“Cross-border marketing”, how to achieve “1+1＞2”?

Nowadays, "cross-border marketing " has become a "marketing staple" for all companies. It is precisely because the frequency is too high that the audience has become aesthetically fatigued and has begun to turn a blind eye to various "cross-border marketing".

Generally speaking, there are three levels of cross-border marketing effects:

• 1+1＜2
• 1+1=2
• 1+1＞2

Don’t laugh, it’s not uncommon to see the phenomenon of “1+1＜2” in cross-border marketing. For example: a cross-border cooperative brand suddenly encounters a crisis.

Unfortunately, in most cases, "cross-border marketing" only remains at the "1+1=2" effect level. That is: it just increases the exposure of the product/brand.

This is also reflected in the fact that when many companies discuss the conditions for "cross-border" cooperation, the first consideration is that the "size" of both parties is equal.

The most obvious one is: How many followers do you have on WeChat , and how many followers do I have?

Therefore, the "cross-border phenomenon" we often see is: well-known brands + well-known brands, crossing borders by borrowing each other's "bodies".

For example: the recent cross-border marketing of "ofo shared bicycles × Snickers"

Recently, ofo teamed up with Snickers to launch the "Hungry Bike". This Snickers-exclusive yellow bike will be launched in Tianjin and Chengdu . In addition, users who use ofo yellow bikes in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Fuzhou and Guangdong may receive a free Snickers bar at the end of the ride.

After all, in this cross-border marketing, ofo is a mobile billboard for Snickers. For ofo, Snickers is a “buy one get one free” promotion (if you ride ofo, you may get a Snickers for free).

Of course, such "cross-border marketing" is effective, but the effect only remains at the "1+1=2" level , that is: increasing product exposure and usage rate.

This level is certainly important, but for higher-level brand building and brand word-of-mouth communication, there is still a missing segment.

What's more, the audience has a "marginal effect" in their minds: when other inputs remain unchanged, when a certain input is continuously increased, the additional output or income will gradually decrease.

That is to say: when the increased input exceeds a certain level, the output obtained for each additional unit of input will decrease.

For example: When Uber teamed up with various brands to carry out cross-border marketing of "one-click calling", users found it interesting and profitable. But over time, people developed "call fatigue", and the "marginal effect" of sending ice cream, afternoon tea, or even strange things has dropped sharply in users' minds.

At this time, only high-level cross-border marketing of "1+1＞2" can bring spontaneous word-of-mouth communication to users and keep the brand image in their hearts.

So, what kind of "cross-border marketing" can achieve the effect of "1+1>2"?

To sum it up in one sentence: when two brands come together, they should be able to tell a new story; and this should be a story worth experiencing.

This is just like what we often say: when two people get married, they open a new window for each other and make each other's world wider.

To summarize it more, the cross-border marketing of “1+1＞2” should be able to tell a new story. A story must have one or more elements of “4Ws + 1H”.

• What
• When
• Where
• Who
• How

Let’s look at two cases:

① The Art Institute of Chicago × Airbnb = Stay in "Van Gogh's Bedroom"

Three versions of Van Gogh's famous painting "Van Gogh's Bedroom" are on display at the Art Institute of Chicago. Along with these three famous paintings, there are 36 other works by Van Gogh on display.

To promote this exhibition, the Art Institute of Chicago teamed up with Airbnb to highly recreate the painting "Van Gogh's Bedroom" in a house in Chicago's River North district, and accepted reservations through Airbnb. For $10, you can experience the wonder of living in a Van Gogh painting.

The Art Institute of Chicago's head of social media posted a selfie on Instagram of himself staying in the "Van Gogh Bedroom" - he is the first occupant of this bedroom. The "Van Gogh's Bedroom" was sold out within just a few minutes of being online on Airbnb.

"Van Gogh's Bedroom" was created when Van Gogh was living in the small town of Arles in southern France. With the living expenses of his younger brother Theo, Van Gogh settled down here. Van Gogh envisioned turning the house in Arles into an "artists' gathering place" and wrote to his good friend Gauguin, inviting him to live with him.

