Red Bull, tired.

"Drink red bull when you are thirsty, and drink red bull when you are tired!"

This is a popular slogan in the streets of China in the 1990s. 1995, its behind-the-scenes promoter, the mysterious Thai tycoon Yan spent 200 million yuan on advertising and engraved this sentence into the minds of the people all over the country.

After bomb-level marketing brainwashing bombing, Red Bull has been synonymous with functional drinks for a long time in China. Most consumers don't know what a functional drink is, but they know that Red Bull can refresh themselves.

As the number one product in China's beverage industry, Red Bull is a miracle in China's fast consumer market, with annual sales exceeding 20 billion yuan. The legendary story of Yan Bin introducing it into China market was once talked about by people and regarded as a business classic.

However, a dramatic scene took place on 20 15. With the conflict between China Red Bull's parent company, Hua Bin Group founded by Yan Bin and Thailand Tencel Group, the founding company of Red Bull Beverage, the disharmony, conflict and even ugliness of human nature under the aura of Red Bull Miracle have been put on the table.

While Yan Bin is struggling to keep the trademark of Red Bull, Austrian Red Bull, which has been inactive in China market before, recently announced that it will cooperate with Budweiser China to further lay out the business of Austrian Red Bull in China market. The situation and pattern of China Red Bull market are complicated.

What kind of charm does "Red Bull" have, which makes China, Thailand and Austria frantically snatch it at all costs. Yan Bin and his China Red Bull have been exhausted in the face of the deviation of their former partners, the lawsuits that followed, and the looting of their single-handed market.

Yan Bin is not the first commercial miracle that made his fortune by Red Bull. Before him, Dietrich Matthias, a salesman of a German toothpaste company, happened to find this functional drink named Krating Daeng had a strong refreshing effect when he was on a business trip in Thailand. Aware of the huge business opportunities, Dietrich found the founder of KratingDaeng, that is, Xu Shubiao, the inventor of Red Bull and the founder of Tencel in Thailand, and put forward a plan to jointly promote Krating Daeng to the whole world.

Xu Shubiao and Dietrich, who are worried about how to increase the sales of Krating Daeng, have reached an understanding. They decided to set up a company, each contributing 500,000 US dollars, holding 49% of the company's shares respectively, and the remaining 2% was held by Xu Shuen, the son of Xu Shubiao. Dietrich is responsible for the actual operation of the company, which is located in Salzburg, Austria. Subsequently, Dietrich brought Red Bull to all parts of the world, and he became the richest man in Austria with the huge profits brought by Red Bull.

The popularity of Red Bull in Austria made Xu Shubiao see the huge market prospect of Red Bull. From 65438 to 0993, Thai Chinese Xu Shubiao returned to his hometown in Hainan. He originally wanted to set up a factory in Hainan and introduce Red Bull to China, but due to various policy reasons, Xu Shubiao's plan was finally abandoned.

From 65438 to 0995, Yan Bin, who founded Hua Bin International Group in Thailand, keenly felt the great opportunities that China's market economy construction would bring. At this time, he is eager to return to China to develop his own career.

Perhaps by fate, Yan Bin met Xu Shubiao who also wanted to expand Red Bull's business to China. After a brief encounter, they hit it off and decided to introduce Red Bull to China.

1in the summer of 1995, Yan Bin obtained the formula and trademark right of Red Bull, and chose Shenzhen as the "landing point" for entering China, a special economic zone where various industries are yet to be developed, and established "Red Bull Energy Beverage Co., Ltd.".

At that time, there was no concept of functional beverage in Chinese mainland, and the competent authorities were not sure whether this unprecedented beverage was suitable for introduction into China. In the end, the former Ministry of Health sent a special team to Thailand for half a month before Red Bull passed the examination and approval.

Now it seems that the foreshadowing of the Red Bull trademark dispute was already planted. Yan Bin later recalled: "At that time, the clear cooperation time between the two parties was 50 years, but due to the relevant policies at that time, the business period of Red Bull China was only recorded as 20 years when it went through industrial and commercial registration, and it was still registered as 20 years after it moved to Beijing from 65438 to 0998. However, with the cancellation of relevant foreign investment restrictions in 2002, the operating period of Red Bull China can be directly registered as 50 years. "

The cooperation mode between Dietrich and Xu Shubiao is obviously much better than that of Yan Bin, and it is precisely because Yan Bin and Xu Shubiao are not clear about the brand authorization time that the contradiction between Hua Bin Group and Thailand Tencel about the right to use the Red Bull brand has escalated.

Some people say that successful people often have an adventurous spirit in their bones, which is more suitable for Yan Bin. Some media commented on Yan Bin: Every investment he made was a gamble, even though it was carefully planned.

For Yan Bin, Red Bull is a desperate gamble.

