---
title: "Wahaha and Wang Leehom's Split: No Mistake!"
description: "Recently, Wahaha made headlines again after Zong Fuli's remarks about ending the 20-year endorsement deal with Wang Leehom. She stated that Wang was replaced due to his age and consumer aesthetic fatigue. The public criticized her comments, but from a business perspective, the decision aligns with market trends and brand strategy."
author: "李青林"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2019-12-19"
categories: "Brand Marketing"
language: "en"
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original_source: "https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/0-eTmGqd51qvzAnWVhxXSw"
translation: "https://xinjignxiao.com/zh/articles/%E5%A8%83%E5%93%88%E5%93%88%E4%B8%8E%E7%8E%8B%E5%8A%9B%E5%AE%8F%E5%88%86%E6%89%8B-%E6%B2%A1%E6%9C%89%E9%94%99-ea886056.md"
attribution: "New Distribution — https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/wahaha-and-wang-leehom-s-split-no-mistake-ea886056/"
citation: "李青林. “Wahaha and Wang Leehom's Split: No Mistake!.” New Distribution, 2019-12-19. https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/wahaha-and-wang-leehom-s-split-no-mistake-ea886056/"
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---

# Wahaha and Wang Leehom's Split: No Mistake!

> Recently, Wahaha made headlines again after Zong Fuli's remarks about ending the 20-year endorsement deal with Wang Leehom. She stated that Wang was replaced due to his age and consumer aesthetic fatigue. The public criticized her comments, but from a business perspective, the decision aligns with market trends and brand strategy.

