Great white rabbit milk candy, Arctic Ocean soda, Wahaha AD calcium milk, Pan Pan white potato chips... These domestic snacks have accompanied the growth of generations of children. At the same time, the snack companies that create these classic products are innovative, constantly catching up with new trends, "growing up" with children, and making the taste of childhood stay on the tip of the tongue.
Part of childhood memories
Taste buds always evoke memories of childhood, and older generations have a fondness for white rabbit milk candy. In the 1960s and 1970s, when supplies were relatively scarce, the white rabbit milk candy was a "luxury" for children, and eating one was like a New Year's Day. After peeling off the sugar paper, the children are always reluctant to eat too fast, but chew carefully, and after the milk sugar melts in the mouth, the milk aroma is still wrapped around the tip of the tongue.
In the early days of reform and opening up, children's snacks were more, but domestic snack brands were still in their infancy, and they could not compete with foreign brands in terms of capital and technology, and the high-end snacks on the market were firmly controlled by foreign brands. In this case, Wahaha was founded in 1987.
"Post-90s" Mr. Yang is a big fan of Wahaha. When he was a child, he didn't have much pocket money, and a plate of 6 small bottles of Wahaha AD calcium milk cost four or five yuan. At that time, he often saved enough pocket money for a week, went to the school entrance commissary to buy a plate of Wahaha AD calcium milk, and drank bottle after bottle, and then looked forward to saving enough pocket money next week. "It's part of my childhood memories. Now, sometimes I see Wahaha AD calcium milk on the supermarket shelves, and I still buy a plate. Mr. Yang, who is close to standing, said.
Mr. Yang's unforgettable Wahaha AD calcium milk was launched in 1996 and was loved by children as soon as it was listed, which is inseparable from Wahaha's innovation in product concept and production process. "At that time, a large number of foreign brands on the market did not provide a rich product range, mainly limited to 3 flavors of drinks, namely lele, lemon juice and orange juice, and the children did not have much choice." Zong Qinghou, chairman of Wahaha Group, said in an interview with this reporter, "Wahaha AD calcium milk tastes sour and sweet, taking into account the taste and nutrition. Because we were using a new production process at that time, we ensured the stability of protein and vitamins A and D in the beverage. ”
When Wahaha launched AD calcium milk, Fujian Panpan Food Group Co., Ltd., which specializes in leisure food, was established in Jinjiang, Quanzhou. Talking about the original intention of entering the leisure food industry, Cai Jin'an, chairman of Panpan Group, told a small story to this reporter: In 1995, Cai Jin'an saw a seven- or eight-year-old boy pestering his mother to buy shrimp strips in a store in Tianjin. This made Cai Jin'an realize that at that time, the snack food industry such as shrimp strips had a broad market, and as long as the production of products more suitable for Chinese children could achieve "curve overtaking" for foreign brands.
After preliminary market research, Pan Pan developed the first batch of products "Pan Pan White Potato Chips". Different from the popular potato chips on the market at that time, Panpan white potato chips are bright yellow in color, less oil content, longer shelf life, and tighter internal fibers, which are well received by consumers. Cai Jin'an said: "At that time, the company's orders were continuous, often working overtime to produce, and there was a long line of transport lines outside the factory. "It's a product that's been around for a long time and can still be seen in supermarkets today." The potato chips that I used to eat when I was a child still taste delicious now. Some netizens commented.
Innovative and rich snack product line
The children's snack market is highly competitive, and new products are emerging in an endless stream. How to make the brand evergreen? Zong Qinghou believes that quality and integrity are the foundation of enterprises. To this end, Wahaha has built a food safety risk assessment system, a quality traceability system and a hierarchical quality supervision system to prevent food safety problems.
Innovating and enriching the product line and creating "star products" is a magic weapon for domestic snack brands to become bigger and stronger, but Pan pan has encountered a big setback for this:
After hoping that the white potato chips would become famous, Cai Jin'an wanted to take advantage of the victory to chase after the potato chips, make the potato chips both delicious and nutritious, and further occupy the potato chip market. After the technical research of the R&D team, Pan Pan added eggs and milk to the potato chips and developed the "egg milk potato chips". However, this product, which has placed a large number of advertisements and laid out the market in advance, has not been recognized by consumers, and a large number of products are slow to sell. "The production of this product eventually lost 20 to 30 million yuan, causing great difficulties to pan pan food, which was just established." Cai Jin'an said that affected by this, Panpan Food did not dare to make too much market action in the following years.
