50,000 boxes were sold out in 1 hour, and Nongfu Spring's reputation reversed?

The following article comes from Chief Brand Watch, written by Su Ziqiu

Editor's note:

Nongfu Spring's reputation in the past month has been abusive, I believe everyone has heard of it.

But it has recently launched a new product, and the sales have sold out directly!

Why does the negative public opinion of the brand not affect the sales of the product in the slightest?

I recommend you to read this article to see how the public opinion of Nongfu Spring has reversed.

Author | Su Ziqiu    

Source | Chief Brand Watch

Wahaha, Nongfu Spring's "Ice and Fire"

The ancestors often used "30 years in Hedong, 30 years in Hexi" to describe the impermanence of the world, and the rotation of feng shui.

However, in the Internet era, the rapid change of online public opinion does not even take 30 days to make a brand's reputation reversed.

In March, the two giants of the beverage industry experienced two days of ice and fire.

With the death of the head of the house, Zong Qinghou, Wahaha, who had been silent for many years, ushered in a boom and a sale.

Store sales increased by more than 500% in two days, and the public's "wild consumption" could not be stopped.

And the reputation of Nongfu Spring has fallen to the freezing point, admiring the foreign and flattering sun?

Nongfu Spring, which advocates "a little sweet", has tasted the bitterness of public opinion and has been frantically boycotted by netizens.

If you think this is the finale of "good and evil will be rewarded", you are very wrong.

Entering April, the online public opinion of the two brands has undergone a shocking reversal.

First of all, Nongfu Spring's Oriental Leaves, which broke sales records one after another in April.

On April 1, Oriental Leaf launched a spring-limited Longjing new tea on major e-commerce platforms.

50,000 boxes were sold out in 17 hours, and they were slaughtered directly.

This is not an "April Fool's joke", a few days later, on April 5, Dongfang Leaf launched the second batch of Longjing new tea with a total of 50,000 boxes, 10,000 cases were sold in 1 minute, and all were sold out in 1 hour.

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Image source

:@东方树叶

The explosion of Oriental leaves made the previous large-scale boycott by netizens seem to have become a "joke", and it was labeled as "flattering", which was not lethal.

Almost at the same time, Wahaha Nutrition Express attracted widespread attention due to quality problems.

Some netizens said that they bought Wahaha Nutrition Express,

A "cockroach-like" foreign object appeared in the unopened drink.

In this regard, on April 2, Wahaha officially responded that the company had inspected and verified the product, and the situation reported by the consumer was actually caused by the loosening of the bottle mouth caused by the impact of the transportation and loading and unloading links, and the contents were deteriorated and agglomerated after air leakage, which was not a quality problem of the product itself, and the statement about "cockroaches" did not match the actual situation.

At the same time, Wahaha got in touch with the consumer at the first time.

After communicating with him face-to-face to clear up the misunderstanding, the consumer deleted the original video on the spot.

Of course, the "overturn" of Nutrition Express this time is not a great crime, and Wahaha's public relations response is also very appropriate.

Netizens even showed great tolerance and trust, believing that there was no need to make a big fuss.

However, the "two-level reversal" of Nongfu Spring and Wahaha actually reminds the brand that although online public opinion needs to be monitored and dealt with, it is the king to do a good job in the product.

拒绝「献杀」

Don't be afraid of "stick killing"

In recent years, there are not a few brands that have been praised by netizens. But in the face of the frenzy of public opinion, more brands have maintained a rare sobriety.

In 2021, Hongxing Erke was sought after by netizens for donating 50 million in the Henan flood.

At that time, its chairman Wu Rongzhao said, "Please don't deify Hongxing Erke."

When Fat Donglai was named the "supermarket ceiling" by netizens,

The founder Yu Donglai publicly shouted, "Fat Donglai is mythologized, it is a sadness".

Ren Zhengfei also bluntly said, "It can't be said that using Huawei products is patriotic, and if you don't use it, it's not patriotic, Huawei is just a commodity." ”

refusal to be mythologized, on the one hand, is the embodiment of these entrepreneurial patterns, and on the other hand,

It is also they who recognize the reality of the online world, and public opinion is always a double-edged sword.

The negative textbook is Li Ning.

When it was sought after, Li Ning was the "light of domestic products" and "the first brother of the national tide", once it provoked public anger and was not treated, Li Ning's label of "devil suit" could not be torn off so far.

Today's Wahaha is also on the verge of being "killed".

As everyone knows, when it exploded on the whole network, Wahaha was the top brand that people said that sales soared and sold out, once sales declined, "Wahaha's official flagship store daily sales fell by 90% compared with the peak" and other related topics immediately swiped the screen, and the voice of decline appeared.