**Recently, Wahaha made headlines again after Zong Fuli's remarks in a show about ending the 20-year endorsement deal with Wang Leehom.**
The fact that the two parties had already ended their cooperation in 2018 was brought up again.
This time, it was because Zong Fuli bluntly stated in the show that Wang Leehom was replaced because he was getting old, and from a consumer perspective, there would be aesthetic fatigue.
As soon as these words were spoken, netizens expressed that Zong Fuli, as Wahaha's public relations director, had not only hurt Wang Leehom's fans but also damaged Wahaha's brand.
**After the incident, Zong Fuli explained in response to media inquiries that her expression was not complete and that there is still a possibility of future cooperation with Wang Leehom.**
For those born in the 1980s and 1990s, mentioning Wahaha bottled water brings to mind Wang Leehom's advertisement for "Love You Equals Loving Yourself."
And Wahaha bottled water with Wang Leehom's portrait became a sought-after item among fans at the time.
In addition, the news that Wang Leehom did not raise his endorsement fee for 20 years has been mentioned multiple times.
It can be said that the 20-year cooperation between Wahaha and Wang Leehom became the most successful example of brand-endorser cooperation.
Setting aside fan emotions, let's discuss from a business perspective whether Wahaha's decision to end the endorsement with Wang Leehom was right or wrong.
**-01-****Huge Influence: The Sole Criterion for Choosing Endorsers**
For FMCG products, besides doing well in channels and making products visible, it is also essential to do good publicity so that consumers think of the product.
**1. The greater the influence, the more traffic, the higher the purchase frequency, and the greater the conversion rate.**
Therefore, brand owners often choose film and television stars, sports celebrities, and singers as product endorsers because they have huge influence and bring their own traffic. They can better promote products and enhance brand power.
Celebrity endorsement, in the era of centralized media, is the most effective means to quickly make consumers aware of products and brands and generate trust.
In 2015, Baicaowei invited the then-popular Yang Yang to endorse, and during the Tmall Double 11 concert live stream alone, they achieved 120 million yuan in sales within 12 minutes.
Edta chewing gum endorsed by Eddie Peng and Gwei Lun-mei made "This is your Edta" a popular pick-up line that year.
Jay Chou's endorsement of Kopiko made his fans buy crazily.
Angelababy's endorsement of Dove chocolate was refreshing.
Through celebrity endorsements, brands gain attention from fans in a short time and convert it into sales.
**2. Huge influence is the sole basis for brand owners to choose endorsers.**
Back to Wahaha: In 1998, Wang Leehom gained attention in the Chinese music scene with his album "Revolution," receiving considerable response in mainland China.
It was at this time that Wahaha, wanting to leverage Hong Kong and Taiwan stars to enhance its brand, set its sights on Wang Leehom, who had great development potential.
As the endorser of Wahaha bottled water, Wang Leehom became famous in mainland China, released multiple albums, and gained many fans.
Wahaha, in turn, relied on Wang Leehom to become a popular bottled water brand among consumers at the time.
It can be seen that in the cooperation between Wahaha and Wang Leehom,
> **Wang Leehom = Traffic**
> **Wang Leehom's fans = Conversion rate**
> **Wahaha bottled water with Wang Leehom's portrait = High-frequency repurchase rate**
**This is the celebrity effect.**
Of course, with the development of the times and the rise of young consumer groups, besides continuously innovating FMCG products, there are also endless young stars emerging.
And they have more powerful influence and traffic than Wang Leehom.
As China's FMCG market enters an era of stock, competition among brands has become more intense. In addition to competing on products, brands are also competing on traffic.
With the continuous development of the internet and the birth of various talent shows, China has become a star-making factory.
There are more and more stars, more traffic, and shorter time spans.
In this context, brand owners are more inclined to harvest traffic in the short term.
The cooperation period with artists is getting shorter and shorter.
From Wahaha's standpoint, parting ways with Wang Leehom after 20 years of cooperation is in line with the times and is a necessary stage in the development of FMCG products. Looking at endorsers of bottled water brands, using young artists has become a trend.
> **In September 2018, Ganten, which had never had an endorser, announced cooperation with Wang Xinyu.**
> **In March 2019, Wang Junkai became the brand ambassador for Purejoy.**
> **In May 2019, Yi Yangqianxi became the brand ambassador for evian.**
**Therefore, Wahaha's move can be seen as an adjustment of its brand strategy.**
**-02-****Nostalgia: An Extension of the Brand**
This time, Zong Fuli's remarks in the show attracted widespread attention from netizens. Was it really just because of her straightforward expression? No, it was because consumers recognize the Wahaha brand and miss Wang Leehom's endorsement of Wahaha bottled water.
From 1998 to 2018, over 20 years of cooperation, consumers have formed a perception of Wahaha bottled water's endorser.
Mentioning Wang Leehom brings Wahaha to mind, and seeing bottled water with Wang Leehom's portrait evokes one's youth.
It can be said that Wang Leehom's endorsement of Wahaha bottled water has become a kind of nostalgia and an indispensable part of Wahaha's brand power.
Nowadays, scandals such as drug use, infidelity, and divorce fill the entertainment industry. When a star has problems, it often hurts the brand. During the 20-year cooperation with Wang Leehom, he rarely had negative news, which was a positive brand image for Wahaha.
Replacing Wang Leehom might prompt his fans to abandon Wahaha bottled water and switch to other brands.
As mentioned earlier, the only purpose for brand owners to choose traffic stars as endorsers is to help sell products better.
**If traffic stars can bring continuous growth for products, then nostalgia will help retain users, form product awareness, and increase repurchase rates in the stock market.**
**Commentary by Chen Siting, Special Contributor to New Distribution:**
Let nostalgia be nostalgia, and business be business.
Finding a balance between nostalgia and business is a technical task.
**Business always needs to be cloaked in nostalgia to have a reason to move customers; nostalgia can only be realized through business, otherwise it is a luxury.**
But in the final analysis, brand endorsement is a commercial act, and the purpose of commercial acts must be clear and unique: to gain the greatest attention and recognition from customers.
**Traffic remains the first element of FMCG success. Traffic is attention; attention converts into purchases, bringing sales and profits to the brand. Celebrity endorsement has always been an important way for FMCG brands to gain traffic; the first principle in choosing an endorser is to choose the star with the most current traffic.**
Of course, at the same time, brands also need to use nostalgia to retain consumers. The mutual growth of Wahaha and Wang Leehom over the years has become a good story. His songs and Wahaha's products are the nostalgia of fans who are now middle-aged. In this regard, Wahaha has the ability to do better.
**Nostalgia and business, although they often appear together, as FMCG practitioners, we must recognize that letting nostalgia and business each take their proper place is the right choice.**
An unnamed FMCG industry expert said that Zong Fuli wants to change the issue of Wahaha's brand being perceived as aging. Wahaha's surface problem is brand aging, but the core is organizational aging. The organizational aging issue is partly due to the founder's cognitive aging and partly due to the aging of systems and management methods.
**An enterprise that cannot solve entropy increase will find every increase in sales is a shovel of dirt on its future grave.**
What Zong Fuli actually needs to do is not simply adjust the brand, but consider how to adjust the management team of Mr. Zong—removing old ministers and meritorious officials, although not very moral, is the most important thing to maintain corporate vitality and keep the company's metabolism going, eliminating the stale and taking in the fresh. If she cannot adjust this, Zong Fuli will have a harder time.
**New Distribution's View:**
Regarding Wahaha's cancellation of Wang Leehom's endorsement, New Distribution conducted a small internal survey. The post-90s in the company said that Wang Leehom's songs are not on their playlists, while the post-80s said that Wang Leehom's songs accompanied their growth and they still listen occasionally.
It can be seen that for young consumers born after 1995, 2000, and even 2010, Wang Leehom is indeed old.
Although for the Chinese music scene, Wang Leehom's influence still exists, for brand product traffic, Wang Leehom is no longer sufficient to support huge traffic for the product.
**The essence of a brand is to solve the problem of consumer trust.**
**Besides part of the trust, endorsers also solve the problem of consumer awareness for new user groups. Therefore, if Wang Leehom has no new followers, he should be replaced, and not only should he be replaced, but he should be replaced as soon as possible. If the endorser is not replaced, Wahaha has a problem, not Zong Fuli.**
**Coca-Cola and KFC change endorsers frequently and constantly stay with young people; that is the secret to their success. Imagine if Coca-Cola still used an endorser in their 60s, what would the result be?**
In the highly competitive FMCG market, traffic still reigns supreme because traffic can bring sales and profits to products. For FMCG products with rapid replacement, to achieve higher sales, it is necessary to continuously attract consumer attention. As consumers become younger, brand owners need to choose traffic stars who keep up with the times to endorse products.
If a tip is adopted, a reward of 400-2000 yuan will be paid.


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## Citation metadata

- Publisher: New Distribution
- Author: 李青林
- Published: 2019-12-19
- Canonical: https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/wahaha-and-wang-leehom-s-split-no-mistake-ea886056/
- Original source: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/0-eTmGqd51qvzAnWVhxXSw

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