On September 22, 2023, the eighth day of the eighth lunar month, the bottled liquor brand 'Liangduoduo', positioned as 'Dad's daily drink', held the 'Liangduoduo Father's Day' and brand launch event in Wuhan, also signing brand ambassador Liu Yiwei.
This brand made a liquor specifically for fathers
"Daily drink is a lifestyle for a specific group," said Tong Xuewei, commenting on the group and identity attributes of bottled liquor. "Liangduoduo is a daily drink made specifically for Chinese fathers." 'Liangduoduo' is a bottled liquor product positioned as 'Dad's good daily drink', with the slogan 'Dad's daily drink, dads all love it'. According to Chinese population data, there are about 340 million middle-aged and elderly men aged 30 to 65, of whom daily drink consumers account for over 40%, about 130 million people. "Liangduoduo's positioning as dad's daily drink actually targets a large group. Every male either has a beloved father, is himself a father, or both," said Tong Xuewei. "The happiness and joy of middle-aged men have always been overlooked by society as a whole, including by men themselves. Fatherhood is the most important identity and role in a man's life. By positioning as 'dad's daily drink', we want to do something within our power for middle-aged and elderly men." To this end, Liangduoduo officially announced at the launch event that the eighth day of the eighth lunar month each year will be designated as 'Liangduoduo Father's Day', and the 'Father's Day' will be held continuously.
The counter-cyclical growth of the bottled liquor track
The 'dad's daily drink' that Liangduoduo targets is essentially bottled liquor, which has shown different development trends in recent years. Looking at the overall liquor industry, it entered a deep adjustment period again after 2016. However, the bottled liquor segment has maintained rapid growth year after year. According to a report by the China Alcoholic Drinks Association, bottled liquor entered the fast lane in 2013, with market size growing from 35.2 billion yuan to 98.8 billion yuan in 2021, a compound annual growth rate of 13.8%. It is expected to maintain a 16% annual growth rate from 2022 to 2024, with market size exceeding 150 billion yuan by 2024. The core reason for bottled liquor's counter-cyclical growth is its strong and broad consumer base. Bottled liquor is the segment with the widest audience and largest consumption among self-drinking liquors. The market structure of bottled liquor is composed of multiple national brands and numerous local brands. Among them, strong national brands include Bofen, Niulanshan, Hongxing Erguotou, Shunpinlang, etc., and there are countless regional brands. Overall market performance shows that bottled liquor is still developing rapidly, but the development is presenting new and profound trends such as consumption upgrading, scenario-based consumption, and group-based consumption.
Profound changes in bottled daily drinks
1) Change one: Quality of bottled liquor has surpassed price as the most concerned issue for consumers. The so-called daily drink is the liquor consumed every day. Consumers who habitually consume daily drinks are often the group that knows how to drink, loves to drink, and understands liquor the most. Tong Xuewei, founder of Liangduoduo, is a co-founder of the well-known brand Jiangxiaobai and former general manager of Jiangxiaobai's national marketing center. When researching the daily drink market, he found that "heavy consumers of daily drinks often drink the worst quality daily drinks every day." In Tong Xuewei's view, the quality of daily drinks is a major issue related to the well-being of the broadest liquor consumer group. Therefore, Liangduoduo has established R&D and production bases in Yibin and Luzhou, insisting on making a 'true pure grain' bottled daily drink.
2) Change two: Consumers' quality value judgment has gradually detached from the 'liquor box'. In the past, most consumers judged whether a liquor was good based on brand awareness and packaging luxury, but this situation is changing. The view that 'good liquor has good packaging' is disappearing. The idea that bottled liquor is not necessarily bad is becoming a value judgment for daily drink consumers. More and more bottled liquor consumers are learning to look at the process and ingredient list, and choose their preferred bottled liquor based on their own taste preferences. On June 1, 2022, the new national standard for liquor was officially implemented. The new standard clearly regulates the definition of liquor: it must be made from grains, use solid-state fermentation, and not use food additives. All flavored liquors with added food additives are classified as 'blended liquor' and are excluded from the liquor category, not allowed to be labeled as 'liquor'. The implementation of the 'new national standard' truly equates liquor with 'grain liquor' and accelerates the quality upgrade of bottled daily drinks. What characteristics does a good bottled liquor have? Tong Xuewei said that a good bottled liquor has four features: 'true pure grain, good taste, low burden, and affordable price'. "Good liquor is made from grain; three jin of grain produces one jin of liquor, so good liquor is not as cheap as imagined; but its cost is calculable, a few jin of grain plus labor and operations, not much. Good liquor is definitely not as expensive as imagined either," said Tong Xuewei. "The Chinese liquor industry can definitely make a pure grain, good-tasting, affordable daily drink; it just depends on whether you are willing to do it and persist."
It is understood that Liangduoduo was launched in Wuhan for trial sales in the second half of 2022, and currently achieves good sell-through in over 10,000 restaurants and retail stores. In the next stage, Liangduoduo will deepen its presence in the Hubei market and begin market expansion in multiple regions across the country.