50 tricks of cross-border marketing

No matter how the market environment changes, cross-border marketing is always a marketing strategy commonly used by brands.

Between brands, between brands and popular IPs, between brands and famous actors and singers... through cross-border cooperation, launching new joint products, creating novel concepts, and bringing unique experiences to users, all of these will instantly trigger a chemical reaction, bring extremely high topic popularity, and good communication effects.

Through the analysis of cross-border marketing cases, Morketing has summarized 50 cross-border marketing routines for marketers' reference.

01 Cross-border products

① In the same track, two brands in different segments can find points of integration and cooperate to launch new products.

This is the case with the collaboration between Luckin Coffee and Coco Tree that went viral on WeChat Moments some time ago. Both parties are in the food track, but the former is a beverage and the latter is a snack food. The two have collaborated to launch the "Coconut Cloud Latte".

② Different domestic and foreign brands, one with the style of Chinese classical culture and the other representing Western culture. Based on their commonalities, the two launch new products through cross-border cooperation.

The quaint Rongbaozhai and the Western fast food Burger King, with the help of Ele.me, used Qi Baishi's painting "Album of Flowers, Plants and Insects" and let the small animals in the painting serve as producers to bring consumers spring limited set meal buckets.

③ Overseas brands cooperate with domestic film studios or artists to launch new products with more localized styles, further influencing consumers’ minds in China.

As the New Year is approaching, McDonald's has teamed up with Shanghai Animation Film Studio to launch a traditional Chinese ink painting blockbuster, using traditional Chinese ink painting combined with classical music to cleverly interpret McDonald's two new products, the "Preserved Vegetable Burger" and the "Fresh Shrimp Burger".

④The brand invites well-known actors and celebrities to interpret virtual characters and launch new products by combining the real and the virtual.

During the Spring Festival of the Year of the Tiger, Honor of Kings teamed up with Shen Teng to launch limited-edition skins for five heroes. As long as you stand up when others need help, you can become a hero. Shen Teng plays the sixth hero, summoning the power of the Tiger God in the virtual game world.

⑤ The brand collaborates with well-known musicians, celebrities, actors, etc. to promote products through creative content and convey the deep value of the products.

OPPO invited Joe Hisaishi as a special tuner to create a simple and immersive "Revisiting the Classics", in which the headphone product itself was not magnified as the protagonist and appeared in the center of the picture. Instead, people were allowed to experience that headphones are an emotional music carrier rather than a cold instrument while enjoying classic music.

⑥ The brand collaborates with famous IP to launch co-branded products and sells them in limited quantities to create rarity for the product.

On the eve of the release of "Batman", Oreo and "Batman" launched a limited edition cookie in collaboration with the movie. The product packaging is consistent with the dark and cool style of the "Batman" series. Not only is the Batman portrait printed on the cookie, but the background is also a glimpse of the city where the story takes place.

⑦ The brand cooperates with IPs with historical and cultural heritage and other brands to launch joint products, encouraging more young people to perceive cultural heritage, which will have more social significance for the sedimentation of brand value.

Huabei has teamed up with "National Treasure" and "Novan Chocolate" to jointly launch a "Dunhuang Ancient Books" chocolate, allowing more young people to experience cultural heritage.

⑧The brand cooperates with major international and domestic events to launch relevant products during special seasons.

During the Beijing Winter Olympics, as the official catering service sponsor of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, KFC launched a set meal. Users only need to purchase a New Year's Gathering Bucket at KFC to get a random Bing Dwen Dwen stamp ornament.

⑨Brands can cross-border cooperate with virtual games and let users perceive the brand’s upcoming new products through story lines that alternate between virtual and reality.

On the eve of the 2021 QQ Speed ​​Mobile Asia Cup, Lamborghini and QQ Speed ​​collaborated to combine virtual and reality, focusing on the superior supercar body design in the real garage, and highlighting Lamborghini's wild racing soul in the virtual retro track. The Lamborghini RAC, which was derived from Lamborghini's classic retro model Countach LP400, was launched.

⑩With the explosion of the Metaverse, cross-border brand launches of digital collections have also become a form of cross-border marketing.

On the eve of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, ANTA teamed up with Tmall Super Brand Day to achieve the connection between reality and virtuality. In the name of ice and snow, it built a virtual digital space for national interaction, ANTA Ice and Snow Spirit Realm, and created the first set of digital collections of the Chinese National Ice and Snow Team.

02 Cross-border content

① Brands can use popular IPs to launch new product packaging and strengthen the functional positioning of products.

