Top 10 operational promotion cases in the first half of 2020

2020 will surely be a year that goes down in history, with ups and downs, twists and turns...

The economic situation in the first half of the year should have left a very deep impression on all industries, with difficulties and challenges, as well as breakthroughs and innovations. It is said that opportunities come to those who are prepared, so the first half of the year is the ultimate challenge to this saying.

I remember that in 2003, SARS was rampant, but after we survived, we got to where we are today, Alibaba and JD.com. During my time at JD.com, I attended many training sessions, including introductions to the corporate culture and JD.com's development history. I had a sincere admiration for JD.com because of this. The business world is like a battlefield, where crises and opportunities coexist and opportunities are fleeting. So I admired JD.com's determination to burn its boats, and even more so its grasp of the opportunity and its decisiveness.

Just like today, especially in the first half of the year, the epidemic has continued in stages. Under such circumstances, which companies and fields have been able to go with the flow in the first half of the year! Turn pressure into motivation and crisis into opportunity?

01. Tik Tok & Lost in Russia

The first case of going viral this year is none other than TikTok! During the Spring Festival, people across the country are invited to watch the blockbuster "Lost in Russia" for free! This is also the first time in the history of the Spring Festival film season that a blockbuster has been broadcast via the Internet. It is unprecedented and may never be repeated.

1. [Operation time] During the Spring Festival

2. [Operational products] TikTok

3. [Operational Strategy] Cross-border cooperation with the movie Lost in Russia

4. [Growth Strategy] Free viewing across the country without time limit or region limit; after that, further launch a number of blockbuster movies, all free to watch. A brief talk on operations - During the Spring Festival, there is a natural lot of rest time, so there is the rigid demand for "entertainment". This is the right time, and it is also the opportunity for entertainment platforms to maneuver. For example: iQiyi, Tencent Video, Youku, Douyin, Kuaishou, etc. are all suitable for operations during the Spring Festival. At the same time, there is a pain point during the Spring Festival, which is the Spring Festival movies. In previous years, everyone was used to going to the cinema to watch blockbusters, but this year, due to special circumstances, people all over the country are at home, and this demand cannot be released. If it can make up for everyone’s yearning for a better life, then the growth of traffic will be natural.

Tik Tok's operational strength during the Spring Festival was truly extraordinary. People across the country could watch it for free anytime and anywhere. In terms of media voice, brand reputation, search popularity, downloads, and user activity, it is definitely the big winner. Moreover, after the strong operation of the hit "Lost in Russia", a number of free hit movies were further launched, which further expanded the feasibility of long videos on Douyin. Recently, I saw news that Douyin is testing the PC terminal, which is basically paving the way for long videos.

02. Xiaomi mobile phone

The sudden appearance of Xiaomi 10 has made great contributions to the high-end development of Xiaomi mobile phones.

In the first half of the year, the external market environment was full of uncertainties. Xiaomi dared to be the first to hold an online press conference for the first time. This was a very challenging task, as it was the launch of a highly competitive mobile phone product, and it was also the most critical and important 10th anniversary digital flagship. After the launch, both media reviews and user word-of-mouth and conversion have achieved gratifying results!

1. [Operation time] February

2. [Operational products] Xiaomi Mi 10

3. [Operational Strategy] Focus on 100 million pixels - the ultimate and superb photography and video capabilities, and cross-border cooperation with the commercial aerospace industry that has been popular in the past two years to conduct space photography

4. [Growth Strategy] #10th Anniversary Fantasy Work#, #First Online Conference#, #Xiaomi Mobile Phone 100-Megapixel Photography#, #DXOMARK Camera No. 1#, #Aerospace Black Technology#, #Space Imaging#, #Xiaomi Mobile Phone in Space# and other topic dissemination, super tag marketing

A brief talk on operations - Mobile phones, digital devices and home appliances are a completely standard product market with extremely fierce competition. In such a market, it is easy to move from high-end to low-end, but difficult to move from low-end to high-end. Apple and DJI are high-end, and after launching mid- and low-end products, their sales are often very impressive. However, the fighter jet waveguide in mobile phones at that time has always covered the low-end market, and it is very difficult to move to the high-end market!

In nature, water flows to lower places, which is an objective existence that goes with the flow. For users, it becomes the mentality that if they can make high-end products, they can naturally make entry-level products as well. To swim upstream is like a koi carp leaping over the Dragon Gate, transforming into a dragon and soaring into the sky. This is the case with Xiaomi 10.

