---
title: "20 Years of Functional Drinks in China! A Look at the Major Brands—Which One Is Your Favorite?"
description: "Facing a seemingly saturated energy drink market, brands and distributors are gearing up for a major battle. Since the 1980s, when Jianlibao founder Li Jingwei pioneered special-purpose beverages in China, the market has evolved through the rise of Red Bull, the emergence of domestic challengers like Dongshen and Lehu, and the entry of international players like Monster. With the market projected to reach 163.5 billion yuan by 2020, both old and new brands are vying for a share."
author: "New Distribution"
publisher: "New Distribution"
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published: "2017-07-30"
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# 20 Years of Functional Drinks in China! A Look at the Major Brands—Which One Is Your Favorite?

> Facing a seemingly saturated energy drink market, brands and distributors are gearing up for a major battle. Since the 1980s, when Jianlibao founder Li Jingwei pioneered special-purpose beverages in China, the market has evolved through the rise of Red Bull, the emergence of domestic challengers like Dongshen and Lehu, and the entry of international players like Monster. With the market projected to reach 163.5 billion yuan by 2020, both old and new brands are vying for a share.

**Editor's Note:** Facing a seemingly saturated energy drink market, brands and distributors are gearing up for a major battle...
In the 1980s, Jianlibao founder Li Jingwei pioneered the wave of special-purpose beverages in China. By sponsoring major sporting events, Jianlibao became famous across the country, establishing itself as an early national beverage brand and enjoying great popularity in the 1980s and 1990s. By 1997, Jianlibao's sales exceeded 5 billion yuan. That same year, the 38-story Jianlibao headquarters building in Guangzhou was completed. After 1997, the beverage industry changed dramatically: Coca-Cola and Pepsi attacked from both north and south, encircling coastal and metropolitan areas, and by 1998 they had captured half of China's carbonated beverage market. This directly caused Jianlibao's sales and market share to decline steadily. At that point, Red Bull entered the Chinese market and took over the baton from Jianlibao, quickly dominating this blue ocean through powerful marketing and distribution. Since entering the market in 1995, Red Bull has remained a sales benchmark for functional beverages.
When it comes to functional drinks, the current market can be broadly divided into energy drinks, which primarily aim to refresh and replenish energy, and sports drinks, which focus on replenishing electrolytes.
China's energy drink consumption reached 1.368 billion liters, a year-on-year increase of 25%, making it the country with the largest growth in energy drink sales. According to a Mintel report, Red Bull holds a near-monopoly position in the Chinese market. In addition to energy drinks, sports drinks that primarily replenish electrolytes also sell well domestically, with Danone's Mizone leading this segment. Compared to 2010, the sports drink market share tripled by 2015.
With this in mind, we have also conducted a review of China's functional beverage industry, hoping to provide some food for thought.
Part
1
Caffeine and Taurine
Energy Drinks
**1**
**Red Bull: Leading for 20 Years, an Unshakeable Dominance**
Red Bull, originally from Thailand, is one of the earliest and most successful functional beverage brands globally.
Building on Thai Red Bull and Austrian Red Bull, in 1995, the Huabin Group, founded by Chinese businessman Yan Bin in Thailand, obtained the operating rights for the Red Bull trademark in China. Confident in the Chinese market's potential, the Huabin Group began vigorously expanding into the Chinese market.
At that time, Jianlibao, which focused on sports drinks, was in decline, and there was a lack of domestic beverage brands with functional claims. Red Bull, with its positioning as a "first mover in the functional beverage market," differentiated itself from most brands, including Coca-Cola and Pepsi.
On the other hand, Red Bull adapted to local conditions upon entering China, engaging in localized marketing. For example, the red and yellow tones of its packaging align with Chinese preferences for auspicious and festive colors, while the image of two bulls butting heads with a sun in the middle conveys a sense of strength and fighting spirit.
Furthermore, Red Bull's brand slogans, such as "Drink Red Bull when you're tired or sleepy" and "Refresh your mind and replenish your energy," demonstrate its precise positioning and marketing strategy, encompassing target groups and consumption scenarios like drivers, sports enthusiasts, overtime workers, and nightlife entertainment.
In the 10 years following 2004, facing an increasingly competitive functional beverage market, Red Bull continuously enriched its brand connotation and upgraded its brand positioning.
