A series of lawsuits have been won by Wang Laoji, but at the same time, they have gradually handed the market to JDB. In other words, behind these lawsuits, Wang Laoji has actively pushed consumers into JDB's arms.
Wang Laoji Strikes Again: Claims 2.9 Billion from JDB Recently, Wang Laoji has been embroiled in another lawsuit with JDB. After a series of legal battles including the "advertising dispute" and the "red can dispute," Guangzhou Pharmaceutical has once again taken JDB to court, this time demanding a whopping 2.9 billion yuan in compensation.
Since their split two years ago, the relationship between Wang Laoji and JDB has been closely tied to the word "lawsuit," one after another, seemingly endless. But is this really good for Wang Laoji?
PR Image Damage Has a Significant Impact on Performance – Yet Wang Laoji Keeps Repeating the Mistake Wang Laoji's loss to JDB can be attributed not only to differences in operational capabilities but also to its own PR image missteps, which have greatly affected its performance. Unfortunately, Wang Laoji continues to repeat these mistakes.
PR Image Damage Directly Affects Corporate Performance There's a saying in the industry: "Advertising in the left hand, PR in the right hand," highlighting the importance of PR image. A company's PR image in the minds of consumers directly impacts its performance. A good image can add value to the company and brand, while a bad image can directly affect consumer perception and acceptance. The quality of the image directly influences performance.
Consumers tend to "love the house and its crow" – if they approve of a company, they will buy its products; if they dislike it, they will reject them.
Winning Lawsuits but Losing Consumers' Hearts To some extent, the current situation between Wang Laoji and JDB is largely due to Wang Laoji's series of lawsuits.
- The initial lawsuit after the split – helped JDB "force" out consumers At the beginning of the split, JDB was at a severe disadvantage. After all, the brand built over many years belonged to Wang Laoji, leaving JDB with only distribution channels and operational experience, but no brand. If JDB failed to quickly build a new brand, it would face a life-or-death crisis, because without a brand, there would be no consumers, leading to trouble.
In the past, there have been many cases where national distributors disappeared after separating from manufacturers, losing the brand they had built over the years and struggling to build a new one, causing once-glorious distributors to vanish from the business world.
At this critical point, it was Wang Laoji's lawsuit that "sent" JDB its initial customers. If Wang Laoji had not sued JDB and pressed hard, but instead taken a different approach – announcing that the lease had expired and would not be renewed, expressing a hope to jointly develop the herbal tea market, and presenting a more inclusive and magnanimous image – it would have won the hearts of many consumers. This would have meant that original Wang Laoji customers would not have defected in large numbers, and JDB would have had to start from scratch, making it much harder for JDB to run its "renaming advertisement" (the renamed herbal tea that leads the way).
However, during this period, Wang Laoji's lawsuit naturally generated public sympathy for JDB. After all, no matter how you look at it, it cannot be denied that under JDB's management, Wang Laoji achieved leapfrog development, growing from a regional brand to a national one, from annual sales of millions to tens of billions, and even boosting the performance of green-box Wang Laoji to nearly 2 billion. In this process, JDB was an undeniable "founding contributor," and this achievement cannot be erased.
The relentless pressure on a "contributor" naturally made people sympathize with JDB, leading to the "love the house and its crow" effect. Some customers chose JDB out of emotion. In other words, Wang Laoji itself "pushed" customers to JDB's side.
If Wang Laoji had adopted a more magnanimous image during this period, establishing its legitimacy while using a relatively polite approach, many people would have accepted Wang Laoji's image, and the outcome would have been vastly different.
- The subsequent series of lawsuits – drove another batch of consumers to defect and firmly side with JDB After the initial lawsuit, if Wang Laoji had corrected its PR strategy, the later situation would not have occurred. The subsequent lawsuits were also characterized by "relentless pressure," but the market effects of these lawsuits were cleverly defused by JDB – they changed their advertising slogans and packaging. For Wang Laoji, however, its image in consumers' minds could not be repaired. Pressing too hard triggered consumer resentment, pushing another batch of consumers to JDB's side.
