I don't know if older readers have heard of "Three Liquid Plants?" ”
When I was in elementary school, I remember plastering slogans and declarations such as "Three oral liquids drink to cure a hundred diseases" all over the streets.
This full-coverage advertising method comes from a legendary enterprise - Sanzhu Group that was born on August 8, 1994.
Product diagram of three oral liquids
In just three years, it has reached the peak at a speed that other companies cannot match.
At its peak in 1996, Sanzhu Group's sales revenue was as high as 8 billion yuan, and its founder Wu Bingxin was once the richest man in China that year.
To know that this 8 billion is not as simple as 80 "small goals" today, what is the concept of 8 billion in 1996?
In 1996, the GDP of Shanghai Pudong New Area was only 51 billion yuan. Three years later, in 1999, Moutai Group's sales exceeded 1 billion yuan for the first time.
But it was such a legendary-level business empire that collapsed in less than 1 year!
It can be described as "seeing him rise up, seeing him feasting guests, seeing his building collapse." "The truest portrayal.
The main building of Sanzhu Group Company
The rural guy counterattacked, a late-blooming marketing master
Wu Bingxin now has countless labels in everyone's eyes, such as "the godfather of health care products", "marketing genius", "the originator of wall advertising" and so on.
Putting these aside, he was born in rural Shandong in 1938, and his life as a child can be described in only one word, that is, bitterness.
In that turbulent and barren era, he lost his father at the age of 5 and his mother at the age of 6, which can be said to have survived the hard days from the beginning of understanding.
He got the "hard mode" life at the beginning, there were 8 brothers and sisters, and only the eldest brother and the youngest him survived in the end.
At the age of 11, he saved up for the tuition of primary school, and the talented Wu Bingxin completed six years of primary school in only four years, but unfortunately, family constraints forced him to drop out of school in the sixth grade.
Fortunately, I was born to be useful!
Wu Bingxin's first chance in his life was when he was 16 years old, and in 1954, about 100,000 rural primary societies were established across the country.
Wu Bingxin, relying on the momentum of a newborn calf who is not afraid of tigers, recommended himself to win the position of village junior social director.
The gold is finally starting to shine! Wu Bingxin, who was just in his early 20s, went to the Baotou Mining Bureau to support the construction of Baotou Iron and Steel and became a regular employee, and got the "iron rice bowl in the system" that young people now dream of.
Wu Bingxin's recent photo
Fighting with illness, the godfather of health care products is just emerging
Wu Bingxin, who has great ambitions, will not be satisfied with a stable "dead wage".
In 1978, just in time for the new era of reform, opening up and socialist modernization, the "restless" Wu Bingxin immediately took the opportunity contained in it.
That year, 40-year-old Wu Bingxin decided to step out of his comfort zone and plunge into the economic wave to gamble!
But dramatically, while preparing to make a big move, his liver was found to have a serious problem and at one point his life was in danger.
This undoubtedly hindered Wu Bingxin's pace of progress, resigning from his job with illness and starting over, which was not a recognized good choice then or now!
But Wu Bingxin is destined to be a person who does not accept his fate, 8 years of expensive medical expenses and financial worries about the future of his family, in 1986 he simply decided to leave his job and go to the sea to start a business! It can be described as a real-life version of "Breaking Bad".
Wu Bingxin's work photo
Wu Bingxin, who "resigned nakedly", first stepped into the mall, and the first business he found was to sell bean sprouts easily, and this year, Wu Bingxin was 48 years old.
Later, he also contracted a small pastry factory and two shopping malls. Although the business is doing well, it can only be called a "small fight", and it is not obvious that he has any special business talent.
The legendary life of marketing genius has begun
When Wu Bingxin was 51 years old, he finally met the health care products industry that he was destined to fight for, which began in 1989 in the national development zone fever.
Wu Bingxin and his son Wu Siwei registered "Huainan Mainland Expansion and Marketing Co., Ltd." in the newly built Huainan Luohe Development Zone in Anhui.
However, a new problem arose, and the positioning was to sell high-tech products.
Wu Bingxin did not have the slightest clue what to sell, and he also honestly said later: "As long as there is money to be earned, as long as it is not an illegal industry, he is willing to try to expand and sell anything." ”
Wu Bingxin's personal achievements at a glance
Coincidentally, Shanghai Jiaotong University also developed the "Onli No. 1" oral liquid that year.
