---
title: "“Oriental Magic Water” Jianlibao: Outshone Sanzhu and Apollo, Yet Reduced to OEM for Genki Forest"
description: "In 2020, Jianlibao launched new products, engaged with Douyin, live-streaming, and national trend marketing, while also serving as an OEM for the trendy beverage brand Genki Forest. Once the top national beverage brand, Jianlibao is striving to return to the public eye with determination."
author: "黄晓军"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
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published: "2020-07-17"
language: "en"
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# “Oriental Magic Water” Jianlibao: Outshone Sanzhu and Apollo, Yet Reduced to OEM for Genki Forest

> In 2020, Jianlibao launched new products, engaged with Douyin, live-streaming, and national trend marketing, while also serving as an OEM for the trendy beverage brand Genki Forest. Once the top national beverage brand, Jianlibao is striving to return to the public eye with determination.

**Click to read the original text for details**
**In 2020, launching new products, playing on Douyin, doing live-streaming, and shooting national trend campaigns, while on the other side being the OEM for the trendy beverage Genki Forest... The former number one national beverage brand, Jianlibao, is enduring hardships on the road back to the public eye.**
1984 was the first year of modern Chinese enterprises. That year, Wang Shi, who was trading corn, founded Vanke; Liu Chuanzhi, a civil servant who read newspapers daily, founded Lenovo; and 35-year-old Zhang Ruimin was sent to a failing electrical appliance factory as its director.
But financial writer Wu Xiaobo commented in "The Turbulent Thirty Years" that in 1984, China's most commendable company was not these, but a beverage factory born in Sanshui County, Guangdong.
In March of that year, Li Jingwei, the director of the Sanshui County Winery, paid attention to the 23rd Olympic Games to be held in Los Angeles in August. He received information that the National Sports Commission would meet in June to decide the designated beverage for the Chinese delegation.
At that moment, he had a new beverage that had not yet been launched on the market, and even its packaging cans and trademark had not been finalized.
**-01- Oriental Magic Water Sweeps Los Angeles**
Under the influence of Coca-Cola, China's beverage market was extremely active in 1984.
Chongqing Tianfu Cola was the first domestic cola beverage, followed by Shaolin Cola and West Lake Cola. Data showed that there were over 2,000 beverage factories in China at that time.
Li Jingwei thought of a more distinctive beverage—a sports drink—hoping it could help athletes quickly recover their strength, while also being suitable for ordinary people.
What should it be called? Li Jingwei decided on "Jianlibao" because it sounded like it had a "health" connotation.
In addition, to highlight its high-end and premium image, Li Jingwei also proposed using easy-open cans for packaging. Since there were no domestic enterprises producing easy-open cans and his own winery could not build a canning line, he boldly approached PepsiCo to produce it on their behalf.
How dramatic it was that PepsiCo agreed.
In April 1984, the Asian Football Confederation held a meeting in Guangzhou, and 200 boxes of Jianlibao on the tables sparked heated discussion among participants.
This canned sports drink caught the attention of the National Sports Commission and was designated as the official beverage for the Chinese Olympic delegation in June.
The Los Angeles Olympics opened as scheduled, and Jianlibao, which had no market sales at the time, entered the venue with the Chinese delegation. That year, the Chinese women's volleyball team achieved a three-peat, and Xu Haifeng and Li Ning also became legends.
China's medal tally reached fourth place globally, attracting attention from various media. The Tokyo Shimbun focused on the beverage that the women's volleyball team had been drinking, and jokingly wrote an article titled "Rapid Attack with 'Oriental Magic Water'?"
A reporter from Yangcheng Evening News saw this news and also wrote a report titled "'Chinese Magic Water' Sweeps Los Angeles," making Jianlibao famous overnight.
In 1984, Jianlibao's annual sales were 3.45 million yuan, doubling to 16.5 million in 1985, and reaching 130 million in 1986. At its peak, Sanshui County was filled with trucks from all over the country waiting to pick up goods, and a single railway car of Jianlibao was scalped for 20,000 yuan.
For more than a decade thereafter, Jianlibao was revered as the "**Number One National Beverage Brand**".
