---
title: "National Candy Brand 'Golden Monkey' Returns with an Upgrade"
description: "A new face appears on Tmall's top-selling chocolate list—ugly-cute with big eyes, calling itself 'Ugly Monster'! On Douyin, this product has sold hundreds of thousands of units. It turns out this is not a new brand but a revamped classic from the national candy brand Golden Monkey, which has made bold innovations to appeal to younger consumers."
author: "张博"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2025-06-28"
categories: "Brand Marketing"
language: "en"
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attribution: "New Distribution — https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/national-candy-brand-golden-monkey-returns-with-an-upgrade-2c788105/"
citation: "张博. “National Candy Brand 'Golden Monkey' Returns with an Upgrade.” New Distribution, 2025-06-28. https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/national-candy-brand-golden-monkey-returns-with-an-upgrade-2c788105/"
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---

# National Candy Brand 'Golden Monkey' Returns with an Upgrade

> A new face appears on Tmall's top-selling chocolate list—ugly-cute with big eyes, calling itself 'Ugly Monster'! On Douyin, this product has sold hundreds of thousands of units. It turns out this is not a new brand but a revamped classic from the national candy brand Golden Monkey, which has made bold innovations to appeal to younger consumers.

A new face appears on Tmall's top-selling chocolate list—ugly-cute with big eyes, calling itself 'Ugly Monster'! On Douyin, this product has sold hundreds of thousands of units.
Where did this 'new' consumer brand that understands young people so well suddenly come from? Consulting industry insiders reveals that it's not a new brand at all, but one of the hit products created by the national candy brand Golden Monkey through a revival of its classic products!
Image 1: Ugly Monster Nut Chocolate tops Tmall's charts
After deeper understanding, we discovered that this former national brand has completely transformed, making many bold innovative attempts on the path to 'youthfulness'!
**Golden Monkey, a Childhood Memory for a Generation**
In the south, there's White Rabbit; in the north, Golden Monkey. For people born in the 70s and 80s, when buying candy for the New Year, Golden Monkey milk candy was always a must-have at home! In 1992, the Year of the Monkey, Golden Monkey milk candy became an instant hit with the slogan 'Three Golden Monkey milk candies make a cup of good milk.' Within just over a decade, with sales of 2 billion yuan and a top-three market share, it became a 'national milk candy' alongside White Rabbit, seen in nearly every household.
But this star brand didn't have smooth sailing. After failing to go public and with declining sales, Golden Monkey was fully acquired by a Dutch subsidiary of the American Hershey Company for over 3 billion yuan.
It was regrettable that a national brand fell into foreign hands. But the integration between Chinese and foreign enterprises was not smooth, and foreign companies were not good at revitalizing domestic brands. After several twists and turns, in 2018, Henan Yuxiang bought back the Golden Monkey brand. Through ups and downs, Golden Monkey, carrying the childhood memories of a generation, finally returned to Chinese hands!
Image 2: The Golden Monkey milk candy from memory
**Built on Quality, Stuck on Innovation:**
**To Be a Top Company, 'Sincerity' Alone Isn't Enough**
**Becoming a candy top player relied on 'fan-pleasing' products with no tricks, just sincerity.**
Among many national candy brands, Golden Monkey became a shared memory for a generation thanks to its excellent product quality, adhering to 'real ingredients'—this is the national craftsmanship of a brand that sticks to its domestic roots.
In an era before 'involution,' Golden Monkey set higher standards for its products. The milk candy selected high-quality milk with high butterfat content, making each candy rich and full; it also used fine sugar-cooking techniques to give the candy a soft, delicate texture, sweet but not cloying. The classic Golden Monkey Mylikes (chocolate malt balls) had smooth chocolate outside and crispy inside, with distinct layers, combining traditional recipes with modern production, becoming many people's childhood 'luxury snack.'
Image 3: Golden Monkey's highly acclaimed product, Mylikes
It was this strictness with ingredients and persistence in craftsmanship that made Golden Monkey stand out among national candy brands, becoming the 'quality champion' in sweet memories.
With sincere products well-received by consumers, Golden Monkey's main products—milk candy and Mylikes—have consistently ranked first in their categories due to their strong product strength.
Image 4: Market position recognition of Golden Monkey products
**To Become a World-Class Food Company, Comprehensive Capabilities Are Needed!**
Although it successfully created its cornerstone products, Golden Monkey's operational shortcomings emerged, hindering the national brand from reaching new heights.
Back then, when competitors were introducing new flavors and health concepts, Golden Monkey was still stuck on old products, with outdated packaging and few categories, showing clear competitive weakness and lacking a complete product development strategy and matrix.
Marketing also lagged. While other brands were already advertising on CCTV, Golden Monkey's marketing was still at the 'supermarket tasting' stage. Looking at the international market, food giants succeed not only through products but also through the unique value they give consumers, marketing communication, and innovation—for example, Dove strengthened its chocolate's silkiness and Valentine's Day attributes through marketing.
Golden Monkey's insufficient product matrix and lack of brand marketing made it difficult to sustain its brand momentum.
