南方财经全媒体记者杨雨莱 广州报道
Recently, Chinese medicinal tea has taken the world by storm. It started with sour plum soup and TCM milk tea going viral overnight followed by the release of the new overseas brand “WALOVI” by the Chinese herbal tea pioneer Wong Lo Kat. Traditional Chinese medicine gaining increasing popularity is the result of time-honored TCM brands seeking a youth-oriented strategy. And Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Holdings Limited (GPHL) is certainly leading the trend.
As the largest pharmaceutical enterprise and TCM production base in China, the history of Guangzhou Pharmaceutical can be traced all the way back to Chenliji, which was founded in 1600. So far, Guangzhou Pharmaceutical has become the compendium of TCM in southern China. It owns 12 of China’s time-honored pharmaceutical enterprises. 10 of them have been running for over 100 years, accounting for half of the time-honored brands in the country’s pharmaceutical industry.
From traditions to modernity, TCM brands frequently encounter the plight of institutional rigidity and homogeneous product offerings. Guangzhou Pharmaceutical is no exception. The key to breathing new life into old brands is to step out of their comfort zone and captivate the hearts of the young. Guangzhou Pharmaceutical gives a textbook answer.
The youth-oriented strategy of Guangzhou Pharmaceutical emphasizes the concept and practice of “Stylish TCM”, adopting modern technology and marketing methods. It has created several popular health products like Wong Lo Kat’s customized Surname Can, Blind Box Can, and Fortune Can. Combining health drinks and snacks with the concept of “tangerine plus”, Chenliji sparks new possibilities between “Old Brands” and “China-Chic”.
In the first half of 2023, Guangzhou Pharmaceutical saw a significant growth in the TCM and FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) sales, with the health sector featuring the Wong Lo Kat brand raking in over 7 billion yuan, representing a year-on-year growth of 8.1%.
At the same time, Guangzhou Pharmaceutical has accelerated its march into the international market. The Huatuo Zaizao Pills have been exported to 29 countries and regions across 6 continents, maintaining the No.1 TCM export for years. Wong Lo Kat covers 90% of the overseas Chinese market, basically being the brand that follows wherever Chinese people go. Rebranded as “WALOVI”, Wong Lo Kat seeks to further expand its influence in the overseas market while spreading the culture of Chinese herbal tea.
Wong Lo Kat even plans to build Chinese herbal tea museums in 56 cities around the world, combining museums and herbal tea stores to appeal to global consumers. In the view of Li Chuyuan, Chairman of Guangzhou Pharmaceutical, the key to TCM going global is of fundamental importance of making excellent products with technological innovation.
In order to tackle technological problems, Guangzhou Pharmaceutical built a high-level talent team, hiring 3 Nobel Prize winners, 20 dual-appointed academicians, and TCM masters. It also established 7 national scientific research platforms. Currently, the firm has more than 200 ongoing projects and 18 First-in-Class new drugs. Guangzhou Baiyunshan Pharmaceutical’s R&D investment went up from 592 million yuan to 1.07 billion yuan in 2022.
With innovation and R&D as its pivoting points, and maintaining “youth-orientation” and “internationalization” as its strategies, Guangzhou Pharmaceutical has been on the list of Fortune Global 500 for three consecutive years. It’s also the only Chinese enterprise that made it into the Fortune Global 500’s pharmaceutical sector.
With the philosophy of “helping the world” advocated by Chenliji 400 years ago, Guangzhou Pharmaceutical remains at the forefront of TCM development and introduces a popular version of TCM to the world, through the very same window where Western medicine first entered China.
出品：南财国际传播中心 21新媒体中心 创意互动中心
策划统筹：于晓娜 丁青云
内容统筹：谭婷 张楠
责任编辑：李剑华 陆秀
执行统筹：黄欣然
设计统筹：林军明
视频统筹：白宇航
监制：施诗
英文翻译&配音：李莹亮
海外运营监制: 黄燕淑
海外运营内容统筹: 黄子豪
运营支持：曾静娇
审校：强燕 黄志明 陈晶晶