▧ In 1991, Jianlibao spent $5 million to buy an entire floor in the Empire State Building as its office for entering the US market. Image/Internet
▧ When The New York Times, a media benchmark, reported on Jianlibao, it included a color promotional photo of "President-elect Clinton's wife Hillary raising a glass of Jianlibao at a gathering." Image/Internet
▧ The first star named after a company in the world: Sanshui Jianlibao Star. Image/Internet
**-02- Marketing Chaos Piercing the Industry**
1987 was the year Jianlibao became famous nationwide. After becoming the designated beverage for the 6th National Games, Jianlibao's orders reached 200 million yuan within 2 hours.
For this, Li Jingwei also appeared on CCTV, and the advertisement "If you want to be healthy, drink Jianlibao" became popular across the country.
Coincidentally, that year, Zong Qinghou founded Wahaha Health Products in Hangzhou, following Jianlibao's path, using the slogan "Drink Wahaha, eat with a good appetite."
By the 1990s, advertising became a direct driver of sales. The most famous was Ji Changkong's speech at the Media Center Conference.
He said, "In 1995, we drove a Santana into CCTV every day, and drove out a luxury Audi; this year, we will drive in a luxury Mercedes every day, and strive to drive out a stretched Lincoln."
At that time, he won the CCTV bid champion again with 321.2118 million yuan. The calculation for this bid price was simple: Ji Changkong said, "This is my phone number."
Health product brands that emerged during the same period were similar. Guangdong's Apollo, Shenyang Feilong, and Shandong Sanzhu, among others, became popular through health product concepts and crazy advertising.
Shenyang Feilong launched "Yansheng Hubao Liquid," claiming it was a traditional Chinese medicine formula specifically for treating kidney deficiency in both men and women.
Then, overwhelming advertisements flooded cities and villages through various media. For example, full-page newspaper ads for kidney deficiency, focusing on regulating kidney deficiency. This once became a necessity for Chinese men; seeing the ad, even a toe pain could be associated with kidney deficiency.
For a time, Feilong became a panacea that "cures illness, prevents disease, suitable for men, women, old and young, all seasons."
▧ At that time, Feilong became a panacea that "cures illness, prevents disease, suitable for men, women, old and young, all seasons." Image/7788.com
Sanzhu even pioneered advertising by inviting patients to testify and experts to give free consultations everywhere, telling you wherever you go that you are sick and need medication. The advertising promise of "cure illness, prevent disease" was also deeply believed by rural elderly.
However, later, a retired old boatman in Hanshou County, Changde, Hunan, spent 428 yuan to buy 10 bottles of Sanzhu Oral Liquid and died 3 months later. His family sued Sanzhu based on the local hospital's diagnosis of "Sanzhu drug-induced hyperprotein allergy."
▧ Sanzhu Oral Liquid, which promised to cure illness and prevent disease, was once popular in rural markets. Image/Internet
The up-and-coming Apollo even bombarded TV with advertisements in rotation and quickly achieved annual sales of 1.3 billion yuan, approaching Jianlibao's 1.8 billion yuan championship position.
Advertising tactics that exaggerated functions, even deceiving consumers, were common in this era. But Li Jingwei did not blindly follow; instead, he introduced more creative marketing methods.
In 1991, Jianlibao launched a pull-tab prize: if the pull tab of a Jianlibao can had a winning mark, consumers could claim a 50,000 yuan grand prize.
This was quite popular in township markets at the time. In the movie "Crazy Stone," the protagonist's trick of deceiving someone on Chongqing's light rail with a winning pull tab was actually a scam that became popular in society after Jianlibao launched this marketing campaign.
Through the pull-tab prize promotion, Jianlibao from 1991 to 1996 swept all first places in the national beverage industry, from product and sales volume to taxes and profits.
By 1997, when the national health product market collapsed, Jianlibao was still favored by the market.
**-03- Cannot Escape the Clutches of Capital**
**The greatest competitor of a great enterprise is often itself.**
When Jianlibao's annual sales exceeded 5 billion yuan, Li Jingwei sensed Jianlibao's crisis: the attitude of the Sanshui County government.