1995, in order to open the China market, Yan Bin spent 200 million RMB and bombed the advertisement "Drink Red Bull when you are tired" in David. Offline, Yan Bin put forward the slogan "No blind spot in the market, every store must enter", and all supermarkets in China should strive to put Red Bull in the most obvious position on the shelves. In hot weather, Yan Bin even took to the streets to promote Red Bull products.

People who experienced that period recalled: "Red Bull was unknown at that time. In order to let everyone drink Red Bull, Yan Bin sincerely sent a can of Red Bull to every passing taxi driver. "

Under the crazy marketing, the concept of Red Bull Sports Functional Beverage has been gradually accepted by consumers in China, and its market share has steadily increased. Until the peak period, it firmly occupied 80% of the sports beverage market in China.

In 20 15, the sales of China Red Bull exceeded 23 billion yuan, and the brand value of Red Bull once exceeded 50 billion yuan, making it the first product in the beverage industry in China. On the 20 17 Hurun Global Rich List, Yan Bin ranked 107 with a net asset of1$100 million.

At that time, Yan Bin and China Red Bull drove tirelessly all the way.

In an interview on 20 12, Yan Bin joked that he slept standing up. "I get up at 5 o'clock, get up early and have a clear mind. I am a horse, and the horse sleeps standing. "

It's a bit of Versailles. The presence of Red Bull in running all the way and China markets is beyond everyone's imagination. However, behind the halo, the shadow is gradually elongated, and the hidden contradictions and problems behind the interests of Red Bull Cake are infinitely magnified, and finally the day of the outbreak is ushered in.

In 20 12, Xu Shubiao died, and his son Xu Xiong Xin took over as the chairman of Tencel Thailand. If the friendship between Yan Bin and Xu Shubiao has not been torn, and now the old friends are gone, the contradiction between Yan Bin and the descendants of the Xu family is finally clear and intensified in the face of huge brand value and market interests.

In the end, the dispute over the trademark rights of Red Bull in China became the starting point and tipping point of the contradiction. Once close partners turned against each other and launched a fierce competition for Red Bull.

On 20 15, the cooperation between Tencent Thailand and Hua Bin Group on Red Bull brand officially expired. A year later, Tencent Thailand challenged Huabin Group, claiming that it would not renew the trademark of China Red Bull in the future, and initiated many lawsuits.

On August 30th this year, within one day, Tencent Company of Thailand sued China Red Bull's companies and distributors in Hubei, Jiangsu, Hangzhou, Guangdong and Zhuhai at the same time, suing for infringement of the exclusive right to use registered trademarks and unfair competition.

On August 30th, 20 18, China Red Bull also filed an application with the Beijing High Court to confirm that the company enjoys the legitimate rights and interests of the trademark owners of the Red Bull series, and demanded that Tencel of Thailand pay an advertising fee of 3.753 billion yuan.

In the following two years, there were no fewer than 20 lawsuits between the Xu family and Hua Bin Group, and the packaging, production and distributors of China Red Bull all sat in the dock.

The core contradiction between Hua Bin Group and Tencel of Thailand about the trademark of Red Bull lies in the right to use the trademark of Red Bull. According to the 20-year authorization period of the trademark, Tencent Thailand requested China Red Bull to stop using the trademark. Yan Bin claims that he still holds the 50-year trademark authorization document signed with Xu Shubiao.

According to Hua Bin Group, the initial contract signed by the two parties in 1995 was a 50-year cooperation period, but the laws concerning foreign investment in China stipulate that Sino-foreign joint ventures can only be registered for 20 years, so Hua Bin signed an agreement with Tencel of Thailand with a validity period of 50 years.

From June, 5438 to February, 2020, the Supreme Law made a final judgment on the "Red Bull Series Trademark", holding that the authenticity of the "50-year agreement" was in doubt. the Supreme People's Court rejected the appeal of the relevant parties of Hua Bin Group and confirmed that Tencel of Thailand enjoyed the independent and complete ownership of the "Red Bull Series Trademark".

Yan Bin is unwilling to accept such a failure. Hua Bin Group believes that the judgment of the second instance is not the end of the legal relationship between the two parties. In our opinion, the court of second instance has not yet clarified the rights and obligations agreed between Tencel of Thailand and China Red Bull in the process of signing cooperation, as well as the trademark rights and interests generated on this basis. Meanwhile, China Red Bull has submitted it to international arbitration.

At this point, the contradiction has been difficult to reconcile. In addition to lamenting the cruelty of business, many people can't help but wonder, if there is no Yan Bin, will Red Bull still be today's Red Bull only by relying on a "signboard" of Thai Tencel Red Bull?

