---
title: "To Succeed in Premium Water, You Must First Pass My Test"
description: "This article discusses the challenges and strategies for launching a successful premium water brand in China, using the story of 'Buying the Casket and Returning the Pearl' to illustrate the importance of brand perception. It argues that companies without a pre-existing brand image have an easier time establishing a premium positioning, and highlights 'Han Shui Xi Gu · Zhen Xi Water' as a promising example due to its rich selenium content and strategic marketing."
author: "老纳"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2017-03-20"
language: "en"
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---

# To Succeed in Premium Water, You Must First Pass My Test

> This article discusses the challenges and strategies for launching a successful premium water brand in China, using the story of 'Buying the Casket and Returning the Pearl' to illustrate the importance of brand perception. It argues that companies without a pre-existing brand image have an easier time establishing a premium positioning, and highlights 'Han Shui Xi Gu · Zhen Xi Water' as a promising example due to its rich selenium content and strategic marketing.

How can China produce a good premium water?

In the "Han Feizi," there is a story about a merchant from the state of Chu who sold jewelry in the state of Zheng. He carved a casket from precious magnolia wood, smoked it with spices made from cinnamon and pepper, adorned it with pearls and jade, decorated it with beautiful jade, and fastened it with kingfisher feathers. A man from Zheng bought the casket but returned the pearl inside it.

This is the origin of the idiom "buying the casket and returning the pearl." The story satirizes both the Chu merchant's excessive packaging and the Zheng man's lack of discernment, as he only focused on the external appearance.

Han Feizi was a famous thinker of the Warring States period and a master of Legalism. However, due to his stutter, he could not express his ambitions through eloquent debate like other thinkers, which led to his frustration in the state of Han. He wrote this story mainly to mock the impractical empty talk of the various schools of thought at the time and the rulers' failure to recognize true talent.

**Part One**

This is a very obscure idiom; many people may not even recognize the character "椟" (pronounced "du"). It shows that this term is far from our daily lives. But is it really that distant? In our lives, don't we constantly see excessive packaging, where consumers don't know whether they are buying the product or the story?

Such packaging stories happen almost every day in the alcohol and FMCG industries. Especially in the recent premium water market, beverage sales have been declining over the past two years, but drinking water sales have surged dramatically, especially premium drinking water, which has been growing at an annual rate of 80%. This growth rate makes every manufacturer envious.

Recently, Jingtian Baishuishan launched two glass-bottled products to enter the premium water market, aiming to compete with Nongfu.

In fact, China has seen countless premium water brands in recent years, but none have shaken Evian's position. To break Evian's unique status, Chinese companies have racked their brains. Some directly acquired foreign premium brands, such as Red Bull acquiring VOSS. Red Bull's move was mainly to reduce its dependence on Thai Red Bull, but we see that in the brand battle between Chinese and Thai Red Bull, Chinese Red Bull is basically helpless. So Red Bull's main energy is focused on the war, and when VOSS will revive is still unknown.

Some learned from Evian's brand storytelling, like Nongfu's Changbai Mountain Moyaquan and Jingtian's Baishuishan. However, Nongfu basically knows its brand image in consumers' minds is worth 2 yuan; even a student water priced at 4 yuan goes unsold. Similarly, Baishuishan is perceived as a 3-yuan brand in consumers' minds, and it's impossible to raise the price. So these two brands changed their packaging, following Evian's example by launching glass bottles, clearly signaling that they are not just selling water but also the packaging.

"Buying the casket and returning the pearl" refers to consumers having a long-term recognition of the Evian brand, thinking it's a foreign brand that has traveled thousands of miles to China, with the mysterious Alps behind it, so they accept the high price.

But in consumers' minds, Nongfu and Baishuishan, despite telling good stories, haven't changed their water sources or quality. Just putting it in a glass bottle doesn't make it worth a Michelin chef's price, right? When you don't have brand endorsement, consumers might accept it. That's why Baishuishan was priced at 3 yuan from the start; at that time, Jingtian Baishuishan was only a regional brand with no background in consumers' minds, so it was easier to promote.

But before Baishuishan came out, Nongfu had a long history. After years of water wars, consumers only recognized Nongfu as a 2-yuan water. If it were more expensive, consumers would feel cheated.

**Part Two**

By analyzing the characteristics of existing premium waters, we find that the less background a company has, the easier it is to establish an image in consumers' minds. Because your brand is a blank slate in their minds, if you position yourself as premium and promote it well, consumers will perceive you as premium; if you position yourself as low-end, they will perceive you as low-end.

Conversely, large companies with deeply ingrained impressions in consumers' minds will find it hard to pull out the wedge they've already driven in and re-drive it; consumers won't accept it. This explains why some big brands, despite their loud presence, struggle to raise their product prices by even 50 cents.

Secondly, as the post-80s generation becomes the main consumers of premium water, they care more about product functionality and the benefits it brings them, rather than the story the product tells. This is why functional beverages are flourishing everywhere. Rationality and quality are the labels that post-80s pursue. Baishuishan's positioning of its water to meet young people's need for "coolness" is a wrong decision—post-80s don't require coolness; they require quality. Post-90s pursue individuality, and the word "cool" is already a concept from the last century to them.