A product alone but not marketing, resulting in a backlog of "Onli No. 1" oral liquid.
One is a sales master, but suffers from not distributing products.
Therefore, the two quickly hit it off, and Wu Bingxin undertook the publicity, promotion and marketing of "Ongli No. 1", which also laid the cornerstone for the later Wu Bingxin Commercial Building.
Product picture of Angli No. 1
The barbaric growth period of health supplements
China's 5,000-year history has produced so many stories of emperors seeking immortality, and human beings hope for immortality, which is the commonality of human beings.
Pinching the psychology of the masses who are eager for health and longevity is a huge business opportunity!
Wu Bingxin quickly made a decision through his previous distribution experience and did it himself! Sell your own products!
Taking advantage of this, Sanzhu Group was officially established in 1994.
Three corporate logos
Wu Bingxin, president of Sanzhu, once said, "When most companies are confused, if you have a way, the future market may be yours." ”
I said this because when the Wu father and son raised the three banners in Jinan, Shandong, although they firmly believed that health care products must have great development prospects in the future, but at that time, China's health care products market had entered the era of "hundred ghosts walking at night".
Other health supplements of the same period
In the seven or eight years before the establishment of the three strains, Wahaha oral liquid, which is said to be able to treat children's anorexia, the originator of the "IQ tax", Chinese turtle essence, and various pollen and honey oral liquids have bloomed to trigger the first round of health care product sales.
Then, Amway's entry into China, Le Baishi's life nuclear energy, giant's brain gold, and Shenyang Feilong Yansheng Treasure Liquid in the northeast have also tasted the ups and downs from its peak to its decline.
After two waves of consumer impulses, consumers who have just passed the cooling-off period began to doubt the superstitious health care products, and it was also in this year that the 7-year upward momentum of health care products gradually declined.
Three strains of product packaging
At this time, the public's conventional sales methods have begun to weaken, and the trust in health care products has not been as good as it was at the beginning.
Wu Bingxin proposed for the first time the "two magic weapons" of marketing: the first is to rely on a strong and professional marketing network to do marketing.
The second is the advertising leaflet delivery method.
Three rural propaganda maps
At that time, Wu Bingxin was well versed in the "advertising dependence" of the health supplement market.
The biggest focus of its marketing, and the biggest success point, is the largest Chinese market - rural and rural areas that other competitors have ignored.
Even if Wu Bingxin's achievements are viewed today, it is inevitably admirable.
This is the same as the new model of "sinking market" and "rural encirclement of cities" proposed by Internet e-commerce manufacturers now, and this is all played by Wu Bingxin twenty years ago.
Three rural propaganda maps
Under the leadership of Wu Bingxin, Sanzhu has created the most brilliant "myth" in China's health care product industry in a very short period of time.
At that time, Sanzhu had more than 600 branches, more than 2,000 offices, and more than 13,000 township workstations nationwide, with a total of 157,000 employees, which was second only to the network of the national postal system at that time.
In 1992, it started with 300,000 yuan.
In 1995, the sales revenue reached 2.35 billion yuan.
In 1996, it quickly reached the peak, with sales revenue exceeding 8 billion yuan.
The calendar of the three plants published that year
Banners were printed on the calendar, earthen walls in the countryside, telephone poles, cowsheds, and even huts.
As long as there are people, there must be big words with demonic brainwashing slogans.
Sanzhu even won CCTV's advertising space in one fell swoop, compared to the golden time dragon fight, expensive and short advertising space.
Wu Bingxin chose to cast during non-prime time, with a super long exposure of ten minutes on CCTV.
Exaggerated slogans
A gentleman should not stand under a dangerous wall, and a crisis is coming
There is a good saying about the ugly: "If the step is too big, it is easy to pull the egg".
At its peak, the seeds of crisis had already been quietly planted downstairs in this business empire.
It is a pity that the building will fall and no one will notice.
Sanzhu Group has branches all over the country
On June 3, 1996, Chen Boshun, a retired shipwright suffering from senile frequent urination in Hanshou County, Changde, Hunan Province.
Due to the overwhelming publicity of the three strains and the advertising promise of "treating the disease, health care without the disease", I bought back 10 bottles of the three strains oral liquid.
