Mochi peach juice, bag drizzle, porcelain jar yogurt, rising sun... Drinks that were once bought by the "post-80s" who saved pocket money can now meet enemies left and right in the market. On September 12, a reporter from Beijing Business Daily found a video related to "snacks that only locals know" in Douyin. In addition, a topic of "soda that only locals can drink" on Weibo was on Weibo's hot search.
Relying on the locals, the old brands regain the market, but it is precisely because of the limitations of the local people's market that the old brands have always stuck to the "place of making a fortune" and the pace of marching into the national market has gone a little bumpy and slow. When netizens "reminisce" about the taste of childhood, does it mean that the long-established brand beverage has succeeded in blazing another path? In the face of the many new brands and new flavors on the market, how can the old brands break the situation?
The authorities are in and out
When it comes to "emotional consumption", this word is inevitably closely related to old-fashioned and established products. The latest large-scale appearance of Moqi drinks was followed by Weibo hot searches. As of press time, the Weibo topic "Soda that Only Locals Drink" has been read by 320 million people and participated in 98,000 discussions. Synchronized with Mochi, there are also many "old tastes" with a sense of age, such as the Arctic Ocean, bag drizzle, and sour plum soup. The taste in the memory of many old Beijingers can become a topic of discussion from time to time and arouse the echo of netizens.
"Born in 1984, happy in 1992, returned in January 2018", these few words seem to summarize the development of flexible packaging mochi peach juice. When The Peach Juice had just made a comeback, the media rushed to report that bloggers were buying punch cards. At that time, it was mentioned that Moqi Beverage emphasized "the taste of Beijing in 1992". Opening the computer search page, the news about Mochi drinks seems to be fixed in the early spring season of 2018, and the news heat has gradually decreased.
It is understood that Mochi peach juice was sold hot in the 1990s, dominating the flexible packaging beverage market, and together with the Arctic Ocean and Illy bread, it has become a classic memory of many "post-80s". However, the heat of that year was eventually buried by the wave of the Internet, and even did not leave a trace of the news that Moqi Beverage withdrew from the market. However, relevant reports pointed out that Moqi, which dominated the flexible packaging beverage market, once faced competition from Master Kong's beverages.
The bag drizzle has a similar experience with the mochi drink. In 2017, the bag shower also returned to the market, and the "memory killing" has aroused industry attention since then. In 2018, the return of soda at Hankou No. 2 Plant also achieved sales of tens of millions.
Lack of competition?
When it comes to soda, the "post-80s" and "post-90s" may be particularly kind. The market share and brand influence of brands such as Bingfeng Soda and Jianlibao should not be underestimated. Not long ago, the parent company of Bingfeng Soda also submitted an IPO application. According to the prospectus of Bingfeng Beverage, the main business income of Bingfeng Beverage increased from 285 million yuan to 331 million yuan, with a compound annual growth rate of 7.74%.
Bingfeng Beverage Producer is a Shaanxi enterprise, which is a local long-established enterprise. Through the prospectus, it can be seen that Bingfeng Beverage has not yet achieved national expansion, and the brand influence is mainly in this region of Shaanxi. The prospectus lists a set of data, in 2020, more than 80% of the company's revenue came from Shaanxi. The situation of Bingfeng Beverage is also a common denominator of long-established brands. In November last year, there was news that Red Star Erguotou, Arctic Ocean soda, Yili bread, etc. would be packaged and listed, and many people pointed out that the regionalization of old brands was difficult.
In recent years, the consumption scale of the beverage industry has gradually expanded, and both international giants and cutting-edge brands have become competitors with long-established brands. New and old brands compete on the beverage track, how can the old brands glow with new youth? At a time when the domestic product consumption boom is heating up, many old brand enterprises are also trying to innovate and drain. Taking the Arctic Ocean as an example, it cut into the tea market and opened an offline cold drink store, which also sells baked European bags, Italian bread toast, Arctic Ocean canned drinks and other foods.
Brand engineering requires long-term planning
Long-established brands, internally, have to face multiple measurements between innovation failure and profits, and externally they are also facing many "after-wave" crises. Internet celebrity milk tea, net red soda, etc. are full of social content apps, and there are existing markets that mainly sell food and drinks. However, it is difficult for the old brand to be the same as the Internet celebrities, in a short period of time with the help of new media to spread all over the country, but because of its own regional characteristics, guarding the market in front of it.
Bai Wenxi, chief economist of IPG China, pointed out that there are still problems such as insufficient brand recognition and influence, poor market acceptance and other problems in the national layout of beverage brands with strong regionality, in addition to the difficulty of promotion, the radius of sales exceeds the economic radius, but the lack of market foundation for off-site production. The recognition of the old soda brand, the market acceptance and the ability to grasp the consumption trend need to be strengthened, and cannot only live in the nostalgic plot of regional and some consumer groups.
Wu Daiqi, CEO of Shenzhen Siqisheng Company, believes that taking the old brand and doing brand marketing is the right choice, but the renovation of the old brand should let go of the shackles of the past and set the target population as "post-90s" and "post-00s". However, some old brands have not become brands that young people like, but are prone to unclear positioning and strategic drift. In the market, the price of beverages is mostly 5-10 yuan, consumers are happy to taste early, whether they can continue to buy back, need to see the attractiveness of the product, taste, purchase convenience. As a FMCG, beverages are fiercely competitive in the market, and brand building is a long-term project.
Beijing Business Daily reporter Wang Weiyi