White peaches at dawn in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, and citrus in Miyazaki Prefecture are commonly used in the marketing of Nongfu Yamazumi, which is about to enter the summer sparkling water drink market. Whether it is Changbai Mountain, Qiandao Lake or Wuyi Mountain, the source of rock tea, Nongfu Spring has eaten everything in one move after erecting itself as a "porter of nature". This time the origin marketing encountered a large overturn, netizens pointed out that Fukushima Prefecture is a nuclear pollution area, China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine in 2011 has banned the import of food from 12 Japanese prefectures including the area, and the ban has not been lifted so far. Nongfu Sansen clarified that the raw material used in its sparkling water is not a white peach imported from Fukushima, but is only a flavor product. And asked social media to delete these remarks, netizens jokingly said that "saying that they use peaches is Fukushima Prefecture is Nongfu Mountain Spring, saying that they did not use Fukushima white peach is also Nongfu Mountain Spring, their own false propaganda is strange but blame the masses for bright eyes." ”
Nongfu Spring seemed a little flustered. In 2020, the annual income of Nongfu Spring fell by 4.8%, and its main business packaged water sold 380 million yuan less than in 2019. From 2012 to now Nongfu Spring has continued to maintain the first market share of China's packaged drinking water for 9 consecutive years, but now it has gradually touched the ceiling; and as an earlier proposal of the concept of sugar-free drinks, Nongfu Spring is facing the threat of a unified "tea king" returning to the market in tea drinking, and has been thrown off by the Houshengyuanqi Forest in terms of sugar-free sparkling water. However, Yuanqi Forest has sold 3 billion yuan in 2020, of which sparkling water contributes 70% of revenue. Some supermarket personnel told the media that Nongfu Spring introduced a new policy to sell soda sparkling water in the freezer of Yuanqi Forest sparkling water, and if the store agreed, it would return two boxes of Nongfu Mountain Spring water to the store.
Some readers who understand Japanese have told YOUNG Finance and Economics that the English of "Fukushima Prefecture ATAKUTI Peach" on the nonoyama spring promotion poster seems to be written incorrectly, and it should be written as "dawn" (あかつき), which is AKATSUKI.
Zhong Shui, the head of Nongfu Mountain Spring
This article was first published by YOUNG Finance (youngcaijing)
Written by Wang Weiwei and Xu Ai Zeng Yingxiao
Edited by Sun Yingzhou
The picture is from the official WeChat public account of Nongfu Spring
"Nature's Porter" Nongfu Spring has been a bit panicked lately.
In the promotion of sparkling water for the new most launched, Nongfu Mountain Spring claimed to use the white peach of dawn in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan:
"Dawn white peaches are produced in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. ...... The flesh and juice are one and the same, the sweetness of the summer morning, just for you."
The tried and tested origin brand, this time overturned
At the 7-11 convenience store Nongfu Mountain Spring Sparkling Water and Yuanqi Forest are placed together Photo/Young Finance
Zhong Sui, founder of Nongfu Spring, and Li Ying'ai, spokesperson of Nongfu Tea
Zhu Yilong became the spokesperson for the students of Nongfu Mountain Spring
Liu Yuxin's advertising film for Nongfu Spring TOT
Water source marketing, celebrity endorsement, and variety shows are the three axes of Nongfu Spring marketing.
In 2017, Bigbang endorsed Nongfu Shanquan, in 2018 it was replaced by Wu Yifan, in 2019 it was replaced by Lai Guanlin, at the end of 2020, it was heavily invested in the popular actor Zhu Yilong, and Liu Yuxin, Yu Shuxin and Xie Keyin of THE9 were also invited to endorse the TOT bubble mineral water series.
The trick of water source is deeply used in its main business packaging drinking water, the water of Qiandao Lake, the water of Changbai Mountain is a little sweet, and the water of Wuyi Mountain, the place of rock tea production, is more suitable for making tea. According to the memorabilia of the official website of Nongfu Spring, in 2003, Nongfu Spring found a water source in Changbai Mountain, established a water source base in Danjiangkou in 2005, established a wanlu Lake water source base in 2006, and already has 6 water source bases in 2008. According to the prospectus of Nongfu Spring, it currently has 10 water source layouts.
Nongfu Mountain Spring long white snow water source propaganda photo
However, in the promotional poster this time, nongfu mountain spring white peach flavored sparkling water indicates "ATAKUTI peach from Fukushima Prefecture". After the nuclear power plant leaked in 2011, Fukushima was included in the pollution zone. China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine has long banned the import of food from 12 prefectures, including Fukushima County.
