More than 20 years ago, "If you want to be in good health, please drink Jianlibao" resounded all over the country, once upon a time, we thought that Jianlibao might shake Coca-Cola's supremacy in the global beverage industry, and it didn't take long for us to find out that this was an unrealistic delusion.
More than 10 years ago, "afraid of fire, drink Wang Laoji" was popular all over the world, we thought that Wang Laoji would challenge Coca-Cola and Pepsi, but not long after, Wang Laoji and Jiaduobao tit-for-tat, both lost.
How glorious it was once, how lonely it is now.
In today's beverage market, Jianlibao and Wang Laoji are no longer what they were, how did Li Jingwei and Chen Hongdao make these two national beverage brands brilliant? Why is it decaying? Is it really "success is also Xiao He, and defeat is also Xiao He"?
Li Jingwei and Jianlibao
The founder of Jianlibao, Li Jingwei, is a native of Sanshui, Foshan, Guangdong Province, born in 1939, his parents died early, and his life was bumpy. He grew up in an orphanage, went out at the age of 10 to earn a living for himself, and did all the tiring and hard work just to have a bite to eat.
In 1973, after years of hard work, Li Jingwei became the director of the state-owned Sanshui Distillery, and a few years later, he led the distillery from the brink of closure to Kangzhuang Avenue.
In 1983, Li Jingwei wanted to produce a new type of carbonated drink, he found the Guangdong Sports Research Institute to cooperate, and finally after more than 100 trials, finally developed an orange, alkaline electrolyte-containing beverage, he named this drink "Jianlibao".
In order to sell "Jianlibao", Li Jingwei showed a talent for marketing, and he made "Jianlibao" quickly famous through sports events such as the AFC, the Olympic Games, and the Asian Games, and became famous and was known as "China's magic water".
In 1994, Jianlibao's annual sales exceeded 1.8 billion yuan, becoming the leading leader in the national beverage industry, and Coca-Cola and Pepsi Cola combined were not as high as Jianlibao's sales.
In 1997, Jianlibao's annual sales exceeded 5 billion yuan, reaching its peak. Since then, Jianlibao's sales have begun to decline, and the internal contradictions of Jianlibao Company have become increasingly prominent.
In that year, Li Jingwei moved the headquarters of Jianlibao from Sanshui to Guangzhou, resulting in contradictions between Li Jingwei and his superiors, coupled with differences in issues such as restructuring and listing, and Jianlibao's internal consumption was huge for 3 years.
In 2001, the shareholders of Jianlibao decided to sell the equity of Jianlibao Company, and the intended acquirer was a Singapore company. Later, under the pressure of public opinion, the negotiations between the two sides were terminated.
In January 2002, 28-year-old Zhang Hai "lightning acquired" Jianlibao and served as the chairman and president of Jianlibao. Since then, Jianlibao Group has changed from a state-owned enterprise to a private enterprise.
On the day jianlibao was sold to Zhang Hai, Li Jingwei sat helplessly in the corner of the signing venue, looking up at the sky with tears and not saying a word.
Zhang Hai is definitely a legendary figure, 14-year-old is a prodigy with special functions, 16-year-old is a qigong master, and 21-year-old transformation capital player, in fact, he is a liar. Jianlibao fell into his palm, what future can it have?
Zhang Hai even created his own "season five" brand to replace the golden sign of "Jianlibao", he believes that the three words "Jianlibao" have no value? As a result, by the end of 2004, Jianlibao was in debt of 3 billion yuan and was forced to stop production.
In early 2005, Zhang Hai was arrested by the Foshan police and later sentenced to 10 years in prison for embezzlement of office and misappropriation of funds. A few months later, Taiwan's Unification Group acquired Jianlibao.
Unification Group is the largest food and beverage production group in Taiwan, and under its governance, Jianlibao is still not plagued, half dead, and not alive. In November 2016, Unity Group sold Jianlibao to a company in Hong Kong until now.
At the beginning, Jianlibao's equity was not sold to Li Jingwei and his management team, but to a big scammer. Which is right and wrong, how can the entanglement of grievances in the past be clear now?
The tragic ending was not only Jianlibao, but also Li Jingwei, Jianlibao sold to Zhang Hai a few days ago, he suddenly suffered a cerebral hemorrhage at home, never left the ward, and died of illness in 2013.
Li Jingwei is gone, Jianlibao has never risen again, and a generation of national brands is like a meteor in the sky, a stroke, never shining again.
Chen Hongdao and Wang Laoji
The founder of the century-old brand "Wang Laoji" is Wang Zebang, which was founded in the Daoguang years of the Qing Dynasty, when the plague epidemic in Guangdong was epidemic, and Wang Zebang formulated an exclusive herbal tea, which was popular in Lingnan because of its remarkable effect.
