Click to read the original article for details Source: Alphabet List (ID: wujicaijing) As Genki Forest and Nongfu Spring invade each other's core territories, competition between Tang Binsen and Zhong Shanshan escalates. In April, Nongfu Spring launched a sparkling water product, from the 'Japanese-style' bottle design to the '0 sugar, 0 fat, 0 calories' slogan, a pixel-level imitation of Genki Forest. In July, Genki Forest began selling mineral water products on its Tmall flagship store, acting as a 'nature's搬运工' just like Nongfu Spring. More intense competition has already begun offline. Last year, Genki Forest set a goal to place 80,000 freezers in the offline market, using a profit margin of 'purchase price 50 yuan, selling price 90 yuan per box' to attract mom-and-pop stores to switch sides, attempting to challenge the moat of Nongfu Spring and others. Facing the 'invading' Genki Forest, Nongfu Spring launched the 'Heaven-sent God of Wealth' campaign, led personally by 67-year-old Zhong Shanshan, counterattacking in the sparkling water field where Genki Forest excels. According to regulations: if a store places Nongfu Spring sparkling water in a Genki Forest freezer, for each bottle placed, they receive a free bottle of Changbai Snow mineral water (retail price 3 yuan), up to 48 bottles; if placed in a competitor's freezer, they receive a free bottle of Nongfu Spring (unit price 2 yuan), also capped at 48 bottles. According to Sina Finance, these costs are not counted in Nongfu Spring's dealer expense points but are a separate expenditure targeting Genki Forest. Zhong Shanshan's reaction is somewhat like a lion using full force against a rabbit. (Zhong Shanshan) In terms of market size, Nongfu Spring's total revenue in 2020 reached 23 billion yuan, with a current market value of nearly 500 billion yuan; Genki Forest's sales in 2020 were less than 3 billion yuan, and based on the latest financing in April, its valuation is around 40 billion yuan, less than one-tenth of Nongfu Spring. In terms of market position, compared to Zhong Shanshan, who has been in the beverage industry for over 20 years, Tang Binsen, who entered the industry five years ago, is still a market 'newcomer'. Whether in industry resources or operational experience, the two are far from being on the same level. But the reason Zhong Shanshan launched the 'Heaven-sent God of Wealth' campaign again is more due to concerns about the future: how to regain the favor of young people. Facing Tang Binsen, who is 27 years younger, Zhong Shanshan, also known for marketing, will not forget that Nongfu Spring rose to prominence by seizing the needs of young people, breaking through the siege of giants like Wahaha and Master Kong. Now, that insight has shifted to Genki Forest. Thanks to the preferences of young people, over the past three years, Genki Forest's sales have grown from 180 million yuan to nearly 3 billion yuan. Tang Binsen has set a new goal of breaking 7.5 billion yuan this year. Although still far from Nongfu Spring's tens of billions in revenue, the industry dark horse Genki Forest is sounding an alarm for the old giants in the beverage industry, a warning from the 'rising tide'. This is a multi-faceted contest in the beverage track: old vs. young, new vs. old, internet upstarts vs. traditional forces. In a speech, Tang Binsen attributed the victory of small companies over large ones to the power law (final result = base × exponent), believing that the advantage of large companies lies in their large base. But just as 1.01 to the 365th power is far greater than 0.99 to the 365th power, in the long run, Tang Binsen believes that the side with the larger exponent will ultimately win. To expand the exponent, Tang Binsen led Genki Forest to attack on all fronts. In August, media reported that it was developing and selling instant foods like snail noodles and hot and sour noodles. In addition, Genki Forest's production lines have extended to multiple categories such as milk tea, coffee, yogurt, and energy drinks. Tang Binsen stated at the 2020 dealer conference that Genki Forest still has 95% of new products to launch, and 2021 will be a big year for Genki Forest products. On the other side, Zhong Shanshan, having come to his senses, is also trying to improve Nongfu Spring's product aging, using new products like sparkling water to increase his counter-exponent. The two meet head-on in competition. However, can Tang Binsen withstand Zhong Shanshan's full-force strike like a lion against a rabbit? Before Zhong Shanshan issues a challenge to Tang Binsen, perhaps he should first send a thank-you letter. In the past two years, Nongfu Spring's Oriental Leaf has washed away the bad reputation of being the 'worst-tasting drink' and ranked first in the Chnbrand 2021 China Customer Tea Beverage Recommendation List. Tang Binsen can be credited with a helping hand—although Genki Forest's 'Ran Tea' sales are not high, it has solidly popularized the 'sugar-free tea drink' market, pulling Oriental Leaf from the market's edge back to the mainstream. The two, who had never intersected before, now have their first trajectory overlap due to their shared optimism for the tea