Despite "no Li Jingwei, no Jianlibao," the latter was nominally still a local state-owned enterprise of Sanshui.
The awkward property rights issue meant serious institutional problems. To fulfill employment rates, Sanshui County explicitly required that 45% of Jianlibao's employees must be Sanshui locals, and various nepotistic hires occurred monthly.
When talking about these matters, Li Jingwei would angrily pound the table. Coincidentally, during this period, state-owned enterprise Midea was sold to its founder He Xiangjian, and TCL was also authorized by the government to be managed by Li Dongsheng.
Li Jingwei planned to solve the team's equity issue through a Hong Kong listing and decided to invest 1 billion yuan to build the Jianlibao Tower in Guangzhou, moving the headquarters out of Sanshui.
At that time, Jianlibao's taxes accounted for 80% of Sanshui's local fiscal revenue, so Sanshui could not let go. Starting in 1998, the Sanshui government increased control over Jianlibao's funds; every new product development had to be approved by the city government, go through the city government's fiscal budget, and then funds were allocated.
After three consecutive years, Jianlibao's development was constrained, with revenue dropping from 5.4 billion to 3.1 billion yuan, and taxes and profits falling below 20 million yuan.
As Jianlibao's benefits declined, the Sanshui government began discussing whether to sell Jianlibao.
During this process, Li Jingwei blocked acquisition offers from Singapore's First Food Company and Wahaha, and promised to buy Jianlibao for 450 million yuan.
But at this time, Zhang Hai, one of the most mysterious figures in the history of Chinese enterprises over the past 30 years, appeared out of nowhere.
▧ Zhang Hai, a turning point in Jianlibao's history. Image/Internet
Zhang Hai became chairman of China High-Tech at the age of 25, making him the youngest chairman of a listed company in China at the time. His capital involved listed companies such as Shen Nanguang, Yinge Investment, Founder Technology, Shen Tianma, Feiyada A, and Shen Da Tong.
It was said that Zhang Hai's "Kaidi System" was as famous as Tang Wanxin's "Delong System."
Later news was that the Sanshui government transferred 75% of Jianlibao's shares to Zhejiang State Investment for 338 million yuan. This so-called state-owned "Zhejiang State Investment" was merely an obscure institution under Zhang Hai's subsidiary, already burdened with bad debts.
Unable to come up with 338 million yuan at once, Zhang Hai promised to pay within 3 years. During this period, the capitalist turned industrialist, and Zhang Hai made earth-shaking changes to Jianlibao.
For example, finding Jianlibao too rustic, Zhang Hai renamed it "Fifth Season"; returning to the era of crazy advertising bombardment, and focusing on all categories.
The barbaric approach did not yield results. In July 2004, Jianlibao's sales plan fell to 300 million yuan, but actual sales were only 100 million.
Afterwards, Jianlibao changed hands several times, being acquired by Taiwan's Uni-President Group and then CITIC's Chunxin Capital.
After Chunxin Capital acquired it for 950 million yuan, Jianlibao seemed to regain vitality: in 2018, news of a relisting emerged, and it returned to sports marketing by sponsoring CBA's Xinjiang Tianshan Snow Leopard.
▧ After several capital turnovers, Jianlibao became an OEM for the trendy beverage Genki Forest. Image/Internet
But what is most known to the outside world is its OEM work for the trendy beverage Genki Forest.
In early 2020, Beijing Business Today reporters found that many Genki Forest products were commissioned to Jianlibao-related companies.
On the packaging of several bottled sparkling water products from Genki Forest, the labels read "Commissioned by Beijing Guangdong Jianlibao Beverage Co., Ltd.," "Commissioned by Jianlibao (Zhenjiang) Beverage Co., Ltd.," "Commissioned by Foshan Sanshui Jianlibao Food Co., Ltd.," and "Commissioned by Guangdong Jianlibao Co., Ltd."
This means that many Genki Forest products are produced by Jianlibao as an OEM. This scenario is even more dramatic than when Jianlibao had PepsiCo produce for it.
