---
title: "Why Does Master Hao's Beloved Uni-President Struggle?"
description: "Uni-President has launched many hit products, yet it still struggles. This article explores why its hits have short lifespans, attributing the issue to internal competition, short-sighted channel management, and a failure to maintain market share for older products."
author: "老纳"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2017-06-01"
language: "en"
canonical: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/why-does-master-hao-s-beloved-uni-president-struggle-3ed79f41/"
markdown: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/why-does-master-hao-s-beloved-uni-president-struggle-3ed79f41.md"
original_source: "https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/sKMs7sP_F8wEfFhNbiIhHw"
translation: "https://xinjignxiao.com/zh/articles/%E8%A2%AB-%E5%A4%A7%E5%B8%88-%E8%BF%BD%E6%8D%A7%E7%9A%84%E7%BB%9F%E4%B8%80-%E7%8E%B0%E5%9C%A8%E8%BF%98%E5%A5%BD%E5%90%97-3ed79f41.md"
attribution: "New Distribution — https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/why-does-master-hao-s-beloved-uni-president-struggle-3ed79f41/"
usage_policy: "https://xinjignxiao.com/ai-policy.txt"
---

# Why Does Master Hao's Beloved Uni-President Struggle?

> Uni-President has launched many hit products, yet it still struggles. This article explores why its hits have short lifespans, attributing the issue to internal competition, short-sighted channel management, and a failure to maintain market share for older products.

Uni-President has launched many hit products, yet it still struggles.

**Foreword**
First, let's clarify a few things. This article aims to discuss why Uni-President's "hit products" have such short lifespans, not to question its product strategy. On the contrary, I also believe that Uni-President's pursuit of high profits and new products in the past two years is correct and is a strategy enterprises should adopt. The problem is that Uni-President has not made each hit product popular for several years; instead, they flash across the sky like meteors, brilliant but brief.

These products have created high profits and gathered a group of loyal fans for Uni-President, but they cannot build an empire. When Master Kong was criticized in the past two years, Uni-President did not deliver a fatal blow. Now that Master Kong's innovation and marketing have returned, it will undoubtedly be harder for Uni-President to close the gap.

**The FMCG Empire**
In the past two years, Uni-President has been in the spotlight, launching a new product almost every one or two years—more precisely, a hit product—leading the trends in beverages and instant food. Its old rival Master Kong has been left far behind in reputation.

If Uni-President were a small company with a few hundred million in revenue, we would give it a thumbs up, as its hit products in recent years are evident. Unfortunately, Uni-President is not the type of company that brags in the media, claiming to create a 10-billion or 100-billion market, or endlessly touting hit products, yet failing to even recruit distributors. It is Uni-President, with an annual revenue of over 40 billion, a company with a longer history than Master Kong. In people's eyes, it should create a new food empire and trample its old rival Master Kong underfoot.

Unfortunately, in the past two years, Uni-President has felt like it's just one breath short of reaching the height of an empire.

What is an empire? It means having products that sell well for at least a decade, with sales nearing 10 billion. Examples include Nongfu's water, Wahaha's nutrition express and AD calcium milk, Want Want's Want Want milk, JDB's herbal tea, Coca-Cola, P&G's Head & Shoulders and Crest, Unilever's Zhonghua toothpaste, Mars' Dove, Wrigley's and Extra, Mondelez's Oreo, and of course, its old rival Master Kong's iced tea, braised beef noodles, and bottled water.

Although these FMCG empires are somewhat in decline, a broken ship still has a hundred nails, let alone these companies. We can write about "The Decline of the Wahaha Empire," but we cannot write about the Uni-President Empire because it cannot yet be called an empire.

Uni-President's reputation and product profits have been rising in recent years. As an old brand, after more than 20 years of low profile, it finally seized the opportunity to rejuvenate, showing a youthful vigor. However, its hit products always seem to lack staying power. We often laugh at Want Want and Wahaha for launching new products that die quickly, and we often use Uni-President as an example for these old brands to learn from. But do Uni-President's hit products really last long? They only shine for about three years before quietly fading away.

