Brand Interpretation Name

Herbal tea is a kind of "medicinal tea" boiled with Chinese herbs in Guangdong and Guangxi, which has the effect of clearing heat and removing dampness, etc. Among the many old herbal teas, Wanglaoji is the most famous. Among the many old herbal teas, Wanglaoji is the most famous. Wanglaoji herbal tea was invented in the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty, 175 years ago, is recognized as the originator of herbal tea, and has the name of "King of Medicinal Tea". In modern times, Wanglaoji herbal tea has spread all over the world along with the footprints of Chinese people.

In the early 1950s, due to political reasons, Wanglaoji Herbal Tea Shop was divided into two branches: one of them completed the transformation of public ownership, and developed into today's Wanglaoji Pharmaceutical Company Limited, which produces Wanglaoji Herbal Tea Granules (State Pharmaceutical License); the other branch was brought to Hong Kong by the descendants of the Wang family. In mainland China, the Wanglaoji brand is owned by Wanglaoji Pharmaceutical Company Limited; in countries and regions outside mainland China, the Wanglaoji brand is registered to descendants of the Wang family. Gadobao is a Hong Kong-funded company located in Dongguan, which is licensed by Wang Lao Ji Pharmaceutical and provided with the formula by the descendants of the Wang Clan in Hong Kong; the company exclusively produces and operates Wang Lao Ji brand canned herbal tea (food size) in mainland China.

Background

Before 2002, on the surface, the red canned Wanglaoji (hereinafter referred to as the "red can Wanglaoji") is a very good brand, in Guangdong, South Zhejiang, sales volume is stable, profitability is good, there is a relatively fixed consumer base, the red cans of Wanglaoji beverage sales performance for several years to maintain more than 100 million yuan. The sales of red-can Wanglaoji beverages have been maintained at more than 100 million dollars for several years. After the development of this scale, Gadobao's management found that to make the enterprise bigger, to go to the country, it is necessary to overcome a series of problems, and even some of the original advantages have become obstacles to the continued growth of the enterprise.

And all the trouble, the core of the problem is that enterprises have to face a realistic problem - the red can of Wanglaoji when the "herbal tea" to sell, or when the "beverage" to sell?

The reality of the problem is manifested in one: Guangdong, southern Zhejiang consumers on the red can Wanglaoji cognitive confusion.

In Guangdong, the traditional herbal tea (such as granules, home brewing, herbal tea store brewing, etc.) because of the fire effect is significant, consumers generally take as a "medicine", no need to also can not often drink. Wanglaoji", a brand with a history of hundreds of years, is a synonym for herbal tea, and it can be said that when we talk about herbal tea, we think of Wanglaoji, and when we talk about Wanglaoji, we think of herbal tea. Therefore, the red can of Wanglaoji by the brand name, and can not be very smooth for the Guangdong people to accept it as a regular drink, sales are greatly restricted.

On the other hand, the red can of Wanglaoji formula produced by Gadobao originated from Hong Kong Wang's descendants, is approved by the national audit of the food products, its smell, color, packaging and the concept of Guangdong consumers in the traditional herbal tea has a big difference, and the taste of sweet, according to the traditional concept of China's "good medicine is bitter", consumers naturally feel that it "reduces fire". According to the traditional concept of "good medicine tastes bitter" in China, consumers naturally feel that its "fire-reducing" power is not enough, and when there is a demand for "fire-reducing", it would be better to buy it from herbal tea stores or to decoct it at home. Therefore, for consumers, it is not a good choice in the most "efficacy" of herbal tea.

In Guangdong, the red can of Wanglaoji has the brand of Wanglaoji, the originator of herbal tea, but has a face of beverage, so that consumers feel that "it seems to be herbal tea, but also seems to be a drink", and fall into cognitive confusion.

