[Marketing case study on leveraged marketing] Why did Mercedes-Benz’s leveraged pictures and texts to BMW go viral?

March 7, 2016 is the 100th anniversary of BMW. While BMW is actively preparing for its birthday activities, Mercedes-Benz unexpectedly also does not miss such a hot topic. The two brands that love and hate each other always generate various topics.

On March 6, a picture went viral in the WeChat Moments in China:

"Thanks for 100 years of competition. The 30 years without you were actually pretty boring."

What an intriguing passage! What does Mercedes-Benz want to say?

1. Mercedes-Benz was born 30 years earlier than BMW, so I am the elder brother and the senior...
2. 100 years of competition with BMW is not boring, this is love...

Well, many people on Weibo and WeChat Moments automatically forwarded the message. Do you really think that Mercedes-Benz has done a great job in leveraging this opportunity? !

The fans are still very enthusiastic:

It is rumored online that BMW responded to Mercedes-Benz: "You were born before I was born, and I was born when you were old!" There is no way to confirm whether this is an official response from BMW, or whether BMW fans were too anxious to make pictures and copy for BMW.

Later, it was said that Audi also took advantage of this trend and played a game:

It seems that we can always see Audi popping up in the love-hate relationship between Mercedes-Benz and BMW. Many classic advertising cases abroad are played by these companies.

Why did so many people participate in the forwarding? Why did BMW celebrate its birthday, but Mercedes-Benz became a hot topic the day before its birthday?

1. Identify your opponents

In every industry, there are rivals that compete with each other, such as Mercedes-Benz VS BMW, Coca-Cola VS Pepsi , Nike VS Adidas ... Choose your opponents well and benchmark them against your own products, so that they are consistent with your product performance and target customer groups and are of the same level to create a topic of discussion.

2. Choose the right topic

It is very important to choose the right entry point and the right topic to use to take advantage of the situation and hook up with rich men. Mercedes-Benz is taking advantage of BMW's 100th anniversary this time. So it's important to know what topic is used to ignite the birthday, is it a joke? bless?

3. Prepare pictures and texts

Pictures and texts are very important in leveraging topics. How to highlight the opponent and how to make the text make users feel something. If they don’t feel anything, it will not arouse interest in sharing. Just like this Mercedes-Benz poster, at least everyone thinks the content is good, so many people shared it sincerely.

4. Explode social

For a topic to spread explosively, it must have ignited social media and inspired everyone to spread it. At this point, it depends on which platform the content originates from. To amplify the node, more KOLs , media, etc. need to participate and promote it.

I have written an article before titled "See how BMW and Mercedes-Benz play with social marketing during the World Cup", which mainly talks about how the two car manufacturers played a friendly and positive "mutual promotion" during the last World Cup.

Marketing does not necessarily require quarrels and fights. Blackmailing each other will only hurt others and not benefit yourself. Many fast-moving consumer goods and e-commerce companies have engaged in similar marketing wars in the past. True comparative marketing leverage must be based on the principle of equality and mutual respect.