After taking two bottles at the beginning, Chen Lao did see signs of improvement, getting up in the middle of the night became less, and his appetite began to improve.
It's just that once the use of oral liquid is stopped, the old disease recurs.
When taking three to four bottles, Chen Lao began to experience redness, swelling, itching and so on.
Due to the inconvenience of rural medical treatment at that time, coupled with the trust in the three oral liquids, and the initial symptoms did show signs of improvement.
Chen Lao did not choose to seek medical attention in time, but still took three oral liquids.
When the eighth bottle was finished, the skin of Elder Chen's whole body began to fester, and pus and water flowed. He died on September 3.
Elder Chen's family determined that Elder Chen died because he had taken oral liquid, so they found Sanzhu Group and demanded that Sanzhu be responsible for Elder Chen's death and demanded that Sanzhu compensate him for economic and mental losses totaling 300,000 yuan.
Three soft advertisements in newspapers
The wrong way to deal with it laid the foundation for failure
Wu Bingxin insisted that his product was not toxic, and that the amount of 300,000 yuan was too much, and he recognized it as extortion and refused to compensate.
Seeing Sanshan's tough attitude, the Chen family decided to formally sue Sanshan.
At the beginning of 1997, the Hunan Changde Intermediate People's Court sent two bottles of three-strain oral liquid that Chen Laohan did not drink for testing, and the appraisal report determined that this was a substandard product.
Subsequently, the Changde Intermediate People's Court ruled that Chen Laohan died because of drinking three strains of oral liquid, and the three strains paid compensation of 298,000 yuan, and confiscated 10 million yuan of "illegal income" of the three strains company.
After the verdict was issued, it did not form a large-scale impact at the beginning, and if the three plants were properly handled at this time, perhaps the outcome would be different...
But there is no regret medicine in the world, and the Sanzhu Group did not accept the appeal, which led to the further expansion of the incident.
At that time, information was relatively closed today, and the right to speak was basically in the hands of the print media.
Therefore, even if it was still in the processing period of the second appeal, because of the result of the first lawsuit, more than 20 media across the country rushed to report it for a while.
And the most representative title is: 8 bottles of three oral liquid to drink an old man to death.
Success is also Xiao He, defeat is also Xiao He, the previous propaganda of the three strains was too successful, and the vast number of people across the country have heard of this magical oral liquid.
Like a seed waiting to germinate, this incident seems to have given it sufficient nutrients and grown into a big tree in the hearts of consumers.
But the "fruit" that grows on this big tree is: drink three plants and you will die.
Three slogans
The mountains and rain are about to fill the building, and the black clouds are crushing the city
Frozen three feet, not a day's cold, each false advertisement of the three plants actually planted a bomb in the hearts of consumers, and the case of Chen Lao's death was just a trigger for an explosive bomb.
Before the collapse of such a behemoth, there were actually many signs to remind the legendary marketing guru.
But unfortunately, this godfather's skill points are all focused on sales, and he knows nothing about the management of the enterprise and the public relations crisis.
In the stage of rapid development of the three strains, the publicity of the product began to appear a large number of words that fraudulently used the name of experts, exaggerated efficacy, and slandered peers.
Under this kind of unrealistic excessive marketing, once the actual use results of users are different from the publicity, it will inevitably cause waves of doubts.
Wu Bing's old and new photos
In the first year of the rapid development of the three strains, they were warned by the Guangdong Provincial Department of Health because of false and exaggerated advertisements.
And in the stormy 1997, Sanzhu was sued more than 10 times at the same time for "false advertising" and other reasons, and Sanzhu was also revoked by some local health departments for drug approval numbers.
The evil consequences of excessive marketing are gradually reversing, and behind it is the mismanagement of enterprises
One of the important reasons for all this is that the growth of Sanzhu is too fast, the company's employees are growing too fast, and the headquarters management and control ability cannot keep up with the growth rate of employees.
From 0 to nearly 160,000 sales specialists, the company does not have a unified system, let alone strict and unified training.
Its workstations stationed in townships are even more casual promises to consumers, and even directly perform the magic of taking oral liquid on stage for the eyeballs.
The sales army of more than 100,000 people, for their own performance, directly put the three oral liquid strains into an embarrassing situation.
Among them, Chengdu also appeared that in order to compile publicity materials, the marketing department personnel of the three strains carried out large-scale publicity as typical cases without the consent of patients.
