---
title: "Dairy Battle: Yili Ambrosial vs. Bright Dairy's Morsslyn"
description: "The book 'Mao Zedong's Strategic Wisdom and Modern Business Warfare' states that whenever there are more than two active competitors in a product or market, someone is making a mistake. Market leaders who neglect competition leave room for rivals, potentially leading to their own downfall, as seen with Morsslyn and Ambrosial. This article reviews the history of ambient yogurt, from Morsslyn's pioneering launch in 2009 to Ambrosial's rapid rise to dominance, analyzing the strategies behind Ambrosial's success."
author: "Cc"
publisher: "New Distribution"
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published: "2020-09-25"
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---

# Dairy Battle: Yili Ambrosial vs. Bright Dairy's Morsslyn

> The book 'Mao Zedong's Strategic Wisdom and Modern Business Warfare' states that whenever there are more than two active competitors in a product or market, someone is making a mistake. Market leaders who neglect competition leave room for rivals, potentially leading to their own downfall, as seen with Morsslyn and Ambrosial. This article reviews the history of ambient yogurt, from Morsslyn's pioneering launch in 2009 to Ambrosial's rapid rise to dominance, analyzing the strategies behind Ambrosial's success.

The book "Mao Zedong's Strategic Wisdom and Modern Business Warfare" states: "**Whenever there are more than two active competitors in a product or market, someone is making a mistake.**" Market leaders who neglect competition leave room for rivals to grow, and may even be "counter-killed" by them. This is exactly what happened between Morsslyn and Ambrosial.

Reviewing the history of ambient yogurt: In 2009, Bright Dairy's Morsslyn was the first to launch, creating the ambient yogurt category. In 2012, it was distributed nationwide, achieving approximately 6 billion RMB in revenue within two years. In 2015, it set a goal of becoming a "10-billion-yuan product," yet in the 2016 and 2017 financial reports, **there was no mention of Morsslyn's performance.**

In contrast, Ambrosial's growth story: In 2014, its first year, it sold 700 million RMB; in 2015, it grew to 4 billion RMB with a 17% market share; in 2016, it reached about 9 billion RMB, with market share soaring to 40%; then 12.9 billion in 2017, 17 billion in 2018, and in 2019, Ambrosial's sales surpassed 20 billion RMB, **capturing half of the ambient yogurt market.**

Morsslyn created the ambient yogurt category, opening a tens-of-billions market for Chinese yogurt, but Ambrosial, arriving later, overtook Morsslyn within a few years to become the dominant player. This raises the question: How did Ambrosial achieve this late-mover advantage?

Having worked in the dairy industry for many years and gathered extensive industry and corporate data, I aim to review this fascinating business battle and offer insights for other dairy companies.

**-01-**
**The Ambient Yogurt Revolution: Aligning with Industry Trends**

**1. Category Trend: China's Yogurt Market Growth Rate Leads Globally**

Public data shows that from 2012 to 2014, yogurt maintained double-digit high growth annually, surpassing 80 billion RMB in 2015. From 2015 to 2020, due to a larger base, the growth rate slightly declined, but the compound annual growth rate remained at 18%, with projections of reaching 190 billion RMB by 2020.

Among these, China's ambient yogurt market was expected to reach 50 billion RMB in 2019, with growth rates above 30%. A decade ago, cold-chain logistics were underdeveloped. Morsslyn was the first domestic ambient yogurt that required no refrigeration and had a 120-day shelf life, solving the transportation and storage challenges of low-temperature yogurt.

Statistics show that from 2015 to 2020, the share of low-temperature yogurt in fermented milk declined, while ambient yogurt emerged rapidly, entering a high-growth phase.

**2. Demand Trend: Yogurt Products Align with Consumer Health Trends**

**"Health, green, organic" and other lifestyle concepts have become top priorities for Chinese consumers in recent years.** Along with changes in dietary habits and the influence of overseas culture and dining concepts, China's younger generation has quickly caught up with global yogurt trends, leading to a rapid increase in market share.

Simultaneously, more medical experts endorse yogurt's health benefits—low fat, low sugar, high protein, nutritious, fun, and reassuring—all appealing to modern consumers' pain points.

