Text|Lin Yuan. Cutting-edge technology is reshaping every aspect of sports. Tata recently partnered with Dassault Systèmes to create an AI-powered digital twin for Des Lindon, helping the 40-year-old optimize his training and competition plan to challenge for a place in Paris.
Nowadays, sports training is no longer a single physical competition, involving science and technology, nutrition, ** and many other fields. The sports business noticed that a sports nutrition brand called "Maisheng" helped nearly 100 Chinese marathon 240 elite runners successfully refresh their personal PB in the 2023 season. Since its establishment, it has been less than 1 year.
Behind this, what "hard work" did Mai Sheng do?Sports Business recently held a dialogue with Wu Jian, general manager of Mengniu Nutrition and Health Division, hoping to find answers to questions from different dimensions such as the innovative R&D logic behind the product, the scene breakthrough and the future business format.
Gathering momentum丨Hit the pain point Hard technology fills the category gap.
Eating is training, and nutrition is also combat effectiveness. This is a slogan hanging in the cafeteria of the triathlon national team.
Previously, there was a view that Chinese athletes did not eat enough meat, eggs and milk, and there was a gap between them and foreign athletes in terms of physical fitness.
In fact, most of the athletes in China have the awareness of nutritional intake, but some athletes lack the support of scientific and personalized sports nutrition solutions, that is, the degree of customization of sports nutrition is not high.
One example is that some athletes have an imbalance in the energy supply ratio of the three major energy nutrients, with protein not reaching the recommended value of 12%-18%, and the proportion of fat energy supply "exceeding the standard".
It is urgent to improve the rationality and scientificity of the nutritional intake and ratio of the sports population and the public, and promote the active intake of protein. This has also become the original intention of the establishment of Maisheng.
In terms of technology, the domestic market for high-protein ready-to-drink emulsion is vacant. For China's sports nutrition market, which is traditionally dominated by protein brewing powders, Wu Jian emphasized the differentiating advantages of Maxim.
According to the "helmsman" of Maisheng, the company has set up a R&D team composed of more than 10 top scientific researchers, members from top universities at home and abroad, with professional backgrounds in human nutrition, public health nutrition, food science and other professional backgrounds and forward-looking R&D and innovation capabilities.
Maxim's R&D focuses on six major areas: basic research in nutritional science, food physical and chemical analysis, product development, product packaging design and process optimization, clinical validation research, and sensory analysis insights. Wu Jian shared with the big business of sports.
In Wu Jian's view, Maxim's kinesiology laboratory can have a deeper understanding of individual demands through scientific empowerment. The laboratory provides elite athletes with services including professional sports science education, health consultation, international gold standard testing and report interpretation. Athletes can understand their own energy metabolism and cardiopulmonary reserves, make up for their sports shortcomings, and improve their physical fitness.
It is understood that the professional sports nutrition program developed by Maisheng based on liquid protein PRO provides nutritional security for national teams such as the Chinese national triathlon team. The triathlon national team won 5 golds, 10 silvers and 7 bronzes this year, and fought a beautiful "victory" battle.
Of course, Maxim's "black technology" is far more than that, through Maxim Youth, Maxim has established contact with 26 leading experts in the industry, and has established cooperative relations with 7 top domestic food colleges and universities. In addition, the "Nankai University-Maxim Nutrition Research Joint Laboratory" jointly established by Maxim and Nankai University is conducting research for diverse groups such as women and adolescents. Yao Miao, an elite athlete signed by Maisheng, and the crossfit national team also synchronized feedback and suggestions in real time to promote the continuous evolution and iterative upgrading of Maisheng.
This also answers a question that the industry has been concerned about for a long time: why Maxim has emerged in less than a year, from improving sports nutrition for professional groups to the long-term layout of comprehensive sports nutrition, filling the gap in China's sports nutrition market.
Deep ploughing丨Connect head resources to create professional value.
Accurate breaking points are only the first step to success. On the basis of maintaining a leading position in the technical field of sports liquid protein, the first question to be answered is: who is the core target group of the brand?