For example, Scream and Ultraman launched 10 co-branded bottles, hoping to use Ultraman's image as the "Guardian of Light" to further strengthen the functional positioning of its own sports drinks and highlight the product's role in replenishing energy anytime and anywhere.

② The brand cooperates with popular IPs to convey serious preaching content in an interesting way, making it more relaxed and enjoyable.

At present, the number of people suffering from hyperuricemia in my country is as high as 180 million, and the trend is obviously getting younger, with the male to female ratio being 15:1. In this regard, Sinocare, which focuses on global chronic disease management, has realized that "every man has a martial arts dream in his heart" and has restored the life scenes of contemporary young people that are prone to gout, and leveraged classic martial arts characters to launch magical and creative videos.

③ Brands use virtual idols to tell brand stories through animation or movies, thereby deepening their brand image among the target user groups.

At the end of April, Uni-President Qingmei Green Tea and virtual idol Ling created a story of "searching for plum blossoms in a dream". In the film, Uni-President Green Plum Green Tea is modeled after "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains". Through the image of Ling, a painter, explorer, and dreamer, it embodies the long-standing green plum culture and leads the audience through thousands of miles of rivers and mountains to have a beautiful green dream.

④ Brand joint promotion ambassadors or spokespersons, combining work, life, entertainment and other scenarios, promote the product’s selling points through short stories that are easy to trigger emotional resonance.

Liby and its brand ambassador Peng Yuchang released three short films about workplace routines. In workplace scenarios such as reimbursement and communication, Liby's triple-effect Wi-Fi laundry detergent beads transformed into workplace Wi-Fi heroes, helping Peng Yuchang resolve workplace problems and triggering emotional resonance among people in the workplace, while also delivering the main functional selling point of Wi-Fi laundry detergent beads.

⑤ The brand collaborates with brand spokespersons and well-known directors to launch films with brand tone, reflecting the profound meaning of the brand and products by explaining the indispensable attitude towards life.

Luzhou Laojiao, together with its brand spokesperson Duan Yihong and well-known director Lu Chuan, released the brand attitude film "Seeking Truth". By showing Duan Yihong's self in three scenes: work, socializing, and being alone, it shows a professional and pragmatic attitude towards life, reflecting Luzhou Laojiao's persistence, "As long as you are true to yourself and keep your desire unchanged, all your efforts will produce the best taste."

⑥ The brand uses spokespersons to play characters and images in the virtual world, and through the interpretation of the plot that combines reality and fiction, it arouses the audience's empathy and conveys the brand's value concept

During the Spring Festival, Peace Elite invited spokesperson Wang Baoqiang to incarnate as a game player. Through the combination of reality and fiction, he interpreted multiple roles of the whole family, expressing that games are not only a source of happiness for young people, but also a source of happiness for a family to get together and share the game.

⑦ Brands can work with artists to create a world where virtual and reality blend together, conveying the unique tone behind the brand and products.

Burberry has teamed up with iWeekly and contemporary artist Liu Jiayu to create an image of a "natural wonderland" that blends reality and virtuality, with blue sky and white clouds, mountain mist and wilderness, breeze and sunshine, all of which are real and pure things from nature. Burberry used this to express the brand's idea of ​​"man and nature becoming one and resonating with the same frequency."

⑧Brands collaborate with singers and songs to integrate the brand stories and concepts they want to convey into lyrics or MVs, thus narrowing the distance between brands and consumers through classic songs.

Hisense and Mao Buyi jointly produced "An Ordinary Day", which depicts life scenes with a sense of fireworks and incorporates the concept of smart home, allowing the audience to associate themselves with being just a particle in this ordinary life, but never choosing to bow to compromise with life. At the same time, it conveys the brand concept of "With love, technology is also emotional".

⑨ In order to promote the technological selling points of products, brands can cooperate with laboratories to launch cross-border experimental promotions to allow users to see the technological factors of the products.

In order to let users feel the sound insulation of the car, Dongfeng Nissan and Zhihu Novel Lab jointly launched a short film called "Visible Sounds of Nature", using the sounds of drums, electric saws, vacuum cleaners, and iron barrels to simulate urban noise. Through the performance of salt grains, fish tanks, goldfish, etc., users can see the sounds and the tranquility of nature.

⑩ Brands collaborate across industries to jointly launch short films with stories, which describe the lives of ordinary people to make others feel more touched, and let the brand’s voice be heard not only under the dazzling spotlight, but also in ordinary daily life.

Weibo teamed up with VIVO to tell three stories that illuminate life. Both parties did not start directly from the brand proposition and products, and the stories did not have too much brand implantation. Instead, they stood at the intersection of technology and humanities to illuminate more things that are worth seeing, creating another possibility for the brand's voice.

