“Curious” marketing: How to create virality?

Curiosity is one of the internal motivations for people to explore and seek knowledge, but curiosity can also "kill the cat", so curiosity should have a limit.

The first person to try something new is a warrior and must be a curious person. Curiosity is the desire that everyone has to explore and learn about the unknown world, and it is one of the driving forces for people to continue learning and trying.

People always show ignorant and fearless courage when facing things that are rare or have never been experienced. Curiosity is indeed a nature that inspires people to experience and makes people susceptible to the temptation of new things.

In marketing, using some novel and rare means to stimulate this curious nature can often trigger people's exploration and discussion, making the brand and product popular.

1. The curiosity of people gives rise to an alternative type of “curiosity-based marketing”

People's curiosity and pursuit of new and unknown things is what we usually call curiosity.

With the help of the current Internet and media platforms, people have begun to pay attention to more and more curious topics in order to satisfy this psychology, and thus various Internet celebrity products and peculiar ways of playing have been born; such as the towel cake that looks like a towel, the black dirty bun, and the light bulb candy that can't be taken out of the mouth like a light bulb. These "weird" foods are both incredible and make people want to try them.

The emergence of this peculiar product is precisely the "curiosity marketing" made by merchants targeting people's curiosity. Of course, it is far from enough to just meet the psychological needs of the target group. To create a hit product, we also need to leverage the power of the Internet and social platforms.

It is spread through the Internet to more people, and after arousing the group's interest in knowledge, it quickly spreads in social circles due to people's strong social needs today, thus causing viral transmission.

Therefore, curiosity, consumption upgrading, and online social networking are important factors for the success of curiosity-based marketing.

In general, the following steps are required to make a product popular through curiosity marketing:

• Create gimmicks and build topics;
• Spread through platforms or KOLs;
• Arouse people's curiosity and desire for social expression;
• Spread spontaneously in social circles, leading to viral marketing;

Among these, how to design a "curious" gimmick to attract public attention has become the top priority.

How does “curiosity-based” marketing “stimulate” consumers’ curiosity?

To create new points to attract the public's attention and stimulate their desire to buy, you can start from various links in marketing, such as products, communication media, marketing topics, specific promotional content, etc.

1. Create new products, generate new consumer demand, and open the door to a new world

The product itself is the part with the most "curiosity" potential, which can directly stimulate people's desire to try and buy. Especially in today's era of consumption upgrading and serious product homogeneity, novel, rare and interesting products can often become temporary hits and trigger a follow-up trend.

Many products are hot-selling, perhaps not because their quality has been recognized by the public, but also because they are "interesting" and "highly discussed", which is the case for most of the Internet celebrity products.

During the Dragon Boat Festival, in order to satisfy consumers' curiosity about "appetite", many businesses launched new products such as spicy rice dumplings and crystal rice dumplings, which were popular among many people with their new way of eating and high appearance. With the rise of the pet economy, businesses have also gone to great lengths to make various curious products to please "poop shovelers", such as a tongue-like combing brush that can be held in the mouth to comb the hair of the "masters" at home, giving people the pleasure of "licking the dog". Among many beauty products, lipsticks with a variety of colors are the favorites of female consumers, and some of them are mixed with various incredible "devil colors", which are really "unbearable to look at" when applied on the lips.

These unique products are something that most people have never used or even thought about, but they are indeed eye-opening and make people eager to try them.

Although, many exotic products are not that good to experience. For example, many people think that the taste of crystal rice dumplings is difficult to match their appearance, and they cannot even be called rice dumplings in the strict sense. Tongue brushes are actually not convenient to use, and pets may not be comfortable. And those unusual "devilish" lipstick colors are rarely used by people in daily life.

The popularity of these novelties is entirely due to their rarity and uniqueness. Relying on this "curiosity", merchants have still opened up a small market that is not so "mainstream".

