--- title: "Zhong Shanshan's Surprising Attitude: Without a Good Product, the Faster You Market, the Quicker You Die!" description: "Zhong Shanshan, chairman of Nongfu Spring, is known for his maverick marketing style. With unique concepts and fresh angles, he has created numerous hit products over his 30-year career, such as 'Nongfu Guoyuan' juices, 'Scream' functional drinks, and 'Tea π'. Recently, his new move has stirred the food industry: the 'farmer' who sells water is now selling 'water for the skin'." author: "New Distribution" publisher: "New Distribution" email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com" telephone: "+8615854817671" published: "2017-12-07" language: "en" canonical: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/zhong-shanshan-s-surprising-attitude-without-a-good-product-the-faster-y-e2b1da10/" markdown: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/zhong-shanshan-s-surprising-attitude-without-a-good-product-the-faster-y-e2b1da10.md" original_source: "https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/spQgbvg503q-NcmKhVU2oA" translation: "https://xinjignxiao.com/zh/articles/%E9%92%9F%E7%9D%92%E7%9D%92%E8%AF%AD%E5%87%BA%E6%83%8A%E4%BA%BA-%E8%83%8C%E5%90%8E%E7%9A%84%E6%80%81%E5%BA%A6-%E6%B2%A1%E6%9C%89%E5%A5%BD%E7%9A%84%E4%BA%A7%E5%93%81-%E8%B6%8A%E8%A1%8C%E9%94%80%E6%AD%BB%E5%BE%97%E8%B6%8A%E5%BF%AB-e2b1da10.md" attribution: "New Distribution — https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/zhong-shanshan-s-surprising-attitude-without-a-good-product-the-faster-y-e2b1da10/" usage_policy: "https://xinjignxiao.com/ai-policy.txt" --- # Zhong Shanshan's Surprising Attitude: Without a Good Product, the Faster You Market, the Quicker You Die! > Zhong Shanshan, chairman of Nongfu Spring, is known for his maverick marketing style. With unique concepts and fresh angles, he has created numerous hit products over his 30-year career, such as 'Nongfu Guoyuan' juices, 'Scream' functional drinks, and 'Tea π'. Recently, his new move has stirred the food industry: the 'farmer' who sells water is now selling 'water for the skin'. Zhong Shanshan, chairman of Nongfu Spring, is known throughout the marketing world for his lone-wolf style. Unique conceptual selling points, refreshing angles for consumers, and explosive product growth have been common in Zhong's three decades in business. He is the Chinese entrepreneur most adept at 'giving birth' to products, creating one hit after another: the 'Nongfu Guoyuan' series in fruit and vegetable juices, the 'Scream' series in functional drinks, and 'Tea π' in tea beverages. Recently, Zhong Shanshan's new move has taken the food industry by storm: this 'farmer' skilled at selling water has begun selling 'water for the skin to drink'. Today, we look at the thinking behind these disruptive products—his views on products, consumers, innovation, and research, as well as the relationship between marketing and profitability. (Video is about 21 minutes long) 1. On Cross-Industry Moves: With Sufficient Technical Accumulation, You Can Quickly Enter New Fields For example, when asked how Nongfu Spring crossed into the cosmetics industry, Zhong Shanshan said: "I think crossing industries is cross-industry from Nongfu Spring's perspective, but from Yangshengtang's perspective, it's not crossing; we've just entered a new field... We've delved into this (birch sap), while others may not even have noticed the birch sap field. It's not that we can reach this level in a day; that's not the case. But indeed, as Dr. Zhang Yali said, we have accumulated a lot in other fields. This accumulation allows you to quickly enter a new field, and the speed can be proportional to your research foundation. The richer your research and accumulation, the faster your speed will be." 2. On New Products: They Should Bring More Benefits to Consumers Zhong believes that a good product is fundamental, and what China lacks is the ability to make high-end products. "If you can't bring more benefits to others with this product, who needs it? It's not a big deal; making ordinary products, Chinese people have plenty of capability. But what we lack is the ability to make high-end products." "For skincare, our goal is not to be number one in China; we want to compete with all international cosmetics companies on quality. That's our goal. Whenever we enter a field, as soon as we launch a product, it must be at the forefront of current technical and quality standards. None of our products can be second." When asked how