By sponsoring more fashionable basketball games, golf tournaments, travel, extreme sports, and other athletic events, it downplayed the product's functional attributes and emphasized the appeal of spiritual strength.
Later advertising slogans evolved to "Your energy is beyond your imagination" and "With energy, there are no limits," conveying a more meaningful brand concept and lifestyle that emphasizes self-breakthrough, attracting support from younger demographics.
By 2016, Red Bull's sales reached 22.18 billion yuan, still capturing an 80% share of the functional beverage market. Its 20-year dominance remains unshakeable, thanks to its ability to adapt its positioning to the times and market changes.
In 2017, Red Bull became embroiled in a trademark renewal dispute. During its summer promotion involving 190 million yuan in red envelopes, Thai Red Bull filed a lawsuit against China Red Bull's largest can supplier, ORG, bringing the conflict into the open. The Huabin Group has yet to officially respond regarding the renewal, and the future of China Red Bull seems increasingly uncertain.
**2**
**Dongpeng Tequila: A Private Chinese Brand's "Comeback"**
Dongpeng Tequila can be considered the only leading functional beverage enterprise that is purely Chinese-made and has achieved a certain scale since Jianlibao. If Red Bull holds 80% of the functional beverage market, then about 10% belongs to Dongpeng.
It is the first domestic vitamin functional beverage and one of only four brands approved as health foods by the Ministry of Health. Despite being criticized as "rustic," "ugly," and "imitative," it has indeed accumulated significant popularity and reputation among consumers through its bottled products.
Priced at half of Red Bull, with similar taste and typical red-yellow packaging, and even an advertising slogan "Tired or sleepy? Drink Dongpeng Tequila" that seems familiar, these marketing strategies benchmarking against the industry leader have helped Dongpeng complete its initial market development and channel layout over the past few years.
At the 2017 Spring Sugar Fair, Dongpeng seized the opportunity of Red Bull's renewal dispute to launch a 250mL gold can, making its ambition to compete for the top spot in functional beverages even more evident.
In recent years, Dongpeng has also made a series of brand rejuvenation attempts to cater to the youth market. In 2016, it introduced a new brand proposition, "If you're young, stay awake and fight," fully embracing the internet and experimenting with new marketing models.
This includes product placements in popular youth IP dramas like "The Mystic Nine," "Love O2O," and "Eternal Love," deep partnerships with well-known entertainment programs such as "We Are Here" and "Comedy Star," and interactive engagement with young people through WeChat red envelopes and offline campus activities. It can be said that this distinctive, youth-oriented marketing model is far more sophisticated than the imitation path of those earlier years.
**3**
**Lehu: Winning a Market with Price Advantage**
In the first half of 2016, Lehu continued its rapid growth, with sales revenue reaching 1.092 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 71.4%. Its performance was impressive.
Lehu was launched by Dali Group in 2013. It emerged as a standout in the fiercely competitive functional beverage segment where Red Bull's position seemed unassailable, achieving notable sales results worth attention. In 2015, Lehu's revenue was 1.419 billion yuan, accounting for 8.4% of Dali Foods' revenue, and Lehu's gross margin was nearly 60%, effectively improving Dali Foods' overall gross margin.
Lehu's price positioning is its greatest advantage and highlight. The 250ml traditional can is priced at 5.5 yuan, similar to mainstream products on the market, slightly lower. The 380ml PET bottle sells for only 5 yuan, which is highly attractive to young people with limited budgets who need to replenish large amounts of energy, allowing it to capture significant market share in third- and fourth-tier cities and townships. Additionally, the bottled format fills a gap in the can-dominated sports drink market, meeting the consumption needs of specific groups.
Dali also mentioned in its 2016 interim report that Lehu achieved excellent sales results in first- and second-tier cities.
**4**
**Qili: A Flash in the Pan, Derailed by Channel Issues**
In the functional beverage market, Qili is a typical example of a flash in the pan. Within less than three years of its launch, its market share plummeted from 4.9% in 2012 to 0.9% in 2015.
