"Protect your throat, please use a golden throat throat piece, Guangxi golden throat!"
The slogan was a memory of a generation, but the household name company is about to delist on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
On October 25, Golden Voice announced that the company would be privatized and expected to revoke its listing status on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange at 9 a.m. on December 15.
This means that the nearly 7-year "Hong Kong stock listing road" of Guangxi Golden Throat is coming to an end.
Recall that on July 15, 2015, Golden Throat was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, with a market capitalization of HK$6.3 billion at its peak.
However, in the following years, the market value continued to shrink, and now the delisting has been announced, and the market value is less than HK$2 billion, down nearly 90% compared with the highest period.
From the red all over the country to the end of the year, the golden voice can't help but sigh at such an opportunity now.
Once the first brand of domestic throat lozenges, why did it come to this step?
Guangxi Jinxin, formerly known as Liuzhou City Candy No. 2 Factory, was founded in 1956, when this candy factory was still a small workshop.
In 1959, the future chairman of Golden Throat, Jiang Peizhen, was only 13 years old. After the early death of her mother and poor family, she entered the second candy factory and became a worker. Later, he was promoted all the way to the workshop director, deputy factory director, and factory director.
After becoming the director of the factory, Jiang Peizhen launched a number of factory reforms, and also introduced the production technology of Germany and Italy, leading the team to make China's first sandwich candy and the first sugar heart chocolate.
By 1988, Jiang Peizhen's factory had an annual output of nearly 20,000 tons, an output value of 97 million yuan, and 10 economic indicators ranked first in the same industry in the country.
However, the good times did not last long. With the fierce competition in the market, the business of the second candy factory was affected, and the factory was once on the verge of bankruptcy.
At this time, some people suggested that Jiang Peizhen should not jump ship to private enterprises. But Jiang Peizhen did not accept defeat and chose to continue to stay up.
When a leader came to Liuzhou to inspect, Jiang Peizhen took the opportunity to put forward an urgent demand for cracking down on counterfeiting.
The leader mentioned her, made friends with people in scientific research departments, colleges and universities, and made high-tech products that were difficult for enterprises to imitate.
Therefore, Jiang Peizhen came to East China Normal University in Shanghai, tried to seek cooperation with many professors, and soon met the nobleman Wang Yaofa, and the two hit it off.
Wang Yao sent Jiang Peizhen a recipe for treating chronic laryngitis, and after re-matching several times, the "Golden Throat Throat Treasure" was born.
With this fist product, plus the 7.8 million yuan raised, Jiang Peizhen established the "Guangxi Golden Throat Pharmaceutical Factory" in 1994.
Unsurprisingly, Golden Throat Throat Treasure is popular with consumers. In 1996, the revenue of Golden Throat exceeded 100 million and was exported overseas; by 2004, the output value of Golden Throat exceeded 800 million.
In July 2015, Golden Throat was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange with a market capitalization of nearly HK$6 billion.
The golden voice was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and Jiang Peizhen domineeringly rang the bell
However, the listing is the peak, and a "time bomb" planted by the golden voice in the early years has already entered the countdown.
In 1995, Jiang Peizhen spent 5 million yuan on advertising on CCTV. With the strong assistance of CCTV, Golden Voice has emerged among many brands.
If the CCTV advertisement fired the first shot of marketing of Golden Throat, then later, the "endorsement" of football star Ronaldo really made Golden Voice go to "household name".
In 2003, Ronaldo, who came with Real Madrid, had just finished playing a game in China when he received an invitation from Jiang Peizhen and filmed an "advertisement".
In the advertisement, Ronaldo wears a jersey printed with a "golden throat tablet", holds up the medicine box in one hand, and laughs with his teeth open.
As soon as this advertisement was broadcast, it attracted the attention of the people of the whole country.
At that time, Ronald's popularity was in the sky, coupled with "protect the throat, please use the golden throat tablets, Guangxi golden throat!" This brainwashing advertising slogan made the golden voice burn all over the country.
But the drama is that 4 years later, this popular endorsement across the country has ushered in a reversal:
Ronaldo sued Mr. Kim for not having signed an endorsement contract with him. Shoot content related to golden voices and use them only for parties.
Suddenly, the golden voice was caught up in the whirlpool of public opinion. But soon after, the two sides reconciled privately, and the matter became "Rashomon".
If this matter is "wronged" by the golden voice, then what happened next is a proper hammer.
In 2016, the second year of the listing of Golden Throat, there was a storm of arrears in huge advertising fees.
After the contract of the new advertising spokesperson expired, Golden Voice decided to try the marketing effect of variety shows, so he reached a cooperation with "The Masked Singer" and "Gai Shi Yin Xiong".