**Furthermore, the casualization of yogurt has greatly expanded consumption scenarios. Beyond breakfast, it includes snacks, desserts, and light meals, creating high-frequency consumption that will be another core driver of sustained high growth beyond health factors.**

Sun Tzu said: "One who is skilled in warfare seeks advantage from the situation." What is "situation"? It refers to the direction and trend of development. The growth of the yogurt category and the national pursuit of healthy living are the greatest "situation" for the rise of Morsslyn and Ambrosial. Strategic decision-makers who grasp the macro environment and direction, and act accordingly, **push a thousand-jun stone from atop a ten-thousand-ren height, achieving twice the result with half the effort.**

**-02-**
**Bright Dairy Takes the Lead, Yili Strikes Back**

Regarding the concept of "striking after the opponent," the *Huainanzi* (Yuan Dao Xun) states: "The one who sings first is on the path to exhaustion; the one who moves later is the source of achievement. Why is this? ... The first mover finds it hard to know, while the later mover finds it easy to attack. If the first goes up high, the later climbs up; if the first goes down, the later steps over; if the first falls into a pit, the later uses strategy; if the first fails, the later avoids it. Thus, the first mover becomes the target for the later mover's arrows." This means that the later mover often gains more advantages and favorable conditions than the first mover, and can use the first mover's experiences and lessons to achieve its own strategy.

Things always struggle, confront, evolve, and develop between advantages and disadvantages. Ten years ago, before Morsslyn, the Chinese yogurt field was dominated by low-temperature milk. In a dairy market with underdeveloped cold-chain infrastructure, Morsslyn's signing of the aseptic Tetra Pak Diamond packaging rights was a preemptive move, leveraging Tetra Pak's support to build a patent barrier—a key battle in reshaping China's dairy industry.

Ambient yogurt went from nothing to something, with rapid momentum. **How to become a leader? Simply strike first and go all out.** However, Morsslyn, with its first-mover advantage in a blank market and leader position, did not go all out in product and channel development for several years, missing too many opportunities for innovation and trial, and failing to truly widen the gap with followers.

Ambrosial seized the moment when the leader was slow to act and had not yet established its positioning. In just three years, its sales surpassed the market leader Morsslyn, becoming the first 10-billion-yuan brand in China's ambient yogurt market. Ambrosial's late-mover strategy is reflected in three aspects:

> First, wait for the market's excitement to form, rather than being the path-paver;
> Second, rapidly seize the market at double speed, controlling goods, stores, and mindshare;
> Third, engage in multi-scenario, high-frequency communication to build brand momentum.

**-03-**
**Bright Dairy Lacks Follow-Through, Yili Launches Saturation Attack**

**Chairman Mao once said: "The role and power of newspapers lie in their ability to most rapidly and widely bring the Party's program, line, policies, tasks, and working methods to the masses."** From 2013 to 2015, it was the window period for the ambient yogurt market. Whoever invested more in marketing and quickly captured consumer mindshare had a better chance of winning.

**1. PK with Popular Online Variety Shows**

In the summer of 2014, entertainment variety shows swept the nation, and both brands began customized content communication. It is reported that Morsslyn's self-produced content "Living with Strangers" received over 2.3 million views on mainstream video sites; while Hunan TV's "Grade One" had total views exceeding 147 million across five episodes, and iQiyi's exclusive "U Can U Bibi" had clicks possibly exceeding 200 million.

In terms of audience coverage, Ambrosial seemed to have the edge, heavily investing 88 million RMB to become the new "bid king" in internet marketing for the online version of "The Voice of China Season 3." The Tencent Video "Voice" project **totaled over 4 billion views**. Ambrosial inserted 15-second video ads before the playback page, strengthening consumer awareness and solidifying the brand association between Ambrosial and "The Voice."

Research data shows that after the season ended, without any brand prompts, the number of viewers who first thought of Yili Ambrosial increased significantly, with overall brand awareness soaring by 2000%. Among key cities and middle-income groups, brand awareness increased by over 400% and 1000%, respectively.

(Screenshot of Tencent Video's "The Voice of China" special page)

**2. Increasing Hard Ads and TV Variety Shows**

In 2014, Morsslyn's hard ads were also vibrant, focusing on Hunan TV's strong IP variety show "Grade One," with 15-second hard ads twice per episode across 11 episodes, deeply conveying the health concept of "Longevity Village Morsslyn" and maximizing brand value. The hard ads had clear themes and stronger impact, repeatedly reinforcing public impression and pushing Morsslyn's sales to a historical peak.

Subsequently, in 2015, Ambrosial assessed the situation and spent 610 million RMB to sponsor "Running Man" Seasons 2 and 3, initiating a cross-industry collaboration between business and entertainment. It cleverly embedded the brand core of "rich and super delicious" in various forms, including the Running Man-themed spokesperson TVCs, verbal mentions of Ambrosial's slogan, and traditional program title sponsorship. When the Running Man members were tired, taking a sip of Ambrosial was also a hard ad placement.

As the show aired, consumers' perception of "high-end ambient yogurt" grew stronger. In 2016, the finale of Running Man 4 cleverly chose Hohhot, Yili's home base, as the filming location, perfectly integrating elements like employees, factories, and Ambrosial products.