In another major sales area of Gadobao, South Zhejiang, mainly Wenzhou, Taizhou, Lishui, consumers will be "red can of Wanglaoji" and Kangshifu tea, Wangzai milk and other beverages comparable to the taboo is not suitable for long-term drinking. In addition, the local Chinese outside the large number of their guidance, driven by the red can Wanglaoji soon became the local best-selling products. Enterprises are worried that red cans of Wanglaoji may become a fashionable come and go, as when the red red in the south of Zhejiang coconut coconut juice, soon replaced by new fashionable products, disappearing overnight in the streets and alleys on the clean.

In the face of these confusing consumer perceptions, companies urgently need to provide a strong guide through advertising to clarify the core value of the red can of Wanglaoji, and differentiate it from competitors.

The reality of the problem manifests itself in two ways: red cans of Wanglaoji can't get out of Guangdong and southern Zhejiang.

Outside of Guangdong and Guangxi, people do not have the concept of herbal tea, and even in the survey frequently appear "herbal tea is cold white", "we do not drink cold tea, hot tea" these views. The cost of educating the concept of herbal tea is obviously staggering. Moreover, the mainland consumers' need to "lower the fire" has been filled, and most of them are solved by taking medicines such as ox-huang detoxification tablets.

Doing herbal tea is difficult, doing drinks is also in crisis. If you look at the entire beverage industry, Coca-Cola, Pepsi as the representative of carbonated beverages, Master Kong, unified as the representative of the tea drinks, juice drinks is in the unshakeable market leadership.

And, the red can of Wanglaoji to "honeysuckle, licorice, chrysanthemum, etc." herbal boiled, there is a faint taste of traditional Chinese medicine, for the taste of the first drink, there is indeed not a small obstacle, coupled with the red can of Wanglaoji 3.5 yuan retail price, if Gadobao can not make the red can of Wanglaoji and competitors differentiate themselves, it will be Never get out of the shadow of the beverage industry, "the Great Powers". This makes the red can Wanglaoji face an extremely awkward situation: can not stick to the two places, but also can not be promoted nationwide.

The reality of the problem is that the concept of promotion is vague.

If the concept of "herbal tea" to promote, Gadobao is worried that its sales will be limited, but as a "beverage" to promote and did not find a suitable partition, therefore, in the advertising campaign had to be ambiguous. Many people have seen this advertisement: a very cute little boy keeps rubbing his butt against the refrigerator door in order to open the refrigerator to get a can of Wanglaoji. The tagline is "Healthy family, always with you". Obviously, this advertisement does not reflect the unique value of the red can of Wanglaoji.

In the first few years of Wanglaoji's promotion, consumers didn't know why they should buy it, and companies didn't know how to sell it. In such a state of red can Wanglaoji actually also peacefully through the years. The external reason for this phenomenon is that the Chinese market is still immature, there are many market gaps; the internal reason is that the product itself has a kind of irreplaceability, just to fill this position. In China, a group of small and medium-sized enterprises are allowed to make a lot of money in a confused manner. But after developing to a certain size, companies wanting to get bigger must figure out one question: why do consumers buy my products?

Repositioning

At the end of 2002, Gadobao approached Chengmei Marketing Consultants with the idea of making an advertisement for red-can Wanglaoji with the theme of sponsoring the Olympic Games, which would be publicized under the slogan of "sports and health" in a bid to boost sales. After a preliminary study, Chengmei found that the sales problem of red-can Wanglaoji could not be solved by simply shooting advertisements - this kind of problem is particularly typical of Chinese enterprises: once sales are blocked, the most common measure taken is to operate on the advertisement film, either to change it to a completely different look, or to come up with a "big creative" advertisement. The "big idea" of the new ads - red can Wanglaoji sales problem is the first solution to the brand positioning.

Although the red can Wang Lao Ji sales of seven years, its brand has never been systematic, rigorous positioning, companies can not answer the red can Wang Lao Ji what exactly, consumers, let alone, completely unclear why to buy it - this is the red can Wang Lao Ji lack of brand positioning. This fundamental problem is not solved, shoot what kind of "creative" advertising will not help. As advertising guru David Ogilvy said: the effect of an advertising campaign depends more on the positioning of your product than on how you write the ad (creative). After a round of in-depth communication, Gadobao finally accepted the suggestion and decided to pause the shooting of the advertisement film and entrusted Cheng Mei to position the brand of Red Can Wanglaoji first.

