Three products on shelves simultaneously—can you tell them apart?

Recently, imported Red Bull appeared in Beijing supermarkets, drawing attention as another Red Bull product from Thai Tiansi Group enters the heart of Huabin Group's territory, following Red Bull® Anji. At the same time, the most anticipated sales data was revealed: according to Tiansi Group, in the first half of 2019, Red Bull® Anji sales exceeded 1 billion yuan!

What does exceeding 1 billion in half a year mean? In 2016, Huabin Group launched "War Horse," which hit the market in 2017, and by 2018, annual sales were only 830 million yuan, taking three years to surpass 1 billion by the end of 2019.

After the successful launch of Anji, at the end of last December, Thai Tiansi Group officially introduced original imported Red Bull—Red Bull® Vitamin Flavored Beverage—into the Chinese market. This product seemed low-key but quickly gained a reputation in the industry. Four months later, it quietly entered Beijing, the headquarters of Huabin Group, signaling a head-on confrontation.

At this point, two gold-can Red Bull beverages authorized by Thai Tiansi Group are being rolled out: one is the original imported Red Bull Vitamin Flavored Beverage produced directly in Tiansi's own factory, and the other is Red Bull Anji Beverage produced domestically under license. Both are being aggressively distributed, and together with Huabin Group's Red Bull Vitamin Functional Beverage, these three products are now competing in the market, setting the stage for a ranking battle in the functional beverage sector.

-01- Sales Exceed 1 Billion in Half a Year: What Makes Red Bull Anji So Successful?

Anji was the first Red Bull functional beverage product launched by Thai Tiansi in China in June last year. Thai Tiansi partnered with new Chinese partners Guangzhou Yaonengliang and Pusheng Food Company to promote, sell, and operate the new Red Bull Anji beverage in the Chinese market. Anji officially launched in June 2019 and achieved sales exceeding 1 billion yuan in just half a year. No other functional beverage single product has achieved such results upon market entry.

Looking back at 2018, Huabin Group deeply tied Red Bull to its new brand "War Horse," since "War Horse" was its own brand, and it diverted significant Red Bull resources to "War Horse." Despite the backing, "War Horse" was ignored by consumers that year, failing to meet its 1.5 billion target and not even reaching 1 billion.

Thai brand Carabao entered China in 2017, and its 2019 China business revenue was 494 million Thai baht (approximately 110 million yuan). Monster, the US functional beverage that entered China in 2016 with Coca-Cola's help and was once hailed as Red Bull's biggest rival, now faces an uncertain future. In 2017, Monster's operating losses in India and China were about $9 million. After three years in China, it struggled to adapt and was abandoned by Coca-Cola, which launched its own functional drinks.

Clearly, the Red Bull brand's influence in China is deeply rooted and hard to shake. Although Anji faced questions about its name and taste at launch, the backing of the Red Bull brand, combined with a team familiar with the Chinese market and Huabin Red Bull's strategies, ensured a stable debut and strong momentum.

According to distributors, although the new Thai imported Red Bull is gaining more attention due to its perfect similarity, Anji remains a product with long-term potential. Data shows that in convenience store channels like Bianlifeng and FamilyMart, as well as local supermarket chains, Anji's sales remain stable and strong, with many consumers accepting and enjoying its taste.

-02- Introducing Thai Original Imported Red Bull Continuing to Increase Investment in the Chinese Market

Next, let's talk about another heavyweight new product: the original Thai imported Red Bull Vitamin Flavored Beverage. This is definitely a strategic product. After Anji's six months of experience in the Chinese market, the launch of this product is a fatal blow to Huabin Red Bull. It addresses all previous criticisms of Anji and seizes the opponent's lifeline.

1. Appearance and Taste

In terms of appearance, this original Thai imported Red Bull uses the classic gold-can packaging. If you need to distinguish it from Huabin Red Bull, the only difference is the words "Functional" versus "Flavored" in the bottom line of text.

In fact, as early as 1982, before entering the Chinese market, Tiansi Pharmaceutical had already used gold-can packaging for Red Bull products exported to Singapore. Moreover, as the founder and owner of the global Red Bull brand and the "Red Bull" trademark, Tiansi Group holds trademark authorization and appearance patents, giving it the confidence to confront head-on.

In terms of taste, while the author believes Anji's taste is already quite good, the imported Red Bull flavored beverage's taste is almost a perfect substitute for the old Red Bull, and those who have tried it generally approve. So, in terms of appearance and taste, Thai imported Red Bull is a perfect substitute for Huabin Red Bull. This means that channels previously dominated by Huabin Red Bull will inevitably face erosion and disruption from the Thai imported Red Bull.