Netizens' perception of whether a brand is "killed" or "killed" is always a matter of a blink of an eye.

Nongfu Spring may have a deeper understanding of this.

Let's also talk about Oriental Leaves, this tea drink created by Nongfu Spring in 2011 with a huge amount of money, was one of the five most difficult drinks to drink in China, and was badly rated by netizens as "dogs don't drink" and "worse than horse urine".

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Image source

:@东方树叶

Such a "stick kill" is undoubtedly fatal.

However, with the awakening of public health consumption awareness,

The oriental leaves, which have been sitting on the cold bench for many years, have finally ushered in the wealth of the sky.

Consumers who "talk about the color change" of the sugar in the drink have finally discovered the benefits of "sugar-free tea" oriental leaves, which may be unpalatable, but it is healthy.

Nongfu Spring's financial report shows that the tea beverage sector, which has been lagging behind, has grown rapidly in 2021, and from 2021 to 2023, the revenue of the tea beverage sector will be 2.182 billion, 3.307 billion and 12.659 billion yuan respectively, with a rapid momentum.

The controversy over Japanese packaging in March is just a small episode in the development of Oriental leaves, and the continuous sales in April show that

A brand that can stand the test of time and the market is not afraid of the stick.

are still each other's biggest rivals

After the public opinion turmoil in March, Wahaha and Nongfu Spring are afraid that they will often be compared.

For now, the advantages and disadvantages of the two are still very obvious.

Especially Wahaha, we can't ignore its slow response and follow-up mentality in some areas.

For example, in the sugar-free tea track, Nongfu Spring belongs to "getting up early in the morning" and has carried out the brand layout too early, so that Oriental leaves have been disliked for many years, while Wahaha is "catching up with a late set" and only launched the sugar-free tea brands "Anhua Black Tea" and "Yicha" in 2018.

At that time, the competition in the sugar-free tea market had already begun to intensify.

Today, Nongfu Spring's tea beverage sector, with an annual revenue of more than 10 billion yuan, has a growth rate of 83.3%, accounting for 29.7% of the total revenue.

And Wahaha's sugar-free tea products do not seem to have occupied the minds of consumers.

But Wahaha's advantage is that it has the spirit of not admitting defeat and is willing to keep up with the times.

And this sense of innovation is inseparable from the helm behind the new head Zong Fuli.

This post-80s female entrepreneur has inherited her father's business,

Strive to get Wahaha out of the "mid-life crisis".

Previously, in a public speech, Zong Fuli said that in order to comply with the trend of sugar control consumption, Wahaha has developed and launched dozens of new and old products such as low-sugar version of Nutrition Express, sugar-free version of Very Coke, sugar-free soda, and sugar-free pure tea.

At the beginning of March this year, Wahaha launched four flavors of tea drinks: Jasmine Tea, Zhengshan Xiaozhong, Dahongpao and Green Mandarin Pu'er, in an effort to enrich its product line.

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Image source

: Wahaha

naturally

On the road of Wahaha's development, there has always been the footsteps of Nongfu Spring catching up.

This kind of commercial catch-up, which began in 2000 with the "water war of the century", will not stop in 2024.

Public data shows that in 2021 and 2022, Wahaha Group's revenue will be 51.915 billion and 51.202 billion respectively.

By 2023, the revenue and profit of Wahaha's main business will achieve "double growth".

According to Nongfu Spring's latest annual results announcement, in 2023, its operating income will be 42.667 billion yuan, an increase of 28.4% year-on-year.

In contrast, Nongfu Spring's revenue is still a certain distance from Wahaha.

This may come as a surprise to many people, after all, Wahaha has indeed been much worse in the past 10 years. However, Wahaha, whose revenue peaked at nearly 80 billion in 2013, will not be easily surpassed?

But from the perspective of growth rate, Nongfu Spring, whose revenue was only 24 billion in 2019, has increased by 78% in 2023, and if nothing else, it is only a matter of time before it surpasses Wahaha.

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Image source

:@农夫山泉

However, the unexpected came.

The turmoil at the beginning of 2024 is a turning point for Wahaha and Nongfu Spring.

As for where to turn in the future, it depends on the planning and pattern of these two Hangzhou "hometowns".

Resources:

1. City boundary: Nongfu Spring is about to catch up with Wahaha

2, Li Dongyang's circle of friends: 30 days after the cyberbullying, Dongfang leaves sold out

3. Food: Please stop the myth, Wahaha!

*编排 | 三木  审核 | 

Sunnyue

Today's interactive topic:

Do you think Nongfu Spring can surpass Wahaha?