Compared to these brands, Lao Na prefers companies without background but with strength, which unpretentiously launch a functional drinking water. This is the "Han Shui Xi Gu · Zhen Xi Water" launched by Shaanxi Selenium Valley Industry Development Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Shaanxi Coal Group.

**Part Three**

Compared to other well-known brands' packaging designs, "Han Shui Xi Gu · Zhen Xi Water" has a simpler design, without eye-catching glass bottles, but it is more expensive, relying on trust in its own water quality. It can be named this way because of the rich selenium content in the water.

Selenium is known as the "king of anti-cancer elements" and "king of longevity elements." Selenium is the only nutrient that can directly fight viruses. With the increase in cancer patients in recent years, selenium supplementation has become increasingly popular. Compared to drugs and health supplements, "Han Shui Xi Gu · Zhen Xi Water" is undoubtedly more effective.

The Qinling Mountains and Huai River serve as the dividing line between northern and southern China, carrying a mysterious aura. In 1974, a national geological survey team discovered abundant selenium resources in the Qinling Mountains, distributed in rock layers and soil. Given the global severe selenium deficiency, this is especially precious, earning the area the title "Selenium Valley."

In 1999, the Ministry of Land and Resources identified that the deep water source in Selenium Valley is a natural mineral water rich in selenium, strontium, zinc, and low sodium, of the calcium-magnesium carbonate type. The China Earthquake Administration's geological research determined its water age to be 7,500 years, which is extremely rare. As a result, Selenium Valley Industry applied for the highest level of protection and strictly controls the amount of water extracted. This is also the preciousness of "Han Shui Xi Gu · Zhen Xi Water."

The Chinese Nutrition Society recommends a daily selenium intake of 50-250 micrograms, but the current dietary intake in China is only 30 micrograms. The gap is equivalent to three bottles of "Han Shui Xi Gu · Zhen Xi Water." In the future, this market will undoubtedly exceed 10 billion yuan.

Luo Zhenyu said in his 2017 New Year's Eve speech, "Mindshare is often captured by whoever shouts it out first." Now, "Han Shui Xi Gu · Zhen Xi Water" is occupying the position of China's first healthy water and first selenium-supplementing water.

**Part Four**

This year is the year for "Han Shui Xi Gu · Zhen Xi Water" to make a big push. To this end, the company has specially recruited a team with over a decade of FMCG experience. For example, the sales director has 15 years of experience at Pepsi and successfully made Xi'an a model market, tripling sales. Now he boldly challenges a 10-fold sales target. Daring to make such a challenge proves that he has a comprehensive operational strategy and a grasp of future prospects.

Under his leadership, many employees from well-known companies have joined, including dozens of managers with about ten years of experience from companies like Coca-Cola, Danone, Carlsberg, Budweiser, Yili, and others.

In terms of channel selection, in addition to traditional channels such as high-end hotels, events, and international KA, "Han Shui Xi Gu · Zhen Xi Water" can be seen at various government meetings and major world conferences, leveraging the effect of top-down endorsement to pry open the high-end meeting water market.

Different from traditional marketing, this year "Han Shui Xi Gu · Zhen Xi Water" will combine distributors with B2B. Through cooperation with B2B platforms, products can reach consumers directly. In addition to providing distributors with fast delivery services, B2B platforms also solve the pain point of developing blank outlets for distributors.

To this end, "Han Shui Xi Gu · Zhen Xi Water" became the only designated water for the "Second China FMCG + Internet Conference," seeking more ways to open the market for distributors and find the best outlet for the product.

As a premium water, "Han Shui Xi Gu · Zhen Xi Water" also regards Evian as its main competitor and directly challenges Evian's market. Just as "JD.com" continuously ties itself to "Tmall" in battles, making consumers aware that during "Double 11," besides "Father Ma," there is also JD.com. Challenge the strongest opponent, tell others that you are its only rival, and consumers will place the challenger and the challenged on the same level.

Lao Na says: As someone born in 1981, in recent years I have become extremely concerned about my health. Every time I talk to my parents, the topic is always about taking care of their health. My mother often says that in their time, they didn't know what health was; they just worked hard. Now the seeds planted back then have borne fruit, so she reminds me to take care of my health almost every day on the phone.

When classmates born in 1992 are already called middle-aged, I, as the tail end of the post-80s generation, am entering old age. I have to admit that post-80s are really getting old now and need to pay attention to their health. The most desolate phrase in life is "having elders above and children below." In this era, various so-called "rich diseases" and "cancer" can visit us at any time. Most importantly, we all want to spend more time with our parents, and wishing them longevity and health is our heartfelt desire. There is no better gift than giving them health and slowing down aging. There is a poem that goes:

Waterfalls flow upstream,
Dandelion seeds drift back from afar, gathering into umbrella shapes,
The sun rises from the west and sets in the east.
Bullets return to the chamber,
Athletes return to the starting line,
I return my admission notice, forgetting ten years of hard study.
The aroma of food wafts from the kitchen,
You sign my test paper,
Turn off the TV, help me put on my backpack,
And you are still by my side.

True selenium is the best gratitude!!!

**Distributor Recruitment**

Guo Ming
Sales Director

**Email:** 30883003@qq.com

**WeChat:** (Long press or scan to add)

-END-


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