Nongfu Spring

Nongfu Spring Co., Ltd.
Native name
 农夫山泉股份有限公司
Private
Industry Beverages
Founded September 26, 1996 (1996-09-26)
Founder Zhong Shanshan (钟睒睒)
Headquarters Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
Key people
 Zhong Shanshan (Chairman)
Products Bottled water, Beverages
Website www.nongfuspring.com www.nongfuspring.global
Nongfu Spring Co., Ltd.
Simplified Chinese 农夫山泉股份有限公司
Traditional Chinese 農夫山泉股份有限公司
Nongfu Spring water bottles
Shuirong C100
Tea π

Nongfu Spring (simplified Chinese: 农夫山泉; traditional Chinese: 農夫山泉; pinyin: Nóngfū Shānquán) is a Chinese bottled water and beverage company headquartered in Xihu District, Hangzhou, Zhejiang province.[1][2]

The company adheres to "natural and healthy" as the product concept. They promise do not use tap water to produce bottled drinking water, and never add any artificial minerals in drinking water. And they believe in constructing plants and filling bottles at water source areas in order to ensure that all processes are completed at the water source.

In 2015 Nongfu Spring Natural Mineral Water successively received 5 top international design awards:

  1. 6 May 2015, The Dieline Awards 2015 1st Place for Non-Alcoholic Beverages,[3]
  2. 21 May 2015, D&AD – Wood Pencil award,[4]
  3. 29 May 2015, Best Design Award and the Gold Award in the Non-alcoholic Beverage Packaging Design Category, in the 17th International Food and Beverage Creative Excellence Awards (FAB Awards).[5]
  4. Nongfu Spring Natural Mineral Water won The Design Week Award and is the only one winner in packaging.
  5. Platinum Pentawards- On the 26 September 2015 Nongfu Spring Natural Mineral Water was crowned Best of the Beverages category at the Pentawards during the ceremony which was held at the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), London.[6]

History

The company was established on September 26, 1996.[7]

A major breakthrough for Nongfu Spring happened in 1999. Zhong Shanshan, the founder of the company, unexpectedly announced at a media conference that was supposed to unveil one of the company's factory sites that Nongfu Spring would cease sales of its purified water and focus on producing just natural water, saying that the former was found to offer no health benefits. It led to an instant boost in sales. Later on, according to China Daily, the company promptly got advertisers to portray Nongfu Spring as "the transporter in the natural world, instead of a manufacturer of water".[8]

The company grew steadily in strength and stature over the years, achieving revenues of more than 10 billion yuan ($1.53 billion) in 2011.

On April 10, 2013 the Beijing Times accused the company of intentionally not adopting Chinese national water standards and instead adopting the lower standards of Zhejiang province. This started a dispute between the company and the newspaper.[9]

In May 2013, the China Daily reported that quality authorities in Zhejiang tested 19 batches of bottled water from Nongfu Spring from 2009 to 2012, and all met both Zhejiang and national standards.[10]

In November 2013 the company accused the Beijing Times of defamation and filed a lawsuit in the Beijing Second Intermediate People's Court against the newspaper, demanding 60 million yuan ($9.85 million USD).[11]

Nongfu Spring also filed a complaint with the General Administration of Press and Publication, the state press regulator in charge of issuing publication licences, complaining that Beijing Times’ reports were false and constituted an orchestrated attack against the company.[12]

Nongfu Spring's complaint was made amidst a nationwide campaign by the government and news organizations to crack down on journalistic corruption and fabricated reporting, which was launched after Chen Yongzhou, a reporter at the Guangdong newspaper New Express, was detained by police in Hunan province on suspicion of taking bribes and using fake materials to denigrate a Hunan company. The State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television has called on all media organizations and reporters to learn from the case.[13]

In July 2015, the Beijing Times’ subsidiary Jinghua Yijia Technology Company announced a partnership with Mufeng Water as the national distributor of the latter’s water products. And in its own report, the Beijing Times admitted that Jinghua Yijia Technology Company had run a barreled water business since 2002.[14] Nongfu Spring supporters regarded this connection as evidence of misrepresentation, conflicts of interest, and corruption on the part of the Beijing Times.[15]

Nongfu Spring was the official water supplier of the 2016 G20 Hangzhou summit and B20 Summit held in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province.[16]

Products

In addition to water, the company sells water-soluble vitamin C drinks, Shuirong C100 (C: 水溶C100, P: Shuǐróng C100, "Soluble C100") and Nongfu Orchard (农夫果园) juices.

In 2010, "Victory Vitamin Water" (维他命水) beverage In 2011, "Oriental Leaf" (东方树叶) sugar-free tea beverage

In 2012, "Whisked Milk Tea" (打奶茶) series of milk tea beverages

Fruit flavored soft drinks

In 2015, "Nongfu Spring" Natural Mineral Water ( in glass bottle),"Nongfu Spring" natural drinking water (suitable for infants and young children),and "Nongfu Spring" natural mineral water with sports cap.

In 2016, "Nongfu Spring" Natural Mineral Water (Limited edition in Monkey Year), 17.5°NFC (Not From Concentrate)100% Orange Juice & Apple Juice, Tea π(fruit flavored tea),Fruit flavored soft drink (水葡萄、水荔枝、水柚子、水柠檬) .

References

  1. ↑ "Nongfu Spring Co., Ltd." Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved on April 10, 2014. "No. 148 Shuguang Road Hangzhou, 310007 China"
  2. ↑ "联系方式." Nongfu Spring. Retrieved on April 10, 2014. "公司地址 杭州市曙光路148号 (310007)"
  3. ↑ "The Dieline Awards 2015: 1st Place Non-Alcoholic Beverages- Nongfu Spring - premium mineral water." The Dieline Awards 2015. May 4, 2015. Retrieved on June 23, 2015.
  4. ↑ "Nongfu Spring Mineral Water". www.dandad.org. Retrieved 2016-03-04.
  5. ↑ "Nongfu Spring Mineral Water." FAB Awards. Retrieved on June 23, 2015.
  6. ↑ http://www.pentawards.org/winners/?p=18299
  7. ↑ "A foray into new waters|Companies|chinadaily.com.cn". usa.chinadaily.com.cn. Retrieved 2016-03-04.
  8. ↑ "How sweet! Nongfu Spring plans to diversify". europe.chinadaily.com.cn. Retrieved 2016-10-21.
  9. ↑ Zhao, Lei. "Nongfu Spring accuses Beijing Times of defamation." China Daily. November 5, 2013. Retrieved on April 10, 2014.
  10. ↑ "Tests confirm Nongfu Spring water safe". usa.chinadaily.com.cn. Retrieved 2016-10-21.
  11. ↑ "Nongfu Spring defends its water." Global Times. November 23, 2013. Retrieved on April 10, 2014.
  12. ↑ "China media ethics debate rages as beverage giant slams paper for alleged smear". scmp.com. Retrieved 2016-10-21.
  13. ↑ "Nongfu Spring accuses Beijing Times of defamation". usa.chinadaily.com.cn. Retrieved 2016-10-21.
  14. ↑ "The Beijing 100 Million Mu Peak Water Industry in Hand". jinghua.cn. Retrieved 2016-10-21.
  15. ↑ "Nongfu Spring water: How food safety scandals affect a company's image". danwei.com. Retrieved 2016-10-21.
  16. ↑ "Nongfu Strictly Controls Quality to Provide Premium Water at the G20 Summit". http://news.xinhuanet.com/. Retrieved 2016-10-21. External link in |website= (help)
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