This is not about "sad marketing," because JDB indeed made significant contributions as a contributor. These "relentless" lawsuits gave the impression that Wang Laoji wanted to leave JDB with no way out, which Chinese people, who value relationships and loyalty, would find excessive, leading to doubts about the company and feelings of antipathy. It can be said that in the following years, Wang Laoji also pushed customers to JDB's side.
Similarly, at this stage, if Wang Laoji had adopted a magnanimous approach, willing to jointly expand China's herbal tea industry, strengthen it together, and even take it global, people's perception of Wang Laoji would have been different, and some consumers would not have firmly sided with JDB due to disapproval.
Winning consumers' "hearts" is crucial!
Wang Laoji Should Change Its Strategy – More Importantly, Win Consumers' Hearts For Wang Laoji, lawsuits can only pressure competitors, but what matters more is winning consumers' hearts. Whether it can win consumers' hearts is key. Clearly, the current lawsuits, like those in the past, will only push consumers to the opponent's side.
Wang Laoji truly needs to change its strategy!
Change Its Image to Win Consumer Favor Repair its image, establish a good brand image, and jointly build China's herbal tea industry.
Best strategy: Join hands with competitors to jointly expand China's herbal tea market. After all, for both parties, it is more important to increase the share of herbal tea in the beverage sector. The herbal tea industry still has significant growth potential. By jointly growing the herbal tea pie and increasing its overall sales and share in beverages, both can reap good returns. By jointly enhancing the image of a national industry, they can boost their brand images.
Middle strategy: Independently become a successful representative of China's time-honored enterprises in the new era, or strive to be a representative of the herbal tea business, leveraging its most valuable aspects. Build an image as a time-honored brand ambassador or a promoter of the national herbal tea industry, which will not only establish a good image but also drive performance.
Lower strategy: Adopt a competitive model similar to Pepsi and Coca-Cola, each with its own tactics and styles, communication features, spokesperson styles, and channel characteristics, but indirectly working together to expand the carbonated beverage market, once forming a strong share advantage in the beverage market. Wang Laoji can do the same, creating a distinctive duopoly in the herbal tea field, each with its own brilliance.
Currently, for Wang Laoji, the most important thing is to win more consumer favor and expand its consumer base. Whether it adopts the best, middle, or lower strategy, it will change and repair its current image, moving away from the past "relentless pressure" image, and reshape Wang Laoji's image.
Operational Innovation to Attract Consumer Attention Additionally, in operations, a series of innovations can attract consumer attention, such as personalized taste innovations and improvements, personalized packaging innovations, spokesperson innovations, collaborations with cultural and entertainment IPs with Chinese elements (like Kung Fu Panda), hot event marketing (like Coca-Cola and Pepsi's sports event partnerships that capture young people's hearts), and international market expansion. There are many innovative points to promote. Through commercial innovation and performance, attract consumer attention, gain their recognition and praise, and win word-of-mouth.
Whether it's improving its image or innovating operations, it will to some extent change and reshape Wang Laoji's brand image, rebuild its image in consumers' minds, win favor, and make more consumers recognize, accept, and choose Wang Laoji, rather than feeling negative and actively pushing consumers to the opponent.
Win consumers with a magnanimous and wise image, not with a "relentless pressure" image that pushes them to competitors. Strive to build a good image, especially as a model time-honored brand, to add points rather than deduct them. In the end, it's the company itself that loses.
I sincerely wish Wang Laoji all the best. After all, a century-old brand in this era is like gold and diamonds – irreplaceable and rare high-quality resources. It is precious to have one. If well developed, it can have a more brilliant and valuable future; otherwise, it will dim.
At the request of our distributor friends, the third B-end e-commerce inspection tour of this public platform will be held from July 9-12, visiting Wanshang Yizhan, Yunbao Shangmeng, and Weijie Chengpei. Distributor friends interested in transformation can join us for on-site inspections:
Organization Format
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Participating distributors only need to pay a registration fee of 200 yuan. Time: July 9-12, 2016 Location: Changsha, Xiamen
Interested distributors can register by scanning the QR code below. When adding friends, please reply "Third Registration".
Past Inspection Enterprise Cases:
- Yishang Logistics Model Inspection (Second B-end E-commerce Inspection Tour)
- Caiba Model Inspection
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- Beiquan Model On-site Inspection
- Piduoduo Model On-site Inspection
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