According to conventional practice, brand building is based on consumer demand, so the conclusion and practice are similar, so just meet the needs of consumers can not make the red can Wanglaoji form a difference. The development of brand positioning, on the basis of meeting consumer demand, through the understanding of consumer perceptions, to put forward a different proposition from the competition.

And because consumer perception is almost unchangeable, brand positioning can only conform to consumer perception and not conflict with it. If people have a clear perception of Red Can Wanglaoji in their minds, it is best not to try to offend or challenge it. Just as consumers think Maotai cannot be a good "beer". Therefore, the brand positioning of red can Wanglaoji can not conflict with the existing perception of consumers in Guangdong and southern Zhejiang, in order to stabilize the existing sales, and create opportunities for the survival and expansion of the enterprise.

In order to understand consumer perception, on the one hand, the study of the red can of Wanglaoji, competitors dissemination of information, on the other hand, with Gadobao internal, dealers, retailers to conduct a large number of interviews, after completing the above work, to hire a market research company on the existing users of Wanglaoji survey. With this basis for comprehensive analysis, to clarify the position of the red can of Wanglaoji in the minds of consumers - that is, in which segment of the market to participate in the competition.

In the study, it was found that consumers in Guangdong consume red cans of Wanglaoji mainly at barbecues and hiking. The reason for this is that it is easy to get on fire when eating barbecue, so drink a can of Wanglaoji to prevent it first, and "it may get on fire, but there is no need to take oxalic antidote tablets at this time".

In southern Zhejiang, drinking occasions are mainly concentrated in "dining out, parties, family". In the process of understanding the local food culture, the researchers found that: consumers in the region for the "fire" concerns than the Guangdong has been even worse, such as the consumer forum table words plum preserves, Coca-Cola are said to be "on fire" of the dangerous products and No one asked for them. (This was also confirmed by a follow-up study, which found that Coke's sales in Wenzhou and other places were always low, and in the end, the two colas almost gave up on the market, and generally refrained from advertising.) Their comments on the red can of Wanglaoji are "it won't cause fire" and "it's healthy, children and the elderly can drink it, and it won't cause fire". These perceptions may not be based on science, but they are the perceptions of consumers in southern Zhejiang, and this is the "only fact" that the study needs to focus on.

These consumer perceptions and purchasing behaviors suggest that consumers are not looking for a "cure" for Red Can Wanglaoji, but rather are buying it as a functional beverage, and that the real motivation for purchasing Red Can Wanglaoji is to use it for the "prevention of fire", e.g., in the hope that it will reduce the risk of fire when tasting barbecue. The real motivation for buying red cans of Wanglaoji is for "preventing fire", such as hoping to reduce the occurrence of fire when tasting barbecue, etc. After the real fire, you may use drugs, such as ox-huang detoxification tablets, traditional herbal tea type of treatment.

Further study of consumer perceptions of competitors reveals that the direct competitors of Wanglaoji, such as Chrysanthemum Tea and Cool Tea, lack branding, and simply penetrate the market at a low price, and do not occupy the position of "preventing fire drink". And Coke, tea drinks, juice drinks, water, etc. clearly does not have the "prevention of fire" function, only indirect competition.

At the same time, the establishment of any one brand positioning, must be the brand's most capable of occupying, that is, there is a basis to rely on. Such as Coca-Cola said "authentic Coke", because it is the inventor of Coke, researchers for the enterprise, the product itself in the minds of consumers in the cognition of the study, the results show that the red pot of Wanglaoji "herbal tea originator" identity, mysterious herbal formula, 175 years of history and so on. The results show that the red pot Wanglaoji "herbal tea originator" identity, mysterious Chinese herbal formula, 175 years of history, etc., clearly has the ability to occupy the "prevention of fire drink" this position.

