A collection of top 10 Christmas marketing cases!

• Introduction•

Christmas marketing memory means that consumers are obsessed with the brand before Christmas and are unwilling to miss any pre-Christmas event information of the brand. Instead of consumers being overwhelmed by the ocean of Christmas marketing, they will choose the brand that offers the biggest discounts. This may bring temporary performance growth to the brand, but if the brand fails to leave an impression on consumers due to product reasons, consumers will quickly forget the brand. By the next Christmas, consumers will still not remember the brand and will not pay attention to the brand's marketing activities. Such a holiday marketing campaign is undoubtedly a failure.

As the saying goes, brands leverage marketing momentum. Every festive season is a "battle of war". Faced with the exhaustion of holiday marketing, how can we successfully break through the holiday marketing melee? In the era of attention economy, a few heartfelt copywriting and posters seem unable to enter the hearts of consumers.

There are 365 days in a year, and marketers are celebrating every day! No matter how many times the topic of "whether to celebrate foreign festivals" has been discussed, every year there are still a large number of people who take advantage of the Christmas atmosphere and celebrate Christmas.

During the year-end sales, businesses are "out in force" both openly and covertly. All of a sudden, countless advertising information, coupons, and discount codes are everywhere for consumers to see. Consumers are dazzled and find it difficult to make a good decision for their "expanded consumption desire."

1. The brand leverages the internet meme of Xu Jinjiang’s version of Santa Claus

In 2018, in the "archaeological" wave in which "national internet surfers" turned into detectives, many classic screen images were "dug up", and every word and action on the screen was once again placed in the spotlight. After careful study, new interpretations were obtained.

The innocent Shancai in "Garden of Love" was discovered by netizens to have the attributes of a "green tea bitch", the loyal He Shuhuan in "My Fair Princess" was labeled a "scumbag", and the clean and bad Rong Mama in "My Fair Princess" "reversed" and became a good person, while Erkang, a representative of the affectionate man of "tall, rich and handsome", was teased as a "scheming boy".

The once familiar screen phenomenon has returned to the public's attention in another way in the current Internet environment.

Netizens who love "archaeology" discovered that the image of Aobai is not only very similar to "Aquaman", but also perfectly fits Santa Claus. Actor Xu Jinjiang posted a Weibo post on Christmas Eve, with the accompanying picture being a still of himself playing the role of Aobai, looking like a "Chinese version of Santa Claus". The accompanying picture and text closely follow the trend of social network terminology, commonly known as a "joker".

Xu Jinjiang-style Santa Claus has begun to become popular in mainstream social scenarios such as Weibo and WeChat, and businesses that have smelled business opportunities have begun to use the same style as Xu Jinjiang. FaceU launched the Aobai camera effects for Christmas, B612 launched the Aobai Christmas emoticon stickers, and even Weibo, which has always been "slow to respond", launched the Xu Jinjiang emoticon package on Christmas afternoon, calling it "Weibo's exclusive Christmas gift to you."

Netizens frequently dug out film and television clips from their childhood memories and were surprised to find another way of interpreting them. Stephen Chow's series of films, Wong Kar-wai's series of films, and Hong Kong films have become popular because of this, and the "childhood-ruining" interpretation perspective has triggered an "archaeological" enthusiasm across the entire network.

According to Jenkins' theory, netizens' archaeological research on classic old dramas is a kind of participatory culture in the context of the Internet, and the netizens who participate in it are "poachers" of the text.

The path to popularity of Xu Jinjiang's Santa Claus is just like Wang Sicong's hot dog joke: first it was the comedian's creative photoshop, then the real Santa Claus's participation pushed the social network's playful carnival to a climax, and then more people spontaneously participated in the spread through social media such as hot search lists and Moments.

Catering to the emotions of netizens, keeping up with hot topics on social networks, knowing the "secret language" and understanding the "jokes" are the winning magic weapons for contemporary brand marketing.

Behind this seemingly "natural marketing", there were not many commercial interests involved at the beginning. Everything was just for the happiness of netizens.

