4 common characteristics of 9 popular marketing cases

In the past six months, brand marketing has come up with new ideas. While some brands have failed and caused public outrage, some brands have become popular thanks to their high-quality content. The author of this article summarizes the marketing cases that were “explosive” in the first half of the year and shares them with you.

From the scandal that Nongfu Spring products come from "Fukushima Prefecture" to Vitasoy expressing "unfortunate death" and "deep condolences" to the family of the employee who attacked the police officer... this series of brand scandals has continued to arouse anger and boycotts from netizens.

But on the other hand, there were also many good cases that "went viral" in the first half of 2021, and these cases have been discussed by netizens to varying degrees.

In order to make everyone more intuitively aware of the characteristics of "out-of-circle" cases, Morketing has reviewed the cases that became popular in the first half of 2021 for readers and summarized 4 common characteristics.

01 2021, which cases are popular

1) Mixue Bingcheng MV "You love me, I love you, Mixue Bingcheng is so sweet" dominates the screen

Not long ago, the magical MV of Mixue Bingcheng's "You love me, I love you, Mixue Bingcheng is so sweet" swept the circle of friends, and some netizens even sang this brainwashing song in stores just to exchange for a glass of "lemonade".

The magical and brainwashing characteristics of the song have aroused the enthusiasm of a large number of netizens for secondary creation. On platforms such as Bilibili and Douyin, one can see that netizens have spontaneously changed the theme song into different versions such as Japanese, Russian, and Chinese. As a result, as netizens continued to join in secondary creation and spontaneous dissemination, the popularity of Mixue Bingcheng MV continued to rise.

2) Luckin Coffee signed a contract with Lee Luxiu to shoot the commercial "Luckin Coffee YYDS"

This year, in early May, Luckin Coffee officially announced that Liu Luxiu became the "Luckin Iced Coffee Recommender" and subsequently released the advertising film "Luckin YYDS!".

In the commercial, the brainwashing "YYDS" and the twist in which Liu Xuxiu, who became famous for his image of "not wanting to do business, just wanting to get off the island" in "Creation Camp", actually "went to work" for Luckin Coffee, instantly attracted the attention of netizens, making Luckin Coffee, which had disappeared from people's sight, appear at the center of the topic again. After the video went viral, Luckin Coffee also registered the YYDS trademark.

3) Bilibili’s “Hou Lang” 2.0 “I Don’t Want to Be That Kind of Person”

This year, during the May Fourth Youth Day, Bilibili continued its move from last year's "Houlang" and released another speech video "I Don't Want to Be That Kind of Person", which sparked heated discussions online. It is reported that the views in this video are the real views sorted out by Bilibili and Guangming Daily, which collected from 955 junior high school students in 26 schools in various provinces and cities across the country.

In the video, these young people said, "I don't want to be a person with thorns all over my body, mocking others' success and laughing at others' failures", "I don't want to be a person produced on an assembly line, without an independent personality, only a predetermined personality"...

4) Tang Daren co-creates advertising film

Recently, an advertisement film shot by Wang Junkai for Tang Daren was a semi-finished product, and there was a video clip that was not rendered and was a plain model, which sparked discussion among netizens.

For a time, netizens had different opinions. Some believed that the video without rendering "really looks like mixing cement..." Some netizens thought, "There must be no ending." Some netizens even complained, "They are willing to spend money on endorsements, but they are unwilling to spend money on design."

This video is actually a "Let's Shoot an Advertisement Together" campaign initiated by Tang Daren, which encourages netizens to provide text, picture and other suggestions for this unfinished advertisement. At the same time, these netizens' ID names will appear at the end of the video. Afterwards, as the final product of the advertisement was launched, the previous negative comments slowly began to turn positive.

5) Xiaomi spent 2 million to upgrade its logo

At this year's spring new product launch conference, Xiaomi announced the launch of a new logo. At that time, the media reported that the new logo was designed by the internationally renowned Japanese designer Kenya Hara. The design of the logo took two years and the design fee was 2 million yuan.

