As Chinese brands move towards high-quality development, more and more Chinese companies are aware of the importance of "brand". If the brand wants to start from scratch, from having to "red", and even achieving "long-term red", it is not just a few years of work.
Taking China's beverage industry as an example, among the beverage brands that dominated the market at the end of the last century, after nearly 30 years of big waves, it is rare to stand tall, and it is even rarer to achieve long-term popularity.
How can Chinese brands achieve long-term success across the economic cycle? Red Bull Vitamin Functional Drink (hereinafter referred to as "China Red Bull"), which has been at the forefront of the functional drink market for 28 years, is a good sample. In China Red Bull, we can see the relationship between the brand and the times, and we can also see how a brand builds an industrial chain and consumption ecology, and the growth process of seeking progress while maintaining stability.
In 2022, under many challenges, China Red Bull coordinated the development of food safety, supply and employment, and did a solid job in the production and sales of Red Bull vitamin functional drinks. As of September 30, China Red Bull has completed about 85% of its annual tasks in the first three quarters, truly becoming the ballast stone for the development of China's functional beverage industry.
Long-termism: Look at at least 50 years of development
In the 70s of the 20th century, Thai businessman Xu Shubiao invented "Krating Daeng". In 1993, Xu Shubiao built a factory in Hainan. Later, he met Yan Bin, the founder of Reignwood Group, and the two decided to work together. Yan Bin made several field visits, several in-depth negotiations, and successfully led the cooperation between Chinese and Thai enterprises, and on December 25, 1995, China Red Bull was officially founded.
For this day, the morning glory of China Red Bull, the actual operator of Red Bull in China, Reignwood Group, and its chairman Yan Bin have done a lot of work.
First of all, the founding shareholders of China Red Bull included two state-owned enterprises, and the joint venture was only established after the approval of the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Light Industry, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce and other competent authorities at that time.
Secondly, China Red Bull conducted technical demonstrations with a number of competent authorities and relevant experts at that time, and finally adjusted the content of nutrition and additives in Red Bull drinks to the allowable amount of relevant national standards. Subsequently, China National Food Industry Corporation applied for and obtained the production approval of "vitamin functional drink", Shenzhen Zhonghao successfully purchased the "bullfighting pattern trademark", and China Red Bull became the first functional beverage in China to obtain the approval of health food.
Finally, the parties to the joint venture also signed a 50-year "letter of agreement" before establishing the joint venture contract and articles of association of the joint venture company. This cooperation agreement shows that the parties reached an agreement on this matter at that time: China Red Bull will be at least 50 years old. This decision avoids market opportunism, and it can be said that the seeds of success of China Red Bull's 28 years of glory were planted at the beginning.
Building a brand: Find out what consumers really want
Red Bull China has keenly captured the demand for Red Bull from the driving community, and has created a new track. Yan Bin creatively named it "Red Bull Vitamin Energy Drink", which not only let consumers know the composition and efficacy of the drink, but also created a new category.
In the early days of the business, China Red Bull spent a lot of money on advertising, although the initial effect was limited, but because the brand development is in line with China's economic development, the effectiveness of the brand's forward-looking investment strategy will naturally gradually appear.
In order to implement this strategy, Yan Bin also gathered more than 30 members of the national management team in a hotel on the outskirts of Beijing to brainstorm behind closed doors to create a catchy advertising slogan. In the end, "drink Red Bull when you are thirsty, and drink Red Bull when you are sleepy and tired" has become everyone's unanimous choice.
Red Bull's success is not accidental. The product is like a piano, the brand is like a sound, and the operation is like a finger, and the three are closely combined to create the irreproducible commercial success of China Red Bull.
In terms of trademarks, in order to maintain the consistent tone of Red Bull in the global market, Yan Bin arranged for someone to coordinate and communicate with the registered owner of the "bullfighting" pattern trademark to buy out part of the ownership of the trademark. In terms of packaging, in order to achieve a unique appearance packaging that fits the localization, China Red Bull follows the aesthetics of Chinese consumers, and has developed it with partners for many times, tested 41 times, and tested hundreds of thousands of times with the ring, and finally adopted a golden can with more texture and Chinese aesthetics, which has been used for more than 20 years. In terms of operation, in order to cultivate the consumer market, Yan Bin put forward the slogan of "no blind spots in the market, every store must enter", even if there are only two cans of Red Bull, it should be placed in the most obvious position on the shelf. In the early days, China Red Bull also sponsored various sports events with Chinese characteristics, and through hundreds of thousands of offline channel activities and dissemination a year, the brand gradually became deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
Improve the industry and consumption ecology, and accumulate brand moats
The goodwill and integrity accumulated over the past 28 years are the solid moat of China Red Bull, and the feelings of dealers, partners and employees are like a family, which is the strongest fortress of China Red Bull.
Talking about China Red Bull, a distributor who has cooperated with China for more than 20 years said, "Frankly speaking, at that time, we were not optimistic about such an expensive drink as Red Bull, but we were optimistic about the Red Bull team and the strength behind the company, so we were willing to take over the agent." Starting from 3,000 boxes to achieve the current results, during which China Red Bull has always maintained trust and single-mindedness in us, and has never thought of finding other distributors, unlike some brands that do 'open porridge stalls in front of restaurants'. ”
Reignwood Group insists on deeply cultivating the Chinese market and continuously increasing its investment in the industry, and now has 5 modern production bases across the country to continuously supply products. Among them, after nearly ten years of development, the Yixing production base in Jiangsu Province has become the fourth production base of China Red Bull to complete the output of 10 billion cans, and the tax contribution has ranked first in Yixing for many years.
In the past ten years, China Red Bull's production bases have been integrated into the local economy and social construction work, and at the same time take the initiative to assume social responsibility, pay attention to production safety, environmental protection, employment and poverty alleviation, as well as public welfare and charity, and have won the honors of "Consumer Trust Product", "Integrity Demonstration Enterprise" and "Excellent Water-saving Enterprise in China's Beverage Industry".
In the corporate culture of China Red Bull, there is a very important concept of "opening the road in the mountains and building bridges in the water". From the beginning of its establishment, China Red Bull has a mission with Chinese characteristics, an independent vision and values, a development direction and a clear path to adapt to the trend of the Chinese market, and an organizational structure with unique Chinese characteristics, and has embarked on a unique road of brand creation and development.