investing in and producing such devices, even acquiring companies that engage in this business.

As a product manager, now a business owner, I have transitioned from a product manager role. Besides the fact that we can create visually appealing and user-friendly products, this is merely a commonality among this generation of products. How can we achieve differentiation? How can I highlight its features during lectures, launch events, or sales? This is extremely important.

This entire generation of e-cigarettes is akin to the emergence of the iPhone; before it, there were no smartphones, but after the iPhone, smartphones emerged. This entire generation is smartphones, and subsequent products require only minor adjustments. These minor adjustments are crucial, as we have seen many highlights in smartphone launch events from 2017 to now, which have propelled the smartphone industry to its current level.

Now, let’s look at some ideas we have for e-cigarettes.

First, how can we use the design of the vape pen to support brand marketing?

Our first initiative is to implement a nano-coating for waterproofing, allowing users to feel secure even while bathing. We designed a scenario for users: if you accidentally drop the FLOW into water while bathing, you can fish it out, shake it off, and it will continue to work after drying.

We come from a mobile phone team, and the concept of nano-coating for waterproofing is something you often hear in the mobile phone industry, but it is rarely done in other industries. Why do we want to implement this design? The reason is simple: freedom.

Why is freedom important? The methodology behind this is to look at the core function of your product.

What is the core function of e-cigarettes? It is freedom. First, if the boss allows it, you can vape in the office. Why can you vape in the office? Because there is no secondhand smoke. You can vape continuously without anyone smelling it. Secondly, you can vape in bed freely. Traditional cigarettes cannot be smoked in bed because e-cigarettes have no open flame and no ash.

The essence of e-cigarettes is freedom. They are better than traditional cigarettes because of this freedom. They are better than IQOS because they have no open flame, no combustion, and no secondhand smoke. Therefore, we need to break through a dimension of freedom: we should be free on land and in water.

Thus, we added waterproof functionality, allowing you to vape freely while bathing or showering.

The first thing we did was to implement waterproofing.

Secondly, we created a unique "one puff" reminder function that vibrates every 15 puffs. If a vape pen is left unused, it will automatically shut off after a while. We specifically simulated traditional cigarettes, as it takes about 15 puffs to finish one. To help users better control their intake, we added this feature, which vibrates after 15 puffs.

Why implement this feature? We return to the core of e-cigarettes, which is health.

E-cigarettes inherently have a problem of fragmentation. Unlike traditional cigarettes, where you can see how many you have smoked, e-cigarettes do not provide a clear numerical measure. Although one pod is equivalent to two packs of cigarettes, we cannot say that finishing one pod counts as one; it is still difficult to measure a clear number, which can easily lead to unhealthy smoking habits.

We believe that the fragmentation caused by e-cigarettes should be addressed, so we implemented this feature.

These two features we designed also serve as highlights for future promotions, providing strong talking points for sales and channel personnel. Often, after developing a product, when it comes time for promotion, people will ask what makes it good and why they should buy it. At this point, strong highlights and the two lines of reasoning mentioned earlier—convenience and freedom, and health—are essential.

For example, how can we use the design of the vape pod to support brand marketing and communication?

The vape pod is the core of the e-cigarette business. The e-cigarette business is like the printer business: you give everyone a printer, and they can choose their ink cartridges.

The core of the vape pod is flavor and how enjoyable it is to vape. This requires targeting various demographics. For instance, seasoned smokers seek a throat hit, while social smokers are those who will vape if you offer them one, but won’t if you don’t. There are also new e-cigarette users who find it enjoyable and ceremonial, allowing them to switch states, similar to how someone who has never had coffee suddenly feels energized after their first cup. For them, the throat hit doesn’t need to be strong; it just needs to be interesting.

So how can we create flavors that promote communication during the design process? This requires integrating the entire design process with communication.

If we want to create a flavor that represents the taste of first love, how would we do it? We certainly wouldn’t design it ourselves; instead, we would initiate a poll on social media asking, "What do you think the taste of first love is?" This way, everyone can start voting.

This is a product design process. Rather than having the product define the taste of first love, which lacks representation, it’s better to bring the product design directly to social media, turning it into a social event. This way, we can do much more than just create a good product; we can create a variety of flavors. We hope the flavors are pleasant and can transcend traditional cigarettes, transforming into something that can instantly change your mood with every puff. When we connect this with emotions and feelings, the possibilities for flavors become limitless.

In summary, I want to express that grasping the essence of the product and extending it allows for effective communication and dissemination of the product.