In the intestinal industry, dairy companies are important players.
Dairy products, as an important type of fast-moving consumer goods, are deeply recognized and accepted by consumers. At the same time, on the one hand, fermented dairy products have a long history and have certain functional attributes. On the other hand, more non-fermented dairy products are beginning to carry functions.
In China, the dairy industry has a huge scale. Some leading dairy companies are very powerful, have enough human and financial resources to support them, and have enough market power to promote product innovation. Among them, the development of probiotic strains for fermentation and additives with independent intellectual property rights has become the focus of and .
Today we will talk about this story.
International brands have almost a monopoly, but China’s own strains have begun to show their strength.
Historically, almost all the strains of Chinese dairy companies came from two foreign companies.
In China’s probiotic raw material market, DuPont of the United States and Denmark Chr. Hansen occupy the major shares. . Among them, DuPont of the United States accounts for about 50%, Denmark's Chr. Hansen accounts for about 35%, and the remaining manufacturers only account for about 15%.
In fact, DuPont’s probiotic business also originated from Denmark. In 2011, DuPont acquired Danisco of Denmark for US$6.3 billion. Its well-known strains include Lactobacillus rhamnosus HN001, Bifidobacterium lactis HN019, Lactobacillus acidophilus NCFM, Bifidobacterium lactis Bi-07, etc.
Chr. Hansen, founded in 1874, occupies the largest share of the probiotic raw material market in the world. Its well-known strains include Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis BB-12, Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG), Lactobacillus acidophilus LA-5, Lactobacillus reuteri RC-14 and Lactobacillus rhamnosus GR -1 etc., among which LGG purchased it from Valio (Valio) company in 2016.
In addition to raw material strains, Chinese dairy companies have always had a role model with their own strains - Yakult . Its fermented products using the cheese lactobacillus Daida strain discovered in 1930 by Japanese medical doctor Minoru Shirota have become popular all over the world.
Chinese dairy companies show their strength - joining hands with core R&D partners
Probiotic strains are important strategic resources and technologies for Chinese dairy companies, but they have been collectively dependent on foreign companies for a long time. First, they will cause high costs, and second, they will limit themselves due to limited choices. of innovation.
Therefore, many Chinese dairy companies, especially head dairy companies, have deployed the research and development of their own strains. This layout is mainly divided into two ways, one is to join hands with core R&D partners, and the other is to develop completely independently.
Let’s give three examples to see how we work with core R&D partners.
On August 8, 2019, Mengniu Group held a conference to celebrate its 20th anniversary in Hohhot. At the meeting, Mengniu announced that it would jointly establish a lactic acid bacteria joint innovation laboratory with Inner Mongolia Agricultural University and formally sign a strategic cooperation agreement.
This is not the first cooperation between Mengniu and Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, but it is the largest in terms of specifications and scale.
The scientific research team of Inner Mongolia Agricultural University and the industrialization platform incubated and founded by the team, Ketuo Hengtong Company, have a full set of technology and experience in developing lactic acid bacteria resources, and have many strains with original intellectual property rights. This is exactly what Mengniu needs.
Ausnutria Dairy, which is famous for its infant formula milk products, has chosen to hold shares in probiotic raw material manufacturers through capitalization.
On June 6, 2019, Ausnutria released a announcement stating that the company would participate in the privatization of Taiwan Fenghua Biotech, a well-known probiotic manufacturer, through its wholly-owned subsidiary. If the transaction is finally completed, it may hold Fenghua Biotech. 26.1% stake in the company.
Fenghua Biotechnology controls Anhui Jinqiao Biotechnology Co., Ltd. in mainland China, and its probiotic research and development capabilities should not be underestimated. Whether this marriage between Ausnutria and Fenghua Biotech will recreate the legend of the cooperation between Biostime and Lallemand Probiotics of France is worthy of our long-term attention.
Similar to Mengniu, Bright Dairy also chooses to cooperate with China's top food science research institutions, and their cooperation partner is Jiangnan University.
On April 6, 2017, Guangming Dairy Co., Ltd. signed a contract with Jiangnan University to cooperate in building a dairy science innovation laboratory. At the same time, they signed the "Lactobacillus plantarum CCFM8610 Strain Authorization Agreement". This strain is independently developed by the university. It was given to Bright Dairy.
On this basis, the cooperation between Guangming and Jiangnan University continues to deepen. In the near future and in the future, we can see more specific cooperation projects on their own strains.
Chinese dairy companies show off their swords - their own strain product debuts
With the support of core partners and the efforts of their own R&D teams, Chinese dairy companies have begun to debut their own strain products in recent years. Below we briefly give a few cases.