Since "preventing fire" is the real motivation for consumers to buy red cans of Wanglaoji, it is naturally conducive to consolidating and strengthening the original market. The next step in the study was to find out whether the company's expectation of the new positioning of "entering the national market" could be met. Through secondary data, expert interviews and other research, it was shown that the concept of "clearing heat and eliminating fire", which has been a Chinese traditional medicine concept for thousands of years, is widely popularized throughout the country, and the concept of "fire" is also y rooted in people's hearts, which makes the red pot of Wanglaoji break through the geographical limitations of the concept of herbal tea. The researchers believe that "the transfer of the concept of good publicity, as long as there are Chinese people, red can Wanglaoji can survive."

At this point, the study of brand positioning is basically complete. More than a month after the study, Cheng Mei submitted a brand positioning study report to Gadobao, first of all, it is clear that the red can of Wanglaoji is competing in the "beverage" industry, competitors should be other beverages; its brand positioning - "to prevent Its brand positioning - "the drink that prevents fire", the unique value lies in the fact that drinking red can Wanglaoji can prevent fire and allow consumers to enjoy life without worrying about it: eating fried and spicy food, barbecue, and watching soccer all night long. ...... This positioning of red can Wanglaoji is based on the reality of the situation, and it is a good choice for the consumers. Wanglaoji, from the reality of the pattern of overall consideration, the main benefits are four:

One of the benefits of red cans of Wanglaoji out of Guangdong, Zhejiang and South

Since "fire" is a national universal concept of Chinese medicine, and no longer like the "herbal tea", which is limited to the two regions, this is the first time in the history of the world. As "fire" is a national universal concept of Chinese medicine, and no longer like "herbal tea" is limited to the two regions, which for the red pot Wanglaoji to go to the whole country completely removed the obstacles.

Secondly, it avoids direct competition with domestic and foreign beverage giants, forming a unique distinction

Thirdly, it successfully transforms the disadvantages of the Red Can Wanglaoji product into advantages

- The light flavor of traditional Chinese medicine has been successfully transformed into a strong support for the prevention of fire;

- The retail price of RMB 3.5 has been successfully transformed into a strong support for the prevention of fire;

- The retail price of RMB 3.5 has been transformed into a strong support for the prevention of fire. The retail price of 3.5 yuan is no longer unattainable because of the function of "preventing fire";

-Wanglaoji's brand name and long history have made it an "authentic" brand for preventing fire. The brand name and long history of "Wanglaoji" have become a strong support for the "authentic" prevention of fire.

Fourth, it is conducive to the cooperation between Gadobao and domestic Wanglaoji pharmaceutical industry

Just because Gadobao's red can of Wanglaoji is positioned in the functional beverage, different from the Wanglaoji pharmaceutical industry's "medicine", so it can be better to facilitate the cooperation between the two ****build the "Wanglaoji" brand. "brand. The two companies *** with the funding to shoot a story about Wanglaoji herbal tea founder of the practice of medicine of the television series "Lingnan medicine man".

Cheng Mei in the report submitted also proposed that, due to consumer perception, diet is an important cause of fire, especially "spicy", "fried" diet, so it is recommended that in the maintenance of the original sales channels on the basis of increasing efforts to Open up catering channels, and create the image of flagship stores in a number of restaurants. Focus on choosing the Hunan restaurant, Sichuan restaurant, hot pot restaurant, barbecue site.

With rich experience in the beverage market and keen market intuition, Gadobao Chairman Chen Hongdao on the spot, all accept the report's recommendations, decided to immediately launch a comprehensive promotion of red cans of Wanglaoji according to brand positioning.

"Creating a new category" is always the first choice for brand positioning. If a brand can position itself as a different choice from its strongest rivals, its advertising can simply convey a new category message, and the results are often amazing. The red can of Wanglaoji was introduced to the market as the first drink to prevent fire, so that people knew and accepted this new drink through it. Eventually, the red can of Wanglaoji will become the representative of the drink that prevents fire, and with the growth of the category, it will naturally have the greatest benefits.