At the same time, the visual design concept of the logo incorporates the thinking of Eastern philosophy, starting from the "relationship between technology and life." As soon as the news came out, many netizens started to make fun of the logo, saying "Isn't this just a square turned into a round one?" and "Leibs paid the IQ tax and spent 2 million to change it for nothing."

However, regardless of whether it makes a profit or a loss, it is undeniable that the logo that Xiaomi spent "2 million" to create became a hot topic for a day.

6) Hema withdraws from the competition, and Hema takes advantage of the trend to become a hot topic

On March 8, the popular overseas student "He Ma" of "Creation Camp" 2021 suddenly posted on Weibo that he would leave the show due to family reasons, and at the same time hoped that fans could support the brothers who came to participate in the show with him.

As soon as the withdrawal video came out, it caused heated discussion among fans. Many fans also left comments under Hema’s blog post about his withdrawal from the competition, saying “I will never be able to reconcile with Tencent in my lifetime after I withdraw from the competition.” I thought the matter ended there, but "Hema", which has the same homophonic name as "Hema", posted on Weibo, "It's getting cold, let's have a hotpot together? Let's have a penguin 778 first", and then launched a penguin-shaped cuttlefish paste. In this way, Hema took advantage of the popularity of "Hema"'s withdrawal from the competition and ranked fourth on the Weibo hot search list.

7) The blind box of "Country Love 13" was sold out immediately after it was launched

On March 5, Youku and "Country Love 13" officially announced on Weibo the launch of the "Country Love Series" trendy blind boxes. There are a total of 4 regular versions + 1 hidden version of the blind box, which brings together the five most popular characters in the play: "Xie Guangkun, Zhao Si, Liu Neng, Xie Dajiao and Song Xiaofeng."

After the blind box was launched, it attracted a lot of attention from netizens. It is reported that the first round of pre-sales of the "Country Love" series of blind boxes were sold out in less than half a day after they went online.

8) OPPO and Jiang Wen's collaboration will surprise you

On March 2, OPPO announced that OPPO Find X3 has reached a cooperation with director Jiang Wen, who will serve as OPPO's imaging explorer because "he has a bold style and explores new possibilities in film art."

A day later, OPPO launched an advertisement titled "If Jiang Wen were asked to design a mobile phone, what would he design it to be like?", which attracted the attention of people in the mobile phone and brand circles.

9) “LeTV owes 12.2 billion” self-deprecating marketing campaign goes viral

As the year draws to a close, major apps have launched the “divide XXX billion” red envelope marketing campaign, but surprisingly, it is not these “rich” apps that are in the spotlight. With Douyin putting out 2 billion, Kuaishou 2.1 billion, Baidu 2.2 billion, and Pinduoduo paying out 2.8 billion, LeTV stood out with its "owes 12.2 billion" icon.

Many netizens said, "I was successfully amused by LeEco's move," "I'll get some for you on other platforms," ​​"Great move, very good mentality."... So, taking advantage of the popularity of the topic of Internet companies distributing bonuses at the end of the year, LeEco, which owed 12.2 billion yuan and had almost no investment, ranked fourth on Weibo's hot search list.

02 Four common characteristics of popular cases

In fact, there is some element of luck involved in the success of the above cases. So after eliminating luck, what "advantages" in these cases can be replicated?

First, the path that made the case popular is difficult to replicate, but it is undeniable that interesting, co-creative, and self-deprecating content can indeed attract more public attention and spontaneous participation.

Take Mixue Bingcheng as an example. The interesting earthy video "You love me, I love you, Mixue Bingcheng is sweet" and the brainwashing lyrics, coupled with Bilibili, which is famous for its "梗" culture and "co-creation" culture, as one of the communication channels, quickly ignited the enthusiasm of celebrities and users for secondary creation. With this impetus, Mixue Bingcheng's sweetness continues to spread.