This has led Uni-President to become obsessed with launching a pile of new products each year, hoping one will survive for two or three years, falling into a trap of launching new products for the sake of launching new products, while neglecting the market maintenance of existing hits.

**Where Did Uni-President Go Wrong?**
After the 2016 financial report was released, Uni-President published an article in many marketing accounts titled "Uni-President and Master Kong Are Two Different Companies in the Future," roughly meaning that Uni-President will be an innovative company, focusing more on rivals like Nongfu rather than its old rival Master Kong. In Uni-President's eyes, Master Kong is just a company that only plays marketing without innovation.

Competitor bashing is common, just like JD.com constantly attacking Tmall. But this flag was set a bit off course. An enterprise cannot have only innovation without a marketing foundation; otherwise, the most beautiful innovation is built on a castle in the air.

Master Kong was criticized by the whole nation for two years. Nongfu was unhappy that it occupied the top spot in packaged water, finally blackening it, but found it benefited C'estbon. Uni-President said it only imitates, even criticizing it in advertisements: "Someone imitates my face, someone imitates my noodles, but no matter how similar, it's not Uni-President's old jar." "Every day braised beef, no new ideas." Meanwhile, Taiwan strongly accused Master Kong of using problematic oil. Master Kong, even better, in a fit of pique, said, "I won't play with you Taiwan anymore; I'll focus on the mainland market." And mainland consumers and peers also disliked Master Kong, feeling it blocked everyone's way to wealth because it didn't raise prices, so peers had no profits, and distributors had a hard time.

This was a golden opportunity for Uni-President. If it had seized it, replacing Master Kong and firmly becoming the leader would have been a matter of minutes. However, Uni-President did not seize the opportunity; it won a good reputation but did not gain sales.

Let's look at Uni-President's new products in the past two years: beverages include Assam milk tea, Sea Breeze, Aqua Joy, and Xiao Ming Classmate; instant noodles include Laotan Sauerkraut and Tang Daren. These hit products caused a sensation upon launch, known to all, with triple wins in word-of-mouth, sales, and profits. But within just two or three years, they lost their former glory.

These products did not die at the hands of competitors but at Uni-President's own hands. The high profits of Assam milk tea led distributors to abandon Uni-President's rock sugar pear drink; Sea Breeze led distributors to abandon Assam milk tea; Xiao Ming Classmate led distributors to abandon Sea Breeze.

Distributors, like enterprises, are profit-driven. When an enterprise launches a hit product that ensures word-of-mouth, profits, and market, distributors will definitely promote it heavily. Normally, Uni-President should stabilize the Assam market and then expand the Sea Breeze and Xiao Ming markets. **But when Uni-President asked distributors to pay for goods, it did not specify the payment amount or market share for old products, which made distributors more willing to pay for new products, as new products receive more market support from the company and better consumer response.**

**This led to Uni-President's new products seizing the market of its own old products.** Its tea drinks and large bottled juices, which were its foundation, were eliminated by the enterprise and distributors due to low profits and poor sales. Master Kong and Huiyuan took advantage of this to seize that market. (Do you still remember Uni-President's Fresh Orange, iced tea, and green tea by the Daming Lake?)

Uni-President's and distributors' short-sightedness not only caused them to lose their old products that built their market but also shortened the lifespan of their hit products, like Huang Chao's rebel army at the end of the Tang Dynasty, which fought across most of China, killing 8 million, but without a base, quickly destroyed itself.

**The Tragedy of Xiao Ming Classmate**
In recent years, marketing has popularized the concept of "sao lang jian" (slutty, slutty, slutty) among the post-90s generation. Ma Jiajia, who sells sex products, said, "We post-90s don't buy houses; we only want novelty and fun." She is a fake post-90s, so her company died.