Yangshengtang should win over loyal customers of established cosmetics brands after entering the industry, Zhong proposed: "I think the concept of 'loyal customers' almost doesn't exist. When Jobs' phone came out, all loyal Nokia customers switched sides overnight. The subversiveness of science lies in the value you create. Consumers have only one perception: what benefits does it bring me? Consumers have no second perception. I think we are all consumers, and the term 'loyal customers' is actually a fabricated concept." Thus, Yangshengtang's pursuit of product quality is almost extreme. And product quality often stems from the technology behind it. So Zhong Shanshan has an extraordinary obsession with the company's research and innovation. 3. On Marketing: Without a Good Product, the Faster You Market, the Quicker You Die Nongfu Spring is recognized in the industry as a marketing expert in recent years, but Zhong Shanshan does not put marketing first: "The success of any marketing activity must be backed by the product. If you don't have a good product, even the best marketing is just a token gesture. Like a kite without a string, it may float up, but once it flies high, it may not last long. So I think every marketing activity should be based on the product. If your product foundation is poor, marketing may accelerate death. If your product foundation is good, then every marketing activity will help you grow. It all depends on the quality of your product foundation." 4. On Sales: Sales Have No Targets; Companies That Put Sales First Have No Future Zhong's understanding of sales is consistent with his view on marketing. "Our sales targets have no targets. Why? Because sales targets are not determined by what you produce as a producer; they are determined by consumers. Only by successfully creating products that meet consumer needs and satisfying consumer demands, or by providing solutions to problems, or by delivering satisfaction and fulfillment in your products, can we achieve our requirements and develop. For sales, we never set targets. Our teams never talk about sales targets. If we put sales first, our company's lifespan would be limited." 5. On Young People: Their Abilities Far Exceed Ours Additionally, Mr. Zhong also shared his views on the younger generation, believing that today's youth have great potential to surpass their predecessors: "I think the post-80s and post-90s have such rich knowledge. The post-90s, post-80s, post-60s, post-50s—each generation is different, and the post-00s are even more impressive. Because they have much broader channels to acquire knowledge and much more information. But the question is whether you are willing to sit down and quietly focus on one thing. If they are willing to do that, their abilities far exceed ours. So with this generation of consumers, the only way to conquer them is to show them new things and good things; they are very good at evaluating. Because of their knowledge and experience, they have searched every corner of the world you can't imagine. They know clearly who has done this, who hasn't, who did it before, whether you are following or innovating." **Business Maverick Zhong Shanshan** From the beginning, Zhong Shanshan has followed the logic that 'the best marketing is event marketing'—create events, seize events, and you seize everything. In Zhong's hands, Nongfu Spring products are always instantly recognizable and never get lost. For example, the 'Scream' with a nipple-like cap, the 'Nongfu Guoyuan' with mixed fruits, the 'Mother's Brand Beef' with a mother image on the packaging, the 'Oriental Leaf' inspired by the Tea Horse Road, the 'Da Nai Cha' with a hand-made matcha style, and 'Tea π' with BIGBANG. The most impressive thing is that Zhong Shanshan can incorporate consumer usage details into products, almost to an obsessive degree. For instance, he improved the packaging of infant drinking water based on the different ways fathers and mothers hold bottles. He always seems to know what's trending in society. A typical example is his statement: 'Having plastic bottled water on the negotiation table for leaders is an industry shame!' Then at the G20 summit, Zhong placed high-end glass-bottled water on the leaders' tables. This also confirms a saying Zhong often repeats: 'An enterprise that doesn't hype itself is a mummy.' But here, 'hype' might better be called 'marketing,' and it is precisely a 'sharp tool' that helps enterprises grow step by step! -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