Recently, Nongfu Spring has experienced a more serious ** turmoil, which is related to the death of Zong Qinghou, the founder of Wahaha Group. After the death of Zong Qinghou, the society had a strong emotional resonance with the Wahaha brand and its products, resulting in a significant increase in the sales of Wahaha products. However, in this incident, Nongfu Spring was involved in an unexpected ** crisis. A large number of articles and comments appeared on the Internet, falsely or negatively related the relationship between Nongfu Spring and Zong Qinghou and Wahaha, and some of them even slandered and attacked Nongfu Spring and its chairman Zhong Sui by writing "small essays". The content mentioned includes, but is not limited to, the historical background of Zhong Sui as a Wahaha businessman, the possible commercial disputes between him and Wahaha, and Nongfu Spring's product strategy and market competition behavior. In the face of these doubts and negative public opinion, Zhong published an article entitled "Two or Three Things with Zong Lao", expressing his sadness at the slander against individuals and Nongfu Spring on the Internet, and emphasizing that this kind of online violence was not something that the late Zong Qinghou was happy to see. At the same time, Zhou Li, vice president of Nongfu Spring, also responded to the turmoil, saying that Mr. Zong's death was used by some netizens to attack Nongfu Spring, which was a situation that Zong Lao never wanted to see during his lifetime. Affected by this, Nongfu Spring's share price has continued to shrink by more than 30 billion yuan in just three trading days. In addition, the emotions of users on some social platforms intensified, and some short** bloggers openly supported Wahaha and opposed Nongfu Spring, and even dumped Nongfu Spring products to show their behavior. As a result, Nongfu Spring's brand image has been impacted and its market performance has been affected. It was also pointed out that despite the success of Nongfu Spring's brand in the market, there may have been deficiencies in Zhong's personal branding, and the problems of over-marketing and relationship handling with ** were also mentioned. In this incident, Nongfu Spring encountered a major test of brand image maintenance and consumer trust restoration. So as an enterprise, what experience can my door-to-door health and peers learn from the turmoil between Wahaha and Nongfu Spring? From the cases of Wahaha and Nongfu Spring, it can be seen that enterprises should have a rapid and effective crisis response mechanism in the face of top challenges, pay attention to daily brand building and public relations maintenance, and always adhere to the basic principles of honesty and trustworthiness and legal operation. At the same time, through continuous innovation and providing high-quality services to stabilize its market position, so as to better resist potential risks.
As a start-up, you can learn the following lessons from the ** turmoil between Wahaha and Nongfu Spring:
Crisis PR and public opinion response
Rapid response: In the face of sudden crises, respond in a timely, open and transparent manner, clarify the facts, and avoid rumors caused by an information vacuum.
Communication Strategy: Establish a good network of relationships so that you can deliver positive information through authoritative channels at critical moments and reduce negative impacts.
Integrity management: always adhere to the principle of truthfulness, legality and fairness, win the trust of the public with practical actions, and have the courage to take responsibility and actively seek solutions once problems occur.
Brand building and maintenance
Strengthen the brand image: Establish a unique brand image and value proposition, so that consumers can clearly distinguish and identify with the core values of the enterprise.
Brand Storytelling: Tell authentic and emotional stories to enhance consumers' emotional connection and brand affinity and loyalty.
Public welfare image building: actively participate in public welfare activities, show a sense of social responsibility, and help accumulate word-of-mouth capital in the negative.
Internal management and legal compliance
Compliance with laws and regulations: Ensure that all business activities strictly comply with national laws and regulations to avoid the most serious crisis caused by violations.
Improve internal systems: Establish and improve internal management systems, especially regarding employee codes of conduct and business ethics, to prevent behaviors that may trigger disputes.
Transparency in business cooperation: Handle relationships with partners, especially when it comes to historical or sensitive issues, and exercise a high degree of caution to avoid misunderstandings and disputes.
Consumer Relationship Management
Pay attention to consumer demands: understand and solve consumers' doubts and dissatisfaction in a timely manner, and build a perfect customer service system.
Social emotional guidance: In the event of disadvantage, take the initiative with the help of social platforms such as social **, speak with facts, actively guide social emotions, and reduce pressure.
Long-term strategic planning
Competitor relationship handling: Even in a highly competitive market environment, it is necessary to maintain a fair and fair competition attitude as much as possible, and avoid maliciously attacking competitors, so as not to backfire on their own brands.
Innovation and differentiated development: Through product innovation and service upgrading, we can form a distinct differentiation advantage in the market and reduce the risk of dependence on a single event.
To sum up, it can be seen from the cases of Wahaha and Nongfu Spring that enterprises should have a rapid and effective crisis response mechanism in the face of the best challenges, pay attention to daily brand building and public relations maintenance, and always adhere to the basic principles of honesty and trustworthiness and legal operation. At the same time, through continuous innovation and providing high-quality services to stabilize its market position, so as to better resist potential risks.