Fukushima Prefecture is home to the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant in Japan. The Fukushima nuclear power plant was hit by a major earthquake in 2011 that caused a nuclear leak, contaminating the local area and the surrounding area. Since the 2011 fukushima nuclear leak in Japan, the water and soil around Fukushima have been heavily polluted. In view of the impact of the nuclear accident on the quality and safety of food and agricultural products, China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine has explicitly prohibited the purchase of imported food, edible agricultural products and feed from 12 counties in Japan, including Fukushima Prefecture, Gunma Prefecture, Tochigi Prefecture and Ibaraki Prefecture, and the ban has not been lifted so far.
In this case, how did Nongfu Mountain Spring soda sparkling water obtain the dawn white peach from Fukushima Prefecture, Japan?
Readers in Japan have reported to YOUNG Finance that Nongfu Yamazumi seems to have miswritten the Japanese word "dawn" (あかつき) AKATSUKI as ATAKUTI." Never heard of the word ATAKUTI in Japan".
Peaches from nuclear-contaminated areas in Japan are used as raw materials, and they write wrong words, and in the clarification disclosure, they admit that the white peach sparkling water is a concocted drink (check its ingredient list to see that only concentrated apple juice is available). Nongfu Spring overturned in this summer's battle for sparkling water, and there was a feeling of chaos.
There are also many additives for nongfu spring sparkling water
In April this year, Nongfu Spring launched a series of drinks that clearly benchmarked the Yuanqi Forest Sparkling Water, which are three different flavors of sparkling soda water, and the packaging is obviously printed with 0 sugar 0 calorie 0 fat 0 potassium sorbate. Potassium sorbate is a preservative that was previously contained in the ingredients of the Yuanqi Forest Sparkling Water series. However, IN AN INVESTIGATION ON JUNE 28 FOUND THAT THE NEWLY LISTED YUANQI FOREST SPARKLING WATER PRODUCTS IN CONVENIENCE STORES NO LONGER CONTAIN POTASSIUM SORBATE.
Nongfu Springs Sparkling Water Ingredient List says it contains "concentrated apple juice" and labels "0 sugar" on the packaging. Experts in nutrition research have told the media that fructose is also a free sugar, if 100ml contains fructose no more than 0.5mg, it can be expressed as "sugar-free" and "0 sugar". However, the three sparkling waters of Nongfu Spring do not indicate their fructose content, which may mislead diabetics into drinking sparkling water containing fructose, resulting in an increase in blood sugar.
In addition, "DL-malic acid" is also used in nongfu spring sparkling water. It is also a type of preservative in the food industry as an emulsifier such as an acidulant, a color preservation agent, a preservative, an emulsifier for egg yolks, etc. The "sodium bicarbonate" in the sparkling water of Nongfu Spring is the agent of carbon dioxide in soda drinks. In addition, the sparkling water of Nongfu Spring also adds edible flavor, and the white peach flavor mentioned above may be obtained from this substance.
Nongfu Spring Sparkling Water ingredient list contains concentrated apple juice, and the fructose contained in the juice is also a free sugar
If there is no white peach, is it not false propaganda
"Double standard publicity" is not only reflected in the packaging of Nongfu Spring, but also in the propaganda copy of Nongfu Spring.
On April 1, Nongfu Mountain Spring's official WeChat account pushed a tweet titled "Sorry, We Don't Have This Friend", and when introducing the "Dawn White Peach Flavor" soda sparkling water, it declared that "Dawn White Peach is produced in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan." ”
But then, Nongfu Shanquan clarified on Weibo that the product did not contain peach ingredients.
As for the source of raw materials for white peaches in soda sparkling water, Nongfu ShanQuan said in an official statement:
First, Nongfu Spring Dawn White Peach Flavor Sparkling Water Product is a flavored beverage, Nongfu Spring in the product label ingredient list, in accordance with the requirements of national food safety standards to indicate the product ingredients. The ingredients of this product do not contain ingredients imported from Fukushima, Japan. The labeling of Nongfu Spring complies with the relevant regulatory requirements and is not wrong or misleading.
Second, dawn white peach is native to Fukushima, unique flavor, in the last century in China has been introduced. Our R&D personnel have created products similar to the flavor of Dawn peach based on the flavor of Dawn Peach, which is not related to the origin of Dawn Peach.
