From Wang Leehom to Xu Guanghan, Zong Qinghou and his daughter have an unfinished eyesight competition
Source of this article: Times Finance Author: Zhong Dai
Wang Leehom and Zong Qinghou Image source: Wang Leehom Weibo
On February 25, Wahaha's official Weibo released the news that Zong Qinghou, the founder and chairman of the group, passed away due to illness. On the same day, #王力宏 Wahaha mineral water # rushed to the hot search on Weibo.
Singer Wang Leehom's latest Weibo post was posted on February 23, showing that he was taking his parents on vacation in Sanya. So far, there has been no public statement by Wang Leehom about Zong Qinghou's death.
The cooperation between the two sides has lasted for 20 years. In 1998, Zong Qinghou made a new musician Wang Leehom to become the spokesperson of Wahaha mineral water. Subsequently, the advertising song "Loving You is Equal to Loving Yourself" sung by Leehom Wang swept the streets. Wahaha mineral water printed with Leehom Wang's head is also spread on the shelves of major cities and countless villages and towns in China.
With Zong Qinghou's daughter Zong Fuli taking office as the head of the public relations department and promoting the "younger reform", the cooperation between the two sides came to an end in 2018.
The star agent behind the beverage faucet
The history of a leading beverage group is also a history of advertising and marketing.
Xiao Zhuqing, an independent critic of China's liquor industry, joined Wahaha Group in 2000. Xiao Zhuqing recalled that Wahaha had selected actors for Stephen Chow's new movie online and offline in seven cities across the country. "At that time, there was no Hunan Satellite TV's "Super Girl", which is different from people's perception of the aging of the Wahaha brand at this stage, Wahaha is actually the originator of the draft. ”
As early as 1996, in order to help Wahaha pure water open up the market, Zong Qinghou signed Jinggangshan, a singer who was already quite famous at that time, which opened a precedent for Chinese local brands to invite celebrities to endorse. In the past two years, Jinggangshan and Wahaha teams have visited dozens of cities for tour promotion, and the advertising song "Only You in My Eyes" has become popular all over the country.
The most successful promotion case of Wahaha is the 20-year endorsement cooperation with Wang Leehom. In 1998, Zong Qinghou signed Leehom Wang as the brand spokesperson, which was also the first endorsement signed by Stehom Wang in the mainland.
Zong Qinghou once mentioned in an interview that Wang Leehom was a newcomer at the time, only singing in the United States, and was not well-known in Chinese mainland and Taiwan, China, and Wang Leehom's sunny and healthy image was very suitable for Wahaha's product positioning.
The cooperation between the two sides can be called a mutual achievement. Wahaha enhanced Leehom Wang's early popularity, and Leehom Wang's long-term popularity also opened up sales channels for Wahaha.
Xiao Zhuqing recalled: "Wahaha was a big customer of CCTV at that time, and Wang Leehom used the power of Wahaha to go to the Spring Festival Gala, hold concerts, and shoot MVs. At that time, Wahaha's offline layout was very dense, and pure water could sell 2 billion bottles a year, and each bottle had Leehom Wang's avatar. ”
Wang Leehom once had a friend travel to Tibet, on the sparsely populated plateau, in addition to cattle and sheep, he actually saw the empty bottle of Wahaha pure water endorsed by Wang Leehom that had been drunk, and after going back, his friend exclaimed to Wang Leehom: "Are you so popular in the mainland, you can be seen anywhere." ”
Later, Wang Leehom became a king-level figure who became popular in the Chinese music scene, opened concert tours, and repeatedly appeared on the Spring Festival Gala. Public information shows that Leehom Wang's endorsement fee in his early years was very low, and he has never taken the initiative to ask for a price increase since then. After Wang Leehom became popular, Zong Qinghou once publicly said that Wang Leehom's advertising costs for others are very expensive, but advertising for Wahaha is very cheap.
At the 20th anniversary celebration of Wahaha, Zong Qinghou awarded Wang Leehom an "Honorary Employee" certificate, and awarded Wang Leehom a diamond endorsement trophy on the 30th anniversary.
During the cooperation with Wang Leehom, Zong Qinghou also chose other stars to endorse other products under the company. For example, Yu Chengqing has been the spokesperson of Wahaha Very Cola, Coco Li has endorsed Wahaha Very Lemon and Wahaha juice series products, and Haiqing has been the spokesperson of Wahaha porridge products.
In 2002, Stephen Chow became the spokesperson of Wahaha's very series of tea drinks, and also filmed a commercial film with Feng Xiaogang, which was Feng Xiaogang's first self-written and self-directed advertising film. In 2006, Xie Na became the spokesperson of Wahaha Simu C, and later endorsed tea drinks and Shuang Crooked, and also filmed a commercial for tea drinks with Zhang Jie.
