Suntory originated, and the Japanese owner opened a sake shop.
To trace the origins of Suntory, we have to go back to the Torii store in Japan in 1899. It is a small sake brewery that initially sold imported wines and other foreign liquors. However, these liquors are too sour for the local Japanese, and they are not directly used as drinks, but more for medicinal purposes. As a result, business has been sluggish. The owner, Shinjiro Torii, decided to develop his own sake products. After 8 years of hard work, he successfully developed a wine called "Red Jade Port Wine", which was very sweet and delicious, and was popular in Japan for a while, and the supply exceeded demand. This small liquor shop has become a giant. In 1920, half of Japan's wine sales came from the Torii Shoten. In 1967, the Torii store was renamed "Suntory".
Turning to the field of tea and packaging it as a royal formula.
In 1981, Suntory moved into the beverage market and launched oolong tea products. At that time, the Japanese were already fond of oolong tea, so Suntory launched its own version of oolong tea. However, the quality of tea alone is difficult to break through in the highly competitive market. So they resorted to crooked tricks and deliberately packaged this as "Chinese tea, the emperor's favorite". The Japanese have admired foreign flattery since ancient times, and when they heard that this was the recipe of the Chinese imperial family, they immediately went crazy to buy it as a status symbol. As a result, oolong tea has also achieved great success in Japan.
In 1984, Suntory turned its attention to China, setting up a joint venture in Jiangsu and investing tens of millions of dollars to build a brewery in China in order to tap into China's huge beverage market. In 1997, 13 years later, Suntory launched oolong tea in untouched Japanese-style packaging, ready to harvest the Chinese market.
China's listing has been ups and downs, and low-key precipitation has finally been favored.
However, Suntory's layout in China has not been smooth. The marketing tactics used in Japan did not work at all in China, and many people did not respond well to it. Local brands such as Master Kong occupy a large market share. Suntory is making a name for itself in the Chinese market. Later, Suntory did not choose to take the initiative to attack local brands, but chose to keep a low profile. While other brands were advertising all over the place, Suntory's presence became less and less, and at one point many people thought that the brand had withdrawn from China.
However, in fact, Suntory has been quietly precipitating in the Chinese market for more than ten years. In recent years, as the Chinese people attach great importance to their health, sugar-free Suntory oolong tea has gradually become recognized by the public. Suntory keenly seized the opportunity to hype itself as a healthy food. It has also launched a variety of products that are specifically combined with a variety of cuisines and influencers. For example, self-blended oolong milk tea. This makes many post-90s and post-00s know the brand "Suntory". According to this year's market report, the market value of Suntory in China alone is as high as 104.6 billion yuan, defeating Uni-President and Nongfu Spring and successfully sitting on the leading throne of China's beverage industry.
The phenomenon of brand localization is worth being wary of.
Interestingly, we have seen many foreign brands enter the Chinese market, and they have made great efforts to package themselves to appear very localized. However, many of our national brands deliberately use foreign elements on their home turf and coat themselves with a coat of "Westernization". This phenomenon deserves our deep consideration and vigilance.
For example, the word "gas" in the trademark of the now popular domestic beverage brand "Genki Forest" is deliberately written in Japanese kanji. This success has deceived many consumers into thinking that this is a Japanese brand. Shouldn't we rely on our own language and cultural heritage to gain a sense of identity?Isn't it too self-confident to have to have external forces to prove yourself?
Even "Nayuki's tea", the word "of" that connects "Nayuki" and "tea" was deliberately changed to the Japanese katakana "Naicha", which is not our own Chinese "of" character. I think this kind of deliberate pretending to be foreign is worth reflecting on. Otherwise, if one day Koreans jump out and say that they invented Chinese characters, what else do we have to say?
In summary, be wary of nesting doll packaging.
Through the case of Suntory, we should be vigilant, many seemingly domestic and national brands actually have endless stories. The phenomenon of brand packaging as "domestic products" deserves our vigilance. At the same time, we should be confident in our own language and culture, rather than selling our cultural heritage lightly. What do you think?