Xu Shubiao himself has never tried to introduce Red Bull into China. In the end, due to multiple reasons such as policy and resource accumulation, Thailand Tencel's plan to directly enter China failed. Two years later, 1995, Yan Bin did it, and it only took a few short months.

After doing a lot of preparatory work before listing, including negotiating with state-owned enterprises, applying for product market access documents, registering Chinese trademarks, etc. They overcame many difficulties and obstacles. It took Yan Bin and his team only a few months to complete the negotiation, signing, putting into production and listing of Red Bull in China, which amazed the industry.

From Yan Bin's few personal data, it is not difficult to find that he is generous, courageous, good at communicating with people, proficient in politics and business, and walking freely between China and Thailand.

Hua Bin Mansion, located in Chang 'an Avenue, was once a neglected unfinished building, but now it has been built into a landscape of Chang 'an Avenue by Yan Bin. The frequent visitors here are either politicians and business celebrities from all over the world, presidents of multinational companies or financial tycoons. It is worth mentioning that the Thai Embassy in China moved in shortly after the completion of Hua Bin International Building.

But obviously, it's not only the relationship that makes China Red Bull "dominant". Yan Bin's diligence, daring to put all your eggs in one basket and strong team execution are the decisive factors for Red Bull's miraculous success in China market.

In recent years, Yan, who has always been tough to the outside world, has shown her grievances and helplessness. He accused the Xu Shi family of "ignoring the historical fact that they are trying to open up the market, and they just want to pick peaches".

On the other hand, Tencel in Thailand seems to be full of complaints.

Xu said in an interview that China Red Bull had never held a board meeting in the 20 years before 20 15. As the largest shareholder, the Xu Shi family has not received any dividends so far. According to the person in charge of the township enterprise company in Huairou District, China Red Bull held 65,438+0% of the shares in Huairou District, and they only got a bonus of 600,000 yuan in 2002-2003.

Xu Shijia questioned that Red Bull was sold in China, where did the money go?

On the other hand, Yan Bin's Hua Bin Group has spent a lot of money on some domestic real estate projects, investing in Wodelin Paradise, which is known as the largest amusement park in Asia, building Hua Bin Manor and investing in South China Sea projects. Yan Bin also avoided the Xu family and established three red bull production and sales companies with Hua Bin Group 100% holding.

All this caused dissatisfaction among the Xu Shi family, and the Xu Shi family accused Yan Bin of using related party transactions to transfer the funds of the joint venture company to his own company.

From the controversy of 20 15, the controversy surrounding the Red Bull brand is far from over. While Yan Bin and Hua Bin Group are struggling to cope with various lawsuits, the business of China Red Bull has also been greatly impacted.

In 20 17, the sales of China Red Bull once fell below 20 billion yuan, down to 196 billion yuan. At the end of 2020, Hua Bin FMCG Company announced that the sales of China Red Bull reached 22.8/kloc-0.50 billion yuan, although it rose to more than 20 billion yuan, but there was still a gap with the peak period, which was related to the brand whirlpool of China Red Bull in recent years.

Many people say that the dispute between Hua Bin and Tencel about Red Bull in Golden Pot is very similar to the dispute between Wang Laoji and Jia Duobao about red herbal tea. Many people also speculate whether China Red Bull will repeat the mistakes of Jiaduobao.

In fact, facing the grim situation, Yan Bin did not make efforts. One way out for him to think is to launch his own energy drink brand-War Horse.

Yan Bin has high hopes for the war horse brand. "Your energy is beyond imagination." This slogan originally belonged to Red Bull, and Yan Bin gave the Red Bull almost all its resources, including sales channels, personnel, and even the bundled marketing of "buying a red bull to send it" from time to time.

However, judging from the current situation, it is extremely difficult to support the performance burden of Hua Bin FMCG instead of Red Bull.

According to public information, in the first half of 2020, the sales of energy-based vitamin drinks for war horses was 7,654,380,600 yuan, and the total sales of three new products, namely, Fruit Shuangshuang, Vitaco and Fusui, introduced by Hua Bin were about 220 million yuan.

Obviously, it will take time for a young war horse to take over the 20 billion burden of Red Bull.

The market that the current war horse faces is very different from the blank market that Red Bull faced 20 years ago. In addition to local brands such as Dong Peng and Qili, functional beverage products owned by international beverage giants such as Coca-Cola and Suntory have also entered the China market in recent years, and local water beverage companies such as Nongfu Spring and Yuan Qi Forest have also been involved in functional beverage categories.

It's hard to imagine how Hua Bin, beset by lawsuits, achieved its miraculous rise again in the mountainous functional beverage market.

202 1 is the 26th year that Red Bull entered China. Yan Bin, who once returned to China in high spirits to start a business, is old. Does Yan Bin still have the courage and energy to fight for China Red Bull 20 years ago?