---
title: "Who Profits from 'One More Bottle'? It's a Business That Preys on Big Brands!"
description: "In recent years, the once-common 'One More Bottle' promotional giveaway in the beverage and beer industry has disappeared, replaced by various purchase-with-gift and lottery promotions. Besides rising labor and raw material costs, a major factor is the emergence of 'big pests' in the promotion industry, severely impacting manufacturers' profits and forcing them to stop. This article reveals the business chain behind this parasitic scheme."
author: "New Distribution"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2017-03-13"
language: "en"
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original_source: "https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/qJzCMH9d9kKmysWEBNZlww"
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# Who Profits from 'One More Bottle'? It's a Business That Preys on Big Brands!

> In recent years, the once-common 'One More Bottle' promotional giveaway in the beverage and beer industry has disappeared, replaced by various purchase-with-gift and lottery promotions. Besides rising labor and raw material costs, a major factor is the emergence of 'big pests' in the promotion industry, severely impacting manufacturers' profits and forcing them to stop. This article reveals the business chain behind this parasitic scheme.

**Click the image for details**
A few years ago, the beverage and beer industry had a very common 'One More Bottle' free drink promotion. Nowadays, this 'One More Bottle' seems to have disappeared, replaced by various buy-and-win promotions, including giving away phones, overseas trips, etc.
Apart from increased labor and raw material costs, a very important factor is that this promotion industry has seen 'big pests' emerge, greatly affecting the profits of production companies, ultimately forcing them to stop.
Today, we will specifically discuss the business chain of this pest model.
■**Narrated by /************Mr. Li, a food machinery manufacturer********Interview-arranged by /****Xu Huiting**
**Word count: 2384 words Reading time: about 5 minutes**
**▽▽▽**
My company sells food-related hardware equipment and has been doing business with various merchants, big and small, for years. Over the past decade or so, I have come to understand some inside stories of the food industry.
**Previously, I shared with readers of Changejia the shady business of relabeling expired and near-expiry food. Today, I want to talk about a more hidden industry. It can be called a parasitic industry, or more plainly: it specifically exploits large beverage manufacturers, taking advantage of loopholes in their promotional policies.** Unless you are an insider, few people would notice or operate this business.
**1**
**"What is the logic behind 'One More Bottle'?"**
Before discussing this business, let me explain the origin of the 'One More Bottle' promotion.
Everyone is familiar with the redemption method: open the bottle cap of a drink or beer, flip it over, and if it says 'One More Bottle', you can exchange the cap for another bottle. The winning rate is usually very high. **Its inventor is Master Kong.**
In the summer of 2010, Master Kong initiated a large-scale promotion campaign in the industry: '15 billion bottles free, One More Bottle!' **Through this method, Master Kong's market share greatly increased that year, buying enough time to develop and cultivate new products.**
Due to the success of the first year's marketing, Master Kong continued this practice in 2011. Subsequently, other beverage companies followed suit, including well-known brands like Red Bull and Uni-President Ice Tea, launching their own 'One More Bottle' promotions. **Thus, 'One More Bottle' became a common and effective promotional tool in the beverage industry.**
However, as the influence expanded, especially after many beverage companies adopted this method, various unexpected situations began to emerge.
**Because each company plans in advance the quantity and timing of products for 'One More Bottle' promotions each year.**
For example, if Red Bull's market target this year is to sell 60 million bottles, with a 20% winning probability, they might produce an extra 12 million bottles to fulfill 'One More Bottle' prizes, released in several batches.
Under normal circumstances, **by the end of the year, 12 million caps should be returned to the manufacturer. But the result was shocking! One year, Red Bull received over 20 million 'One More Bottle' caps!**
**So, how did this happen?**
**2**
**"Who is profiting from this?"**
In simple terms, **someone saw an opportunity for profit and manufactured a large number of fake caps to take advantage of the manufacturers. This profit opportunity is closely related to the redemption rules.**
Generally, consumers redeem their prizes directly at the point of purchase, such as convenience stores, small shops, supermarkets, restaurants, etc. After accumulating a certain number of winning caps, the retail outlets exchange them with their supplying distributors. The distributor then exchanges with the next level up, and so on until the first-level distributor, who finally receives an equivalent quantity of products from the manufacturer based on the number of caps.
This logic seems sound, so how did the extra 10 million caps come about?
The main problem lies in the intermediate redemption links. Using the Red Bull case again: Suppose Red Bull has planned to produce 12 million 'One More Bottle' promotional products this year, released in May and October. If someone learns of this promotion plan through insider information, **they can contact cap manufacturers to produce a batch of 'One More Bottle' winning caps, then sell them to distributors at a significant discount to obtain illegal profits.**
The logic is not complicated; the key is: **Why are cap manufacturers and distributors willing to participate in this counterfeit industry chain?**
A simple cost calculation will make everyone understand the motives of each party: Assume Red Bull's production cost per winning cap is 0.2 yuan. These counterfeiters might offer 0.4 yuan or more to suppliers to take the order. From the supplier's perspective, there is no reason to refuse such a deal because the profit is double that of other orders!
From the distributor's perspective, they would not refuse such a deal either: They might purchase a product from the manufacturer at 2.5 yuan per unit, but if they can buy fake 'One More Bottle' caps from middlemen at 1.0 yuan each and then exchange them with higher-level distributors or the manufacturer for a product, they save 1.5 yuan per unit. Why not? For the 'counterfeiters' who initiate this deal, they can also earn a profit of 1.0 - 0.4 = 0.6 yuan per cap.
So, **whether it is the cap manufacturer, the counterfeiter, or the distributor collecting caps, all can obtain high profits from this business, giving them enough incentive to collude and cheat the manufacturers.**
Some might think these few yuan or cents are trivial, but you must know that FMCG beverages sell in astonishing volumes each year. Taking Red Bull as an example, the number of counterfeit caps each year is in the tens of millions, meaning **for just the Red Bull brand, counterfeiters can profit over 5-6 million yuan.**
**If a counterfeiter handles several or even dozens of brands simultaneously, their annual income could reach 50-60 million yuan!**
Later, because such unscrupulous manufacturers increasingly produced large quantities of counterfeit winning caps to redeem, manufacturers began to notice the trick and gradually canceled this promotion method. Even many industry analysts, when studying the significant decline in Master Kong's beverage business later, attributed part of the reason to this large-scale, crude 'One More Bottle' promotion.
Of course, objectively speaking, the gradual disappearance of the 'One More Bottle' marketing activity **is not only due to the hidden dangers caused by counterfeiting but also closely related to the replacement of the industry's mainstream consumer group** — nowadays, fan economy has replaced price wars. Compared to extensive price promotions, beverage companies increasingly recognize that emotional resonance with consumers drives sales more persistently and loyally than promotions. Therefore, it is natural to replace price wars with fan operation strategies in practice.
But examining this counterfeiting activity from a business perspective also serves as a meaningful reminder for every FMCG operation boss and manager.
**Summary:**
1. The 'One More Bottle' counterfeiting profit is closely related to the redemption rules. Since cap manufacturers, counterfeiters, and distributors collecting caps can all obtain high profits from this business, they have enough incentive to collude and cheat the manufacturers.
2. Each year, the number of counterfeit caps for each major brand is in the tens of millions. If a counterfeiter handles several or even dozens of brands, their annual income can reach at least 50-60 million yuan!
3. The gradual disappearance of the 'One More Bottle' marketing activity is not only due to the hidden dangers caused by counterfeiting but also closely related to the replacement of the industry's mainstream consumer group: the fan economy has replaced price wars.
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