For a long time, whether they can establish a good investment return in the shortest possible time is the key to whether the "new forces" can go further in the sports nutrition market.
In the course of the dialogue with the big sports business, Wu Jian disclosed his strategic deployment for Maisheng in the field of events.
In recent years, cross-country running, ice and snow and other sports have risen rapidly, becoming an ideal landing scene to awaken and strengthen cognition. Under the keen market insight, Maisheng aims at top events such as Chaigu Downs and Over the Mountain to the Sea, and delivers professional value to sports enthusiasts through the endorsement of head IP, and shapes the professionalism of the brand from top to bottom.
Endurance athletes are more sensitive to the timing and duration of nutrient intake than the general population. This means that Maisheng brings not only strong recovery and nutritional supplementation after high-intensity competitions, but also the confidence to extend the state even more.
To the outside world, participatory events are only divided into the size of the crowd and the size of the voice. However, in fact, Maisheng's consideration is not only this, but to extend a series of normalized services based on the event IP, and shoulder the important task of promoting sports nutrition science.
Starting from the major events, Maisheng has deep thinking in order to provide more targeted services for the sports crowd.
Taking the 2023 Chaigu Downs Kuocang Cross-Country Race as an example, Maisheng found that the proportion of finishers over 46 years old was as high as 20%. In this regard, Wu Jian analyzed that strong muscles, especially the muscles of the lower limbs, will bring a strong motor-like effect and provide sufficient power for climbing mountains and mountains.
In the process of cooperating with fitness events such as Les Mills The One, Maisheng keeps pace with the fitness trend by supporting the core group of aerobic fitness.
Through the above measures, Maxim is able to provide personalized guidance to users, thereby further enhancing user stickiness, and the brand has also taken a key step to become a "sports nutrition brand that understands users better".
Insight丨Opportunities are emerging.
With the transformation of consumption concepts and favorable policies, the commercial actions around sports nutrition management and sports nutrition supplementation have broad imagination.
In the exchange with the sports big business, Wu Jian also shared a set of data: "China's Food and Nutrition Development Outline (2014-2020)" recommends that Chinese people should achieve a daily protein intake of 78g per person. At present, the average daily protein intake in China is only about 58 grams. This means that there is still a gap of about 30% of protein intake per capita.
The number of pan-sports enthusiasts in China has exceeded 600 million. When the "arms race" between athletes gradually moves towards the public and towards a more open market, the demand for nutritional supplements and general sports function will be more segmented by user groups and the market, and the market will gradually usher in more new competitive variables.
There is a big difference between Chinese people and Europe and the United States in terms of protein supplementation and nutritional needs. There are plenty of opportunities for innovation in terms of taste and ingestion patterns. Wu Jian said.
The taste preferences of young consumers are also influencing the sports nutrition industry. In order to resonate with young women, Maisheng's ice and snow energy bottle has the flavor of toffee hazelnut, and the "light bottle" adds cold brew technology, which better retains the aroma and flavor of coffee, and its calories are lower than a cup of latte, which is in line with the life concept and value of young people.
In addition, Maxim has begun to replicate the "explosive" path of protein drinks to more categories. In the subdivision track, a protein bar with a high protein content of 30% was launched in a timely manner, containing 4 high-quality fast and slow protein matrices.
Like a triathlete in the sports nutrition track, Maison has now developed three product lines, and these innovations are reshaping the consumer experience and making exercise easy to stick to. This is a fundamental change for each individual.
Conclusion: Gather momentum and start new, technology wins. Through the communication with the Maxim team, the sports business found that Maxim has seized the new increment by in-depth understanding of each group and tailoring personalized nutrition solutions according to the needs of different sports scenarios. Maxim has gradually increased its penetration rate and unlocked a wider and wider target population.
It is foreseeable that in the future, Maxim will also strive towards the precise sports nutrition solution of "thousands of people and thousands of faces", lead the development of the sports nutrition industry, and inject more energy into the cause of national fitness.