How can old brands stay relevant? This is a question that Want Want, and many others, must consider. When it comes to the collective childhood memories of the post-80s and post-90s generations, Want Want definitely holds a place. Want Want Senbei, Want Want小小酥, Want Want Little馒头, Want Want Milk, Want Want QQ糖... accompanied by the slogan "You prosper, I prosper, everyone prospers," these products won over two generations of young people. But if it hadn't recently topped the hot search, many might not know that Want Want is a 60-year-old Taiwanese enterprise. On August 5, Want Want suddenly topped Weibo's hot search, with many netizens commenting "China Want Want." The trigger was that Cai Wangjia, the second son of Want Want's chairman Tsai Eng-meng, posted several Weibo messages on his personal account, taking a stance on the recent visit of a certain individual to Taiwan. Source: Weibo @Matt旺家 Cai Wangjia is the second son of Tsai Eng-meng, the company's administrative president and CEO, and currently serves as the company's chief operating officer and vice president of the dairy and beverage division. This is not the first time Cai Wangjia has gone viral. With his straightforward patriotic expressions and humorous, down-to-earth style, Cai Wangjia has subverted people's expectations of elite second-generation rich, and is affectionately called "Second Young Master" by netizens. The "hot search effect" drove a surge in Want Want product sales. On the night it topped Weibo's hot search, Want Want's livestream attracted nearly 100,000 viewers, with sales exceeding 200,000 yuan. According to Meituan data, from August 5-7, sales of various Want Want products on the platform increased by 65% year-on-year. It can be said that Want Want's viral moment is another classic case of large-scale "wild consumption." But "wild consumption" is only a reflection of fleeting emotions; the brand's deep history is what truly stimulates consumers' deeper emotions. Only by converting explosive traffic growth into lasting brand equity can Want Want continue to prosper. 01 Glorious Past Want Want Group originated from Yilan Food, established in 1962. In 1976, 19-year-old Tsai Eng-meng took over Yilan Food Factory from his father and became general manager. But due to lack of business acumen, within just one year, Yilan Food Factory lost 100 million yuan, earning him the label of "prodigal son." However, this failure ignited Tsai's competitive nature, transforming him from a playboy into a serious second-generation entrepreneur. In 1980, while conducting market research in the countryside, Tsai noticed an oversupply of rice in Taiwan and came up with the idea of making rice crackers. At just 23, he went to Iwatsuka Confectionery, one of Japan's renowned rice cracker manufacturers, to express his desire for cooperation. Despite repeated rejections, he persisted and finally won them over two years later. After signing the agreement, Tsai returned to Taiwan and quickly launched Taiwan's local rice cracker series—Want Want. It is said that the name "Want Want" was chosen because he loved dogs, and the character "旺" (wang) also carries the auspicious meaning of "prosperity" and "king each day." In 1983, the first rice cracker product, "Want Want Senbei," was born. With the image of the Want Want boy, Want Want quickly captured Taiwan's children's food market. But what truly solidified Want Want's position in Taiwan was its association with sacrificial culture. Taiwan has a strong sacrificial culture, and Tsai targeted the "offering" position, repositioning "Want Want Senbei" from children's snacks to sacrificial offerings, even producing various sacrificial advertisements. Subsequent new products like Lang Wei Xian, Snow Moon, and Want Want Little馒头 also performed well. Thus, Want Want gradually captured about 95% of Taiwan's rice cracker market, becoming a household name in rice crackers. In 1992, with the "1992 Consensus" reached and relations between the mainland and Taiwan easing, Tsai set his sights on the mainland. He bypassed coastal provinces and set up a factory in Changsha, Hunan, starting Want Want's rice cracker business on the mainland. Reports at the time said the factory generated 250 million yuan in revenue in its first year of operation. In 1994, many food companies eyed the lucrative rice cracker market, and hundreds of factories engaged in price wars, causing prices to plummet and gross margins to decline. Facing fierce competition, Tsai adopted a decisive strategy, expanding scale while cutting prices. At that time, to accelerate market opening, local governments were actively attracting investment. Want Want seized this opportunity to self-recommend to various governments; it is rumored that Tsai wrote over 1,000 letters requesting government funding to build factories for Want Want to rent. Simultaneously, Tsai launched four sub-brands of low-priced rice crackers, triggering rounds of price wars, reducing prices to 5 yuan per kilogram, ultimately driving competitors out of the market. Source: Weibo @旺仔俱乐部 Besides the rice cracker series, star products like Want Want Milk, O-Pao Fruit Milk, Want Want Little馒头, Want Want Crushed Ice, Want Want QQ糖, and Want Want小小酥 also emerged in the 1990s, meeting mainland consumers' snack needs and winning