Soon after, Lin Zexu went to Guangdong to ban opium, and he was unsatisfied with the water and soil and suffered from a cold, and his symptoms healed after drinking Wang Zebang's herbs. Afterwards, Lin Zexu gave Wang Zebang a large copper pot engraved with the golden characters "Wang Laoji", and from then on, Wang Zebang founded a herbal tea shop under the name of "Wang Laoji".
However, the subsequent wars and chaos divided Wang Laoji's descendants into two factions: one faction remained in the mainland and the other developed in Hong Kong. The mainland Wang Laoji brand was eventually held by the Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Group, and the Hong Kong Wang Laoji brand was still in the hands of Wang Jianyi, a descendant of the Wang family, and the business was not hot.
In the 1980s and 1990s, Chen Hongdao, a dongguan native, accumulated a certain amount of capital by relying on wholesale business, he was optimistic about the market potential of herbal tea, found Wang Jianyi in Hong Kong, obtained Wang Laoji's herbal tea formula from her, and established the Hong Kong Hongdao Group.
However, Wang Jianyi's Wang Laoji brand only has the right to operate overseas, and If Chen Hongdao wants to expand the mainland market, he must obtain all the rights to use the "Wang Laoji" trademark of Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Group.
In 1995, Chen Hongdao approached Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Group to discuss cooperation. At that time, the focus of the Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Group was not on herbal tea, nor did it have the heart to operate Wang Laoji, since some people wanted it, they were not willing to operate, there was no reason not to cooperate.
In 1997, the two sides formally signed an agreement, and Hong Kong Hongdao Group obtained the right to use the trademark "Wang Laoji".
In 2000, the two parties agreed that hong Kong Hongdao Group would lease the trademark "Wang Laoji" for a period of 2010, with Wang Laoji produced by JDB Group (a subsidiary of Hongdao Group) using red can packaging, and Wang Laoji produced by Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Group using green cartons.
Chen Hongdao is also a marketing master, in 2003 "afraid of fire, drink Wang Laoji" advertising is everywhere, everywhere, the first half of the advertising cost spent more than 40 million yuan, but the harvest is not small, the annual sales revenue of 600 million yuan, surpassing Coca-Cola and Pepsi Cola, becoming the first brand in China's canned beverage market.
At the same time, in order to extend the right to use the "Wang Laoji" trademark, Chen Hongdao used inappropriate means, he bribed Li Yimin, the former general manager of Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Group, and signed two supplementary agreements with Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Group to extend the lease term to 2013 and 2020 respectively.
In 2004, the bribery incident occurred in the East Window, and Li Yimin and Chen Hongdao were both investigated. In 2005, Chen Hongdao absconded on bail and has not returned to China.
After the incident broke out, Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Group and Jiaduobao Group began a battle for the "Wang Laoji" trademark, which took more than 6 years, fighting 21 lawsuits in a row, and Jiaduobao Group lost 21 consecutive games. In May 2012, the official ruling was invalid that chen Hongdao's supplementary agreement with Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Group was invalid, requiring JDB Group to stop using the "Wang Laoji" trademark.
After "Wang Laoji" returned to Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Group, the peak has long gone, and the annual sales in 2019-2020 are 10.296 billion yuan and 6.862 billion yuan, respectively.
In 2017, Guangzhou Medicine Wang Laoji launched the "1828 Wang Laoji Brewed Herbal Tea" offline tea brand, and in 2019 announced that it would expand to 5,000 within 5 years. So far, how many stores are left in "1828 Wang Laoji"?
At the same time, JDB Group also declined after a period of scenery, losing 582 million yuan in 2017. In the brand dispute in these years, Wang Laoji and Jiaduobao can be described as both losers.
Some people said: "Wang Laoji is the son, Guangyao is the biological father, and Hongdao Group is the adoptive father." The adoptive father raised the son, but the biological father believed that the adoptive father had abducted the son. ”
Whose hand is Wang Laoji's decay? Is it Chen Hongdao?
Can't domestic brands last?
Over the years, the domestic brands that have gradually faded out of people's vision are not only Jianlibao and Wang Laoji, but also Rongshida, Prince Milk, Sun God, Giant Energy, Three Laughs, etc., which are either half dead, or acquired by foreign capital, or perish.
I think the most regrettable thing is Jianlibao, the brilliance that Jianlibao once created is remarkable, but it is not timely and life is not good. I hope that today's people and future generations will take this as a lesson and not let the domestic brands with a good future die again.
What do you have to say about that?