By establishing the brand positioning of Red Can Wanglaoji, the direction of marketing promotion is clear, and the standard of advertising is established. All communication activities will have a standard for evaluation, and all marketing efforts will follow this standard, thus ensuring that every promotion, while promoting sales, accumulates the brand value (positioning).

This is the time to start the advertising creative and shoot the commercials.

The promotion of brand positioning

After clarifying what positioning the brand is going to occupy in the minds of consumers, the next important task is to promote the brand, so that it really enters the hearts and minds of the people, so that everyone knows the brand's positioning, and thus has a lasting and powerful influence on the consumers' purchasing decisions.

Immediately after that, Chengmei developed a promotional theme for the red can of Wanglaoji, "Fear of fire, drink Wanglaoji", and tried to emphasize the nature of the red can of Wanglaoji as a beverage in its communication. In the first phase of the advertising campaign, the red can of Wanglaoji appeared in a relaxed, cheerful and healthy image, avoiding the negative appeal of symptomatic medicine, so as to distinguish the red can of Wanglaoji from the "traditional herbal tea".

In order to better evoke consumers' needs, the TV commercial uses five scenarios that consumers consider to be the most inflammatory in their daily lives: eating hot pot, watching football all night, eating fried food and fries, barbecuing, and summer sunbathing, and shows people enjoying the above activities while drinking the red can of Wanglaoji. Combined with the fashionable and dynamic advertising song "Don't be afraid of anything, enjoy your life to the fullest, drink Wanglaoji if you are afraid of fire", consumers are naturally reminded of the red cans of Wanglaoji when they eat hot pots and barbecues, which leads to purchases.

(Film and TV commercials)

Red Can Wanglaoji's TV media selection is mainly locked in the national coverage of the CCTV, and combined with the strong local media in the original sales area (Guangdong, Zhejiang Province, South China), in just a few months in 2003, a one-off investment of more than 40 million yuan in advertising costs, sales immediately, get a rapid increase. In November of the same year, the enterprise to catch up with the victory, and then spend a huge amount of money to buy the CCTV 2004 prime advertising time. It is this kind of stormy put the way to ensure that the red can of Wanglaoji in a short period of time quickly into people's minds, to give people a deep impression, and quickly spread all over the country.

At the beginning of 2003, the total budget for the promotion of red can Wanglaoji was only 10 million yuan, which was allocated according to the actual sales volume in 2002. At that time, the sales of red can Wanglaoji were mainly concentrated in Shenzhen, Dongguan and southern Zhejiang, the three regions, so the amount of investment is relatively sufficient. With the first round of positioning advertising, sales rose rapidly, giving the company great confidence, so it continued to add promotional costs, rolling development. By the end of 2003, only the cumulative advertising more than 40 million yuan (not including the purchase of 2004 CCTV advertising time), annual sales reached 600 million yuan - this capacity, rolling development model is very suitable for many domestic aspirations of the national market, but the power of the temporary shortage of enterprises.

(Outdoor advertising)

On the ground promotion, in addition to emphasizing the traditional channels of POP advertising, but also with the development of new channels of food and beverage, food and beverage channels designed and arranged a large number of terminal materials, such as the design and production of electronic displays, lanterns, and other catering establishments are happy to accept the practical items to be given away for free. In the choice of communication content, full consideration of the terminal advertising should directly stimulate the consumer's desire to buy, the product packaging as the main visual elements, focusing on publicizing a message: "Fear of fire, drink Wanglaoji drinks." The on-site prompts in the catering establishments most effectively complemented the TV commercials. It is this kind of targeted promotion that gives consumers a stronger and more intuitive understanding of what Red Can Wanglaoji is and what it is good for. Currently, the restaurant channel has become one of the important sales and communication channels for Red Can Wanglaoji.

(Advertising materials)

In the frequent consumer promotions, the same theme is centered around "Fear of fire, drink Wanglaoji". For example, in a promotional activity, Gadobao Company held a "hot summer Wanglaoji, green water and mountains, I'm going" scratch card activity. Consumers can get two tickets to the local summer resort and two days' free accommodation in the local resort by scratching the words "Wanglaoji for summer vacation". This promotion not only achieves the purpose of immediate promotion, but also strongly supports the consolidation of the brand positioning of the red can of Wanglaoji as "the drink that prevents fire".