As a latecomer with a high-profile, high-price strategy, its poor channel management led to widespread cross-regional selling. When it launched in 2012, the suggested retail price for a 250ml can of Qili was 7 yuan, equal to or slightly higher than Red Bull's retail price. However, it failed to establish its own distinctiveness in terms of taste, efficacy, or market positioning. As a latecomer with insufficient brand strength, the rash adoption of high prices led to poor initial sell-through, channel dumping, and severe cross-regional selling. In originally popular regions, the prevalence of low-priced dumped products eventually made it impossible to sell at normal prices.
Recently, however, Wahaha founder Zong Qinghou stated in a media interview that Wahaha will successively launch 24 functional beverage products targeting sleep improvement, blood sugar and lipid reduction, bone density increase, and antioxidant effects.
**5**
**Monster Beverage: Attracting Attention Before Its Launch, Seen as a Red Bull Rival**
First, let's explain what Monster Beverage is: Monster Energy, often called "Monster" or "Ghost Claw" by domestic fans, is a high-energy sports drink launched by Hansen Natural Corporation in the United States. It contains guarana, taurine, ginseng, and other ingredients, with 240 milligrams of caffeine per serving—equivalent to the caffeine content of 14 cans of regular Coca-Cola. Drinking it may cause adverse reactions in some people.
Functionally, Monster and Red Bull both serve to "refresh the mind," with no significant difference. However, in terms of promotional strategy, Monster, as a newcomer, constantly emphasizes its differences from Red Bull. Monster focuses on the relatively niche extreme sports segment.
Compared to conventional sports, these extreme sports are more thrilling and wilder. Additionally, Monster concentrates its advertising on niche sports, which helps reduce costs. Notably, Monster signed a contract with Mike Metzger, a godfather figure in freestyle motocross, for just $600 per month—an unprecedented deal in business history. In fact, top stars in these niche sports also have many passionate fans.
Despite intense competition in the U.S. beverage industry, Monster quickly gained market share through its excellent competitive strategy, surpassing Red Bull in 2008 to become the industry leader. By 2014, its share reached 42.3%, and after integrating with Coca-Cola in 2015, its market share rose to 52.8%.
Therefore, Monster's entry into the Chinese market via Coca-Cola, positioning it for a direct confrontation with Red Bull, has been closely watched by industry insiders.
**6**
**Wang Sicong, China's Most Famous Rich Second Generation, Enters with "ALAO"**
As China's most famous rich second generation, Wang Sicong's gossip can be found by the bucketload. Recently, Wang Sicong has started making beverages. The drink is called ALAO, a maca vitality drink targeted at young people. The packaging style is pink and girly, drawing playful criticism from esports pros and internet celebrities alike!
Unlike the typical "taurine" functional drinks on the market, ALAO continues the maca ingredient that was popular at last year's Spring Sugar Fair, along with Australian phentermine, Brazilian guarana, and taurine—truly packed with energy. From the packaging highlights and early advertising, it's clear that ALAO targets young consumers aged 20-30 in scenarios such as esports (after all, Wang Sicong treats esports as a career), nightclubs, fitness, and overtime work. The product is currently available on JD.com at 8 yuan per bottle. At FamilyMart convenience stores in Shanghai, it sells for 9.9 yuan, placed alongside Red Bull, Monster, and other functional drinks. ALAO aspires to become "the internet-famous trendsetter in the energy drink world, leading the crossover lifestyle." Perhaps it can indeed carve out its own niche.
China's functional beverage category has developed with ups and downs over the past two decades, and today it still holds enormous market potential. According to the "2016-2020 China Functional Beverage Industry Market Survey and Investment Decision Report," by 2020, China's functional beverage retail volume is expected to reach 15.037 billion liters, with retail sales reaching 163.528 billion yuan.
Facing such a hundred-billion-yuan market, both new and old brands are sharpening their claws, unwilling to fall behind. Many players in the game have diverse brands and selling points, complex and varied, each with its own strengths.
Part
2
Vitamins and Electrolytes
Sports Drinks
**7**
**Jianlibao: China's Magic Water, a Shooting Star Among National Brands**
Jianlibao is China's first sports drink containing alkaline electrolytes.
In 1983, it was jointly developed by Li Jingwei, then director of the Sanshui Winery in Foshan, and the Guangdong Sports Research Institute. It became famous overnight at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, earning the nickname "China's Magic Water."