Ambrosial partnered with Running Man for six years, nearly a hundred episodes, **with billions of views**, establishing a firm "watch Running Man, drink Ambrosial" cognition in viewers' minds. **At this point, Ambrosial's sales approached 10 billion RMB, while Morsslyn's sales remained a mystery.**

**When a company has a time window, if it fails to launch a saturation attack, it will be suppressed when competitors strike, ultimately losing its first-mover advantage.** Compared to the active Ambrosial, Morsslyn appeared overly conservative and quiet, belatedly sponsoring shows like "Go Fighting!" Unfortunately, the window for the ambient yogurt category had closed, and it perfectly missed the strategic opportunity to block competitors.

**3. Leveraging Traffic Star Endorsements**

Fan economy refers to revenue-generating behaviors built on the relationship between fans and the followed, a business model that enhances user stickiness and uses word-of-mouth marketing to gain economic and social benefits.

In recent years, top stars like Dilraba Dilmurat, Angelababy, Wang Yibo, and Lu Han—all youthful, sunny, and energetic, with traffic that can crash Weibo—have become the biggest drivers for Ambrosial's grassroots promotion among young people.

As early as 2015, when Running Man 2 aired, Yili Ambrosial signed the rising Angelababy as spokesperson, and in Q4 of the same year, added another core Running Man member, Li Chen, as a dual spokesperson. During this period, it successfully leveraged the hot topic of "Angelababy and Huang Xiaoming getting their marriage license" to drive traffic for Ambrosial's e-commerce activities. Later, with the hit drama "Eternal Love," Dilraba joined the Running Man cast, and Ambrosial seized the moment, not only launching a new product—bottled Ambrosial—but also inviting Dilraba to endorse it. In 2019, Ambrosial signed football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, expanding from entertainment to sports. In 2020, Ambrosial announced a birthday-themed yogurt customized for spokesperson Wang Yibo, who loves cilantro, with fans involved in flavor and design, selling out immediately upon release. **Deeply binding with Gen Z circles, it conveys Ambrosial's "young, trendy, energetic" image, cleverly echoing the brand's upgrade.**

As the pioneer of domestic ambient yogurt, Bright Dairy appeared relatively low-key. After years of silence, the ten-year-old Morsslyn finally announced in 2019 that rising star Liu Haoran would be its new spokesperson, and also launched a fan benefit—a limited-edition gift box. "Liu Haoran confessed to again" quickly became a trending topic on Weibo. Morsslyn is leveraging the powerful fan appeal of top traffic to capture more young consumers.

Clearly, the era of "good wine needs no bush" is over; new media marketing has opened a new battle.

**4. Expanding Topic Marketing Boundaries**

In the era of social media, everything is media. The short-video dark horse "Douyin" has become a must-fight battleground for brand traffic.

Ambrosial also seized the trend, launching its first "online-offline integrated packaging marketing model" on Douyin, initiating the #Scan Code to Do Tasks, Share Ten Million# challenge. With top traffic stars and Douyin KOLs promoting products, it used the "popular platform" to drive "crowd traffic," gathering traffic and high volume for the brand, while also driving sales growth.

This year, headlines like "Academician Zhong Endorses Ambrosial," "Ambrosial Announces Football Star Beckham as Brand Ambassador," and "Ambrosial 5G Launch Event" have dominated Weibo.

In April, Luo Yonghao's first livestream sales event swept the internet. Ambrosial once again precisely captured the heat of his debut, appearing throughout the livestream. This placement sparked widespread discussion and active fan participation. Every post-purchase photo by consumers served as brand exposure for Ambrosial, making it the biggest winner of the livestream.

**Positioning theory emphasizes "mindshare first." Being first to market is not important; being first into consumers' minds is key.** Initially, "The Secret of Longevity Village" also earned Morsslyn attention, but with insufficient follow-through, it failed to use its first-mover advantage to block followers' attacks, missing the defense opportunity.

In contrast, Ambrosial, day after day, used massive communication—from becoming the top ambient yogurt brand to leading the category—each marketing step hit key nodes, concentrating forces for saturation attacks, leveraging high-energy crowds' traffic to continuously enhance brand influence and market penetration, leaving no room for competitors.

**-04-**
**Bright Dairy's Channel Weakness, Yili's Strong Penetration**

For the FMCG industry, channel power is a company's first moat: **Whoever has stronger control over channels holds market discourse power.**

Initially, Morsslyn's sales miracle was due to no competitors in the category. As Ambrosial and other manufacturers joined, Bright Dairy's channel shortcomings became increasingly apparent. Its main battlefield was in East and South China, but it was powerless in the broader national market. Ambrosial, leveraging its parent company's resources and channels, continuously deepened terminal penetration, maintaining share priority and forming a high barrier of brand plus channel.

