Changyu invested nearly 20 million yuan on CCTV to promote "Cabernet" dry red wine, in order to create a fait accompli of ownership of "Cabernet". Is this a smart choice or a reckless decision? ?

In the 2004 CCTV advertising bidding conference that concluded not long ago, Changyu Group became the only successful bidder in the wine industry with an investment of 19.5 million yuan, buying a 15-second prime time advertisement on CCTV. Sun Jian, deputy general manager of Changyu Group, admitted that all the 19.5 million yuan in advertising will be used to promote Changyu's high-end brand "Jie Baina".

Changyu’s move surprised many people. Because at this time, "Jiebaina" is in the midst of an extremely dangerous brand generalization crisis storm.

The dispute started over the ownership of the Cabernet trademark

The origin of this dispute can be traced back almost to the beginning of 2002. In February of that year, Changyu successfully applied to the National Trademark Office to register the "Jiebaina" trademark and received the certificate in April.

One month after Changyu's "Jiebaina" trademark was successfully registered, Great Wall, Dynasty and other companies jointly opposed it and wrote to the State Administration for Industry and Commerce to apply to cancel Changyu's registration because "Changyu cannot privately own Jiebaina" , because Cabernet should be the Chinese name of the red grape variety, not the trademark name.”

This is the largest and longest-lasting battle in China’s wine industry, involving the most heavyweight companies and the most intense rhetoric. This kicked off the first trademark dispute case. The key factor that determines the outcome of this dispute lies in the identification of "Jie Baina".

Changyu: Jiebina is mine

According to Changyu, "Jiebaina" is a golden hen that he raised by himself. In 1931, Mr. Xu Wangzhi, the president of the Bank of China who was also the manager of Changyu at the time, named this high-end wine "Cabernet Dry Red", which means "bringing the sea to embrace all rivers". As early as September 15, 1936, Changyu Company officially registered the "Jiebaina" trademark with the approval of the then "Trademark Office of the Ministry of Industry of the Republic of China" and obtained the registration certificate. In 1959, Changyu applied to the then Central Administration for Industry and Commerce to register the "Jiebaina" trademark, and the registration was approved. After the promulgation of the new Trademark Law, in 1985 and 1992, Changyu Company applied for registration of the "Jiebaina" trademark to the National Trademark Office. The trademark "Jiebaina" should belong to his name. There has never been a wine variety called "Cabernet" in our country, nor is there one or several series of grape varieties that make red wine called "Cabernet".

Colleagues: Don’t try to monopolize Cabernet

But other giants in the same industry have put forward different views: "Cabernet" is the translation of the French "Cabernet", which is The name of the "Cabernet" strain has become common in the industry; in a book about wine published in 1980, Cabernet Sauvignon is called "Cabernet", Cabernet Franc is called "Cabernet", and "Carmener" "Special" statement. Cabernet dry red has actually become synonymous with mid- to high-end wines in China. If Changyu registers the "Cabernet" trademark, it will be a blow to the entire wine industry. The implication is that Jiebaina is public property and no one may take it privately.

Almost all wine-related companies and institutions are involved in this dispute. Either support or oppose, the wine market has been noisy for two years. In November 2003, the dispute entered the judicial arbitration stage.

At this sensitive moment, Changyu announced that it had purchased some prime-time advertisements from CCTV at a high price of nearly 20 million, and all of them were used for the brand promotion of the high-end brand "Cabernet".

Low-end Jiebaina solved Changyu's defense line

Just as Changyu made a desperate bet on "Jiebaina", another crisis quietly hit Changyu.

While several industry giants were quarreling over the ownership of "Cabernet", a large number of wines dubbed "Cabernet" quietly entered the market, with manufacturers reaching 30 There are many, and the lowest price is only 10 yuan a bottle, which is far lower than the 60 to 70 yuan per bottle of Changyu "Jiebaina" dry red.

This chaotic and disorderly competition in the market poses a great threat to Cabernet's ability to remain a mid- to high-end wine brand. In the professional terminology of the marketing industry, it is a "brand generalization crisis." That is, when a certain type of product achieves outstanding performance in the market, its original brand is often easy to be imitated by other peers, and the original brand is in danger of being referred to as a generic name for this type of product.

After being generalized, "Jie Baina" has at least the following dangers: First, it will slip from mid- to high-end products to low-end, thereby losing the ability to compete with foreign brands; second, market pressure will force Changyu to give up " "Cabernet" brand; Changyu finally managed to establish the Cabernet market. Because the emergence of 30 kinds of Cabernet at the same time caused consumers to lose their ability to distinguish, and ultimately lost market trust, the market share shrank significantly.