According to the agreement, Golden Throat needs to pay a sponsorship fee of 80 million yuan to two programs. At the beginning, Golden Throat paid 13 million yuan. As the show aired, Golden Voice refused to pay the remaining advertising fees because he did not approve of the show's ratings.
The program team was even more upset, and a paper document sued Jin Throat in court and sent 73-year-old Jiang Peizhen to the list of "Lao Lai".
Jiang Peizhen, chairman of Jinxin, was listed as a "judgment defaulter" for defaulting on advertising fees/China Enforcement Information Disclosure Network
This overturning of the car made Jiang Peizhen fall hard, and suddenly changed from an inspirational female entrepreneur to a dishonest old lai.
Golden Throat Food has also become a dishonest enterprise, and its brand reputation has fallen to the bottom.
A marketing joke made the golden voice become the talk of everyone after dinner. What really pulls the golden throat into the "deep water" is the stagnation of innovation and research and development of the golden throat.
Looking at Golden Throat's 2020 annual report, sales of Golden Throat Tablets accounted for 89.9% of total revenue. From the revenue of the past years, it can also be known that the golden throat tablet is its main source of income.
Golden Throat Holdings Group Limited 2020 Annual Report
It is not difficult to see that the dependence of golden throat on golden throat tablets is very high, which makes the operation of enterprises extremely risky.
In 2015, golden throat tablets peaked in sales, selling 129 million boxes a year. But the years that followed showed a downward trend, selling only 0.9 billion boxes in 2020, down 19.4% from the previous year.
Golden Throat Throat Tablets and Throat Treasure Series Product Sales / Golden Throat Annual Report
Relying solely on the golden throat piece alone, it is difficult to carry the future of the entire golden throat enterprise.
I can't help but ask: Where did The new product of Golden Throat go?
In 2016, Golden Throat launched an herbal drink that had high hopes.
However, before there were beverage giants such as Jiaduobao and Wang Laoji, it was not only difficult for Golden Voice to show a competitive advantage, but also because of the arrears of advertising fees for variety shows, and was saddled with legal disputes.
Herbal beverage marketing strategies failed, and the brand image was severely damaged. Apart from drinks, there are no new products to take the baton.
According to the official golden throat, since 1994, 31 new products have been developed, including 8 drugs, 21 foods, 1 health food, and 1 medical device product.
Strangely enough, the same words appeared in the annual report for six consecutive years.
That is to say, at least in the six years since its listing, the new product research and development of Golden Throat has almost "stood still" and has been nibbling on the old book.
Looking at the investment in research and development of Golden Throat, since its listing in 2015, Golden Throat has invested no more than 3 million yuan in research and development every year, but the marketing expenditure is about 300 million yuan, accounting for almost 40% of the total expenditure.
Snowball net
Heavy promotion, light research and development, may be the reason why there is no explosion after the golden throat throat tablets and throat treasures.
In addition, the crisis of the golden voice comes from the lack of innovative items inside, but also from the outside of the attack.
According to the statistics of The Intranet, the throat drug market of chinese patent medicines in urban retail pharmacies in China has been hovering at 5 billion yuan.
Source: Intranet China's urban physical pharmacy terminal competition pattern
From the perspective of sales of various manufacturers, in 2020, Lanzen Oral Liquid dominated with sales of 1.011 billion yuan, and Golden Throat Tablets ranked second.
The pharyngitis tablets that ranked after the golden throat, the Guilin watermelon cream, and the throat clearing granules are also powerful opponents.
What's more, in terms of throat lubrication and cough, there are many throat lozenges with similar functions.
For example, Kyoto Nian Ci Ling, who specializes in cough suppression, is obviously more active and concise than The Golden Voice in embracing young people.
In terms of taste, we have explored new flavors such as ume, kumquat lemon, and apple cinnamon, and have also been titled "Heartwarming Offer" and other variety shows loved by young people.
Overseas, Kyoto's Loquat Cream has also become an Internet celebrity product, equivalent to Japan's hot selling Ryukoku San.
In contrast, the golden throat, only the "golden throat throat piece" this super strong single product, but the follow-up is weak, the road to diversification is extremely difficult.
From 2015 to 2019, the revenue of Golden Throat has always fluctuated around 700 million yuan, which seems to be stable, but it also implies that the business has encountered a ceiling.
From the development of herbal drinks to the smashing of money to name variety shows, it is not difficult to see the determination of Golden Voice to attract young consumers.
Unfortunately, when Golden Throat maintained its brand advantage, it failed to concentrate on research and development to make products that meet the needs of consumers, and now that the brand is aging, it has long been unable to keep up with the rhythm of the times.
In October 2021, Golden Throat announced its delisting.
Its end may be the "fate" of many national brands:
Unable to create new products, tell new stories, blindly eat the old, doomed to fail to go down in the market of young people.