**1. Corporate Foundation: Strong Channel Penetration**

Ambrosial's parent company, Yili Group, ranks among the top 5 global dairy companies and is China's largest dairy enterprise with the most complete product line. Data shows that as of June 2020, Yili's market penetration for ambient liquid milk products was 84.2%, and in third- and fourth-tier cities, it was 86.2%, both ranking first in the industry.

When Ambrosial first launched, it was initially distributed in Shandong, Zhejiang, and other regions, at one point "in short supply." First, in channel structure, Yili's layout foundation was far ahead of Bright Dairy, implementing one distributor per county with frequent salesperson visits.

Second, it provided stronger market support to distributors, with key products fully executed in **supermarkets + general trade + model stores**. Finally, it provided 200% support for market displays, rapidly occupying terminals and achieving channel penetration growth.

Xu Xin of Today Capital once said about consumer channels: "How to control mindshare? Make your stores everywhere, so they see you every day and think of you. Is Starbucks the best coffee in the world? Certainly not, but when you think of coffee, you think of it because its stores are everywhere."

For most local Chinese brands, the regions best suited for large sales volumes are often not first- and second-tier cities, but third- to sixth-tier markets. In "small town" markets, FMCG products, including dairy, still follow a "channel is king" development model.

However, before Morsslyn, Bright Dairy's main products were low-temperature milk, with obvious shortcomings in ambient channels. This meant that while distributing Morsslyn, it also had to invest heavily in channel development and transportation supply. Ambrosial, on the other hand, had already established a nationwide sales network through ambient milk channels.

Clausewitz, in "On War," noted: "Numerical superiority, whether tactical or strategic, is the most common factor in victory." Yili's 2019 annual report shows that as of the end of December 2019, Yili served 1.91 million offline liquid milk terminal outlets, including nearly 1.039 million township and village outlets.

Rome wasn't built in a day. This advantage not only seized territory for Ambrosial but also bought time. In battle, winning is the only truth.

**2. Channel Trend: Embracing New Retail**

Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett's partner, said: "**Go where the fish are.**" In the new retail era, consumer habits and purchasing channels have changed significantly. How can yogurt brands occupy more food consumption entry points? Go wherever consumers are.

As early as 2015, Yili proactively adapted to channel trends, integrating online and offline resources to accelerate coverage of e-commerce platforms, mother-and-baby stores, unmanned convenience stores, and other blank areas. Later, as new retail models emerged, Ambrosial, relying on its parent company, strengthened cooperation with retailers while consolidating traditional channels, providing consumers with new consumption experiences through membership marketing and retail e-commerce partnerships.

In April 2018, Ambrosial strategically partnered with Hema Fresh, adding a new marketing track. In May of the same year, when Ambrosial's mango and passion fruit new product launched, it fully entered China Resources Vanguard's retail system (including hypermarkets, life supermarkets, convenience supermarkets, regional shopping centers, and Ole supermarkets, with over 3,000 convenience stores alone).

In March 2020, Ambrosial's Tmall flagship store officially opened. During the 618 shopping festival, Suning exclusively sold Cai Xukun customized Ambrosial yogurt, available at Suning's Carrefour stores, Suning Xiaodian offline stores, and Suning's online supermarket.

Planning according to the situation, responding to trends, and acting in accordance with them is the great wisdom of business warfare. Ambrosial's strong alliances with new retail benchmarks like Hema Fresh, China Resources Vanguard, Tmall, and Suning, as well as traditional chain giants, enabled it to cover China's most mainstream consumer groups at the fastest speed. The two sides achieved comprehensive cooperation across all channels, products, and scenarios, continuing to empower Ambrosial's market position through channel strength.

**-05-**
**Conclusion**

As the ancients said: **"Troops have no constant formation, water has no constant shape." Business competition is dynamic and changing; companies must closely monitor competitors' moves.**

For example, when Guazi Used Cars found that Youxin's national purchase business posed a threat, it promptly adjusted resources and announced it would follow, appointing a new spokesperson to build its own national purchase business, successfully suppressing Youxin's competition.

For Morsslyn, if it had detected the rise of a competitor like Ambrosial and blocked it in time, it might not have lost its leadership position.

**Invest strategic resources in strategic opportunities.** Reviewing the seven-year battle between Yili Ambrosial and Bright Dairy's Morsslyn, the most profound takeaway is "Ambrosial is everywhere!" Online, it leveraged idol star effects and deeply bound with major IP variety shows six times; offline, it organized roadshows interacting with show themes; terminals continuously increased visual elements for displays. This integrated marketing punch maximized brand volume and firmly locked consumer mindshare.

As Ren Zhengfei said in 2007, "If you seize a strategic opportunity, spending any amount is victory; if you miss it, not spending is death. You can't save your way to a Huawei."

Source: Dongji Positioning Consulting (ID: dongjipositioning) Author: Cc


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