(Wanglaoji Wenzhou "love of students" activities)

At the same time, in the promotional activities for the intermediaries, Gadobao in addition to continue to consolidate the traditional channels of the "Gadobao Sales Elite Club", but also fully considered how to strengthen the development and control of food and beverage channels, the implementation of the "Gadobao" sales club, and the development and control of the food and beverage channels. In addition to continuing to consolidate the traditional channel "Gadobao Sales Elite Club", Gadobao has also given full consideration to how to strengthen the development and control of the catering channel by implementing the "Hotpot Shop Market" and "Cooperative Hotel" programs, selecting major hotpot stores and restaurants as "Wanglaoji Sincerity Cooperative Shops", and investing funds to work with them **** with a view to promoting their products. We select major hotpot restaurants and hotels as "Wanglaoji Sincere Cooperative Stores" and invest funds to conduct holiday promotions with them. As a result of the favorable benefits offered to the merchants, the red can of Wanglaoji quickly entered the catering channel and became the main recommended beverage.

(Advertising materials)

This advertising campaign with great fanfare and intuitively clear appeal of "Fear of fire, drink Wanglaoji" directly hit the needs of consumers, and promptly and rapidly boosted sales; at the same time, with the branding, consumer awareness was strengthened, and a unique and long-term branding was gradually established. The branding is a real branding exercise.

Promotion effect

The successful brand positioning and communication of Red Can Wanglaoji has brought great benefits to this 175-year-old product with strong Lingnan characteristics: in 2003, the sales of Red Can Wanglaoji increased nearly four times compared to the same period of last year, surging from more than 100 million yuan in 2002 to 600 million yuan, and rushed out of Guangdong in a lightning fast speed, and in 2004, the sales of Red Can Wanglaoji increased to 1.5 billion yuan.

Conclusion

Red Can Wanglaoji can achieve great success, in summary, the following aspects are the key to Gadobao's success:

- Accurate positioning of the brand for the red can Wanglaoji;

- Advertisements on the brand positioning in the right place, which is mainly two points:

Accurate expression of the advertisement;

The volume of investment is sufficient to ensure that the brand positioning into the minds of consumers. Ensure that the brand positioning is in the mind of the consumer.

- Accurate judgment and bold decision-making power of corporate decision-makers;

- Excellent execution, strong channel control;

- Measure for Measure, rolling development, to ensure that the marketing efforts in the region is in a relatively advantageous position.

Appendix: Wanglaoji related data

Appendix 1: Sales volume of Wanglaoji beverages in previous years

180 million yuan in 2002

600 million yuan in 2003

1.43 billion yuan in 2004

2.5 billion yuan in 2005 (including boxed)

Nearly 4 billion yuan in 2006 (including boxed)

Appendix II: Investment of Gadobao Company in building factories over the years

In 1995, Gadobao Company was established and invested in building factories in Changan Town, Dongguan, Guangdong Province, with a first phase of investment amounting to 20 million US dollars.

In 1999, it invested in the expansion of the second phase in Chang'an Town, Dongguan, Guangdong, with an investment amount of 30 million dollars.

In 2003, the company invested in the Beijing Economic and Technological Development Zone with an investment amount of 30 million dollars.

In 2004, we invested and built a factory in Robejiang Industrial Zone, Shaoxing, Zhejiang, with an investment amount of 25 million dollars.

In 2005, we invested and built a factory in Xiangyi Town, Shishi City, Fujian Province, with an investment amount of 30 million US dollars.

In 2006, we invested and built a factory in Nansha Development Zone, Guangdong, with an investment amount of 100 million dollars.

In 2007, invested and built a factory in Hangzhou Xia Sha Economic Development Zone, Zhejiang Province, with an investment amount of about 25 million dollars.

Invested and built a factory in Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone, Hubei Province, with an investment amount of US$99.8 million.