their affection. Product quality is one thing, but Want Want is also a marketing master. Most memorable are a series of catchy, brainwashing ads, such as "Look at me again, and I'll drink you up," "You prosper, I prosper, everyone prospers," and the Want Want Milk ad featuring Li Ziming from Class 2, Grade 3. With these ads going viral, the Want Want boy IP became deeply ingrained, making Want Want a household name for the post-80s and post-90s, and Tsai Eng-meng became the "Rice Cracker King" across the strait. The following decade was Want Want's heyday. Financial reports show that from 2004 to 2013, Want Want grew rapidly, with a compound annual growth rate of 21% in total revenue, reaching 26.399 billion yuan in 2013 (calculated at the exchange rate at the time of writing). Want Want's stock price also rose steadily, hitting a historical peak of HK$11.392 on April 14, 2014, with a total market value exceeding HK$160 billion. Notably, Want Want was originally listed in Singapore. In September 2007, "Want Want Holdings" delisted from Singapore, and in March 2008, it began public offering in Hong Kong, changing its stock name to "China Want Want." 02 From Glory to Decline Want Want's rapid market expansion on the mainland is inseparable from riding the wave of consumption upgrades. In the 1990s, reform and opening up brought increasing material abundance, and people began to demand snacks beyond three meals a day, especially for children. Traditional snacks like rice crackers, spicy strips, and biscuits entered the public eye during this period. Many well-known traditional snack brands were born from this. For example, Wahaha's classic product "Wahaha AD Calcium Milk" was born in 1996, marking Wahaha's official entry into the snack market; in 1998, Strong Group's "Crystal Love" jelly became a favorite among young people. At that time, there were mainly two sales channels for snacks: supermarkets and street-side shops. TV advertising was the primary marketing method at this stage. The sales path for FMCG products was relatively fixed: consumers saw ads, learned about products, and purchased them at supermarkets or small shops. After 2000, the snack industry gained new vitality due to channel changes, and a batch of new snack brands emerged. In 2001, Lai Yifen opened its first store in Shanghai, entering the market with roasted nuts and seeds, then expanding product categories to include bean products, dried fruits and vegetables, meat products, candies, jellies, and more, pioneering a full-category snack specialty chain model. Liangpin Shop, founded in 2006, also featured multiple categories, "gathering snacks from all over," using OEM to quickly scale products and franchising to accelerate store expansion. Baicao Wei, born in 2003, also focused on full-category snack chains. It can be seen that with the gradual improvement of supply chains, new players transitioned from self-production and self-sale to OEM and specialty chain channel operations. This asset-light model of only managing channels and brands laid the groundwork for the later emergence of the "e-commerce snack trio." Starting in 2010, it was the decade of e-commerce prosperity, and attracted by channel dividends, snack brands went fully online. The "e-commerce snack trio"—Three Squirrels, Liangpin Shop, and Baicao Wei—rose to prominence, gradually eroding the market share of traditional snack brands and inevitably impacting "Want Want and similar brands." Baicao Wei, which had struggled with offline expansion, began shifting its business online from 2010, joining platforms like Taobao and JD.com. In 2012, Baicao Wei participated in "Tmall Double 11" for the second time, achieving single-day sales exceeding 5 million yuan and annual turnover of 120 million yuan. Three Squirrels, claiming to be China's first "pure internet food brand," was also founded in 2012, and within two months of its debut, it won the Tmall nut championship, with sales exceeding 300 million yuan in 2013 and 500 million yuan in 2016. China's snack market stepped into the internet era, but many traditional snack brands were at a loss, still relying on offline channels and missing the optimal window for online business. Taking Want Want as an example, after its peak performance in 2013, Want Want has been on a downward trajectory. Financial reports show that by fiscal year 2016, the company's revenue had fallen from 26.399 billion yuan to 19.017 billion yuan, and net profit attributable to shareholders dropped from 4.751 billion yuan to 3.337 billion yuan (calculated at the exchange rate at the time of writing). It wasn't until after 2017 that Want Want's performance slightly recovered. The latest financial report shows that in fiscal year 2021, Want Want achieved revenue of 23.985 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 9%; net profit attributable to shareholders was 4.203 billion yuan, up 1.1% year-on-year. 03 Failing to Capture Young People Facing channel iterations, challenges from newcomers, and new health concepts, Want Want has not been passive. On the contrary, judging from its actions, Want Want has made considerable efforts, but it still hasn't captured the hearts of the new generation, and the glory of the 1990s is hard to replicate. First, in terms of channels, Want Want began