Source: Internet.
On February 25, Zong Qinghou, the founder of Wahaha Group, passed away due to illness, and the sales of Wahaha's products skyrocketed. Surprisingly, Nongfu Spring, which is located in Hangzhou with Wahaha, fell into a whirlpool, and Nongfu Spring and its founder Zhong Sui were questioned and even slandered by netizens, and all kinds of small compositions flew sideways, forming a storm of "holding Wahaha and stepping on Nongfu Spring".
In the face of all kinds of doubts from the outside world, Zhong couldn't sit still. On March 3, Zhong Sui posted an article "Two or Three Things with Zong Lao", saying, "Taking advantage of the death of Zong Lao, there have been a lot of slanders against me and Nongfu Spring on the Internet", "Zong Lao hated online violence before his death." This is by no means what the patriarch is happy to see. ”
In addition, Zhou Li, vice president of Nongfu Spring, responded to the turmoil, saying that Mr. Zong Jiuquan probably did not expect that his death would be used by some so-called "melon-eating masses" to attack another company in the same city.
From the stock price point of view, Nongfu Spring fell for three consecutive days, including 338%, March 4, down 117%, as of March 5**, Nongfu Spring's share price recorded ** for three consecutive days. After the market opened on March 5, Nongfu Spring's share price fell rapidly, and hit the low of the day's stock price after 11:00, followed by a round of ** at noon; In the end, Nongfu Spring's ** price per share was 4155 Hong Kong dollars, down 200%。
The original intention is clarified, but the more it is described, the darker it becomes.
Zong Qinghou's departure has aroused the deep remembrance of the public, and has further driven the trend of "wild consumption" of Wahaha products.
According to ** reports, on February 28th and 29th, Wahaha's official *** did not start the live broadcast, but the store's sales increased by more than 500%, and the first-selling product was the AD calcium milk launched by Wahaha.
In the face of the enthusiasm of netizens, on March 1, Wahaha officially announced on social platforms that it has received countless care and support from everyone recently, and the number of store orders has increased significantly.
At the time when Wahaha was bought, Nongfu Spring and the head behind it, Zhong Sui, were pushed to the forefront by some articles. Many self-declared that "Zhong's behavior is a typical farmer and snake", "Zhong was a dealer of Wahaha at the time, and was fired by Wahaha for rushing goods", "Zhong held a press conference to announce that he would no longer produce pure water, and backstabbed Wahaha's pure water" and a series of remarks.
These remarks gradually rose to the point that Zhong was far from Zong Qinghou in terms of running a business and a person, and Zhong was "treacherous" and so on. In the short term, Wahaha was "savagely consumed", and Nongfu Spring's sales declined, even affecting Nongfu Spring's performance in the secondary market.
On the evening of March 3, Zhong Sui personally posted an article, saying that the elder hated online violence before his death, and never thought that under the pretext of the death of the elder Zong, there were a lot of slanders against him and Nongfu Spring on the Internet, which was by no means what the elder was happy to see.
That night, Nongfu Spring's official WeChat*** published an article entitled "Zhong Sui: My Second and Third Affair with Zong Lao", trying to restore the real story with Zong Qinghou in response to various rumors in the market.
Source: Nongfu Spring Weibo.
In the article, Zhong expressed his reverence and nostalgia for the elder of the sect many times, and there was more space, telling about his "first pot of gold", and Zong Qinghou's exchanges in the development of canned eight-treasure porridge products, the past of selling Wahaha children's nutritional oral liquid in Guangxi and Hainan, and the handshake after the dispute between natural water and pure water.
This article is sincere, but it has not been understood by the majority of netizens, but continues to add fuel to the fire.
In the "Nongfu Spring Bar" of the Oriental Fortune Stock Bar, I saw that the netizens of the stock bar updated a large number of posts, and there were also very active comment replies, including many content comparing Wahaha and Nongfu Spring. Multiple posts have more than 10,000 views, with the highest being more than 40,000 views.
Source: Oriental Fortune.
Among them, the post titled "The Farmer's Big Boat is Not Afraid of Small Storms" with more than 100 comments said: "In the final analysis, the comparison between companies is still the product, and good products can survive the wind and waves for a long time." In the reply comments, some netizens put forward the opinion that they don't like to drink Nongfu Spring, and some netizens mentioned the situation of Nongfu Spring's stock price**.
At the same time, there is also "I am very disappointed not to see the farmer's three fists", and there is also "support Nongfu Spring!" Firmness**! and posts such as "Nongfu Spring is mostly undershelved", "Today, all the small shops in our county are off the shelves of Nongfu Spring". The opinions of netizens are varied, but they cannot be confirmed one by one.
According to Oriental Fortune, Nongfu Spring ranks second in Hong Kong's popularity. Combined with the posts and comments of the stock bar, it can be seen that the discussion of Nongfu Spring on the Internet is still ongoing.
The two had a "water war of the century".
On March 3, Zhou Li, vice president of Nongfu Spring, also posted on Moments, responding to the "Praise 'Wahaha' and step on 'Nongfu Spring' turmoil". Zhou Li said that Mr. Zong Qinghou was the first seven days of the day, and perhaps the old man Jiuquan did not expect that his death would be used by some so-called "melon-eating masses" to attack another enterprise in the same city, and become a hot spot. The two companies are located in the same city, and although they competed in the early years, and even went to court, they still competed openly under the legal framework.
The "early competition" mentioned by Zhou Li is the famous "water war of the century". The core protagonists of the story are none other than two now well-known drinking giants, Wahaha and Nongfu Spring.
Around 2000, Wahaha has occupied a place in the market with its popular children's drinks and purified water products. However, with the advent of Nongfu Spring, with its unique "mineral water" concept, the focus has shifted to natural water sources.