Since the beginning of this century, due to the continuous improvement of people's living standards, baked goods have become the "new favorite" of consumers. Pan Pan Food, which has recovered, noticed this change, focused on the baked goods track, and developed pan pan french bun, which tastes good and is the first domestic bread that can be kept fresh for a long time. "We use high-quality milk powder and wheat flour, and the small breads are full of ingredients, and each small bread is baked after 120 minutes of slow fermentation and traditional rotary oven baking, so that the toast is full of color and flavor." Cai Jin'an said. This small bread has become another "star product" of Pan pan food, driving the company's revenue growth by more than 300%, and stabilizing the brand image.
In order to respond to market changes in a timely manner, Wahaha has established a complete industrial chain containing research and development, production, sales, transportation and other links, and has its own food research institute, mechanical and electrical research institute, once consumers have new needs, Wahaha can develop new products and put them on the market in a short period of time. Taking Nutrition Express as an example, the product mixed milk and juice for the first time, adding 15 nutrients at the same time, with a maximum annual sales of 20 billion yuan.
Nowadays, low-sugar, low-calorie health food has become a new trend, and in the blue ocean of sugar-free food, domestic snack brands are not far behind. Pan pan is no longer limited to snack food, the development of 0 fat, 0 preservatives, 0 sweeteners "leopard power" functional drinks and raw squeezed coconut juice. Wahaha, which has technical advantages in the beverage industry, has launched the low-sugar nutrition express line, the sugar-free version of very cola, quinoa milk porridge, etc., and established the Modern Bioengineering Research Institute, focusing on probiotic research and development and industrial project layout. At present, Wahaha has a strain resource bank of more than 4500 strains, and has built an intelligent strain production workshop, successfully creating a first-class intelligent strain production line in China.
"In the future, we will combine the traditional theory of traditional Chinese medicine diet therapy with biotechnology, modern extraction and other technologies to develop large health products with high scientific and technological content and high added value." Zong Qinghou said.
Continue to tap into the endless possibilities of old flavors
With the improvement of the consumption ability of the younger generation and the enhancement of cultural self-confidence, the "national tide" products that conform to China's aesthetic have become the choice of more and more people, and the established snack companies are also actively embracing the new needs of consumers.
In addition to satisfying the taste buds of consumers, it is also necessary to attract the attention of young people with their appearance. Quanzhou, where Panpan Group is located, is the starting point of the ancient Maritime Silk Road, and with this as inspiration, Pan pan launched a national tide raw coconut juice gift box, the packaging design as a whole is dark blue, and Chinese elements such as waves, coconuts, sailboats, blue and white porcelain are dotted among them, the picture is exquisite, and the design is beautiful.
Wahaha launched the National Tide Edition package of Very Coke in the Mid-Autumn Festival of 2021, with the themes of "Hundred Deer Welcoming Blessings" and "Thousand Carp Gong Chan Juan", with deer and koi with beautiful meanings in traditional Chinese culture as the main body. According to the voting results of netizens, the three sugar-free ginseng, oil mandarin, and plum are very cola, and there is a strong "Chinese style" in packaging and taste.
Only the improvement of packaging is not enough to make young people pay, domestic snack companies also actively cooperate with well-known IP to promote products to "break the circle" and win more consumers. Pan Pan launched a commemorative edition gift box containing protein drinks from Dunhuang, which contains Dunhuang cultural symbols such as Mogao Grottoes and Nine Colored Deer, with exquisite appearance and rich cultural connotations. "We hope that through the launch of the national tide gift box, the product will become the carrier of traditional Chinese culture, so that consumers have a deeper understanding of traditional Chinese culture." Cai Jin'an said.
Joint cooperation with the Chinese animation "Douluo Continent" to launch a nutritious express flavored yogurt, break into the two-dimensional circle layer, and harvest more young consumers, which is a wonderful move for Wahaha. According to the animation plot, Nutrition Express has designed two major flavors of Qingti Xuan Ice Grass and Soft Dance Fairy Honey Plum, which are loved by anime fans, and there are a large number of unboxed videos and taste reviews about the product on social platforms such as Weibo, Douyin, Xiaohongshu, and B Station, and the reading and playback of related texts and videos has reached 26 million.
Wahaha AD calcium milk and very cola that accompanied a generation of people growing up, the product itself has the potential to become a big IP. Wahaha launched a series of products around AD calcium milk, not only AD calcium milk mooncakes, rice dumplings, but also the anthropomorphic image of AD calcium milk, memes and peripheral products, and more AD calcium milk theme song "Be a child" and so on. "Since Wahaha adopted the marketing strategy of AD calcium milk IP in 2018, AD calcium milk sales have maintained double-digit growth for three consecutive years." Zong Qinghou said, "We will continue to explore the infinite possibilities of AD calcium milk, hoping that it can become a classic product that accompanies generations of consumers." ”
Zhao Hao
Source: People's Daily Overseas Edition