Knowing that brand marketing has been super involuted in recent years, I didn't expect it to be rolled to the extent that the brand has broken the packaging of its own classic products!
Recently, some netizens discovered that Wang Laoji "betrayed" the thriving brand tradition and launched a new packaging product - "Ji Jian Can"!
All-silver cans, black stroke fonts, do you call this "Ji Jianism"? The public's eyes are the first to disagree: This is obviously a "funeral wind", right?
If I remember correctly, Wang Laoji spent nearly 10 years and more than 100 million yuan in lawsuits before he got the trademark of "Red Can Herbal Tea".
Wang Laoji suddenly turned to his back, what happened?
01
If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes on Wang Laoji's official account, I would have doubted that this so-called "Ji Jian Can" was a folk work created by an Internet god. In fact, the Jijian jar is an environmentally friendly product launched by Wanglaoji on this year's Earth Day.
When it was first launched, the first impression of the Jijian jar to the public was that it was "unaccustomed and not good-looking", and some even complained that it looked like a "jar containing ashes". But after understanding the design concept of Ji Jian can, everyone shouted "Blame Wang Laoji".
The design theme of the Jijan jar is to promote environmental protection, and there are two highlights:
First, the whole body of the tank only retains the three words "Wang Laoji", without any other information, and the tank body maintains the original original color, without inkjet. The second is the use of recyclable materials to further reduce waste.
The use of recyclable materials is environmentally friendly, and everyone is familiar with it. But how can Wang Laoji's "primary color can" promote environmental protection? The key is that this can greatly reduce the amount of "ink" used.
It is said that the amount of ink used in a single can is only 0.005g, while in the past, an average of 1g of ink was used in each can, and the ink used in Jijian can was directly reduced by 200 times.
What's even more terrifying is that the world produces nearly 400 billion cans every year, and if the "Ji Jian can" model is adopted, 40,000 tons of ink will be saved!
Why does Wang Laoji make a fuss about "ink"? Because the degradation of printing ink takes dozens of hundreds of years, it can be used less, which is the greatest environmental protection!
Source: Houlang Education
On World Earth Day, a Ji Jian jar to reduce the burden on the earth, Wang Laoji's original intention and creativity are still very powerful.
Source: Wang Laoji, the ancestor of herbal tea
02
In order to practice environmental protection, the brands that work product packaging are not only Wang Laoji.
In July last year, Sprite also gave up the 60-year-old "green" classic packaging and switched to transparent bottles, which was also very shocking.
Source: Phoenix Technology
Sprite's move is environmentally friendly, because the green bottle contains green polyethylene terephthalate (PET) that cannot be recycled, and changing to a transparent bottle can reduce plastic waste.
But many consumers complained: after changing to white, they suddenly didn't want to drink.
In March 2022, Master Kong Iced Tea also launched an environmentally friendly and carbon-reducing "label-free product", as the name suggests, that is, the beverage bottle does not have any labels or logos throughout the body. Moreover, Master Kong also promoted it as "the first shot of the beverage packaging revolution".
It's a pity that consumers didn't pay for it, and began to mock mercilessly: this white bottle with some kind of brown liquid, you say it's iced tea, but more people think of "urine".
By the way, many people remembered the stalk of "don't pick up the iced tea under the tower crane".
Perhaps embarrassed by netizens, Master Kong quickly adjusted it and added information such as product name and expiration date to the bottle. But this still can't change the public impression that unlabeled products are complained about like "urine bottles"!
As a result, from the beginning of the warm-up in February 2022 to the last promotion of "label-free" products in June 2022, Master Kong persisted for a full 4 months, which is already commendable.
03
Frankly speaking, for the sake of environmental protection, many brands have done "stupid things" like "thankless". Moreover, the more familiar the brand is, the more likely it is to overturn and be complained about due to the strange packaging design.
You may not understand, why do brands spend a lot of money on advertising to make their product packaging deeply rooted in the hearts of the people?
This question is the same as "Coca-Cola is already so famous, why do you still advertise like crazy".
As the saying goes, life is about tossing. And the brand toss will not change because of the increase in popularity. Even the more famous you are, the more you love tossing, especially in the FMCG field.
First, FMCG brands are relatively replaceable, and it is difficult to form a monopoly. Although some people say, "I only drink Coca-Cola or Pepsi", when you only have one of them around you, and your Coke addiction is committed again, it is estimated that there is no loyalty at all. What's more, most people want the cola itself, and the difference in taste or brand does not have that much impact on it.
Second, the purpose of frequent advertising is to brush up on the sense of existence, in order to make the brand the first choice of consumers at that moment. If you don't advertise, you're giving your competitors a chance. Coca-Cola is the most well-known cola brand in the world, but if you let it go for a month, a quarter, or half a year without advertising, Pepsi will wake up laughing when it dreams.
Therefore, FMCG brand advertising is a game that cannot be stopped, and it is as important as expanding and maintaining channels.
Third, advertising is to make a brand, which is the biggest differentiation. Whether it's Coke or herbal tea, although there is a formula, the difficulty of research and development is not high, and the brand barrier between Coca-Cola and Wang Laoji lies in the fact that through decades of advertising bombardment, everyone recognizes these two brands. Latecomers want to challenge, and the cost and risk are too high!
After understanding these points, it is not difficult to understand that brands love to toss their product packaging. To put it bluntly, product packaging is one of the forms of advertising for FMCG brands in recent years.
On the one hand, the purpose of advertising is to make the public pay attention to the brand, and Wang Laoji's "Ji Jian Can", Sprite's transparent bottle, and Master Kong's "Urine Bottle" are the main ones with a super visual impact. It doesn't matter whether consumers accept it or not, whether they like it or not, the important thing is to successfully attract the public's attention, form a topic, and enhance brand popularity.
On the other hand, compared with traditional online and offline advertising, the budget is often millions or tens of millions, and the cost of playing with product packaging is almost negligible. Advertising a brand through product packaging is more cost-effective and even better.
Of course, it is not denied that there are brands that simply want to contribute to environmental protection and reduce excessive packaging. However, the reality of commercial competition will soon make the brand sober, and unique and eye-catching product packaging has always been an important means to make a brand, do popularity, and seize the minds of the public.
Unless all brands in the world come to a consensus, no one wants to stop the game. This is also the root cause of the "packaging revolution" that has been shouted for so many years, but it has no use.
Therefore, brands often occasionally bring up the theme of environmental protection and come up with some eco-friendly packaging, but they will soon return to the main product. The red and white of Coca-Cola, the blue of Pepsi, the green of Sprite, and the red and yellow of Wang Laoji will hardly change, because it is one of their most valuable brand assets that no one else can touch.
Otherwise, why would Wang Laoji have to win the "red can herbal tea" at any cost?