First of all, let's review the development of Nongfu Spring. In September, 1996, the predecessor of Nongfu Spring Co., Ltd., was born, and in June, 1997 Nongfu Spring was officially unveiled, attracting many consumers with the slogan of "a little sweet". At that time, almost no one in the domestic drinking water market would integrate advertisements into brands, while Zhong Shanshan became an instant hit with its "brainwashing" and "attractive" advertising language, and Nongfu Spring officially gained a foothold in the drinking water field.
In 2000, Nongfu Spring made an important decision to stop producing pure water and turn to producing natural water. In order to further prove its correctness, Nongfu Spring also published an experimental report related to "drinking purified water for a long time is harmful to health". Although many pure water enterprises jointly submitted complaints of "unfair competition", Zhong Shanshan was not affected at all. It was not until the slogan "porters of nature" swept the country again that everyone knew that Zhong Shanshan was a real "marketing genius".
In June, 20001year, the former Zhejiang Qiandao Lake Health Hall Drinking Water Co., Ltd. ushered in an overall change and changed its name to "Nongfu Spring Co., Ltd.". In the later development process, Nongfu Spring was not limited to ordinary drinking water, but developed a variety of new drinks, including scream, vitamin water, oriental leaves, farmer's orchard and so on. Product types include energy drinks, tea and fruit juice.
In 2020, Nongfu Spring was successfully listed and its market value exceeded 400 billion yuan in one fell swoop. At the beginning of 20021,the share price of Nongfu Spring rose again, reaching a high of HK$ 68.75, and Zhong Shanshan became the new richest man in China. However, it didn't take long for the share price of Nongfu Spring to fall. As of last Thursday's close, its share price just exceeded HK$ 40. Compared with the highest value at the beginning of the year, the market value evaporated by over 320 billion Hong Kong dollars (about 260 billion yuan). According to the 844 1% equity directly and indirectly held by Zhong Shanshan, its value has evaporated by 270 billion Hong Kong dollars (about 224.6 billion yuan).
As the saying goes: "A wave is not flat, and a wave rises again." When Zhong Shanshan is faced with the double blow of stock price and social value plummeting, Nongfu Spring, once a marketing circle, is now caught in another marketing of its own.
On June 26, netizens pointed out that Nongfu Spring mentioned in its propaganda that the raw materials in one of its drinks were products from Fukushima, Japan. As we all know, many countries strictly restrict the export of things from Fukushima to their own countries. In such a banned house, Nongfu Spring dared to make it public. When everyone criticized Nongfu Spring for using Fukushima raw materials to promote Fukushima products, on June 27, Nongfu Spring came out and responded that there were no raw materials from Fukushima in its products. In addition, the relevant departments also said that Nongfu Spring was right.
Since no products from Fukushima were added, why did Nongfu Spring mention in its propaganda that its raw materials came from Fukushima? It should be noted that Nongfu Spring has denied that the raw material products come from Fukushima, which also illustrates a problem from the side, that is, Nongfu Spring is suspected of deceiving consumers.
But in any case, this time Nongfu Spring failed in marketing and public relations, because it is wrong to use Fukushima products as raw materials or not to use Fukushima products as raw materials. The former does not respect consumers' demands for food safety, while the latter deceives consumers.
Many people say that Zhong Shanshan has done a lot of vigorous marketing work, such as The Porter of Nature and A Little Sweetness. Didn't he consider the consequences in promoting Fukushima products this time? In fact, the development of Nongfu Spring today is different from before, and there are many series of drinks under its banner. Not every series is conceived and marketed by Zhong Shanshan himself, so this kind of "marketing" is estimated to be the result that Zhong Shanshan himself did not expect.
After the market value plummeted, another thing happened to Nongfu Spring, which undoubtedly had a quite adverse impact on its share price, which can be said to be "worse". Nowadays, the "Fukushima raw material" of Nongfu Spring is still controversial. Now it seems that the throne of Zhong Shanshan's richest man may be lost.