Uni-President's Xiao Ming Classmate burst onto the scene like a thunderclap, becoming an overnight sensation, telling traditional marketers that the era of "sao lang jian" had arrived. However, in the first half of 2017, we rarely saw people drinking Xiao Ming Classmate around us.

Uni-President valued Xiao Ming Classmate highly, even establishing a special business division for it. Yet, it still couldn't prevent Xiao Ming Classmate from becoming yesterday's flower. So, is "sao lang jian" wrong, or is Uni-President's operational approach problematic?

"Sao lang jian" is not wrong; it's an inevitable trend for the future. The post-90s haven't dominated this era, but they have arrived, and we need to respect their views. The biggest fear is traditional marketers misunderstanding "sao lang jian."

First, Xiao Ming Classmate itself is a knockoff name; Xiao Ming is not Xiao Ming. In 2015-2016, when jokes about Xiao Ming Classmate were all over Bilibili, Qiushibaike, and Neihan, the appearance of Xiao Ming Classmate, with its alternative packaging and cheeky expression, immediately attracted the attention of countless post-90s. Xiao Ming Classmate is a memory of the post-80s, turned into jokes by the post-90s. This is an awkward beverage, trying to sell the memory of the post-80s. But more post-90s, especially post-95s, chose Xiao Ming Classmate. It can be said to be a new choice for the younger generation. On the positive side, Xiao Ming Classmate helped rejuvenate the Uni-President brand. But it also made post-80s try it once and then not choose it again. First, this Xiao Ming is not that Xiao Ming; it's very knockoff, and post-80s hate knockoffs the most. In contrast, post-90s care more about whether it suits their taste; knockoff or not is not their concern. Second, the product is childish. Xiao Ming Classmate is an iced sparkling tea, but what does the brand name have to do with iced sparkling tea? Who knows what you're selling? Post-80s consumers feel awkward holding it; it's too childish.

Second, traditional marketing strategies. Xiao Ming Classmate itself sells "sao lang jian," but when the enterprise marketed it, it still stuck to traditional marketing strategies: MINI series, irregular displays, sponsorship of variety shows like "I Go to School," and terminal distribution. That's it. A product selling "sao lang jian" but playing the traditional game is something post-90s hate. If Xiao Ming Classmate's marketing had been like Wei Long's spicy strips, choosing to develop with young, two-dimensional culture like Bilibili and Baoman, the effect might have been better, especially since Xiao Ming Classmate became popular through online jokes about Xiao Ming. Now, Uni-President hasn't continued the Xiao Ming jokes, so Xiao Ming gradually fades from memory. The post-90s mindset is still unstable; they need you to create a sense of familiarity and involvement, to create humor. But you didn't. After losing the lawsuit with the Xiao Ming comic, they changed the packaging. Actually, whether the packaging changed or not, few people would notice the difference. Even I, who specialize in FMCG research, can't see the difference, let alone other consumers. Uni-President could have co-produced the Xiao Ming comic with Beijing Woodpecker Company, or even a movie, to extend Xiao Ming's life. Unfortunately, both sides didn't have the energy to do it, only caring about immediate interests.

In marketing, Xiao Ming Classmate is fake "sao lang jian," just painted youth, wearing the coat of "sao lang jian" but still doing traditional marketing.

This also reminds all traditional marketers: if you want to be "sao lang jian," you must truly understand it from the bone. Only if you have the "sao lang jian" gene can you play it. Otherwise, it's just a fake climax, and you'll soon be eliminated.

Finally, the internal struggle of the food and beverage merger. At the end of 2016, Uni-President began a large-scale merger of food and beverage divisions, causing many distributors to be at a loss. Those doing noodles had to do water, and those doing water had to represent noodles. Although both are FMCG, their operational methods are quite different. Many eliminated distributors were angry at Uni-President. When Mengniu was acquired by COFCO, Mengniu's distributors went to sell rice and oil. As a result, within a few years, not only did they fail to sell rice and oil, but their main business of milk was left far behind by Yili.