Van Gogh painted his bedroom soon after moving into the house, mainly to show Theo what his life would be like after settling down in Arles. The simple beds, chairs, washing utensils, etc. are all true reflections of life. The space in the painting is handled in the same way as his landscape paintings, using a sense of receding space. The sharp contrast of colors creates a pleasing feeling.

New story:

What: Stay in "Van Gogh's bedroom".

Where: A replica of Van Gogh's bedroom in Chicago's River North neighborhood.

How: Rent a property through Airbnb.

②Mamabang × Meipai ×Huayou Camera=Breastfeeding Mouth, MUA

During Mother's Day , in order to thank mothers for their upbringing and care and to pay tribute to breastfeeding, the forum community "Mom Gang" serving the mothers group gave the "pouting" action that people like to take pictures an appropriate and fitting name: breast milk mouth; it also naturally created a new term on Mother's Day.

Focusing on the "breast milk mouth", Mamabang, Meipai and Huangyou Camera jointly launched the theme event "Breast milk mouth, MUA", calling on netizens to "MUA" together and express gratitude for maternal love.

New story:

What (theme): Be grateful for motherly love and “breastfeed” together.

How: Use Mamabang, Meipai, Huangyou Camera and other platforms to "bicker".

From the above two cases, we can feel that a cross-border marketing with an effect of "1+1>2" must be a content marketing that catches people's hearts, otherwise it will be difficult for brand owners participating in the cross-border marketing to create sparks.

Let’s take a look at the cross-border marketing between ofo and Snickers. If you were to plan, how could you achieve the effect of “1+1>2”?

Snickers×ofo=Hungry Rescue Bike

We can still keep the current way of receiving Snickers, after all, this is the simplest and most direct way.

New story:

The ofo bikes participating in this cross-border marketing campaign will be modified into “Hungry Rescue Bikes” with eye-catching logos.

A number of “Hungry Rescue Bikes” will be deployed in office buildings in first- and second-tier cities, especially in areas with high incidence of overtime work (for example, Shenzhen Kexing Science Park), and will be deployed in large numbers during peak hours after get off work and after overtime work.

What: Hungry Rescue Bike. Note: The word "rescue" embodies a sense of conflict and has a visual sense.

As for the current “Hungry Goods Exclusive Bike”, the word “exclusive” needs further consideration. Ordinary bicycles are not high-end items, and Snickers is just a mass consumer product that most people can afford, so it cannot be considered "exclusive". By the way, “exclusive” is also one of the overused words in the advertising world.

When (time): "Adding icing on the cake" is not as good as "providing timely assistance".

“Hunger rescue bikes” are deliberately deployed at times when the target groups are prone to hunger.

During the off-get off work hours, many shared bicycles in office areas are often "sold out"; and the off-get off work hours are often the time when office workers are hungry and tired. Deliberately launching "hunger rescue bicycles" at this time can achieve twice the result with half the effort and trigger word-of-mouth communication. Looking at it from another angle, if we regard "ofo" as the advertising content itself, shouldn't we carefully consider when to place it, to whom, and where to place it?

Where: Same as above, where is the most likely place to be hungry?

Based on the above, we can also come up with different versions of the story with the same theme (the Hungry Rescue Bike). For example: The above is about “rescuing hungry office workers”. There can also be "rescue the hungry people preparing for exams" and so on.

In this way, the PR reports of the cross-border marketing of ofo and Snickers are not only:

《ofo distributes Snickers to users》

《ofo joins hands with Snickers to launch "Hungry Bike"》

Instead:

"ofo and Snickers launch the "Hungry Food Rescue Bike", and "hungry office workers" are saved!" 》

"ofo and Snickers launch "Hungry Food Rescue Bike", these major categories of hungry people are saved! 》

"Hungry goods rescue bikes" appear on the streets in large numbers. What new species is this? 》

…

Finally, I would like to say that we pursue “1+1＞2” in cross-border marketing, which means: spend 1 yuan and produce 2 yuan or greater effect. At this time, word of mouth is crucial. Only with stories can there be word of mouth.