Let’s look at Mr. Tang again. He invited his fans to “co-create” an advertising video. In the commercial, there was a section of the video that was not rendered in color. Although there were mostly negative contents in the beginning, after the full version and co-creation advertising film were released, public opinion gradually turned positive.

Including LeTV’s self-deprecating complaints. Among a number of similar gameplays, one is "giving money" and the other is "owing money", which stand out directly.

When a brand doesn’t mind making fun of itself and exposing its own “shortcomings” to the public, it can sometimes achieve unexpected results, but the risks are relatively high. This is a great test of the brand's ability to "hype" and fight "public opinion" wars, as well as the capabilities of the brand's public relations department.

Second, in addition to "fun, co-creation, and self-deprecation", content that is sincere and emotional is often more likely to touch people's hearts.

On the May 4th Youth Day, Bilibili launched a video titled "I Don't Want to Be That Kind of Person", all of which contained views from the heartfelt perspectives of young people.

Authentic UGC story content can actually bring the audience into the situation and make them feel, "I am the protagonist in the advertisement." Other brands that have adopted the same approach include Nike and Huawei. Previously, the "Dreams, No Fear of Age" advertising content launched by OLAY at the end of 2018 was also based on the real dream-chasing stories of girls in 11 cities.

Third, having said that, even if a large budget and a lot of effort are put into high-quality advertising content that can get on the hot searches, it cannot compete with a brand that is good at riding on the popularity and can get on the hot searches on Weibo without spending a penny.

During the hit show "Creation Camp" this year, a popular overseas student "Hema" withdrew from the competition. As a result, "Hema", which has the same homonym as "Hema", came to take advantage of the popularity. Based on the public opinion at the time that fans were boycotting Tencent Video, they launched a penguin-shaped cuttlefish slider, which immediately ranked fourth on the Weibo hot search list.

Previously, Yang Guofu did the same thing. When model Zhang Liang was recording "Chinese Restaurant", he posted a message on Weibo saying "Thank you everyone for your hard work." As a result, one netizen commented on Weibo: "I hope you can focus on your own restaurant. Your spicy hot pot is too low."

Although the boss of Zhang Liang Malatang is indeed called Zhang Liang, he has nothing to do with Zhang Liang who is currently recording "Chinese Restaurant", so Zhang Liang replied, "Let's go eat Yang Guofu..."

Yang Guofu Malatang responded quickly, posting three consecutive posts on Weibo. He first thanked Zhang Liang for cueing him, then said that he had gone to watch "Chinese Restaurant", and then sent a message directly to Zhang Liang, hoping that they could cooperate with each other. After some operations, the reading volume of the topic "Yang Guofu Malatang calling out to Zhang Liang" on Weibo exceeded 500 million.

It means that I didn’t spend a penny and became a hot topic. Of course, based on the reality, such opportunities are usually hard to come by. But on the other hand, this also reminds brands that as long as the topic is interesting enough and the brand responds to the topic quickly enough, you may be the next hot search.

Fourth, in addition to riding on the popularity of other topics, another characteristic that makes some cases popular is that the events themselves generate popularity.

For example, popular IPs, popular people and topics, major corporate events, etc. The above-mentioned "Country Love" blind box, Xiaomi's upgraded LOGO, Luckin Coffee's collaboration with Liu Luxiu, and OPPO's collaboration with Jiang Wen are all examples of this.

Generally speaking, hot topics can enable users to spread the word more "spontaneously" than conventional marketing. Therefore, events that are inherently popular are often more likely to spark discussion and become a topic of conversation.

In summary, these cases have four major commonalities. First, it has three characteristics: "interesting, co-creative, and self-deprecating"; second, it has real and touching content; third, it can catch the attention of the public in seconds; fourth, the event itself is popular.

Author: Rita Zeng

Source: Rita Zeng