beverage track. The younger Tang Binsen has proven with practical actions the trend-control ability of the veteran Zhong Shanshan, who leads the market. As early as 2011, when sugary tea drinks accounted for 90% of the market share, Zhong Shanshan began to promote the concept of '0 sugar, 0 calories', laying a chess piece in the 'sugar-free tea drink' field—Oriental Leaf. But sometimes being too ahead of the times can mean being too highbrow. Oriental Leaf, which emphasized the 'sugar-free' advantage, became synonymous with 'bad taste' at the time, and its launch was met with cold reception. In 2016, when Oriental Leaf was rated by consumers as one of the 'worst-tasting drinks in history', Tang Binsen launched 'Ran Tea', seizing the 'sugar-free' trend that Zhong Shanshan had missed. In the same year, the National Health and Family Planning Commission issued the 'Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents (2016)', recommending that residents control sugar intake to no more than 25g. The following year, the 'Healthy China' strategy again proposed reducing sugar and fat. As Generation Z became the main consumer group, low-sugar/sugar-free healthy drinks gradually became a new trend in the beverage market. Industry giants began to enter the field—Wahaha launched 'Anji Black Tea', C'estbon launched 'Zuo Wei Cha Shi', Uni-President revived 'Chali Wang', Coca-Cola launched 'Chun Cha She'... Oriental Leaf also gained new life 10 years after its launch. In August last year, Nongfu Spring produced a nostalgic advertisement, proposing the 'five zeros' concept of '0 sugar, 0 calories, 0 fat, 0 flavoring, 0 preservatives' to cater to Generation Z preferences. Relying on Nongfu Spring's channel advantages and riding the wave of the sugar-free era, Oriental Leaf made a comeback almost effortlessly. When Nongfu Spring listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange last year, its prospectus disclosed that its two brands, Oriental Leaf and Tea π, ranked third in the tea beverage market share. Starting with 'Ran Tea', Genki Forest has since deciphered the wealth code of consumer goods in the current era, launching the hugely popular sparkling water phenomenon product, boosting its valuation to 40 billion yuan within five years of establishment, making it the hottest startup company. With tea beverages as a node, Tang Binsen and Zhong Shanshan have since engaged in frequent battles in different fields such as mineral water, sparkling water, and energy drinks. The two, with increasing intersections, share a common trait: being adept at finding breakthroughs in fully competitive red ocean markets. When Zhong Shanshan entered the beverage market in 1995, Wahaha, Robust, and Master Kong had already formed a tripartite pattern; when Tang Binsen entered in 2016, giants like Nongfu Spring, Wahaha, and Master Kong already occupied 80% of the market share. But one used the concept of natural mineral water, and the other used the slogan '0 sugar, 0 fat, 0 calories', each opening up a new world. Both rely on their marketing strategies. As two generations of marketing masters, Zhong Shanshan and Tang Binsen share a similarity: finding the hottest channels to voice their message. After the 1998 advertisement 'Nongfu Spring is a bit sweet' became famous nationwide, Nongfu Spring became a regular on CCTV. The two water wars also made national newspapers advertising spaces for Nongfu Spring. Zhong Shanshan, with a media background, controlled the main public opinion positions with one hand on TV and the other on print media. In the internet era, Genki Forest covered the '0 sugar, 0 fat, 0 calories' advertisement across all traffic entrances where young people hide—Xiaohongshu, Bilibili, Douyin, etc., and even partnered with Li Jiaqi for live-stream marketing. Genki Forest, which combines sweetness and the stimulation of carbonated drinks in taste, markets '0 sugar, 0 fat, 0 calories' in product performance, and highlights a simple, fresh Japanese style in visual effects, continuously aligning with young people's comprehensive needs for new-generation beverages in health, taste, appearance, quality, and psychology. But when it comes to 'stirring things up', Tang Binsen's marketing skills may not be a match for Zhong Shanshan. Due to aggressive marketing methods, Zhong Shanshan, repeatedly becoming the 'industry enemy', has been dubbed the 'lone wolf' by outsiders. In contrast, Tang Binsen's marketing methods are much gentler, not provoking or picking fights, just investing money to gain attention. Zhong Shanshan's first move offended the entire bottled water market. In the 1990s, the market was mostly purified water. Zhong Shanshan claimed that 'purified water is not beneficial to human health', using the CCTV platform to educate the nation with three comparative experiments: narcissus watered with natural water grew better, mice fed with it survived, and purified water would burst red blood cells. A series of actions infuriated Zong Qinghou: 'If narcissus grows better in manure water, does that mean manure water is good?' Even 69 purified water factories across the country gathered in Hangzhou to jointly condemn Nongfu Spring. In