**-04- The Desire to Return to the Public Eye**
**While bowing to OEM work, we also see Jianlibao's forbearance and determination to make a comeback.**
On its official website, Jianlibao writes: "With the rise of the post-90s and post-00s new generation of consumers, facing the industry upheaval brought by changes in the consumer market landscape, Jianlibao's rejuvenation is no longer just a slogan."
This acknowledges the fact that for many years Jianlibao treated "rejuvenation" as merely a slogan, while also emphasizing its ambition to return to the market.
**1. Product Iteration**
Since the 2000s, health has become a keyword in the beverage industry. Weakly alkaline soda water and sugar-free sparkling water have been warmly received. Recently, the post-90s generation has added a new demand: health is right, but taste is king.
According to NetEase's Shudu statistics, among 9,400 answers on Zhihu, 15 beverages are highly favored by young people. If there is a commonality among these beverages, it is fruit flavor.
Perhaps perceiving this market demand, Jianlibao launched a sparkling water beverage called "Micro Bubble Water" as early as April, with white peach cherry and mojito flavors.
From the packaging, colors, and promotional posters of Micro Bubble Water, Jianlibao seems to have transformed from a national product and "Chinese magic water" to be indistinguishable from the emerging trendy brand Genki Forest.
After Genki Forest's "0 sugar, 0 fat, 0 calories" quickly captured consumer minds, Jianlibao also launched a sugar-free version of its Jianlibao beverage called "Jianlibao Fiber+" at the end of June, claiming 0 sugar and 0 fat, and adding dietary fiber, targeting exercise and sweating scenarios.
Media reports say this is the biggest taste innovation for Jianlibao's flagship beverage since the brand's founding in 1984.
**2. Cross-border Co-branding**
After launching the fashionable "Micro Bubble Water," the public thought Jianlibao would follow Genki Forest's path and break away from the traditional national product image.
But in May, Jianlibao collaborated with the Forbidden City to launch a "Dragon and Phoenix Auspicious Bottle" and ran a "Confession Day" advertisement on bus stops in Guangzhou, Taiyuan, and Haikou.
Its press release stated that, using fashion trends for personal expression, Jianlibao is happy to join young people who play with traditional culture in new ways, enjoying the unique charm of the fusion of classical and modern in the national trend.
Several years ago, Jianlibao wavered between beverages and health products; today, Jianlibao seems to be torn between pure rejuvenation and classic national trend.
**3. Video Marketing**
To highlight the national trend brand, Jianlibao even invited Chinese football player Li Tie, Peking Opera master Wang Peiyu, and others to co-produce an advertisement with Ergen titled "This is China's New Youth."
The 8-minute short video has 14.7 million views on Tencent Video.
Douyin users were not ignored. In early June, Jianlibao used its offline experience store "Jianlibao No. 8 Trend Hall" as a setting to film a series of short drama videos on Douyin, embedding various drinks and co-branded merchandise with IPs like the Forbidden City.
Most notably, Jianlibao Micro Bubble Water also entered Li Jiaqi's live-streaming room, but specific sales figures were not disclosed.
However, on Jianlibao's Tmall flagship store, "Jianlibao Micro Bubble Sugar-Free 0 Fat Dietary Fiber White Peach Mojito Sparkling Water 500ml*15 bottles" has monthly sales of 1,304 and cumulative reviews of over 3,500.
The best-selling item in the store is still Jianlibao's classic orange commemorative can, with monthly sales of over 8,000 and cumulative reviews of over 40,000.
In the Beijing Business Today report, Xu Xiongjun, a strategic positioning expert and founder of Jiude Positioning Consulting, expressed his views. He believes that when Jianlibao is not selling well, choosing to OEM for trendy brands has three benefits:
> **First, it can earn some profit to support the independent brand;**
> **Second, it can learn the formulas of other best-selling beverages while producing for them;**
> **Third, it can better grasp Genki Forest's development layout, thereby forming differentiated competition.**
Judging from current actions, Jianlibao may indeed be "learning from" Genki Forest to make a comeback, which is nothing less than a period of enduring hardships.
Source: New Business Reference (ID: xinshangye2016), Author: Huang Xiaojun


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