In June 2019, Yili announced that its yogurt brand "Yixiao" fully adopted the independently developed Bifidobacterium lactis BL-99.
As you can see in the picture above, the strain number BL-99 is written or on the product packaging, making it one of the eye-catching selling points. At the same time, in Yili's online and offline promotions, it also specifically strengthened the claim that the strains in Yixiao products are its own strains.
This is a gratifying step for Chinese dairy companies to take on traditional fast-moving consumer goods channels.
Junlebao chose to launch its own strain product-N1115 in the new retail channel. This is a solid beverage product that combines multi-strain probiotics and 2 types of prebiotics . However, other strains and prebiotics are not used as selling points, and only the self-owned strain Lactobacillus paracasei N1115 is highlighted.
Regarding 1115, Jun Lebao’s interpretation is that it has “experienced 1115 field experiments”, which is slightly unreasonable. However, using numerical naming reduces the cost of communication and is still a good idea.
In the high-end series LB-8 of New Hope's "Huorun" yogurt, Rhamnosus GRX10, which they developed in cooperation with West China Medical College of Sichuan University, appears; in Mengniu's European-style charcoal-grilled yogurt, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University Bifidobacterium lactis V9 developed by Professor Zhang Heping's team is a key functional strain.
According to the incomplete statistics of existing public information by the Rexinchang Research Institute, we can see that many Chinese dairy companies have reserves of their own strains and product layout:
These Chinese dairy companies are developing and promoting their own strains and related products. Our efforts have brought about a new pattern of innovation and competition in fermented and functional dairy products, an important product form in the intestinal industry.
The road to Chinese dairy companies’ own strains needs to cross three mountains
Talking about the competition between Chinese companies and well-known foreign companies, there are wonderful stories of cooperation and competition in different fields; when it comes to China’s own strains and foreign strains, you may first think of fierce market competition.
However, we believe that a healthy co-opetition (competition + cooperation) relationship is a positive driving force for the development of the entire field. We do not believe that the road to innovation of Chinese dairy companies’ own strains will have three distinct categories: A, B, and C. A concrete mountain (three competing companies).
We try to put forward three issues that may be worth thinking about and trying to break through from the perspective of product development and marketing, combining with .
Dashan 1: Can we effectively accumulate "unique" proprietary intellectual property rights?
Patents must be registered, but not as a selling point.
When our warm-hearted friends compiled the table of their own strains, they actually collected the patent numbers of these strains at the same time. However, we did not list them in the table above because we believe that it is important to obtain patent protection, but patents are not unique intellectual property rights.
There are millions of patent applications in China every year. Ordinary consumers will hardly be too excited about products whose selling points are supported by patents. Therefore, we suggest that dairy companies should not be too obsessed with the endorsement role of patents.
Strain number should be more thought about whether it is possible to establish communication attributes
In the table listed above, we are very pleased to see that many companies have linked the strain number of their own strains with corporate brands, such as Chenguang (CG-B 1), Huangshi Dairy (HSRYFM101), Mengniu (MN-ZLW-002), Wahaha (WHH1689), and Junlebao, which uses the number of experiments as a strain number and also becomes a product name.
In the future, we hope to see more innovations in the naming of strain numbers, which can either be completely related to the brand and highlight autonomy, or put a story into it, or be highly consistent with the product brand and be promoted intensively, forming a model like Chr. Hansen The strain number has the same intellectual property rights as the trademark:
In addition, if the development of the strain is led by scientists with very strong personal IP, it can also be named like Yakult's Lactobacillus casei Daida strain. There are already very good cases in China—— Lactobacillus casei Zhang, Zhang here He is Professor Zhang Heping from Inner Mongolia Agricultural University.
The "unique" intellectual property rights should be able to serve the market and sales, and be able to integrate strains and product selling points. In the naming work, suggested that should not be casual, but should work hard.
Create other unique labels for own strains
Since own strains are striving to become unique selling points for more products, more consideration should be given to labels on strains (including but not limited to registrable intellectual property rights).
Huangshi Dairy in Guangxi went to Bama, the hometown of longevity Bama to collect strains and applied the strains to yogurt products and solid drinks. This is a nice idea to put a unique geographical tag on the strains and products. The development and naming of the new strain
should get some inspiration from this idea.
At the same time, this may also become a good competitive weapon. For example, if Mengniu and Yili remove the Bama strain and successfully apply it to Chunzhen and Anmuxi , launch the Bama strain models of Chunzhen and Anmuxi, and use the selling point of being the hometown of longevity, I am afraid that Moslian Whether yogurt will take a big hit is hard to say.