As the natives of the Internet, the younger generation has a "Lost Generation" temperament, emphasizing the satisfaction of individuality. They are also dissatisfied with today's impetuous society, so they turn to their childhood screen images. The creativity of users as content producers and secondary creators can form a strong momentum on the Internet, and brands must know how to use this strong momentum for marketing.

Why is it that you can tell what big news is trending on Weibo by just taking a look at your Moments? Because in the era of "girls around you may accidentally become micro-businessmen", you can see a micro-businessman by just scrolling through your Moments twice, and you dare not hesitate because it may be your family and friends.

Micro-businesses are very particular about incorporating current affairs into their Moments. When Fan Bingbing and Li Chen broke up, the Moments posts by Micro-businesses selling skin care products were all about "Women who are rich and pretty are not afraid of failure in love. Women who have a trump card are more confident in welcoming the next beautiful love." Although the copy is very "toxic chicken soup", marketing copy that combines current hot topics is more likely to attract user attention. Some netizens posted pictures of themselves receiving free meals from WeChat on Christmas Day, and jokingly said in their circle of friends that "Elvis Tsui sent me a big Christmas gift."

Brand holiday marketing should keep up with online hot topics and create hot marketing memes.

Marketing copy that combines current affairs with hot topics can more easily attract people to "stop and stay" when they are hurriedly swiping across their phones. Users need a sense of participation and topic discussion. Brands that use hot topic marketing should not only cleverly use current affairs, but also stimulate participants to engage in secondary creation of UGC. Doing so will allow the public to spontaneously participate in and recognize the brand's marketing activities.

2. Blind box Christmas limited edition

"Blind box speculation" has become a phenomenon. Even though many people think that this is a game in which players empty their wallets and pay an IQ tax, it still cannot stop consumers' "blind box shopping craze."

On this year's Double Eleven, Pop Mart's Tmall flagship store's sales in one hour exceeded last year's entire day sales, reaching 82.12 million for the entire day.

According to data released by Xianyu in the middle of this year, Pop Mart's Pan Christmas hidden blind box, originally priced at 59 yuan, is currently being sold for 2,350 yuan on Xianyu, a 39-fold increase. I wonder if it’s this exciting way of shopping that makes people addicted? Or is it that the words “leek box” plus “Christmas limited edition” are more dazzling?

3. Daily Photo Editing: "One-click Christmas Hat" H5

After a while, I found out that it was the Christmas H5 "One-click Christmas hat" launched by Tencent's "Tiantian Ptu".

This is a social carnival for the whole nation, a performance art on social media, and a psychological history in the Internet age.

WeChat’s superiority as a “national social network”, coupled with the natural soil for communication in the circle of friends, means that once a message is forwarded and becomes a screen-sweeping phenomenon in the circle of friends, it is only a matter of time before people follow suit, due to the natural tendency of herd mentality.

As long as you click on the H5 page, you can immediately have a new avatar with a Santa hat. This simple H5 communication has lowered the technical threshold for the social carnival of WeChat Santa hat avatars.

For the first batch of users who @微信官方 requested to change their profile pictures in Moments, they should have realized that this was a scam when their profile pictures still did not "pay tribute" to Christmas. However, many people did enjoy it. The feeling of "playing around" with friends in Moments was much better than having a real national flag on their profile pictures, and it brought a sense of psychological satisfaction.

The ultra-low technical threshold, coupled with catering to the masses and no loss of real interests to itself, users have weighed the pros and cons and decided to join this "National Day social carnival" to chase hot topics. This is the audience psychology of WeChat's official @Please give me a Christmas hat. Whether it is "Today is Ma Huateng's birthday, forward this post and you can get a one-month QQ membership," or the social media carnival of WeChat avatars wearing Christmas hats two years ago, as long as creativity finds the right time, it can be applied and it is still a good idea.

4. KFC x Rainbow Choir: Christmas song "I want a bucket of gifts"

As Christmas is approaching, the Rainbow Choir is back to make something special. This time, they created a Christmas hit song called "I Want a Bucket of Presents" specifically for the brand KFC. The song continues the previous style and the lyrics are still as heartfelt.

