China Positioning Case Reflection Series: New 10-billion-yuan products are easiest to create from protein beverages. About 90 years ago, the great Chairman Mao wrote articles such as "A Single Spark Can Start a Prairie Fire" and "Why Can the Red Political Power Exist for a Long Time?" which, like a lighthouse, pointed the way forward and unified the ideological understanding of the strugglers. In the autumn of 2019, those in the beverage industry preparing to create another 10-billion-yuan product also need a deep strategic analysis to guide direction and build consensus. -01- Six Walnuts' achievement should thank competition and Lulu Lulu and Coconut Tree were both founded in the 1950s and became famous early, with the saying "South Coconut Tree, North Lulu" in the 1980s, but neither has exceeded 5 billion yuan in annual sales. Six Walnuts, as a latecomer brand, achieved a huge breakthrough in just a few years, with sales reaching 8 billion yuan in 2014, far surpassing Coconut Tree and Lulu. Consumers believe that almond milk and coconut juice are different from ordinary beverages, implying a nutritional scenario positioning. This implicit scenario positioning helped Lulu and Coconut Tree become "living fossils" in the beverage market. Scenario is a very important commonality in human cognition. Most products with annual sales exceeding 5 billion yuan have a scenario, such as "thirsty and tired," "afraid of getting heaty," "frequent brain use," "pulse back anytime," "this year's Spring Festival, no gifts, only Nao Baijin," "stomach bloating and indigestion," etc. For years, neither Lulu nor Coconut Tree has extracted a clear scenario, while Six Walnuts entered the market with the clear scenario "Frequent brain use? Drink Six Walnuts." Lulu, with the help of a brand consulting company, later established the consumption scenario "Good nutrition for breakfast, drink hot Lulu," which was very unsuccessful. Scenario serves competition. Under the breakfast nutrition scenario, almond milk may not be the most suitable product, which is not conducive to highlighting the advantages of almond milk, nor to competing with walnut milk and coconut juice. In contrast, under the "frequent brain use" scenario, walnut milk is the first choice, ahead of coconut juice and almond milk. For humans, category or product is a characteristic, while scenario is a commonality. In brand competition, one must learn to "fully utilize commonalities and thoroughly exploit characteristics," "characteristics serve commonalities, commonalities suppress characteristics," "products serve scenarios, scenarios drive products." Six Walnuts and Lulu are both Hebei enterprises with deep connections. Six Walnuts' bottle shape, color, and packaging are similar to Lulu's. They both belong to plant protein beverages, with the same bottle and color scheme. Six Walnuts has fully utilized commonalities. Walnut milk and almond milk have clear characteristics, and the "frequent brain use" scenario is conducive to the development of walnut milk's characteristics. In brand competition, commonality is about who to fight and whose momentum to borrow, while characteristics are about how to absorb and utilize that momentum. Six Walnuts has done this very clearly. Additionally, Lulu and Coconut Tree dominate the dining scenario, but this dominant position has not helped them break through in the gift box market. If a product is seen every day at meals, it is not suitable as a gift. The disadvantage in dining actually contributed to Six Walnuts' huge advantage in gift boxes. Daily household gifts are a huge scenario in China. It can be said that the two major life scenarios of gift boxes and frequent brain use have helped Six Walnuts grow into a 10-billion-yuan product. Of course, Six Walnuts' achievement should thank competition and Lulu. Today, Lulu's sales are far less than Coconut Tree's, and the almond milk market is smaller than coconut juice. What a pity! -02- Where should new 10-billion-yuan products start? Historical experience tells us: In China, 10-billion-yuan beverage products, besides the two major cola brands, mainly appear in bottled water, functional beverages, tea beverages, and protein beverages. First, let's talk about bottled water. In fact, the competition in China's bottled water market is very fierce. Only brands specializing in water can ultimately win. Nongfu Spring, C'estbon, and Ganten are all professional water brands. Coca-Cola, Master Kong, and Wahaha, three beverage giants, were once strong in China's bottled water market but ultimately lost to professional water brands. We believe that the vast majority of Chinese bottled water brands cannot become mainstream; they can only survive as regional or guerrilla brands. The cruel market has long proven that traditional enterprises have very little chance to overturn the existing market structure and become the new leader in Chinese bottled water! Mizone is a clever "bottled water" brand that "sells bottled water under the guise of a beverage." As consumers' health requirements increase, we believe the water beverage track will breed multiple super opportunities. Second, Red Bull is very strong, but follow-up brands like Lehu, Dongpeng Special Drink, and Tizhi Nengliang can enjoy billions in sales. However, they rely on temporary advertising and market gaps. Although they have sales, they cannot build cognitive barriers or block