03 Cross-border concepts

①Cross-border brands create innovative concepts based on the common points in terms of target users, service concepts, etc. of both parties.

L'Oréal Paris and NEIWAI have created the creative communication of "Nude suits me, born from courage". The two parties continue to explore diverse beauty and female power, draw on the true color of the skin, and customize exclusive nude products for Asian skin people, launching nude lipstick and nude comfortable cotton size-free underwear respectively.

② The brand carries out cross-border cooperation with famous writers, etc., using unconventional methods to encourage users to live up to themselves and their passion.

JD.com has changed its previous role of "selling books" to "buying books", which is contrary to the norm. It has also joined hands with famous writers Yu Hua and Yu Xiuhua to launch the "Recycle a Book You Bought But Didn't Read" campaign, with the aim of conveying the book-buying concept of "rational book buying" and the reading concept of "buying books to read", so as to live up to every reader and every writer.

③ When the product purchaser and the actual consumer are not the same user group, for example, children buy relevant middle-aged and elderly products for their parents, the brand can use youthful cross-border marketing to let direct purchasers know more about the relevant products.

When young people buy calcium supplements for their parents, instead of trying to make them understand their parents' world, it is better to bring their parents' joint problems into their favorite game world so that young people can "understand" the importance of joint health in seconds. Move Free and Knives Out have created the marketing proposition of "Let parents become the MVPs of the action", launching a strong offensive against 350 million young players.

④ Brands use the personal labels of celebrities, actors, etc. to promote the new propositions of their own brands and products.

UGG teamed up with talk show actors Yang Li and Yan Yiyan Yue, and used their daring attitude to promote the marketing proposition of UGG's new "Zongrong" series of products, "Dare to be bold, dare to be different."

⑤ The brand leverages the advantages of actors and celebrities, combines this with its own brand tone, chooses methods that young people like, and launches new concepts to encourage young people not to forget traditional customs, and thereby promotes the brand proposition.

Every Spring Festival, there are always people who lament that the festive atmosphere has faded. In fact, more and more young people rarely participate in various preparations for the New Year with their families. In response to this, King Wei chose a talk show that young people like, and cooperated with Yang Di in the form of "jokes", inviting him to play multiple roles and interpret "Spring Cleaning is a Joke", in order to awaken the public's memory of the traditional folk festival of spring cleaning at the end of the year.

⑥Brands, together with actors, celebrities, etc., initiate advocacy concepts and call on more people to participate in the form of competitions.

On the occasion of the launch of the OPPO Reno 7 series, OPPO and Han Han launched a nationwide image creation competition with the theme of "To the Shining You", attracting more ordinary users to pick up their phones, participate in the event, and record the lovely people in their lives.

⑦ E-commerce platforms collaborate with actors and celebrities to convey new brand expressions in the form of creative short films.

The video advertisement shot by NetEase Yanxuan and Luo Yonghao "complained" about the many advertising routines in the form of situational dialogue, and called on the platform, "As long as the product is well made, directly tell users what a good thing is."

⑧The brand collaborates with games and other industries to launch joint products, conveying the concept of pursuing a better life.

On the occasion of the 6th anniversary of Honor of Kings, Bananain and Honor of Kings have collaborated to create a series of warm winter products, including couples' home clothes, pajamas, socks, nap blankets, bath towels and other "essential home equipment for playing games in winter", and launched the life concept of "Banana helps you relax and attack with full blood".

⑨The platform co-brands, combines new trend gameplay that young people like, and acts as a tour guide to deliver innovative ideas to users.

On International Tourism Day, Xiaohongshu and National Geographic China jointly released the National Day travel brand film "See China in a New Way". The film uses the real and fresh ways of playing of young people in different provinces and cities in China as the entry point, allowing people to see China from a new perspective.

⑩ In response to the changes in the current market environment, brands can launch some positive energy concepts that touch people's hearts when crossing borders to cheer up users.

"Involution", "epidemic", "layoffs" and other words have become hot search terms on Xiaohongshu. In response to this, Xiaohongshu and One Way Space launched the "Don't Panic Mailbox" theme event, conveying to the public the value concept of "In the face of anxiety, let us use ourselves as a boat to reach a state of peace of mind."

04 Cross-border experience

①On important holidays, such as World Book Day, governments and all sectors of society around the world organize various activities to encourage everyone to work hard to solve social problems.

On the occasion of World Smile Day, MINISO created the creative event "Smile in the Cracks" to encourage everyone to keep smiling in the cracks of life. While healing every ordinary person who is carrying a heavy burden, it also strengthened the brand's exclusive smiley symbol.

