Interesting business strategy gameplay!

Business strategies are not standardized products, and there is no perfect solution for marketing operations. But there is a very interesting phenomenon in this industry. We often see some business strategies that seem "not very smart" or even "very stupid".

But they can produce very good results, and if you think about it carefully, they can make people suddenly enlightened and full of inspiration.

There is a saying in "The Little Prince": The most important things are invisible to the eyes.

The same goes for business strategies. The most important thing is often not the tactics you can see, but the strategy behind you that you cannot see. Many playing methods are effective under a strategy, but if they are separated from the strategy, they are nothing. And every time I look at these interesting business strategies, I always gain something and get some inspiration!

01

The King of Türkiye hoped that women would no longer wear veils. At first, he directly banned it and issued an order prohibiting women from wearing veils, but this was strongly opposed and could not be implemented at all.

But later the king had an idea and announced to the public: prostitutes must wear veils. After this, the custom of wearing veils in Türkiye gradually disappeared.

02

In the 1960s, American tobacco companies grew rapidly, but various media, governments, and public welfare organizations continued to promote smoking bans and the dangers of smoking, which directly affected cigarette sales and almost brought disaster to the tobacco industry.

But the actions of the major tobacco giants were unheard of. At a hearing in the U.S. Congress, they took the initiative to put forward an incredible suggestion: banning television and radio stations from broadcasting cigarette advertisements.

This confused many people at the time. What was going on? Are these people crazy? As a result, the proposal was immediately passed, and cigarette advertisements never appeared on American television and radio stations again.

However, surprisingly, with the implementation of the law banning tobacco advertising, tobacco sales have soared again and have continued to prosper ever since.

This is the strategy of these tobacco giants. On the surface, they encourage legislation to ban cigarette advertising, seemingly cutting off their own propaganda path, but in fact they also cut off the propaganda path of the opponents. As a result, the US government was tricked.

03

Potatoes are now a common food in many countries, but Frederick the Great of Prussia put a lot of thought into promoting potatoes. At first he encouraged people to grow and eat potatoes, but basically no one paid attention because everyone thought potatoes were bad things.

As a result, Frederick the Great came up with a ruthless move - since you don't eat them, I will forbid you to eat potatoes. Potatoes were also designated as "royal vegetables" and only royal relatives could eat them and only the king could grow them.

This strategy made many ministers confused, but the common people were extremely curious at this time. What kind of magical thing is potato? Can it become a royal vegetable?

As a result, ordinary people began to eat and grow potatoes secretly, feeling that they were enjoying the life of an emperor. In addition, Frederick the Great had ordered the regulators to turn a blind eye to the problem, so potatoes spread quickly and soon became popular in the country.

04

We often receive fraudulent text messages. Just one look at the content of the message makes you feel that it is extremely stupid. How can they have the nerve to cheat people at this level? But have the scammers really become stupider? Is it difficult to process the content of text messages to make them more profound and sophisticated? Or are these scammers just not up to the standard?

Of course not. How stupid can a person be if he can lie to others?

The reason why the scammers send text messages in this way is also strategic. Just think about it, if people believe such stupid text messages, it will be a lot easier to contact and deceive them in the next step, which greatly reduces the subsequent operating costs. However, if the scammers take great pains to edit text messages to attract a group of savvy people, then the next step of contact and fraud must also be carefully planned accordingly, and the cost of each subsequent step becomes extremely high and not cost-effective.

Stupid text messages are what scammers use to conduct mass phishing. You think he's retarded, but he's not willing to hook up with you!

05

In 1995, Aido VCD began to vigorously promote its products, and its owner Hu Zhibiao directly booked half a page of the Yangcheng Evening News for four consecutive days.

But what confused many people was that he ran the advertisement for three days, but there was no product information in the advertisement, only two very large words - Aido, which attracted a lot of discussion and attention.

You may have thought that Hu Zhibiao is trying to use suspense marketing. Many brands now do this to deliberately whet everyone's appetite. But you have to know that at that time, advertising must have complete information, a large logo, and a prominent product. The way he plays is stupid.

However, just as everyone was discussing it heatedly, on the fourth day the advertisement finally turned into the product picture of Aido VCD. The result was an immediate sensation, and after a series of operations, Aido VCD became an instant hit.

06

When Alipay first started mobile banking, many bank officials said, "They don't even have offline branches. If they're a bank, where can you withdraw money?"

They all thought that Alipay's move was stupid, but what they never dreamed of was that for current transactions, there is no need to withdraw money, and more and more people have entered a cashless society.