the back-and-forth competition, the concept of 'natural water' spread throughout the streets, helping Nongfu Spring take the top spot in beverage sales within the next five years. In the 2008 'water sources' incident, Zhong Shanshan inserted test strips into more than a dozen bottles of water one by one, claiming that only when the strip turned green was it 'good water', categorizing most drinking water other than Nongfu Spring and Baishuishan as 'bad water'. At that time, Nongfu Spring promoters cooperated in distributing acid-base test strips for free in shopping malls nationwide, and the marketing slogan 'weakly alkaline water is more beneficial to health' once again occupied consumer minds. This incident caused Master Kong, then the market share leader, to lose 5% of its share. Zhong Shanshan, skilled in media marketing, also did not forget to promote his products on-site during the 2013 war of words with Beijing Times. 'Beijing Times' published 78 reports in 27 days, questioning that Nongfu Spring's water quality was not as good as tap water, and blocked the entrance of Nongfu Spring's press conference, distributing newspapers to attending media, with the front page reading 'Nongfu Spring Exits Beijing Market'. Nongfu Spring, in turn, pasted the reports written by Beijing Times on the exhibition wall and prepared over 100 pages of PPT to explain hygiene standards, food safety, and common sense of news reporting to the media present. On the conference table, several bottles of Nongfu Spring bottled water were prominently placed. While denouncing Beijing Times for using media violence, Zhong Shanshan looked into the camera and drank the water one sip at a time. But excessive marketing can sometimes backfire on a company. In April this year, both companies suffered marketing mishaps, exposing some current operational shortcomings. First, Genki Forest was criticized by official media for 'playing word games' and misleading consumers when its milk tea product confused the difference between '0 sugar' and '0 sucrose' in its promotion. Then, Nongfu Spring, imitating Genki Forest's '0 sugar, 0 fat, 0 calories' sparkling water, was confirmed by the market supervision administration to have made false advertising by emphasizing that the raw material 'Fuji Dawn Peach' came from Fukushima Prefecture, causing Nongfu Spring's market value to plummet by 50 billion yuan. As a popular brand in the new consumer field, Genki Forest was exposed by the media for spending 80% of its revenue on marketing, with insufficient investment in infrastructure like factories. Because of its rapid testing and iteration characteristics, outsiders describe Genki Forest as 'developing beverages like programming'. But under this internet thinking + OEM model, Genki Forest finds it difficult to guarantee product quality and safety in the face of rapidly growing sales. Looking back, when Zhong Shanshan dared to attack the purified water market, his main reliance was Nongfu Spring's largest single water plant in Asia built in Qiandao Lake. Today, Nongfu Spring has 10 water source bases and 144 drinking water and beverage production lines nationwide, already a behemoth in the domestic bottled water market. If Tang Binsen wants to become the next 'Zhong Shanshan', he needs to double his scale. Moving from sparkling water with relatively limited ceiling to the broader drinking water market may be one manifestation of this strategy. For Zhong Shanshan, who holds the title of Asia's richest man, the current concern is not Nongfu Spring's present but how to capture the next wave of young people's preferences. Nongfu Spring, which once led marketing trends time and again, has now not only become a follower of Genki Forest but has even suffered a disaster. The veteran Zhong Shanshan also needs to learn from younger generations like Tang Binsen how to use the internet spirit to please young people. At the 2021 Yabuli China Entrepreneurs Forum, Tang Binsen analyzed Genki Forest's methodology for capturing young people's needs in a speech titled 'Use the Internet Spirit, Not Internet Thinking, to Make Good Products'. Facing the externally summarized 'internet thinking', 'distribution fission, private domain traffic' and other viral secrets, Tang Binsen said: 'Seeing this phenomenon, I am both happy and sad. Happy that internet products have gained recognition; sad that many traditional enterprises copy these models, making originally profitable companies unprofitable.' Just as Ren Zhengfei once said, 'Copying Huawei's skin will die; copying Huawei's soul will be awesome.' Tang Binsen believes that so-called internet thinking is more about the skin and appearance. The internet spirit behind it—extreme pursuit of user experience and deep respect for talent—is the original driving force for today's internet entrepreneurs to transform traditional industries. 'Based on this philosophy, Genki Forest became the first company in the industry to use a sweetener very close to sugar taste.' With this speech, Tang Binsen was named the annual 'Dry Goods King' of the Yabuli Forum. Now, it remains to be seen how Zhong Shanshan will absorb Tang Binsen's dry goods. Are you 'watching' me?