② On special holidays, the brand collaborates with celebrities, actors, and KOLs to launch commemorative activities, which are created through online and offline linkages to attract widespread participation.

During Women's Day, Buick teamed up with musical actor Zheng Yunlong to launch the short film "Wiper Love Letter" and created an offline art installation "Wiper Love Letter". The overall design uses the front windshield of a Buick car. Warm words will appear on the windshield where the wipers pass, encouraging independent women who stick to their dreams as they grow up.

③ The brand joins hands with KOL to launch a "movement" with a completely different style, which not only conveys a youthful tone but also calls on the target audience to participate.

During this year's May 4th Youth Day, Peak, in communicating with the majority of young people, teamed up with He Tongxue, a technology UP host at Bilibili, to launch a super cool brain-opening "movement", incorporating new brain-openings into daily life scenes such as petting cats, walking dogs, putting on makeup, and blowing hair, calling on everyone to participate and get their brains moving.

④ The brand collaborated with a drama team to hold a press conference in the form of a stage play, which established a mindset while telling a story, thus leaving a deep impression on users.

Bosideng collaborated with the National Theatre of China to create a stage play-style press conference. Through artistic storytelling, it presented immersive visual effects and demonstrated the development process of Bosideng, a national down jacket brand, towards "global leadership".

⑤ The brand cooperates with well-known IPs to launch "fan circle feeling" support activities, calling on fans to participate in the activities, making the activities produce an instant chemical reaction that becomes popular.

On the 20th anniversary of Big Ear Dog's debut, MINISO and Big Ear Dog launched a joint marketing campaign with the theme of "No matter how big it is, it is still a little cutie". Through support advertisements, they called on fans of Big Ear Dog to participate in the "Pamper Big Ear Dog to the Sky" campaign.

⑥ Two brands in different tracks, combining the commonalities of their brands or products, can bring users an extraordinary experience through interesting activities.

Before World Book Day, McCafé and CITIC Bookstore jointly launched the "Books Have Their Own Yellow Cup" campaign. CITIC Bookstores in Beijing, Hangzhou, Shenzhen and other places have randomly hidden McCafé's small yellow cup bookmarks in the books available for public borrowing in the store. Readers who find it can redeem benefits with the bookmarks.

⑦ Brand A and Brand B can jointly create an offline exhibition, such as an art exhibition, based on the common points of their brand promotions, to provide offline consumers with an opportunity to experience the brand.

At the beginning of the year, China Post and Xiaodu Smart jointly created a Xiaodu Smart Experience Store specifically for people who did not go home for the New Year this year. The two parties collected real stories submitted by users and joined hands with the well-known picture book writer Jidi to bring warmth and care to people through offline art exhibitions. They also provided a series of services, such as using Xiaodu to call family members, write postcards to family members, and send gifts to family members.

⑧The brand collaborates with blind box brands to launch a limited edition series of figures, giving consumers a fresh experience of opening a blind box figure while purchasing the product.

On the occasion of KFC China's 35th anniversary, KFC, in collaboration with Pop Mart, released a limited edition series of KFC x DIMOO figures. Consumers who purchase a DIMOO family bucket meal at KFC can get a random one of the seven figures.

⑨ Brand A and Brand B change the existing packaging style through cross-border cooperation, and bring new experience to users with innovative packaging.

Heysong Sand and Eslite Bookstore have collaborated across industries and invited Taiwanese design company Houth to design four limited edition new packages, including flowers and vases, using flowers and vases to showcase a better life and bring a wonderful experience to consumers.

⑩Brands cooperate with e-commerce platforms to create exclusive vertical category days on the e-commerce platforms based on the categories to which the brands belong, so that consumers can understand the development trends of vertical categories.

Dettol has teamed up with JD Supermarket to create the "Sterilization Day" e-commerce IP project, so that consumers from different regions, ages and circles can receive comprehensive knowledge on disinfection and sterilization, as well as professional solutions.

05 Crossover of homophones

① The product names, selling points, slogans, etc. of Brand A and Brand B are homophonic or nearly homophonic. This feature can be used to jointly launch interesting and creative short videos.

Changyi 100% and Wuling Hongguang launched a creative animation of "Zero Sugar World", which describes Wuling Hongguang MINIEV breaking through the door of the sweet world and passing through the 50 virtual tunnel at full speed, increasing Changyi 100%'s brand awareness and outputting the "true 50" mindset of 0 fat, 0 sucrose, 0 fructose, 0 maltose and 0 glucose.