From 1987 to 1997, Jianlibao led the Chinese beverage market, experiencing the rocket-like rise of the Li Jingwei era. Li Jingwei, who was passionate about sports, brought Jianlibao to sponsor almost all major sporting events of that era, including the National Games, Asian Games, Universiade, Olympics, and football tournaments.
Relying on the rise of Chinese sports, Jianlibao, closely tied to sports, became a household name overnight.
Jianlibao was once ranked first among national beverage companies in output and tax profits, was named the most popular beverage, topped the beverage and alcohol industry, won the highest gold award at the International Beverage Expo, and received the China Sports Development Contribution Award.
It is the only beverage brand to have won a second prize in the National Science and Technology Progress Award, and it has the first asteroid named after a company—"Sanshui Jianlibao Star." By 1997, Jianlibao's sales exceeded 5 billion yuan. That same year, the 38-story Guangzhou Jianlibao headquarters building was completed.
After 1997, the beverage industry changed dramatically: Coca-Cola and Pepsi attacked from both north and south, encircling coastal and metropolitan areas, and by 1998 they had captured half of China's carbonated beverage market. This directly caused Jianlibao's sales and market share to decline steadily.
On the other hand, long-standing conflicts with the local Sanshui city government also hampered Li Jingwei's decision-making. Under the combined pressures of market volatility, planned economy constraints, outdated management systems, broken capital chains, and over-diversification, Jianlibao began to decline.
The magic water was no more. In 2002, the once-powerful Li Jingwei was placed under residential surveillance on charges of "suspected embezzlement," at the age of 63.
After the accelerated decline during the "Zhang Hai era," Taiwanese company Uni-President took over Jianlibao in 2005. However, due to vague positioning, brand aging, and cautious investment, Jianlibao became increasingly "outdated" during the 10 years of rapid development in China's beverage market. In 2016, it changed hands again, with Chunchun Capital taking over and returning it to the Jianlibao Group. But the tide has turned, and a comeback seems difficult.
Ten years of glory, ten years of turbulence. The rise and fall of Jianlibao also reflects the development history of national brands during the early stages of reform and opening up, as they explored and adjusted. For the beverage industry, its greatest significance lies in uncovering the huge demand for sports drinks among Chinese people, creating a brand-new market for later entrants.
**8**
**Mizone: The Bottled Leader That Rose on the Back of SARS**
After the SARS outbreak in 2003, people's health awareness became unprecedentedly strong, and health-oriented beverages began to win consumer favor.
Robust introduced "Mizone," with the appeal of "replenishing body water and essential vitamins to keep the body vibrant," which drove a new wave of functional beverages.
The combination of fruit flavors and vitamins, along with a fashionable and casual product image, has kept Mizone at the top of China's bottled functional beverage market for a long time, with its market share rising to 91.2% in 2015.
"When you're not at your best at a critical moment, let Mizone bring you back anytime" is one of its most well-known advertising slogans.
However, after the split between Robust and Danone, Mizone also experienced its first sales decline in 2016.
The reasons for Mizone's "poor sales" can be attributed, on one hand, to the rapid increase in "hit" beverages in recent years, which have been eroding Mizone's leading share.
On the other hand, although Danone has been introducing new flavors to add freshness to Mizone, for a brand that has been on the market for 13 years, the novelty brought by changing flavors is limited.
Moreover, in the current context of continuous segmentation and innovation in functional beverages, Mizone's self-labeling as a "nutrient beverage," "energy drink," and "sports drink" seems incongruous, and its vague positioning fails to define a specific consumer group.
Intense competition and rapidly changing consumer demands have forced Mizone to actively seek changes in 2017. This includes optimizing packaging design, adding a new pineapple-coconut mixed flavor favored by young people, and launching the "Mizone Blazing Energy" series for efficient hydration and energy replenishment after exercise. However, whether it can win back fickle consumers and reverse the decline to "pulse back" remains a significant challenge for this veteran functional beverage brand.
