In recent days, Zong Qinghou and his daughter have been busy: first, his daughter Zong Fuli spent 500 million yuan to acquire China Candy (08182.HK), and then his father Zong Qinghou planned to acquire Dean Foods, the largest dairy company in the US. The complementary 'cooperation' between father and daughter quickly stirred up a 'small whirlwind' in the capital market, exhausting financial media colleagues. However, only Zhong Shanshan of Nongfu Spring quietly pushed his glass-bottled water into various high-end events.

Actually, this scene is not a coincidence. In the process of running their respective companies, Zong Qinghou is so high-profile that even taking a second-class seat on a bullet train during a business trip becomes a social media hotspot. Zhong Shanshan, on the other hand, is rarely seen in the media.

One frequently appears in public to ride on hot topics, while the other is introverted and focused on building internal strength. Between their high-profile and low-key approaches, the strength of their companies has already diverged.

Perhaps because Zhong Shanshan is 10 years younger than Zong Qinghou and has a media background, and was once a Wahaha distributor, his unconventional thinking led to the success of Nongfu Spring. In contrast, Zong Qinghou, as an entrepreneur born in the 1940s, his conservatism and restraint have made Wahaha's development more arduous.

Style: One is elusive, the other likes to ride on hot topics

As water companies, for many years, Wahaha and Nongfu Spring, both based in the economically strong province of Zhejiang, have had many unchanged aspects.

Wahaha still gives the impression of a state-owned enterprise mindset. It is said that even buying a broom requires Zong Qinghou's signature. Over the years that Wahaha products have been available, Jing Jie (the author) noticed that the most unchanged thing is its flagship product, the 'square-bottle drinking water.'

Just yesterday, when Jing Jie went to the train station to pick someone up, she bought a bottle; it was still the familiar square bottle and familiar taste.

Even after his daughter Zong Fuli returned to China, Zong Qinghou only placed her in a small factory for training. Despite being a rich second generation and successor, Zong Qinghou still has no intention of letting go.

So, Zong Fuli chose to go it alone this time, spending 507 million yuan to acquire China Candy (08182.HK) and successfully taking control. Zong Fuli is the president of Hangzhou Hongsheng Beverage Group, which produces one-third of Wahaha's products on an OEM basis. By 2015, the group's revenue had reached 7.118 billion yuan.

Although there were rumors that the acquisition of China Candy was for Wahaha's backdoor listing, Wahaha promptly responded that it was Zong Fuli's personal action.

This is interpreted by outsiders as Zong Fuli's intention to establish her own business. To be honest, over the years, there have been constant differences in philosophy and management between the Zongs. Zong Qinghou firmly controls Wahaha, and it is estimated that his daughter had been holding back for a long time before taking this drastic step.

As for what hasn't changed, Zhong Shanshan also has one: his low profile. Jing Jie checked his information over the years and found that he appeared most frequently in the media in 2013 when he confronted the media, and spoke the most. In subsequent years, there was little news about him. The most recent was in March this year when he went to Xinfeng County, Jiangxi Province, to discuss building a navel orange base.

Compared to Zong Qinghou, who takes second-class seats on high-speed trains, travels more than 200 days a year, proposes motions at the Two Sessions, and appears at employee annual meetings, all of which become social media hotspots, Zhong Shanshan's whereabouts and information are scarce. As the chairman of Nongfu Spring, a famous top water company in China, he is truly elusive.

Products: One works slowly and carefully, the other rushes to mass produce

Both Wahaha and Nongfu Spring focus on water products and expand into related fields. For example, Zhong Shanshan's beverage segment includes not only Nongfu Spring but also tea, juice, functional drinks, and fresh fruit categories. According to Nongfu Spring's official website, there are 11 products across these five categories.

Wahaha has even more categories: besides drinking water, it includes Future Cola, milk tea drinks, flavored drinks, and even beer. With over 15 categories and nearly 300 products, its coverage is very broad. Zebra Consumption previously visited county-level city stores and found that some of Wahaha's big products are the best-selling items in third- and fourth-tier city stores.

In comparison, Zhong Shanshan has only 11 products, but almost every one has become a hit. It's a bit like 'it doesn't sing then, but once it sings, it startles everyone.' So he is known in the industry as the boss who is 'best at giving birth to children.'