2. Use different communication tools to explore more novel promotional media and make marketing "go to the sky"

In addition to using some traditional tools and media, businesses nowadays mainly rely on online platforms for marketing and promotion, because there are a large number of people gathered on the Internet, and the communication and speed of the Internet are very convenient and efficient.

With more possibilities in communication media, businesses can explore new communication tools and channels to whet people's appetite for marketing communication methods, for example, making marketing "go to the sky."

Speaking of "going to the sky", it is no longer surprising to put advertisements on the fuselage of an airplane. A more "advanced" way of advertising has already risen to outer space.

The concept of "space advertising" has actually been around for a long time, but it is still very novel today. In 1993, NASA used this method to launch advertisements with the help of rockets or aircraft, which became a novel and exciting advertising medium. Prior to that, Coca-Cola developed a "space beverage machine" in 1985 that allowed astronauts to drink Coke smoothly in weightless conditions, successfully entered space and attracted attention.

In 2018, Zhihu also launched the "Ask the Universe" human plan across industries, collecting users' questions about the universe and carving them on the "Xiangjiang New District" satellite. With the successful launch of the carrier rocket, it triggered a heated discussion on the Internet.

The romance, excitement and shock of space advertising have more to do with people's curiosity and imagination about outer space. Satellites and rockets, as advertising carriers, carry mankind's exploration of the unknown world of the universe. This curiosity has been passed down from ancient times to the present day; but in the final analysis, through different communication tools and media like "space advertising", it is also possible to trigger people's curiosity "switch" and achieve very good marketing communication effects.

Of course, it is also quite difficult to discover new tools and platforms.

3. Create unusual topics to stimulate people’s curiosity and participation, and make the product or brand a “hot topic”

In topic marketing or cross-border marketing, topics that seem incompatible with the brand or product, or contrary to common sense and general public perception, can often attract consumers' attention and use social platforms to get people involved, continuously increasing the popularity of the topic.

For example, the gimmick of "the most unpalatable food in history" was once a hot topic, sparking long-term heated discussions and encouraging thousands of netizens to try it, making it quite a presence in social media.

Among them, products such as Laoshan White Snake Grass Water, Heysong Sarsaparilla, and Kvass were selected by netizens as "the most unpalatable drinks in history". These products themselves have a certain market, but they are difficult to accept for the tastes of most people today. However, even though they were the “most unpalatable”, these drinks successfully gained high exposure through this topic and achieved a rapid increase in sales.

The same goes for the notoriously "stinky" canned herring. From online soft articles and descriptions by netizens, it feels like you can smell the stench through the screen. But it has to be said that it is this unusual "stink" that has made canned herring popular. Many people, while discussing and expressing their curiosity, cannot help but buy it to try, or use it as a social celebrity prop.

Of course, the above-mentioned "most unpalatable" products are actually not unpopular. If that were the case, they would have been discontinued long ago. These products still cater to the preferences of some people, or they may be intolerable in appearance and smell like stinky tofu, but in fact they are not that bad. "The most unpalatable" is just a gimmick created by the resonance of some netizens.

In this link, marketing pays more attention to the potential communication power of the public's social needs, and using topics to promote it can be said to be a small effort with great results.

4. The specific marketing content reflects curiosity, brings great sensory stimulation, or pokes at the "unspeakable secrets"

People like to watch horror movies and thrillers out of curiosity. Even if they are scared to the point of screaming and having trauma, they still cannot resist the curiosity and desire to explore. Bringing great stimulation to the senses is one aspect of curiosity, and doing the opposite of what we see in daily life and ideas is also a kind of curiosity.

Different from the positive energy concepts promoted by general brands, the content of Sangcha has set off a wave of "sang" culture, because it fits the current living conditions and state of mind of many people, and speaks out the "unspeakable secrets" in the hearts of many people.