Alipay's stupid strategy directly destroyed the expertise that banks have been proud of for many years.

07

In the winter of 2010, there was a small jewelry store in Wilmington, North Carolina, USA. The owner of the store launched a blockbuster promotion:

If you bought jewelry in our store within 2 weeks after Thanksgiving. On Christmas Day, if it snows more than 3 inches in another small town, Asheville (about 500 kilometers away from Wilmington), you can keep the jewelry and get all your money back, all back!

The news spread quickly in the neighborhood. Many people felt that the boss was being taken advantage of and some even drove more than 500 kilometers to come to this jewelry store to buy jewelry.

As a result, on Christmas Day, Asheville, which rarely snows, actually received 6 inches of thick snow. The store was lined up with people applying for a full refund. The owner did not say a word and really refunded the full amount, refunding more than 400,000 US dollars on the same day.

If you think this was a complete failure, you'd be wrong.

Because the boss had already purchased weather insurance based on his sales during that period.

Locally, this type of insurance is mainly aimed at some businesses that rely on the weather for their livelihood, such as a small shop owner selling umbrellas, who can only make a profit if it rains for more than 15 days a month. In this way, the shop owner can buy a policy that it will rain for more than 15 days. If it really rains no more than 15 days, he will receive compensation sufficient to spread the loss.

The jewelry store owner made full use of this weather insurance and used this highly contagious promotional activity to bypass old-fashioned methods such as discounts and free gifts, thereby increasing sales and greatly improving his visibility.

08

As for the game Tanwan Blue Moon, I think even if you have never played it, you must have heard of it: "Hello everyone, I am Gu Tianle", "Hello everyone, I am Zha Zha Hui".

Many people despise their advertisements from the bottom of their hearts. They invited a lot of celebrities to wear stupid "battle suits" that are disgusting. Isn't this courting death? Who will go to play?

But we have to admit that from the perspective of commercial marketing, it is undoubtedly very successful. It is said that not only is the dissemination effect good, but there are also many people playing online, with a monthly turnover of more than 200 million.

It is impossible for such a wealthy company not to know that its advertisements are criticized as low-brow, and it is also impossible for it to be incapable of producing high-end advertisements. But their business strategy is to buy as much traffic as possible and flood as many platforms and channels with advertisements as possible.

The purpose of Low advertising is to screen out users who are willing to recharge for the game. Those who despise the game or have high aesthetic standards will not recharge for it even if they play the game!

And the purpose is to make these people unhappy, let them make fun of the game, laugh at and spoof its brainwashing advertisements, the more the better, let them spread the game to the target population in the process of complaining, killing two birds with one stone.

09

A store for seven-year-old children in Italy, which sells all products for children around seven years old. The store stipulates that customers entering the store must be children under the age of seven, and adults entering the store must be accompanied by a seven-year-old child, otherwise they will be refused entry.

This move seems stupid and limits customer traffic. But their business was booming, and they later opened more than 20 similar replica stores, such as stores for newlyweds, stores for the elderly, stores for pregnant women, etc., all of which refused entry to other people.

Parents with 7-year-old children at home are very curious to see what the store sells, and other parents will lie that their children are 7 years old and go into the store to buy goods because they are curious.

10

Previously, an Internet fashion brand called Everlane held a “Choose your own price” event.

Simply put, there is no discount. They have three different price levels to choose from, and you decide how much to spend.

For example, for a shirt that originally costs $78, Everlane offers three price levels: $46, $55, and $71. The $46 price includes production and shipping costs. For the $55 price, the webpage will show: This price allows us to earn $9, and there will be a surplus for the team. If you choose $71, it will show: "This price allows us to grow better. Thank you for your support!"

Everlane conveys the concept of "extreme transparency". In addition, every style page of Everlane will have a price chart, marking the cost items such as materials, labor, taxes, etc. for producing the clothing, and even photos of the production factory.

Ultimately, this seemingly silly strategy also eliminates consumers' inner insecurity to the greatest extent. Knowing where every penny they spend is spent, they will naturally favor it more. At the same time, it also allows more consumers to be more understanding and less picky in future purchases.

Okay, that’s all for this sharing.

In short, it is the children who try to persuade the clients, while the adults use strategies.

Behind these "not so smart" but effective business strategies, there is a set of logic operating inside. What is not smart is the appearance, but what works is the overall strategy. Therefore, tactics must be coordinated with strategy, even if the tactics do not seem "very smart".

I hope it can be of some use to you!

Author: Mumu Old Thief

Source: Mumu Laozei (ID: mumuseo)