**What's Never Lacking Is the Courage to Start Over:**
**Quality Originality + Innovation and Change**
**The 'comeback script' of the long-quiet national candy brand Golden Monkey is unfolding**
From being acquired by foreign capital and then bought back at a low price, Golden Monkey's return is not simply 'selling nostalgia,' but precisely capturing three major trends of the new consumer era: the appearance economy, health demands, and emotional resonance, using a combination of 'trendy IP + functional upgrades + emotional marketing' to re-enter the market.
The new team completely overturned the old approach: on the product side, they launched extra-rich milk candy and national trend co-branded editions; on the channel side, they focused on live-stream e-commerce and convenience stores; they also initiated the 'Old Taste, New Heritage' plan to make classic products popular again among young people. This time, Golden Monkey is not just selling nostalgia but proving its market value with real innovation and win-win models!
**Clear Product Development Strategy: Both Heritage and Innovation; Golden Monkey's Unique Advantage**
In 2025, Golden Monkey's bold product innovations are well-prepared!
From early single-dimensional focus on quality, now it develops products with multi-dimensional innovation in health, function, fun, design, and IP, with lively packaging and buzzworthy topics, keeping up with young people's preferences!
At the same time, Golden Monkey is well aware of its unique advantage that new brands cannot replicate: the quality endorsement from decades of 'real ingredients' and the trust and emotional connection built with consumers over time.
Therefore, it both follows the market's desire for novelty and change, and preserves heritage, amplifying brand assets.
**The Lifeline of a Company Is Making Good Products: Multiple Hit Products Already on the Market with Enthusiastic Feedback**
**Classic Products + Top IP + Functional Upgrades: Kuromi Co-branded Milk Candy Precisely Targets Girls' Hearts.**
Golden Monkey understands the rule of 'new expression for old brands.' While retaining classic selling points, it boldly co-branded with the top IP Sanrio's Kuromi to launch the 'Extra-Rich Milk Candy Series,' with fully upgraded quality, double milk content, and a strengthened 'extra-rich' label. Image 5: Extra-Rich Milk Candy amax Kuromi Edition
Kuromi's dark and cute style has strong social sharing appeal, quickly becoming a phenomenal global IP. When Golden Monkey meets Z-generation super-popular Kuromi, it creates a 'favorite' for Gen Z with good products. The huge commercial and brand value from this strong alliance quickly attracted attention from various commercial channels. Besides covering traditional supermarkets, it will also focus on convenience stores, trendy toy stores, and online live-streaming in the future, covering richer consumption scenarios.
**Ugly Monster Chocolate: Old Product, New Story, Creating 'China's M&M's'**
'Ugly Monster' chocolate is not a brand-new product but a chocolate product from Golden Monkey's history. In 2024, a consumer posted online reminiscing about it from childhood, and Golden Monkey quickly responded, reshaping the product with a 'retro-innovation' strategy.
Image 6: Golden Monkey Ugly Monster Nut Chocolate sells well on Tmall and Douyin
The product is full of emotional value; the packaging retains the classic ugly-cute image but adds blind box quote stickers like 'Life is bitter, but I am sweet,' enhancing the healing feeling.
Ugly Monster Nut Dark Chocolate (cocoa butter content ≥56%) is full of ingredients, weirdly delicious, with a satisfying crunch, retaining the original sweetness, healthy and guilt-free, suitable for all ages.
Image 7: Golden Monkey Ugly Monster Nut Chocolate
Under its lively and cute appearance, the product continues Golden Monkey's consistent 'generous use of ingredients.' The product development lead introduced that Ugly Monster Nut Chocolate uses 'imported high-quality pure cocoa butter, whole large nuts, and freeze-dried fruit pieces' to ensure good quality.
**Golden Monkey × Ovaltine Co-branded Series Launches**
Swiss brand Ovaltine, with its century-old craftsmanship, has a unique malt cocoa flavor and has successfully integrated into the Chinese consumer market through continuous product innovation and brand collaborations. In the co-branding with Ovaltine, Golden Monkey cleverly combines Ovaltine's unique flavor with Golden Monkey's crispy rice to launch Ovaltine Crispy Rice Chocolate: crispy and crunchy.
At the same time, the perfect fusion of Ovaltine flavor and Golden Monkey's malt crispy center creates a pure cocoa butter chocolate series: Crispy Center Chocolate Balls.
The dual texture collision; classic nostalgic recipe upgraded, all using 100% imported cocoa powder. Individually wrapped for enjoying childhood taste anytime, anywhere.
Image 7: Ovaltine Crispy Rice Chocolate
Image 8: Ovaltine Crispy Center Chocolate Balls
Conclusion
**New brands are common, but national brands are rare.**
Golden Monkey proves once again that the huge brand assets accumulated by old brands over decades can still unleash tremendous momentum if managed well!
In the candy and chocolate market long dominated by foreign brands, Golden Monkey, as a national brand, also bears the mission of promoting and developing domestic candy enterprises.
Amid market involution, Golden Monkey is more determined that product innovation can change a company's development trajectory. Only products with true product strength can move consumers. For channel partners and distributors, this return is not just a revival of nostalgia but a real business opportunity.
**In 2025, the national brand Golden Monkey returns with an upgrade. We look forward to this childhood memory writing the childhood memories of another generation!**


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## Citation metadata

- Publisher: New Distribution
- Author: 张博
- Published: 2025-06-28
- Canonical: https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/national-candy-brand-golden-monkey-returns-with-an-upgrade-2c788105/
- Original source: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/odVS-J0brYdk5lFNiOWjmA

## Copyright and AI use

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