JWT, which snatched the business from under the noses of competing agencies Publicis and Saatchi & Saatchi - both tipped to share the business - signed the contract last week, although both the agency and the client, while confirming the deal was done, declined to comment further. DraftFCB was also selected during the process to handle one of Huiyuan's sub-brands, Guo Xian Mei.
Sources involved in the pitch indicated a key priority for JWT would be to overhaul the 10-year-old brand's image with an extensive facelift while developing the overall communications strategy for its flagship pure juice brand, 100%, which currently garners around 50 per cent marketshare compared with second placed Taiwanese-based brand Wei Chuan from Ting Hsin International Group at 13 per cent.
But although Huiyuan remains strong in the pure juice category, it's just two per cent ahead of Nongfu Orchard - Huiyuan has 36 per cent of the market - in the mid-juice sector, and in the lower-juice category, Taiwanese brand Uni-President is the market leader. "Huiyuan is very weak in the lower category, as its key product is the 100% pure juice brand, which is a high-margin and profitable core business for the company," said a source involved in the pitch. 'At the moment, there are not many strong players, but it is a high-value segment with little competition,. Competitors like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, MasterKong and Uni-President are all keen for a share of that pie."
While other beverage companies such as dairy players Mengniu and Yili and water brand Wahaha - the largest water brand in China - are not yet focusing on the juice category, this could change. Euromonitor International figures for 2006 show that the average annual consumption of fruit juice in China is 3.4 litres per person each year, growing at an average rate of 21.5 per cent, outstripping growth in the bottled water and RTD tea categories.