② Two brands in different tracks, based on the similarities between their brands and products, find homophonic or near-homophonic words and create a press conference to present the innovativeness of the two brands to young people.

Amul and Soul App have cross-border cooperation. The former's 0 sucrose formula makes the body stress-free, and the latter's pressure-free expression makes the mind stress-free. The two have achieved a dual fit between body and mind and created a space launch conference with the concept of "0 pressure".

③ The brand cooperates across borders with well-known IPs and jointly launches homophonic themes through offline advertising to enhance brand awareness.

At the turn of 2021 and 2022, Quark and IP@小蓝与他们的朋友站 at the Xuhui District Metro Station in Shanghai jointly contracted Line 1 and turned it into the "2022 Blue Unfailing Train", using "blue" instead of "difficult", wishing everyone to get off work on time in 2022, get promoted and get a raise, and have poor students make a comeback... all blue unfailing.

④ Food brands collaborate with well-known actors, celebrities, etc. to launch a cross-border marketing campaign using food-related homophones and homophones.

Ele.me teamed up with the "celebrity" Ma Dong to launch the "Chinese Taste that Better Understands Chinese Stomachs". Through Ma Dong's journey through different eras and meeting different celebrities, the unique symbolic meaning of eating "seasonal food" on Ele.me was incorporated into the program, conveying the traditional food culture of "Twenty-Four Solar Terms Food" to everyone.

⑤If a product has the same name, similar pronunciation, or homonym as food or other things in life, the brand can combine this feature and work with a spokesperson to promote it.

The cool mist yarn developed by Bananain to target the sweltering summer heat has a built-in cool feeling, providing both sun protection and cooling properties. Therefore, Bananain and its spokesperson Wang Yibo launched the "Liangpi" story, introducing the characteristics of the Liangpi series such as its cool fabrics and diverse categories.

⑥ During special holidays, combined with the scenes and life at that time, the brand goes against conventional thinking and collaborates with actors, e-sports players, etc. to output innovative marketing methods, integrating the tone that the brand wants to promote in a homophonic way.

During the Spring Festival, no one can escape the care of relatives, but behind this is actually an unconcealable desire to compete. The e-sports mobile phone iQOO reverses the previous view and turns comparison into competition, making "comparison" no longer embarrassing, but turning it into a lubricant for family relationships. It also joins hands with KPL two-time champion player Wuwei to call for "Compete more in the New Year", hoping that everyone can "work harder" in the new year.

⑦ During specific festivals and combined with specific scenarios, brands can find homophones and near-homophones in specific scenarios from the product selling points, thereby deepening the impression in the minds of users.

During the Spring Festival, the dishwasher detergent brand Finish wanted to make more Chinese consumers aware of the importance of dishwasher detergent. Taking advantage of the Spring Festival Gala, which is the most watched event for Chinese people, it created a gala about dishwashing with the theme of "Spring Festival Joint Bowl Party" for Finish.

⑧During the Lunar New Year, brands can find homophones or near-homophones of the new year’s zodiac sign and create brainwashing hits to convey the brand proposition in a joyful melody.

On the eve of the Lunar New Year of the Tiger, Si Nian Food launched a TVC, featuring the honest and cute image of a lucky tiger and the melody of "Huhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhu...", presenting an immersive new look for the Year of the Tiger , and also embedding the slogan "Delicious food is missed, good luck in the Year of the Tiger" into the minds of consumers.

⑨Brand cross-border sports marketing, comparing products to sports equipment, exposing them through advertisements in sports stadiums, and conveying product selling points with the help of athletes.

On the eve of the 2022 Winter Olympics, Bausch + Lomb's brand Aucé contact lenses, with their "16-hour lasting hydration" as their product feature, are like an invisible "sports equipment" for athletes, helping myopic athletes and sports enthusiasts to train for a long time.

⑩Brands and fairy tales work together to find homophones and near-homophones from the selling points of brands, products, and services, and use fairy tales known to all to deepen their impression in the minds of users.

At the beginning of the new year, many people set resolutions at the beginning of the year and then postpone them to the next year. In order to help everyone keep their flags in 2022, Meituan Bike & Motorcycle specially invited a super assist, taking the "Aladdin Magic Lamp" as the "Aladdin Magic Pedal", providing users with super powers to realize their wishes and leaving a deep impression on users.

06 Conclusion

In short, many brands have set examples in cross-border marketing. However, in the actual operation process, brands also need to carry out cross-border marketing based on their own fields, stages, and tones, and at the same time need to control the direction of cross-border marketing, otherwise it will "backfire."

Author: Morketing

Source: Morketing