"I want a bucket of gifts to turn my boss into a tree. He will no longer get angry during meetings, but will just dance in the snow."

5. Starbucks Christmas Red Cup

What Starbucks fans look forward to is the limited edition cups launched every festival. Since 1997, Starbucks has continuously launched Starbucks cups representing seasonal changes. Since then, the Starbucks cup has become a fashion, a craze similar to the modern "blind box".

Launching Christmas packages is undoubtedly the safest option for many brands when they are racking their brains over "what activities to hold for Christmas", but often at this time, consumers will be confused by all kinds of exaggerated marketing information, so there are not many brands that can form Christmas marketing memories. Starbucks, which has already established its product imprint with the Starbucks cup, will launch red paper cups on Christmas Eve every year.

For Starbucks, selling cups has become a business.

With a large number of loyal fans, Starbucks has left a strong brand impression in the minds of consumers.

In other words, Starbucks itself has become an IP. At this time, Starbucks continues to launch a fierce attack on the minds of consumers, relying on its unique IP power to "sell cups", and is good at using cups as labels and media to tell brand stories. After accumulating product imprints over the years, the Starbucks cup has long become a way for Starbucks to communicate with consumers.

During Christmas of 2017, Starbucks also launched a new paper cup, but it was this paper cup that almost made Starbucks the target of public criticism.

This minimalist red cup designed by Jeffery Fields is completely different from the cups of previous years. This time the red cup has nothing but the brand logo. The designer said that holiday cups in previous years were all about storytelling, but this year's red cup hopes to invite consumers to share their own stories in a different way.

The reason why the Starbucks red cup has become the target of public criticism this time is because of the classic red and green Christmas color scheme of the paper cup. Many American consumers believe that Starbucks' marketing this time ignored religious factors in order to highlight the Christmas atmosphere. They believe that on this anniversary of the birth of Christ, the absence of any religious images is a shameless anti-Christian business practice, and many people have called for a boycott on social networks.

US President Trump, who is always "nosy", also intervened in this incident: "Maybe we should boycott Starbucks. But to be honest, I don't care at all."

In today's world, it's not a bad thing for brands to sometimes become the "target of public criticism".

Christmas marketing memory means that consumers are obsessed with the brand before Christmas and are unwilling to miss any pre-Christmas event information of the brand. Instead of consumers being overwhelmed by the ocean of Christmas marketing, they will choose the brand that offers the biggest discounts. This may bring temporary performance growth to the brand, but if the brand fails to leave an impression on consumers due to product reasons, consumers will quickly forget the brand. By the next Christmas, consumers will still not remember the brand and will not pay attention to the brand's marketing activities. Such a holiday marketing campaign is undoubtedly a failure.

Starbucks has done a good job in terms of "Christmas brand imprint". Every year's Christmas cup (Christmas packaging) has become an event that Starbucks fans "look forward to".

6. Coca-Cola Christmas gift bottle: sharing different values

The curved Coca-Cola bottle, which has spanned a century, is both the carrier and the promoter of Coca-Cola. As an important "member" of Coca-Cola's marketing campaign, the new round of gift bottle packaging will naturally not miss such a big day as Christmas.

Just from the names Coca-Cola gave to the gift bottles, you can feel the brand's thoughtfulness. There are a total of 12 new nickname bottles, including "Santa", "Kris Kringle", "Father Christmas", "Saint Nicholas" and so on.

A TV commercial launched by Coca-Cola in Spain teamed up with the popular social platform Instagram to combine the elements of friendship, Christmas, sharing and my heart. Participants can share this "true self" value on Instagram by adding the tag #followmyheart#.

“Don’t open the door to strangers; don’t accept things from strangers; there is nothing free in life; don’t believe everything others tell you; nothing lasts forever.” In our lives, we are always told about the life experiences and attempts of so-called “experienced people”. However, in this Coca-Cola ad, the belief conveyed by the ad is “Don’t care about everything you are told, don’t listen to those nonsense truths, life will give us more warmth in return, don’t miss these little beauties in life because of being ‘obedient’.”