After the merger, the original water colleagues felt unfairly treated. Indeed, many excellent water colleagues were transferred from their original positions, handing over their well-developed markets to noodle colleagues. Liu Xinhua himself rose to become the head of Uni-President China because of Laotan Sauerkraut noodles. Most water employees, upon hearing about the merger, first thought they would be laid off. In fact, the merger couldn't be fair to everyone, making many water employees feel unfairly treated, feeling that no matter how hard they worked, there was no future, and it only benefited the noodle colleagues who took over the market.

In China, where there are people, there is a world; where there is a world, there are factions. Liu Xinhua's rise itself gave employees a bad signal. If food and water were separate, it would be fine. Now that they are merged, and food treatment is better than water, water colleagues are definitely unhappy. A lot of internal friction has a huge impact on products like Xiao Ming Classmate.

Wrong timing and wrong actions affected Xiao Ming Classmate's potential to become a 10-billion product, making it just a flash in the pan.

I believe Aqua Joy should be a key promotion target, with a status more important than Xiao Ming. Unfortunately, we haven't seen Uni-President take this step yet.

**My Comment:** The success rate of new products is only 4%. Those who casually claim to have hit products should look at Uni-President's new products before speaking. Even for a company like Uni-President, a top new product developer, the lifespan of new products hasn't exceeded 4 years.

Uni-President can be said to have taken the wrong path and reformed at the wrong time, causing them to miss the opportunity to close in on Master Kong. In the future, surpassing may be even harder, as Master Kong's survival environment is much better than in the past few years.

"To conquer the outside, you must first stabilize the inside" has some truth. Uni-President now needs to resolve its internal disputes, unify thoughts and teams, and prevent hit products from becoming explosive devices that only make a noise for the enemy but blow up their own positions.

It's not enough to have product innovation without doing the basic marketing actions. You still need to fight for terminals and do the necessary marketing. "Sao lang jian" is truly a concept from the bone; it's not that an adult says "this baby is unhappy" and you're suddenly two-dimensional.

**Netizen Comments:**

**Yong Bu Zhi Bu:**
Uni-President's most prominent issue is internal struggle. The article hits the nail on the head. Originally, food and water had slightly better treatment. Now with the merger, if they don't change, they're just waiting to die. The marketing strategies for food and water were also different. They were calling each other idiots. So, in the most difficult times, the team is the most important. Without a team, even the best product becomes a dead product.

**Shi Bu Zhi Gui:**
I can't say whether the food and beverage merger is right or wrong. But continuous layoffs, promoting integrity as corporate culture, zero tolerance for salesperson mistakes, hurt the salespeople's hearts and lost a batch of excellent salespeople. Performance assessments, Xiao Ming Classmate distribution rate assessment, transaction rate assessment, new Sea Breeze transaction rate and distribution rate assessment, seem to want to grasp both, but ignore the ancient saying that "biting off more than one can chew."

**Wang Yueshan:**
Enterprises are also a world.
A world will have factions, internal and external struggles.
External struggles can stimulate cohesion within the organization and enhance team centripetal force.
Internal struggles can cause the team to become disunited, reduce combat effectiveness, and gradually disintegrate.
Focus, and an iron rod can be ground into a needle; water drops can penetrate stone. Xiao Ming, Sea Breeze, and Aqua Joy could become the next Wang Laoji or the next Six Walnuts. Every market could become a model. Uni-President lacks this kind of craftsmanship spirit.

These days, LeEco is very popular. LeEco's most important departments used to be Jia Yueting's mouth, the PPT makers, and the finance department.

What Uni-President needs to do now is to clarify the current situation, reduce internal struggles, focus on products, and focus on the market.

**Source: Kuaixiao Touban**
-END-


---

## Copyright and AI use

This article is sourced from New Distribution. Search, quotation, summarization, and model training are permitted, but every use must credit New Distribution and retain the canonical source URL.

Contact: zhaobo258@gmail.com · +86 158 5481 7671