If asked which beverage brands are most popular among young people today, Genki Forest would undoubtedly be on the list. In just three years, it has gone from an unknown new brand to a dark horse in the domestic beverage industry, highly sought after by young consumers. Recently, with the popularity of "Our Band" and Genki Forest's sparkling water dominating Focus Media's elevator screens, a new wave of enthusiasm has swept the beverage market again. Today, let's uncover the secrets behind this dark horse brand's explosive success.

-01- Capturing the Health-Conscious 'Gen Z', Targeting the New Sugar-Free Trend How to carve out a new blue ocean in a nearly saturated beverage market, and how to create new drinks that even the picky and fickle 'Gen Z' consumers will love—these are the problems all new beverage brands must solve. This time, Genki Forest was the first to overcome the challenge. With the awakening of health awareness among the new generation of consumers and the continuous reinforcement of health concepts in the market, sugar-free tea drinks are becoming a hot new category in the beverage industry. The post-90s and post-95s, who are known for their "Buddha-like health regimen, with goji berries in their thermos cups," are almost fanatical in their pursuit of weight loss and health. Data shows that sugar-free beverages grew by over 30% in both 2017 and 2018; in March 2020 alone, the transaction amount for sugar-free drinking water was 72 million yuan, while that for sugary drinking water was only 960,000 yuan. It can be said that young people's pursuit of health and the new trend of sugar-free beverages have given Genki Forest a "new forest" to thrive in. Of course, sugar-free beverages are not a new concept; beverage giants with keen senses had already laid out plans many years ago. Although Suntory's oolong tea in 1997 and Uni-President's "Tea King" in 2002 were not particularly successful, the battle for the sugar-free beverage market has never ended. Nongfu Spring's "Oriental Leaf," Tianwo Tea House's "Tianwo Gold" series, Master Kong's "Benwei Tea House," Wahaha's "Anhua Dark Tea," and many other products have emerged one after another... There are countless sugar-free beverages, but Genki Forest has managed to stand out and lead the pack, which is closely related to its brand positioning and keen insight into consumers.

-02- Focusing on New Sugar-Free Flavors, Who Says Sugar-Free Isn't Delicious? "A trendy style among domestic products, a two-dimensional category in beverages, and a leader in sugar-free drinks"—this phrase might summarize Genki Forest's brand characteristics. As the consumer base becomes younger, brand positioning and distinctiveness have an increasing impact on consumer choices. 'Gen Z' consumers are more drawn to two-dimensional styles and prefer trendy, individualistic, and fashionable domestic products... In these aspects, Genki Forest has fully satisfied them. In terms of brand name, using the word "Genki" (元气), which is closer to the two-dimensional style, not only evokes a sense of "full of energy" but also resonates with consumers' health consciousness. In terms of brand positioning, Genki Forest decided from the very beginning to seize the leading position in the "sugar-free beverage" market to capture consumers' purchasing mindset. And how to achieve leadership in the sugar-free field? Genki Forest provided a perfect answer by addressing competitors' weaknesses and market demands. There are countless sugar-free beverages, so why hasn't any of them become a hit? The reason is simple—because they taste bad. Consumers want sugar-free options but reject blandness; young people want health but also crave texture and flavor. How to make sugar-free drinks that taste good has been a challenge that all industry brands have failed to solve. Genki Forest found a sugar substitute that ensures a sweet taste while avoiding calorie intake—"erythritol." Unlike the "aspartame" used in sugar-free cola, erythritol, despite being more expensive, does not have the health and taste controversies associated with aspartame. This has become one of the key factors in Genki Forest's rise. In terms of product categories, Genki Forest initially focused on two major segments: first, the sugar-free tea sector, launching Ran Tea with the slogan "Drink Ran Tea to cut through grease without sugar"; second, the sparkling water sector, launching soda sparkling water with the claim "0 sugar, 0 fat, 0 calories." These two popular healthy beverage categories—sugar-free tea and sugar-free sparkling water—provided solid wings for Genki Forest's rapid ascent and earned praise from young consumers.

@Aurora: "The cucumber-flavored sparkling water is super refreshing!" @Eating: "I like the peach-flavored sparkling water; it tastes like a peach cocktail!" @Guaxixi: "Black Ran is so good! It's light and cuts through grease, and drinking it feels like it helps you lose weight!" In a beverage market where tastes vary, every flavor of Genki Forest has its own fanatical followers, and its superior taste has become a prominent advantage for the brand.

-03- Mastering Media Marketing, Dominating Focus Media Advertising With excellent products and accurate positioning, the remaining task is to choose the right channels and execute marketing well. In terms of channels, Genki Forest took a path similar to Jiang Xiaobai—forming a "win-win alliance" with chain convenience stores in first- and second-tier cities, leveraging the new channel dividends of internet-based convenience stores like 7-Eleven, FamilyMart, and Hema to successfully penetrate the young consumer market. In media marketing, Genki Forest, with its keen insight into its consumer base, has also been smooth sailing. Online, it adopts a youthful internet strategy: entering platforms like Bilibili, Xiaohongshu, and Weibo to enhance content-based communication; embedding in popular variety shows with traffic stars like "Our Song" and "Our Band" to continuously expand brand popularity; and recruiting celebrities like Wang Yibo, Deng Lun, Huang Jingyu, and Wei Daxun to further capture the fan market. For offline media, Genki Forest chose to dominate Focus Media's elevator screens on a large scale. This is because Genki Forest's consumer base consists of post-90s and post-95s, a new generation raised on the internet who tend to actively seek information, are highly resistant to online push ads, and even pay for memberships to avoid ads. Their more individualistic and freer consumption habits make it difficult for brand ads to reach this new generation effectively. Elevator media, however, has natural advantages such as high frequency, strong reach, forced viewing, and minimal environmental distraction. In spaces like apartment buildings and office towers that consumers pass through daily, playing brand ads repeatedly 4-6 times can "force" the brand into users' minds through subtle influence. Additionally, Focus Media's coverage of 310 million mainstream urban consumers highly overlaps with Genki Forest's target audience. Through youthful online tactics and the powerful ignition of offline elevator media, Genki Forest's brand awareness quickly spread beyond its initial circle, becoming a well-known star brand among young consumers in first- and second-tier cities. Better products, more accurate positioning, more suitable channels, and more effective media marketing—Genki Forest has made the right choice almost every time, which is the key secret to its rise as a dark horse in just three years. We also hope that in the fiercely competitive beverage market, more excellent domestic brands like Genki Forest will emerge, bringing us more new surprises and trends. Tips will be paid 400-2000 yuan upon adoption.