**Meanwhile, some manufacturers have added health-oriented functional beverages featuring plant-based functions and amino acid formulas under the energy and sports drink categories.**
Amino Acids
Health-Oriented Drinks
**9**
**Rijiaman: The Healthy Path of a Domestic Beverage**
Founded in 2001, Rijiaman Beverage (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., formerly Shanghai Dongjin Beverage Co., Ltd., owns four product series: energy drinks (Rijiaman), sports drinks (Rijiaman Lishui), and beauty and health products (Rijiaman Jiaoyuan and Ganyuan). With the increasing health awareness in recent years, Rijiaman, a health functional beverage characterized by "relieving fatigue, enhancing immunity, and resisting sub-health," has developed rapidly. The founder of Rijiaman is Mr. Rong Yaozhong, the founder of the well-known seasoning brand Totole.
Rijiaman primarily targets the mid-to-high-end market. In 2016, it launched two new products, Nuannan and Jinsong, to attract health-conscious male consumers. It also held hundreds of brand roadshows across the country to promote and sell multiple products under the Rijiaman series, thereby getting closer to consumers. Only by letting consumers truly understand the product can there be sustained purchase motivation. Rijiaman, based on the "human nutrition barrel theory" and starting from the mechanism of fatigue, has optimized and balanced the ratio of eight essential amino acids through extensive research and experiments, maximizing their efficacy and making them easier for the body to absorb, effectively promoting normal metabolism and thus enhancing immunity. The balanced amino acid ratio effectively promotes normal metabolism, prevents the accumulation of metabolites in the blood, ensures normal muscle activity, and effectively curbs the source of physical fatigue.
In 2017, Rijiaman will also launch two health foods. In terms of channels, it will vigorously develop e-commerce systems, catering channels, and special channels. In brand marketing, Rijiaman has creatively partnered with "People" magazine and renowned photographer Chen Man to launch the "Handsome Energy Character Stories" feature, allowing "handsome" to originate from the spirit and inject energy into it. By gathering outstanding individuals from all walks of life who dare to break through and express themselves, and through their unique "handsome energy," it inspires the public to redefine "handsome." This dissemination of "positive energy" from various social fields aligns perfectly with the brand philosophy Rijiaman seeks. Rijiaman's path of pursuing quality excellence and craftsmanship in Chinese health functional beverages is still long, and becoming a leader in China's functional beverage industry is its goal.
**10**
**C'estbon Enters the Energy Drink Market with "New Magic Sports Drink"—Outcome Uncertain**
On the evening of July 20, China Resources C'estbon, known for its drinking water, held a press conference to announce the upgraded launch of its Magic sports drink. Facing the seemingly saturated energy drink market, China Resources C'estbon, no longer content with just drinking water, made a heavyweight entry, adding new variables to the unpredictable market. Magic enters the sports drink market as a latecomer, but China Resources C'estbon has high hopes for this product.
As early as 2015, C'estbon launched two light-sports concept fruit drinks under the name "Magic." Although the launch received some response, it fell far short of C'estbon's expectations.
C'estbon summarized past failures in promoting sports drinks and repositioned Magic: combining the three "sweating" scenarios of exercise, busyness, and celebration as selling points, it launched a new brand slogan: "Sweat? Drink a bottle of Magic Amino Acid."
After this brand upgrade, the product positioning is more precise. Whether in taste or packaging design, it better caters to current mainstream consumption trends, and combined with the health concept of amino acids, it does have some selling points.
In the functional beverage category, energy drinks represented by Red Bull are rising strongly, while sports drinks are showing a shrinking trend. From a market perspective, the room for growth in sports drinks is not significant. China Resources C'estbon managing two product categories with the same team will largely increase operational difficulty, as the focus and business models of beverage categories and water categories differ. Therefore, the sales trend of this drink can only be judged by seeing it in action.
**Nongfu Spring's "Scream"—Famous for Its Unusual Flavors**
**Pocari Sweat—An Electrolyte Replenishment Drink from Japan**
**Gatorade—The Global Leader in Sports Drinks from the U.S.**
**Guangzhou's Heika 6 Hours**
**Henan Zhongwo Industrial's Wo Energy**
**COFCO's BigBang, Developed with Dutch Research**
**War Horse, Red Bull's "Younger Brother" in the Post-Red Bull Era**
...
These continuously joining brands are not only expanding the functional beverage market but also gradually cultivating their own base markets and consumer groups.
However, judging from the first half of 2017, this big cake of functional beverages is still attracting more players to enter.
**This article was compiled and edited by New Distribution**
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