Bright Dairy should be thankful that Huangshi Dairy, which is only regional, small-scale and has limited national market influence, has taken advantage of the longevity label of Bama.
Creating tags is building a brand. Whether it is naming the strain number to be close to the brand or person, using a well-known geographical tag, or matching it with labels such as "Yangshengtang" and China Intestinal Conference like Sanyuan Food's 166 yogurt, the product manager needs to take a comprehensive look. Take it into consideration.
Dashan 2: Can the research on self-owned strains be in-depth?
DuPont and Chr. Hansen mentioned above, their well-known strains, especially strains that have become independent trademarks like BB-12 and LGG, have very deep knowledge. Scientific research endorsement.
For Chinese dairy companies’ own strains, the second mountain that must be overcome is to accumulate more basic and clinical research data to support the reliability, safety and functionality of the strains.
Otherwise, a product without effective data support may be useless. The bigger and wider the publicity campaign may backfire on the brand, and even if some serious security problems arise, it may even bring disaster to the brand.
To be honest, we don’t think that we can directly use in-depth scientific research to endorse too many product selling points. Ordinary consumers are more likely to be attracted by truly eye-catching “labels”, but if they hope to compete with strains from foreign brands, Zhan Solid scientific research must be done in place.
Mountain 3: Can the product manager’s thinking be reflected in every aspect?
In fact, when talking about the two mountains above, we have already hinted at many places where product managers’ thinking is needed.Regarding who the product manager is and what he does, our recommends . You can read the last part of the article below:
194 PPT, explaining the latest progress in intestinal research and new opportunities in the intestinal industry
There are too many places where product managers need to make a difference!
But when we go to the dairy shelves or freezers of supermarkets, most of the products are seriously homogenized. Even the products with innovative blessings such as their own strains are also named after brands (a bunch of products are called "Chang X" and "X Chang" "Benefit breakthrough.
And if product managers can do something about strain naming, unique product labels, distinctive packaging, and unique marketing highlights, innovation will truly become productive.
Regarding the thinking of product managers, we welcome everyone to come to the Wenxinchang Research Institute to communicate and discuss.
Three extended questions
Will every dairy giant have a relatively exclusive research institution or company behind it?
We guess that the giants should think so, and there are signs that they are also trying to do this, that is, binding some powerful research institutions, companies, and professional talents to their own platforms.
To be honest, resources in this area are still very scarce in China, especially resources that can handle the full range of tasks such as strain screening, culture, genome analysis, activity research, function discovery, clinical trials, pilot trials, and production processes. Very rare.
Therefore, we see Mengniu embracing Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Guangming working closely with Jiangnan University, Ausnutria seeking to acquire shares in Fenghua Biotech, Junlebao closely tied to Yiran Biotechnology... and some giants may still be worried about whether to take action. Late, I didn’t even realize I was late.
Indeed, once the industrial resources that can independently develop strains have been seized by a large company, although cooperation with other companies will not be completely cut off, latecomers may feel more uncomfortable.
Of course, for strain research and development institutions or companies, being "supported" by giants is a double-edged sword. It may not be in line with the principle of maximizing interests and will lose some business opportunities.
However, we believe that the general trend may be difficult to reverse. The giants have a large enough market and sufficient financial strength, but many of their own strain R&D institutions or companies are still weak. Binding the giants may not be a way to survive. .
What about DuPont, Chr. Hansen and other international companies?
Developing its own strains is a long journey, so we believe that the development and application of China's own strains in a short period of time will not have a big impact on the existing market structure.
In existing products and markets, the cost of replacing previous strains may be very high, so most dairy giants will not act rashly. What international companies should pay most attention to is that new products using new strains will become explosive products, eroding and replacing the market space of old products.
Therefore, openness will be the most important response.
Global food giant Danone announced in May 2019 that it would open its exclusive collection of 1,800 strains to the public for research and use by academic institutions around the world. This is a good example, just like open source code for Internet companies, which can effectively promote the development of the industry.
Companies such as DuPont and Chr. Hansen may also try this kind of openness and use their extremely mature R&D and industrialization systems to proactively innovate with Chinese dairy companies, share more intellectual property rights, and authorize more exclusive products. strains to partners to help dairy companies find more unique labels.
We are optimistic about the stamina brought by the industrial foundation of established companies, and we are even more optimistic about the greater energy of century-old probiotic companies after opening up.
What kind of own strain should a consumer choose?
Regarding this issue, we will write an article to explain it at the appropriate time.
Today we only have one recommendation , that is, the dairy giant's own strain products have just begun to be launched. Various scientific research data are still relatively lacking. Many products are still at the stage where concepts are greater than substance. Please choose mainly: for you If you like to drink, you can afford it.
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