“It’s so hard to make everyone happy!” worries the old man who spreads joy at Christmas.

People immersed in the joyful atmosphere of Christmas would never imagine that Santa Claus, who brings happiness, would also be troubled, and would be troubled because he cannot make everyone happy.

This is an advertisement released by Coca-Cola in the UK. The advertisement takes a turning point: "Old man, don't worry about it! In fact, it is very simple to make someone happy. Just give him a bottle of Coca-Cola!" At the same time, Coca-Cola also said that their iconic Christmas truck will stop in 46 cities in the UK to distribute free Coca-Cola to passers-by.

7. JD.com’s “Santa Claus Delivers Express”

“There are only two men in the world worth waiting for: Santa Claus and the courier.”

JD.com combined the two most awaited types of men in the world into one. During Christmas 2015, JD.com couriers were dressed up as Santa Claus to deliver goods. Through its self-operated distribution system, the holiday promotion atmosphere was also passed offline.

8. 360 Security Router "The Strongest Signal Lights Up Your WiFi Christmas Tree"

Focusing on social pain points in modern society——

One of the pain points of modern social interaction: "Pretend to be busy to avoid the embarrassment of no one inviting you to Christmas." Then use a sentence to connect the relationship between the product and the copywriting: "And I have a small Wi-Fi Christmas tree." Finally, get straight to the point and directly highlight the product: "360 secure routing, the strongest signal lights up your WiFi Christmas tree, officially released on December 24 at 10:00."

The second pain point of modern social life: "All my sisters are dated by their boyfriends, so Christmas is a disaster for singles"

The inverted WiFi signal is like a Christmas tree. Connecting the Christmas tree with the product, it focuses on the social pain points of modern society, notices the lonely people in the festive atmosphere of Christmas, and resonates with users through the advertising words and scene stimulation.

9. Luckin Coffee: The “deer antler” logo

The logo of Luckin Coffee itself is a deer antler, which is one of the most representative Christmas elements. During Christmas, all major businesses are trying hard to take advantage of the festival, and all major photo-taking apps will also release antler decorative stickers during Christmas.

This time, Luckin Coffee and Tiantian Ptu’s Christmas cross-border marketing has well integrated the brand’s own logo and Christmas elements. In the era of information fragmentation, pictures are one of the easiest and most direct ways to attract users. The dissemination of pictures can directly deepen the brand’s awareness and brand image.

The selfie method can easily divert consumers away from brand marketing plans and focus on the consumers themselves. Countless photo stickers and camera filters have been popular in recent years. Aging filters and shrinking filters have all been popular on WeChat Moments for a while. Many celebrities even post selfies taken with celebrity camera filters on Weibo. It can be said that brands using selfies as a marketing method have won the hearts of consumers.

The image dissemination method used by Luckin Coffee and Tiantian Ptu has increased brand awareness and image recognition for both brands, and is a big move for companies that are well versed in the rules of [selfie] image dissemination.

In addition, this event has the advantage of social communication on Weibo. Luckin Coffee asked participants to post their own photos of deer antlers on Weibo and bring up the topic, and the @官当 account then held a lucky draw. The format of posting photos of deer antlers on Christmas + lucky draw immediately "got" the hearts of young users, and the superiority of Weibo's social communication was immediately reflected.

10. Koi never goes out of style - a great move that knows the rules of communication in the circle of friends

The “Double Holiday Lucky Bag” campaign launched by China Merchants Bank on Christmas Day in 2018 has deeply cultivated the soil for communication in the circle of friends. Scan the QR code to learn about the benefits and rules of participating in the event.

The lucky bag gifts range from digital home appliances to internet-famous cosmetics, and all of the gifts hit the needs of contemporary consumers, and can be described as “the hottest lucky bags.” The lucky bag gifts include: Microsoft Surface Pro 6, Huawei P20 Pro, internet celebrity Dyson hair dryer, Armani lipstick, etc.

Author: Clockwork Brown

Source: PR Home