channel expansion in 2016, actively promoting new products on multiple e-commerce platforms like Tmall and Suning, making e-commerce platform construction and internet sales strategy a key development direction. In 2017, one-third of Want Want's dairy and beverage revenue came from e-commerce channels, yet Want Want's share of the industry's online retail was still minimal. After fully embracing e-commerce, Want Want launched a "new retail strategy" in 2018, opening 45 directly-operated Want Want Club theme stores by the end of that year. According to insiders, there are currently about 60 offline Want Want Clubs nationwide, many located near scenic spots. However, few netizens check in on Dianping, and complaints focus on stores being too small and locations too remote. Secondly, from a product perspective, traditional products lag in health concepts, and new product innovation is insufficient, making it hard for Want Want to attract contemporary young people, leaving it stuck in childhood memories. Currently, Want Want Group's main products are divided into four categories: rice crackers, dairy and beverages, leisure foods, and other products (mainly alcohol and other foods). In fiscal year 2021, the four product lines generated revenues of 5.592 billion yuan, 12.874 billion yuan, 5.397 billion yuan, and 122 million yuan, accounting for 23.32%, 53.67%, 22.5%, and 0.51% of total revenue, respectively. It can be seen that Want Want's founding category, rice crackers, is no longer what it used to be; now dairy and beverages are the revenue pillar. Moreover, the single product Want Want Milk accounts for over 90% of dairy and beverage revenue. But today's young people pursue health, low sugar, and no burden, placing new demands on the food and beverage FMCG sector. Low-temperature fresh milk, sugar-free yogurt, plant-based yogurt, oat milk, etc., are emerging one after another, leading the current domestic dairy consumption market. Want Want Milk still uses reconstituted milk, which is made by mixing milk powder with water, so it's no surprise that it loses appeal to young people. Since 2015, Want Want has also launched new products such as Want Want Black Skin, Ai Yo, Na Duo Li, Ku Ku Tea, Bond Coffee, healthy snack FixXBody, professional infant complementary food brand "Baby Mama," high-quality women's brand "Queen Alice," spicy lover personality brand "Mr.Hot," and middle-aged and elderly health nutrition brand "Ai Zhi Zun." Unfortunately, these new brands have not made much of a splash, and instead have been criticized as "scattershot innovation" and "blind innovation." The products people can name from Want Want now are still only Want Want Snow Rice Crackers, Want Want Little馒头, Want Want Milk, and Want Want小小酥. Finally, Want Want, which once went viral with catchy ads, is still unwilling to fall behind in marketing. In recent years, Want Want has not only launched Want Want Milk facial cleanser, masks, and Want Want emojis, but also co-branded beauty products, streetwear, and figurines, as well as opening theme stores and selling Want Want merchandise. For example, the treasure series co-branded with Nayuki Tea, the 56-ethnic-group Want Want Milk ethnic cans, and hundreds of Want Want theme stores for check-ins. In 2017, Want Want also remade the Want Want Milk ad that was popular across the country, with the grown-up Li Ziming appearing as Teacher Li Ziming, triggering a wave of nostalgia. But this series of marketing moves did not recreate the glory of the TV ad era; instead, it was criticized as "selling nostalgia" due to overly frequent marketing operations. An industry insider commented: "A lively online marketing campaign, when it returns offline, becomes a lonely carnival for a middle-aged enterprise." 04 Conclusion For a national brand like Want Want, the cruelest thing is to become a vessel for reminiscing about youth, losing its charm to attract new fans. This time, the second young master's Weibo posts went viral, attracting fans to the livestream and boosting Want Want's sales, seemingly a successful viral marketing. But on this path of "revival" through hot searches, there have been a series of old national brands like Bee & Flower, Erke, and Baixiang that returned to the public eye with the help of netizens' "wild consumption," only to quickly fade again. "Wild consumption" is emotion-driven, even impulsive consumption, coming and going quickly. Managing such explosive traffic and sales growth is not easy. As the recent report by EqualOcean Intelligence, "Accumulating, Reconstructing, and Brand Growth—2022 New National Trend CoolTop100 Brand List," states, brand value and operational capability, and the ability to reshape the industry chain, will replace "traffic" and "GMV" as the new core of competition. How old brands can stay relevant is not just a question for Want Want. References:

  1. "Behind Want Want's Revival: Thirty Years of Domestic Snack Changes," Jingzhe Research Institute
  2. "Thirty Years of Chinese Snacks: The Rise and Fall of the Snack World," Kaidianbang
  3. "Before 60-Year-Old Want Want's 'Wild Consumption,' How to 'Cross the Cycle'?", Whale Business
  4. "Can the Post-80s' Want Want Make It into the Post-00s' Snack List?", New Retail Business Review Source: EqualOcean (ID: i-yiou) Author: Sun Meina