Mizone, which accounts for one-third of Danone's sales revenue in China, is making a big move. Today, Mizone announced the official launch of its largest brand upgrade in recent years. The new Mizone will not only adopt a new brand slogan, 'Mizone by Me,' but also upgrade its product formula, innovate flavors, and debut a new packaging design. Given the impact of the pandemic on the entire beverage industry in the first quarter, this timing is particularly important for the upcoming peak season. By announcing the brand upgrade at this moment, Mizone is undoubtedly aiming to secure an early advantage in this year's beverage sales season. Let's take a closer look. -01- The Biggest Innovation in a Decade "As the leading brand in vitamin beverages, Mizone drives category innovation and progress. We hope to continue delivering higher-quality products and healthier choices to consumers," said Eduardo Lacerda, Vice President of Marketing at Mizone, in a statement. The new Mizone aims to speak for young people in a more fashionable way, continuously building a brand beloved by young consumers. The company introduced that the upgraded Mizone adopts a new 'Zhenyi Vitality Formula,' which adds dietary fiber and increases the content of B vitamins, while 'maintaining its consistent low-sugar, healthy, and delicious profile.' In terms of flavors, the upgraded Mizone focuses on four core flavors: lime, white peach, orange, and cactus green lime. The orange flavor has been upgraded to a pomelo orange flavor, 'offering consumers a delightful taste experience combining sweet orange and slightly sour pomelo.' "For emerging retail channels such as convenience stores, we will launch fashionable and novel innovative flavors and new specifications in the future," revealed a Mizone marketing representative. Foodinc learned that the new Mizone has gradually become available across multiple channels, including supermarkets, convenience stores, grocery stores, and e-commerce nationwide. It is worth noting that, unlike previous rounds of minor adjustments to the Mizone logo and text design on packaging, the new Mizone adopts a completely new packaging design with a style that highlights fashion and dynamism. The 'Mizone' characters have changed from horizontal to vertical along the bottle, with larger and more eye-catching fonts. Mizone stated that to support the brand upgrade, it 'sought award-winning top design teams from around the world to create a new packaging image for Mizone,' better presenting the 'pulse beat' as seen by the new generation of consumers. This will become Mizone's new visual identity. -02- Brand Rejuvenation Behind this action, described as 'the biggest innovation in a decade,' brand rejuvenation is the core driving force. "We hope to rebuild resonance with the younger generation and establish a youthful brand positioning and values," the representative told Foodinc. Since entering the Chinese market in 2003, Mizone maintained rapid growth for a considerable period and still holds a 70% market share, ranking first in the vitamin beverage category. However, in recent years, more and more new beverage brands have emerged, including international giants like Nestlé, intensifying competition in the overall beverage market. On the other hand, the emergence of new-generation consumers such as post-95s and post-00s has brought tremendous changes to the market, prompting brands like Mizone to think more about how to tell their stories to young consumers. In response to Foodinc's inquiry, Mizone stated that it innovates every year to meet consumers' changing needs. Compared to past innovations that focused on individual aspects like new flavors or packaging, this year the brand strategically chose to comprehensively review the needs of new-generation consumers. According to the company's consumer insights, China's new-generation young people are willing to establish new models of self-fulfillment, dare to explore paths they control, and pursue their passions and goals. "For most new-generation consumers, 'Mizone' means the pulse beat. They generally believe that only when following their own chosen path can they truly feel the pulse of their lives. Mizone hopes to accompany new-generation consumers, moving forward bravely and continuously improving to become the best version of themselves. This is Mizone's new brand proposition," Mizone stated. Another latest survey shows that more than twice as many consumers believe the new Mizone is younger, more unique, more innovative, and better able to meet their needs. -03- Positioning for Peak Season to Drive Growth In fact, this brand upgrade has been brewing for a long time, and Danone has high hopes for Mizone's recovery and growth. Foodinc previously reported that Danone's Chief Financial Officer, Cécile Cabanis, said at an analyst meeting in July last year that the company needed time to think about how to adapt the Mizone brand to the rapidly changing Chinese beverage market and keep the brand close to the times. In February, Cécile revealed that due to the pandemic, the originally planned brand upgrade in the first quarter was postponed to the second quarter, describing the upgrade as a key step to reignite Mizone's brand growth. She also stated that looking ahead to 2020, Danone's water and beverage business 'will be highly dependent on Mizone's performance.' Mizone also told Foodinc today that the company hopes to better hit core growth points by better meeting the changing needs of new-generation consumers. "We believe the new Mizone can bring healthier business growth, achieve win-win cooperation with customers, and healthier business growth." It is understood that Danone's beverage plant in Wuhan resumed operations on April 7. Currently, all of Mizone's production capacity in China is fully operational, with all production lines running at full capacity to prepare for the upcoming sales peak season. The recently upgraded new Mizone has also come off some beverage production lines and is gradually being launched. Foodinc observed on e-commerce platforms that Mizone's official flagship store has launched three specifications of the new Mizone: 1000ml bottles, 600ml bottles, and 400ml mini bottles, priced at approximately 7 yuan, 5 yuan, and 3.6 yuan, respectively. "We expect the new Mizone to complete nationwide distribution within April," Mizone told Foodinc. To support the comprehensive brand upgrade, Mizone has significantly increased brand investment this year and will launch a series of major brand activities and marketing campaigns, including a new flavor tasting campaign covering 3 million people. In terms of channels, Mizone will target emerging convenience store retail channels, collaborate with top-tier celebrity traffic for cross-industry cooperation, and launch continuously innovative marketing plans to maximize brand visibility. Source: Foodinc (ID: foodinc) Tips will be paid 400-2000 yuan once adopted.