CASE STUDY: How Wahaha made inroads with 'liquid bread'

Background

Wahaha's product-in-focus in 2013, Kvass, is positioned as a functional carbonated drink with slight alcoholic content. Originally from Russia, it is a fermented beverage made from black rye bread, which was introduced to China in the 19th century.

Kvass is popular in northeastern China where there is a strong influence of Russian culture but relatively unknown to most consumers in the rest of the country. Since it has a unique aroma of bread, it is also nicknamed "liquid bread."

The drink has been produced by competitor Qiulin Food since 1900, and Qiulin has held a market share of more than 90 per cent in the northeastern region. Local drinkers in Harbin were less receptive to Wahaha's product. They even dismissed it as a fake, claiming that the company repackaged a brand of unpopular beer and tried to pass it off as Kvass.

Wahaha withdrew its product from Harbin, but stepped up its campaigns nationally.

Execution

I Am A Singer, China's top-rated singing contest, is derived from South Korea's music programme with the same name. Each week, seven veteran artists with established music careers are invited to compete. Their rankings are determined by the votes from an audience of 500, with the artist scoring the lowest eliminated and replaced by a new singer. It was premiered on 18 January 2013 and broadcast thereafter every Friday at 22:00 on Hunan Satellite TV.

Wahaha, who secured second-level sponsorship of the show, is subject to more rigid and less frequent brand appearances than the title sponsor Liby. In-programme communications were made to be as naturally integrated as possible for effective exposure. Examples included exposure during the show intro and contestents shown drinking the official beverage of the programme. In addition the brand's ads appeared around the show.

Results

Sponsorship of the programme was meant to enhance the level of awareness of Kvass. Before the broadcast of the show, an average of 65 Sina Weibo posts were discussing Kvass everyday between 1 to 17 January. 

After the programme aired on 18 January, the daily average number rose to 197—an increase of 206 per cent. Volume distribution of Sina Weibo posts was spread out on non-performance days, while volume spiked during broadcast times.

About a third of the responses from netizens were related to first-time perceptions of the product, while 21.9 per cent were based on better recognition of the Wahaha brand, as well as understanding of the country of origin of Kvass and its production process.

Even though product awareness levels improved, consumer concerns about national enterprises and questions of product authenticity still prevailed resulting in a less favourable response in terms of sentiment. Still, 18.6 per cent of consumers expressed a willingness to try out the product for the first time, compared to 12.2 per cent before the broadcast.