2. Channels

The Red Bull trademark authorization expired in October 2016, a fact well known to those who have followed Red Bull's development in China and served the brand. This is why some people directly chose Tiansi and Pusheng. These individuals are extremely familiar with Red Bull, know its strategies in China, and deeply understand the brand's influence. Their choice reflects who they believe has better long-term development and future.

It is understood that imported Red Bull is Pusheng's main product this year, with strong support from the top, offering distributors lower purchase prices than Huabin, resulting in attractive profits. Additionally, several e-commerce platforms that previously had difficulties with Huabin are now reaching out to Pusheng, as Red Bull is a traffic driver on e-commerce platforms, offering significant benefits in both traffic and profit.

From a strategic perspective, the original imported Red Bull—Red Bull® Vitamin Flavored Beverage—is definitely another powerful weapon for Thai Tiansi to fully penetrate the Chinese market. Since its official launch announcement last December, the product has been rolled out across China, and within just four months, it has been launched in 123 cities across 17 provinces and municipalities, as well as on JD.com's online platform.

-03- Fighting the Epidemic, Establishing New Companies, Deepening Commitment to China

In addition to product expansion, Thai Tiansi Group has made several major moves in China recently.

At the end of 2019, Thai Tiansi Group registered Tiansi (Beijing) Enterprise Management Co., Ltd. in Beijing with a registered capital of 100 million yuan. At the end of March 2020, Thai Tiansi established Tiansi Red Bull (Beijing) Trading Co., Ltd., wholly owned by Tiansi (Beijing) Enterprise Management Co., Ltd., engaged in import/export of goods and food sales. It is clear that Thai Tiansi places great importance on the Chinese market and has stated it will continue to increase investment and input, not ruling out bringing other beverages besides Red Bull to China.

The Xu family, which has long been among Thailand's top three richest through Red Bull's global brand licensing and Southeast Asian operations, owns Thai Tiansi Group, whose financial strength and brand power should not be underestimated.

During the COVID-19 outbreak this year, Tiansi Group, together with its Chinese partners, donated over 12 million yuan in cash to support epidemic prevention and control, and provided more than 2,600 cases of Red Bull products to frontline workers, standing with Chinese consumers through the crisis.

-04- Establishing a Fund for Further Investment: The Owner Strikes Back, Counterfeits Have Nowhere to Hide

As is well known, Red Bull has long been plagued by counterfeit products due to its strong brand influence and profitability, with various knockoff Red Bulls emerging endlessly. As the founder and owner of the global Red Bull brand and the "Red Bull" trademark, Tiansi Group has been relentless in purifying the market and combating counterfeits.

From May 2019 to March 2020, Tiansi Group and its Chinese partner Pusheng Food Sales Co., Ltd. supported relevant Chinese government departments in conducting over 180 anti-infringement actions across 20 provinces and municipalities. They investigated and dealt with over 55,000 cases of counterfeit infringing products, more than 200 illegal merchants, and 4 counterfeit factories, arrested dozens of criminal suspects, with the total amount involved exceeding 230 million yuan, and obtained 47 administrative penalty documents for trademark infringement and unfair competition.

Recently, Tiansi Group announced that on April 26, it would initiate and establish the "Thai Tiansi Group China Intellectual Property Protection Fund" in China. To promote the fund's development, Tiansi Group plans to provide an initial capital of 2 million yuan per year for three consecutive years (totaling 6 million yuan). In the future, compensation received by Tiansi Group in intellectual property disputes in China will also be injected into the fund in a certain proportion.

The author learned that Tiansi has established cooperative relationships with the China Patent Protection Association and the China Intellectual Property Research Association to jointly organize and implement projects, supporting and promoting intellectual property protection in the Chinese market. Intellectual property protection is crucial for every enterprise, especially for well-known brands. This move by the Thai side is of great value and significance for the long-term development of the Red Bull brand in China and for brand protection in similar cases.

With sales exceeding 1 billion in just half a year, this is a strong confidence booster for both Thai Tiansi Group and its partners Guangzhou Yaonengliang and Pusheng Company.

From Thai Tiansi's series of actions, it is clear that it is determined to win the Chinese market and has been continuously increasing its investment and input. With the strong entry of imported Red Bull, the product combination strategy of Red Bull Anji plus imported Red Bull is beginning to show its power, directly impacting the old Red Bull. Who will dominate the functional beverage world in the future? Let's wait and see...

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