I heard that Nongfu Spring had a water fight, I went to the supermarket at the door of the house to take a look, the most conspicuous place is the battlefield of the major drinking water brands, which used to sell about 20 yuan a box (12 bottles) of water, now Nongfu Spring red bottle 12.9 yuan, green bottle 11.9 yuan, Wahaha on the right 13.9 yuan, Cestbon on the left is also 13.9 yuan, converted into a single bottle of 1.15 yuan, the cheapest Nongfu Spring green bottle 0.99 yuan. This is an ordinary community supermarket in Shanghai, and I heard that in some sinking markets, it is dry to 8 cents a bottle.
In February 2024, Zong Qinghou, the founder of Wahaha, passed away, and then, the grievances between Wahaha and Nongfu Spring in the early years were dug up.
One day I went out and stuffed a bottle of Nongfu Spring into my car, and my family asked why you are still drinking this water, haven't you read the news on the Internet?
I said what, it's just a bottle of water.
But most netizens are not as rational as me, ordinary people are easily influenced by online public opinion, and some people use this stampede carnival to start a traffic business, using Nongfu Spring to flush the toilet in order to attract people's attention. During that time, it took a lot of courage to post photos of drinking Nongfu Spring on the Internet.
Nongfu Spring's stock price has plummeted, evaporating more than 100 billion yuan in a few months, and channel sales have plummeted whether it is a terminal or a live broadcast room.
Let's use the framework of marketing 4P to see how Nongfu Spring fights back.
Product: In the face of life and death, what is a slap in the face?
Nongfu Spring has always positioned itself as natural water, while Wahaha and Cestbon are pure water, which is the largest sub-category in the drinking water market. Natural water has minerals, pure water does not.
As early as 2000, Nongfu Spring initiated a dispute between natural water and pure water, Zhong believes that the mineral elements in water are essential to human health, and Nongfu Spring insists on producing only natural water. Triggered a counterattack by a number of pure water brands.
Nongfu Spring stands on the opposite side of all drinking water brands, which also makes its brand image clearer, and "Nongfu Spring is a little sweet" is a household name.
In April 2024, when Cestbon was preparing to sprint to the market, Wahaha's management was handed over, and it continued to make efforts at the terminal.
The red bottle is still a classic natural water, which is healthier; The green bottle is pure water, which is a little sweet.
No, where did you get this sweetness? Isn't "a little sweet" your natural water positioning?
Don't you make purified water?
Many people said that Nongfu Spring was slapped in the face.
When life and death are at stake, what is it to slap your face, and it doesn't matter if you slap your face swollen.
Nongfu Spring's statement on this is:
"I have an obligation to inform, and you have the right to choose. One more option, one more comparison. ”
Price: Let the packaged water return to the era of 1 yuan.
The impact of channels and promotions on the market is slow, but the effect of prices is immediate.
When Nongfu Spring first launched the green bottle, it was still at the price of 2 yuan, and in the peak sales season of packaged water in summer, Nongfu Spring launched a fierce price war.
Back to the era of 1 yuan.
This is a death price that will lose money, and Wahaha and Cestbon can only follow up and beat the price down. Once Nongfu Spring's pure water is allowed to gain a firm foothold in the market, the market pattern will have to be rewritten.
Nongfu Spring's pricing is also very interesting, the full box of the red bottle version is 1 yuan cheaper than the competitor, and the green bottle is 1 yuan cheaper than the red bottle.
If the green bottle product is successful, it will eat up a large piece of the pure water market share; If it fails, it is also necessary to let consumers know that pure water is not as good as natural water, you see, my own green bottle is cheaper than red bottle, further consolidating the market position of red bottle.
Channel: By the way, the green bottle was rolled out.
Selling water, the cost of water itself is negligible, and the most expensive and difficult channel is also the channel. Water consumption scenarios are mostly offline, walking on the road and thirsty, get a bottle at the nearest convenience store or supermarket, except for stockpiling water, you will not buy it online.
As the leader of the drinking water market, Nongfu Spring has a very mature channel network, and millions of terminals have distributed green bottles overnight, which is nothing more than giving the position of red bottles to green bottles, and the freezers in many community shops are Nongfu Spring's.
Before 2000, Coca-Cola could not squeeze into the top 10 in China's beverage market; After completing the channel layout, relying on the 101 mode direct control terminal, it became the king of carbonated drinks.
In recent years, the rising stars of drinks that have become popular, such as Yuanqi Forest, are also making up for offline channel classes
Nongfu Spring has a ready-made channel network, and by the way, it sells the green bottle. If you fail, you have nothing to lose, and you can easily snipe at your competitors.
Promotion: Red and green together, healthy or sweet?
In 1998, Nongfu Spring was a little sweet.
This is one of the most memorable advertising slogans when I was a child, even after Nongfu Spring launched "We don't produce water, we are just nature's porters" ten years later, "a little sweet" will always remain in the depths of many people's memories.
In the era of the classical Internet, there was a popular joke about the ideal life: peasant women, mountain springs, and a little field.
Wahaha and Cestbon do not have such popular advertising slogans.
Nowadays, Nongfu Spring is putting "red bottles are healthier, green bottles are a little sweeter" everywhere, even if the strategy is a bit confusing, it is estimated that ordinary people will not be like advertising people to entangle the internal logic. For brands, they only need to take advantage of the "a little sweet" brand accumulation to beat the green bottle.
At the same time, Nongfu Spring Red and Green Bottle sponsored the popular variety show "Joyful and Wonderful Night".
Yesterday, I swiped an Olympic advertisement for Nongfu Spring in my circle of friends. Nongfu Spring has been cooperating with the Chinese swimming team for a long time, and the biggest explosion point of this Olympics is that Pan Zhanle of the Chinese swimming team broke the world record and won a gold medal with the highest gold content!
This wonderful business battle is worth looking forward to in the future.