Zhong Shanshan takes a very long time to launch each product. For example, the orange juice product launched in 2014 reportedly took 8 years to develop. Nongfu Spring also spent 4 years building the factory at Moyaquan. This is indeed 'slow work yields fine products.'

Wahaha's strategy is different. Perhaps due to its early days of imitating other manufacturers' products, it produces whatever is popular, casting a wide net. To this day, what people remember are either AD calcium milk or the nutrition express launched 13 years ago, as well as some star products from the 1990s that have occupied supermarket shelves for over 20 years.

It can be said that Wahaha has many products but few memorable hits. In this sense, Old Master Zong is 'not very good at giving birth to children.'

However, to be fair, the square bottle with the red and white waistband still tastes the same as in the early years.

Zhong Shanshan has launched many products in recent years. Not to mention the early best-selling turtle and soft-shelled turtle pills, he also launched Qingzui (breath mints), Mother's beef jerky sticks, and Growth Happy (vitamins). He has also put a lot of thought into water products, using Moyaquan to launch baby water, high-end glass-bottled water, and other series. Especially the high-end glass-bottled water entering various high-end summits shows that Zhong Shanshan's marketing thinking is truly extraordinary.

Zong Qinghou never concedes to anyone, even challenging Ma Yun and Ma Huateng. After the dispute with Danone, he has been seeking change in recent years, but whether entering real estate, milk powder, or shopping malls, these have basically become a drag on the main business.

The recent acquisition of a foreign dairy company at least shows that this 72-year-old man is also starting to make changes. He has admitted that Wahaha not only lacks star products but also has poor performance in recent years. Seven years ago, he proposed a revenue target of 100 billion yuan, but revenue fell from 72.8 billion yuan in 2014 to 57.5 billion yuan last year.

Sales: One plays marketing like a master, the other focuses more on channels

In 1996, Zhong Shanshan returned from Hainan to invest in Zhejiang, and Nongfu Spring was born. Everyone remembers the slogan 'Nongfu Spring is a bit sweet.'

With this strategy, 14 years later in 2010, Nongfu Spring's bottled water sales reached 2.82 billion yuan, ruthlessly pushing Wahaha down to second place in the bottled water market, second only to Master Kong. Two years later, Nongfu Spring's market share surpassed China Resources C'estbon, and Wahaha was already left far behind.

It is rumored that Zhong Shanshan was stripped of his distributor qualification by Zong Qinghou for selling Wahaha products across regions, which made their relationship delicate.

Looking back, the reason Nongfu Spring was able to shake off its old rival in a short time is that Zhong Shanshan's marketing philosophy is highly regarded by industry insiders.

People recognize Zhong's marketing ability in his combination of information and emotion, such as 'Nongfu Spring is a bit sweet' and 'Nature's porter,' to promote product and brand awareness.

If you follow Zhong Shanshan, you may have seen the promotional film about the Changbai Mountain water source, which uses employees' experiences in searching for water sources to showcase the unique and natural quality of their products. This documentary-like technique is not abrupt at all, and the brand communication effect is quite good.

In 2013, Zhong Shanshan's confrontation with Beijing Times was, dialectically speaking, a perfect event marketing. Jing Jie remembers being at the press conference and seeing Zhong Shanshan calmly confronting the media while talking about his products and drinking Nongfu Spring sip by sip.

As for Wahaha's product advertisements, except for the early popularity with Taiwanese singer Wang Leehom as spokesperson, subsequent ads were either not seen by the public or were the kind of indiscriminate bombardment of product ads, which is somewhat out of tune with the new FMCG era.

This result may be related to their different attitudes towards advertising. Zong Qinghou has always believed that as long as the product is good and the channel is strong, there is no fear of not selling. Zhong Shanshan, on the other hand, is more willing to use platforms to expand product awareness.

Nongfu Spring goes to high-end summits and, in subsequent ads, praises its water to the skies. Why can't Wahaha, which is also in the main venue of Hangzhou, find a way to enter the venue? After all, even if it's just to show off to itself, it should save face.

Market research data once showed that Wahaha's bottled water market share fell from 6.7% in 2015 to 5.9% last year. The sales of the 13-year-old big product Nutrition Express shrank from 15.36 billion yuan to 8.42 billion yuan between 2014 and 2016, roughly halved.

It seems the situation is not optimistic. So, is it because the subordinates are not enterprising, or is Old Master Zong helpless?

Source: Zebra Consumption (ID: banmaxiaofei)

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