Nongfu Mountain Spring Sparkling Water uses words such as "citrus from Miyazaki Prefecture" and "ATAKUTI peach from Fukushima Prefecture" in publicity materials such as WeChat public accounts and store posters, so that consumers mistakenly believe that they contain Japanese fruits, and after being questioned, they clarified that they created "products similar to the flavor of dawn peaches".
This double-standard behavior may still work if it were not for the involvement of Fukushima, a well-known nuclear-contaminated area. The Jiande Market Supervision Bureau, where Nongfu Spring Enterprise is located, also issued a statement to excuse Nongfu Spring.
From another point of view, since the dawn white peach is not used in the raw materials, why is it implied and reflected in the online and offline promotional materials that "Fukushima Prefecture produces dawn white peach"? So is this false propaganda? What about misleading and deceiving consumers?
The word ATAKUTI should mean Japanese dawn, but the Japanese dawn should be read as: Akatasuki.
Clarification issued by the Jiande Market Supervision Bureau, where Nongfu Spring is located
Nongfu Shanquan is 25 years old, incorruptible and old?
In 2020, Nongfu Spring launched a soda mineral water but had little influence
On June 28, Nongfu Spring's latest share price fell to HK$40.3
Packaged water drinks are the main business of Nongfu Spring. However, in 2020, the annual income of Nongfu Spring fell by 4.8%, and its main business packaged water sold 380 million yuan less than in 2019. From 2012 to the present, Nongfu Spring has maintained the first market share of packaged drinking water in China for 9 consecutive years, and now it has increasingly touched the ceiling.
Nongfu Spring's share price fell, and as of the close of trading on June 28, the share price was HK$40.4 per share, with a total market value of HK$454.4 billion. Since the high price of HK$67.6 in early 2021, Nongfu Spring's stock price has fallen all the way, falling more than 40% from its highest point, the market value has evaporated by HK$300 billion, and the value of chairman Zhong Shui has shrunk significantly, evaporating about HK$270 billion in five months.
On the other hand, Nongfu Shanquan, which proposed the concept of sugar-free drinks earlier, not only lagged behind the Yuanqi Forest, but also faced the threat of a unified "tea king" returning to the market.
In the sugar-free sparkling water market, Nongfu Spring was thrown a big piece by Yuanqi Forest: in April this year, Nongfu Spring launched a series of fruity sparkling water products after the tot bubble soda mineral water was hot, but Yuanqi Forest sold 3 billion yuan in 2020, of which sparkling water contributed 70% of revenue.
Some supermarket personnel told the media that Nongfu Spring introduced a new policy to sell soda sparkling water in the freezer of yuanqi forest sparkling water. If the store agrees, give the store two boxes of Nongfu Mountain Spring Water.
Nongfu Mountain Spring, which has been established for 25 years, shows fatigue compared with the Yuanqi Forest, which is only 5 years old. Yuanqi Forest in the use of explosive sparkling water to open the market, and constantly expand the category, has successively launched the tea, milk tea, micro-bubble juice, energy drinks, etc., the use of "deep ploughing + broadening" playing method, has achieved good sales results, only sparkling water has rapidly expanded to 12 flavors, in 2020 double 11, Yuanqi Forest won the first sales of Tmall and Jingdong beverages.
Nongfu Spring is also struggling to catch up, in the first half of this year, it launched at least 10 new products, in addition to this soda sparkling water, but also launched natural mineral water "Long White Snow", "Wuyi Mountain Tea Water" two new categories, Oriental leaves two new flavors, screams and other drinks. However, after the tea π, Nongfu Spring rarely launched a large single product with sales of 1 billion. Last year, TOT soda mineral water gained a certain exposure with the endorsement of the new generation of girl groups, talent show stars, and traffic stars, but it also did not reach the "explosive" physique of 1 billion sales.
It is clear that Nongfu Spring does not want to rely solely on packaged water drinks as its biggest source of profit. However, from the current trend, the rapid growth of market demand and the increasingly fierce competition of drinking water brands have shown a diversified and segmented industry trend. In the face of the vibrant Yuanqi Forest, how to break through the bottleneck of development is still a long and arduous road.
Instead of imitating competitors' products in the sparkling red sea, it is better to make more efforts in new product research and development. Let the ceiling of Farmer Spring no longer be so low.
At the age of 25, Nongfu Spring should not be alarmed.