competitors. Therefore, they are "big but weak," and latecomer brands still have opportunities to create new 10-billion-yuan products. Third, in fact, besides carbonated soft drinks, bottled water, protein beverages, and functional beverages, Master Kong Iced Tea, Wanglaoji, and JDB are all 10-billion-yuan products in the tea beverage track. In recent years, under a series of wrong positioning strategies, the entire herbal tea category has been declining, but the tea beverage direction still holds new possibilities. Fourth, can new giants emerge in carbonated soft drinks in China? This is indeed worth pondering. In a sense, "Western soda, Eastern tea" is the traditional basic market of global beverages. With the awakening of local culture, one or even several super products may indeed emerge in China's local carbonated soft drinks, but that day will take time. Fifth, protein beverages (including milk, dairy drinks, and plant protein) are the most promising track and the easiest to produce super products. Anmuxi, Telunsu, Yili Jindian, Nutrition Express, Want Want Milk, and Six Walnuts are all 10-billion-yuan products. Uni Assam Milk Tea, Shuangwaiwai, AD Calcium Milk, Lulu, and Coconut Tree also have certain market shares. Looking through the surface, the basic market for protein beverages in China is enormous. From a global perspective, protein beverages are showing new trends and breeding opportunities for new super products. This is the easiest path to 10 billion for traditional Chinese enterprises. -03- To create a 10-billion-yuan product, one must break through single-layer consumption and penetrate multi-layer consumption The Chinese market has multiple consumption layers, with different consumption stratification in first-tier cities, second-tier cities, fourth- and fifth-tier cities, and township markets. Many brands only target single-layer consumption. In fact, to create a 10-billion-yuan product, one must first find commonalities across multiple consumption layers. A brand like Coca-Cola must find the deepest commonalities in global human culture and have the ability to penetrate multiple consumption layers worldwide. Whether in New York or rural China, you can find Coca-Cola consumers, whether old or young, male or female. Brands at different levels require different levels of thinking. For startups and smaller enterprises, a cognitive characteristic can provide a cognitive advantage, but for 10-billion-yuan brands, one must consider issues at a higher level. A 2-billion-yuan beverage brand may win a temporary advantage through price, channel, or a certain characteristic. A 5-billion-yuan beverage brand often has a scenario or function cognition, penetrating multiple consumption layers through scenarios or functions, such as "thirsty and tired," "afraid of getting heaty," "frequent brain use," "pulse back anytime," etc. At the 100-billion level, Coca-Cola must talk about culture and spirit, which are more mainstream human commonalities. A beverage brand aiming for 2-3 billion can consider single-layer consumption, but a 10-billion-yuan product must have the ability to penetrate multiple consumption layers. We are used to asking people around us for opinions, but people in Beijing and Shanghai cannot represent multiple consumption layers. We must go out and see the broader world to see a broader future. Nongfu Spring, C'estbon, Anmuxi, Jindian, Telunsu, Red Bull, Six Walnuts, Nutrition Express, Wanglaoji, and Master Kong Iced Tea—these 10-billion-yuan beverage products have all successfully locked onto multi-layer consumption commonalities and have the ability to penetrate multiple consumption layers. Big brands must penetrate multiple consumption layers, not take the single-layer characteristic path. Single-layer characteristic consumption is the practice of small and medium enterprises. Big products, big brands, big enterprises, and big distribution must have the ability to penetrate multiple consumption layers. Nongfu Spring represents natural water, C'estbon represents purified water, and Ganten represents mineral water. These mainstream products are neither low-end nor high-end; they all have the ability to penetrate multiple consumption layers. In the long run, if a brand does not have the ability to penetrate multiple consumption layers, no matter how large its sales are temporarily, it is a paper tiger and cannot become the ultimate mainstream super product. To put it bluntly, no matter what experts say using American, Japanese, or European data to prove they can create a 10-billion-yuan product in single-layer consumption, it is self-deception and misleading enterprises. In fact, many Chinese enterprises strategically lock themselves into single-layer consumption space, thereby losing real strategic opportunities. The path of Chinese brand rise is precisely the path of penetrating multiple consumption layers! Compared with the mature bottled water market, protein beverages are a true super track. Protein beverages are easy to penetrate multiple consumption layers, breed many new opportunities, and are very suitable for traditional food companies, but the premise is what do you have? For most companies, what do you have in terms of product, channel, R&D, capital, and first-class new-era operators? In fact, only a few companies can create 10-billion-yuan products. Source: (ID:A4191311) Tips will be paid 400-2000 yuan once the tip is adopted.