Wahaha is a marketing-driven enterprise, and in the eyes of employees, Zong Qinghou has always been regarded as a god-like marketing genius.
Wahaha's new marketing situation
Zong Qinghou's daughter, Zong Fuli, has been the head of the brand public relations department of Wahaha Group since April 2018, leading the Wahaha brand upgrade.
After Zong Fuli took office, Wahaha replaced Wang Leehom.
Wahaha officially said that at the end of 2017, because he and Wang Leehom did not negotiate suitable endorsement products for the time being, the two sides decided to suspend the contract renewal. If there is a suitable product or timing in the future, it is possible to restart the cooperation and continue to write a good story.
But on the other hand, Zong Fuli once said in an interview that she didn't like the packaging and spokesperson of Wahaha mineral water, and said that Wang Leehom was too old, and consumers had aesthetic fatigue, "From youth to middle-aged, from middle-aged to old, do you think it's fun?"
Behind the replacement of Wang Leehom, Zong Qinghou and his daughter are facing the same problem, the aging of brands and products.
Wahaha Group has won the world with national products such as pure water, AD calcium milk, nutrition express, and eight-treasure porridge, and the company's products cover more than 10 categories and more than 200 varieties. However, Wahaha has not seen impressive explosive products in recent years, and the aging of the brand is prominent. Zong Qinghou's father and daughter have been working hard to update the brand and launch new products.
Earlier, Zong Qinghou once "angrily denounced" e-commerce for messing up the real economy.
However, in 2020, Zong Qinghou announced the creation of four major e-commerce platforms, namely health care products e-commerce platform, food and beverage e-commerce platform, cross-border e-commerce platform and Habao Amusement Park. and personally went to the e-commerce live broadcast room to bring the goods.
In March 2020, Zong Fuli concurrently served as the Deputy General Manager of Wahaha Group Sales Company, and in December 2021, she was appointed as the Vice Chairman and General Manager of Wahaha Group.
In recent years, Zong Fuli has begun to lead Wahaha's category innovation, such as the launch of AD calcium nipple mooncakes, the launch of a co-branded underage ice cream with Zhong Xuegao, and the launch of a co-branded pH 9.0 soda with Bubble Mart, and at the same time entered the e-sports circle, and cooperated with League of Legends Professional League (LPL) officials and teams.
In terms of marketing, Wahaha has also had many innovations, for example, it has launched "Blind Water" in combination with the blind box gameplay that young people love, and has also teamed up with People's Daily to launch the "70 Tide" little red bottle, creating a new image of a domestic brand.
From Wang Leehom to Xu Guanghan
In May 2020, Wahaha officially announced that Xu Guanghan became the spokesperson of Wahaha purified water and sparkling water series products. This is Wahaha's third "water system spokesperson" after Jinggangshan and Wang Leehom.
"Considering that the huge market facing pure water is a specific consumer, especially young consumers, who need a little fresh impact and a little emotional breakthrough. As for the reason for choosing Xu Guanghan, the relevant person in charge of Wahaha told the media.
Xu Guanghan became popular because of the brain-burning romantic drama "I Want to See You" in Taiwan, China, and then won the first male brand spokesperson of BOBBI BROWN in China, the spokesperson of CK Jeans in Greater China, and the spokesperson of Shupao S series.
These brands have taken a fancy to Xu Guanghan's popularity, image and the young fan base behind him. Wahaha is the same, it has launched a customized service for Xu Guanghan fans: the first 3,100 orders will immediately enjoy a set of Xu Guanghan's signed photos and Xu Guanghan's exclusive drink more water reminder voice 1, and also rhythmically released Xu Guanghan's series of emojis, confession videos and behind-the-scenes footage on the official Weibo.
Zong Fulida also invited Wang Yibo to serve as the spokesperson of Wahaha sparkling water "Angry Bobo", and actively explored new marketing methods, such as starting to enter the live broadcast room and have more contact with young people. The data shows that after Wang Yibo's endorsement, it brought a 60-fold sales increase to "Angry Bobo".
Wahaha has grown from a beverage giant in the 90s to a world beverage leader with an annual revenue of more than 50 billion people. Leehom Wang's 20 years of cooperation with Wahaha, including Wahaha's growth period, in this process, Leehom Wang's brand impression and market appeal to Wahaha are obvious to all, and now the word Leehom Wang has rushed to the hot search again with the death of Zong Qinghou, which is the proof of this imprint. Under the premise that this volume has been reached, can the new spokesperson bring significant growth space to Wahaha's product revenue? This is a question to verify the pattern of Zong Fuli's eyesight.
In fact, from Wang Leehom to Xu Guanghan, what witnessed was the eyesight level of the father and daughter Zong Qinghou and Zong Fuli.
In addition, as of press time, Xu Guanghan, the spokesperson of Wahaha's water system, did not express a public attitude on the death of Zong Qinghou.