In April 2000, Zhong directly criticized that purified water does not contain minerals and is not beneficial to health, and announced that it would stop producing pure water and produce natural water.
In the face of the challenge of Nongfu Spring, Wahaha stood firm and adhered to the characteristics of pure water that is free of impurities, safe and healthy.
As a result, a big discussion about water quality and health, a battle about market positioning and consumer perception change, began to begin. The two sides have engaged in-for-tat competition at the advertising, marketing, and even legal levels.
One of the most famous cases is that Nongfu Spring launched a ** attack on pure water in the form of TV commercials.
Nongfu Spring proves that natural water is more advantageous than pure water through daffodil experiments, animal experiments, cell experiments, etc. However, this has also caused dissatisfaction with pure water companies including Wahaha and Robust.
In August, Wahaha led 69 pure water companies across the country to jointly accuse Nongfu Spring of unfair competition, and finally Nongfu Spring was fined 200,000 yuan, and this "water war of the century" also slowly came to an end.
After the battle of the "Water War of the Century", Nongfu Spring also made a name for itself and mineral water. Subsequently, it relied on marketing packaging and became the "first brother" of domestic drinking water.
In 2020, Nongfu Spring was successfully listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and in 2022, Nongfu Spring was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange with 26With a market share of 5%, Zhong has ranked first in the domestic bottled water market, and Zhong has been named the richest man in China many times with a value of more than 100 billion.
On the other hand, Wahaha, on the other hand, has been the same for 20 years, and has hardly changed its pure water packaging and advertising slogan, which is very low-key.
However, after the death of Zong Qinghou, the founder of Wahaha, many netizens turned over the past of the competition between Wahaha and Nongfu Spring, and made a "stepping" comparison, and even deliberately created a topic on the Internet and created a confrontation between the two.
*Comment: The market is very large, and it can accommodate Nongfu Spring and Wahaha.
Consumers' pursuit of "Wahaha" can be seen as the advertising effect brought by news hotspots, and it can also be seen as the brand influence inspired by Zong Qinghou's entrepreneurial feelings. Whether it is Zong Qinghou's entrepreneurial spirit for decades, or his benevolence in not dismissing employees over 45 years old, it is touching. To some extent, the feelings of entrepreneurs represent the brand values of the enterprise and are also a valuable brand asset. The simple values of the public will think: Zong Qinghou is a responsible entrepreneur, and Wahaha is a responsible enterprise. In the long run, feelings can continuously create value for the brand. Wahaha provides a new illustration of this.
For any brand, consumers have their preferences and choices, and as a market behavior, of course, there is nothing wrong with it. But market competition is not a life-and-death war, and consumers' choice is not a choice of love and hate. The market is very large, and it can accommodate Nongfu Spring and Wahaha. What's more, both Zong Qinghou and Zhong have a scarce entrepreneurial spirit. Perhaps their enterprise development paths are different, the concept of enterprise management is different, and the styles they show are also very different, but the essence of entrepreneurship is the same. Our society needs and calls for entrepreneurship.
Looking back at the rise of Wahaha and Nongfu Spring, it is a product of entrepreneurship to promote the development of China's beverage industry. Zong Qinghou is the Zong Qinghou of the times, and Zhong is also the Zhong of the times. They are entrepreneurs born of China's market economy, and they are also the trendsetters of opportunities in the era of China's beverage development. In 1987, Zong Qinghou started with a borrowed 140,000 yuan. Over the past decades, Wahaha has accumulated sales of 860.1 billion yuan, profits and taxes of 174 billion yuan, and taxes of 74.2 billion yuan, ranking among the top 500 Chinese enterprises, China's top 500 manufacturing enterprises, and China's top 500 private enterprises.
In 1988, Zhong resigned from ** and went to Hainan to start a twist and turn entrepreneurial career until he entered the drinking water industry in 1996. In 2020, Nongfu Spring was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and its latest market capitalization has approached HK$500 billion. Wahaha and Nongfu Spring are both representative brands in China's beverage industry; Zong Qinghou and Zhong are also representative entrepreneurs of China's private economy. This is not to judge heroes by success or failure, but the entrepreneurial spirit of both has been fully confirmed in the development of brands and enterprises.
As a representative brand in the beverage industry, and the two companies are in the same city, of course, it is inevitable to face the competition head-on. At that time, Zhong set off the concept marketing of packaged water and publicly bombarded pure water, which was called the "War of the Century". On the surface, Zhong has promoted the rise of a brand with controversial concept marketing, but at a deeper level, it is the development of the beverage industry that has reached a new stage, and packaged water has ushered in the opportunity of market explosion and diversified development. Zhong Sui catered to and met the market demand and seized the opportunities of the times. In this sense, Zong Qinghou and Zhong are representative entrepreneurs at different stages of China's beverage industry.
Today's Wahaha and Nongfu Spring are facing a huge beverage market. In the same industry, of course, fierce competition is inevitable; But there are also rich categories, which can be led on different tracks. Fierce competition, as long as it is carried out on a legal track and subject to the rules of the market, consumers are happy to see it. If there are some disputes, whether it is the "war of the century" in the past, or the rumored "supermarket display cabinet was bought out", there is no need to kidnap morality, believe in the power of the law, after all, the market economy is an economy under the rule of law.
The market is huge, with room for Wahaha and Nongfu Spring, as well as more beverage brands. At the same time, entrepreneurship is the soil for social wealth creation and the source of consumer welfare. This society expects the full flow of entrepreneurial spirit, and also expects more Zong Qinghou and Zhong Sui.
WeChat***Caizhi headlines "integrated from: interface news, daily economic news, Xiaoxiang Morning News, Beijing News, etc.).
Editor: Bai Jing.
Proofreading: Fenghua.
Review: Gong Zimo.