"Achieve Nothing" green milk tea, "Do Nothing" black tea, "No Money for Plastic Surgery" milkshake, people smile knowingly at the names of these products, and after taking a sip, they all taste slightly bitter, medium bitter, or very bitter. After drinking, there is a special reminder on the cup: "Please do not commit suicide in the store after drinking." This contrast not only speaks to the inner thoughts of many people, but also captures the curiosity and desire for novelty among young people. In addition, in today's world where you have to post a photo of yourself drinking milk tea on WeChat Moments, using such "sad" content as a selling point and spreading it on WeChat Moments has aroused the curiosity and trend of many people.

Whether it is creating a sensory impact or revealing people's true thoughts and demands in an uncharacteristic way, curious content can arouse people's curiosity and attention. Content is a carrier of emotion. The cultural concepts and values ​​expressed through content can also be innovative within an acceptable range.

To sum up, the element of curiosity can run through the entire marketing process. It is true that curiosity-based marketing can attract the public’s attention, but this approach is not always effective.

2. Advantages and Difficulties of Curiosity Marketing

As a new marketing method with rich successful cases and targeting human psychology, the advantages of successful curiosity marketing are very obvious:

First of all, it can quickly gather attention and popularity.

Secondly, it triggers discussion and social transmission, leading to viral marketing.

Finally, marketing costs are low and efficiency is high.

However, where there is success there is failure. Curiosity marketing is not as simple as it seems. If the curiosity elements are not selected or used well, it is easy to cause the following consequences:

• Even if it brings popularity and exposure, it is difficult to convert popularity into purchasing power because it is too experimental and unfeasible.
• The correlation between the curiosity element and the brand or product is too low, which makes it awkward and difficult to arouse the public's curiosity and desire to explore.
• The chosen subject matter is too "excessive", beyond people's acceptance range, and appears vulgar, tricky, and weird, which makes people feel disgusted or rejected.

3. Curiosity kills the cat. There should be a limit to curiosity.

When it comes to the use of curiosity elements, many companies tend to go "overboard", such as choosing gimmicks that are too weird and do not meet people's expectations of exploration, or that are too vulgar and make people instinctively feel repulsive, such as horror and violence. Due to their relatively small acceptance, they are difficult to use as material for social promotion.

Many people once bought the light bulb candies to try, but since the candies were as big as light bulbs, they were difficult to take out once they were put in their mouths, and could easily cause personal danger, causing many people to be injured. This is a real "tragedy" caused by consumers' excessive curiosity, which is both laughable and sad. However, from the perspective of the enterprise, curiosity must still be used on the principle of ensuring the safety of consumers' lives, and the potential adverse effects of curiosity itself should not be ignored for the sake of attracting attention.

In this year's Mother's Day marketing, various companies have launched unique creative ideas. Among the more popular topics, the Beast's "Mom, hit me again" was a topic that surprised many people. It felt abnormal but also reminded them of their childhood memories.

However, strictly speaking, this topic does not conform to current educational concepts, especially in terms of corporal punishment, which has a certain sensitivity; moreover, such a bizarre topic, coupled with the high prices of just a few household tools, directly discourages most people, and the discussions caused by this gimmick are also controversial.

It has to be said that the novelty sought by Fauvism did bring a certain sense of freshness and aroused the curiosity of many people, but it only remained on the surface.

First, the topic was too deliberate in its curiosity and touched upon a sensitive social topic. Second, the topic was not well-matched with the product. Although it was closely related to Mother's Day, it was very awkward in terms of cognition, product value and attributes.

The element of curiosity is just to add an interesting gimmick to attract the attention of the public. If one deliberately pursues curiosity or pursues curiosity for the sake of curiosity, without paying attention to the compatibility and logic with the brand products, as well as the public's acceptance, it will often appear awkward and vulgar, and will have a negative impact on the brand.

Curiosity marketing is not as simple as it seems. Choosing appropriate topics that can spark discussion is a process that requires careful consideration. It is necessary to combine the nature of the brand and product, social values, and the connotation of the topic itself.

The degree of curiosity is a difficult issue to measure, and one needs to be especially cautious when choosing and using gimmicks.

Author: Small matters of operation

Source: Operational matters