The patient saw his exaggerated experience on television, and the lawsuit against the three strains led to a dispute, which was exposed by the news media.
The incident spread from Chengdu to the whole country, which had a great negative impact on the corporate image of Sanzhu, but this kind did not sound the alarm for Wu Bingxin at all!
The company's management was so chaotic that when the younger brother of founder Wu Bingxin went to the bottom countryside to inspect the countryside, he was angry and stroked.
It can be seen that under this seemingly solid castle, the foundation has long begun to decay.
Site view of the three-plant promotion meeting
The giant fell, and only chicken feathers remained
Originally, the scope of the incident was only between the patient's family, the three plants, and the court.
However, one stone stirred up a thousand waves, and when the truth was not known, the national media rushed to report and repeatedly hyped up the patient's disease story.
In the name of the court, a judge of the Changde Intermediate People's Court also continuously sent the first-instance verdict and the press release of more than 10,000 characters written by him to many central and local media.
The grapevine about "Sanzhu filed for bankruptcy" and "Wu Bingxin has absconded abroad" is even more unreasonable.
Dealers and consumers everywhere have returned and claimed compensation, and the monthly sales of the three oral strains have also fallen from billions at their peak to less than 10 million yuan.
As a result, two modern factories producing three oral liquids were completely shut down, more than 6,000 workers went home on vacation, more than 150,000 people were laid off, and more than 24 million bottles of oral liquid were overstocked.
President Wu Bingxin was also severely knocked down and fell seriously ill.
The fall of peers and the harsh criticism of the media seem to indicate that the three plants can no longer be saved this time....
Three strains bankruptcy news
Reverse again, belated truth
In March 1999, the court ruled in favour of Sanzhu.
The final judgment said, "The available evidence cannot establish the causal relationship between Chen Boshun's death and the taking of three oral liquids, and dismisses the claims of the three plaintiffs in the original trial..."
According to the verification reports and academic research results provided by China-Japan Friendship Hospital, China Rehabilitation Research Center and other professional units, Sanzhu oral liquid is a safe, non-toxic, accurate and reliable high-tech product.
Photo of Wu Bingxin, president of the official website of Sanzhu Group
Actual proof has been that although the three oral liquids are not as amazing as they boast, they are indeed non-toxic and safe health products.
However, this is a belated "win", and for Sanzhu, which has fallen into a catastrophe at this time, the truth can no longer change the public's negative impression of it.
The whole incident, let's not talk about which is right and which is wrong.
The response measures of the three strains in this process can be said to be completely negative teaching materials.
First of all, the method of handling the incident at the beginning of the incident is too strong, and the incident can be resolved before the patient's family can resort to the law, but the best resolution period is missed.
On the other hand, in the early stage of the case, when not too many people paid attention, Sanzhu took another wrong step and directly expanded the popularity of the incident by not accepting the appeal.
When the media rushed to report and public opinion deviated, the inaction of the three strains also led to the final spread of completely uncontrollable and unfavorable reports.
At the beginning of the incident, Sanzhu seriously misjudged the impact of public opinion on the enterprise, overestimated its own influence, and underestimated the influence of traditional media.
Prior to this, Sanzhu had already experienced the "Chengdu Incident" and the "Guangzhou Incident", which had already caused a small-scale public opinion backlash at that time.
However, at that time, it did not attract the attention of the management in time, and there was no systematic solution to the media opinion.
After the public opinion event, the truth is important, but the control of public opinion is more important than the truth of the incident.
The direction of public opinion is guided or suppressed at the first time, and the crisis response is half successful.
Otherwise, it will be the same as the three plants, even if the lawsuit is won in the end, the company will not be able to return to the sky.
Today's Sanzhu Group
Witnessing the fall of such a legendary business group as three plants from the altar is unavoidable.
In the 90s, when the implementation of advertising regulations was not perfect and the trend of encouraging innovation was encouraged, it was much better to blindly advocate products than to make products in a down-to-earth manner.
After the product was sold, looking at the rapid growth of turnover, did Wu Bingxin also forget his original intention and lost the direction of the development of Sanzhu Group.
But no matter what, Wu Bingxin has left an indelible mark on history.
And the failure cases he left behind are also the establishment of business rules later, the nourishment for the long-term growth of the enterprise, so that countless latecomers pay less "tuition" for growth.
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