Image source: Xiaomi 10 space photography, super shocking

03. DingTalk

The emergence of the DingTalk incident caught the spectators off guard. It brought a smile to our faces during the torturous first half of the year, but what can we do in the face of the vast number of lovely primary school students? Both funny and helpless.

However, thanks to DingTalk’s public relations efforts, DingTalk was not affected at all. Instead, it received rave reviews.

1. [Operation time] February

2. [Operational products] DingTalk

3. [Operation strategy] Cute + magical + calling dad + barrage content operation, and choose B station to release

4. [PR Strategy] DingTalk released a video begging for mercy online, actively lowered its stance, and gained the love of students

A brief talk on operations - When facing a large number of students, finding excuses to decline, beating around the bush, or confronting head-on are not reasonable strategies, simply because - they are all still children! Apologetic language always seems more decent and comfortable when facing students, but how to express apology in a proper way?

DingTalk was very smart this time. It chose to start from the perspective of DingTalk's product life cycle and proposed that DingTalk is only a 5-year-old child, which is an in-depth exploration of the product characteristics. We are all children, including Dingding, which greatly levels the relationship between the product and the students. This way, it is natural to call students "dad". Moreover, although Dingding is a child, he works so hard for everyone's study. Shouldn't the lovely students take care of him? This also makes it easy to win the students' love.

When it comes to the platform for delivery, Bilibili was chosen as the first choice, which was also the consideration of DingTalk's precise public relations. Bilibili users are very young, and the content logic and copywriting in the begging video are quite consistent with Bilibili's consistent attributes.

04. Homemade Chicken

Lao Xiang Ji’s marketing operations are a textbook example. With a little effort, they were able to obtain very high-quality resources at a very low cost, which attracted widespread attention and spread.

1. [Operation time] March

2. [Operational products] Lao Xiang Ji brand and products

3. [Operational Strategy] The tearing up of the joint letter incident → 2020 strategic conference → flagship store upgrade + focus on food videos; and refinement of the core copywriting and interesting content in the chairman’s video

4. [Marketing Strategy] Event marketing + contrast effect design (tearing up the joint letter of employees requesting salary cuts, holding a press conference for 200 yuan, not only not laying off employees but also vigorously expanding recruitment).

A brief discussion on operations - In the first half of the year, the epidemic dealt a huge blow to the catering industry. Many industries were worried and made many adjustments. Shu Congxuan, chairman of Lao Xiang Ji, did the opposite. Through a series of operations, he hit three key points: ① Under the epidemic, various industries are short of cash flow, and upstream and downstream of the industrial chain generally lack confidence. Lao Xiang Ji directly exposed the bank's credit line to stabilize the confidence of suppliers; ② First, he tore up the letter of salary cuts by hand, and then announced the information of expansion at the press conference to stabilize the morale of the troops; ③ When some companies were streamlining their staff and reducing the number of stores, Lao Xiang Ji seized the opportunity and expanded nationwide.

People's worries all come from uncertainty, and Lao Xiangji has solved this uncertainty through a series of operations. More importantly, it has resumed work and production, which is in line with the focus of the government and the media, and is also easy to obtain positive media coverage.

Lao Xiang Ji is very clear in its promotion and turns every point into an event for marketing. The hand-torn letter incident, the 200 yuan strategic conference incident, etc. At the same time, a lot of effort has been put into polishing the content, turning the video into a stand-up comedy and jokes, which are interesting, vivid and popular.

05. Kingsoft Docs, Tencent Docs, WPS, DingTalk, Feishu, WeChat for Business

Li Bai's "To Li Yong", the great roc rises with the wind one day, soaring up to 90,000 miles. If you seize the opportunity, you can indeed soar to the top.

1. [Operation period] First half of the year

2. [Operational products] Remote office software products: Kingsoft Document, Tencent Document, WPS, DingTalk, Feishu, and WeChat for Enterprise

3. [Operation Strategy] Rapid product iteration, covering various scenario needs, industry solution promotion (such as education industry, Internet industry, etc.), using existing brand awareness, all-round publicity and promotion

4. [Growth Strategy] Free of charge, cooperation with key departments and units/leading enterprises, and direct gift of a full set of software and hardware equipment for some high-quality educational resources

Brief discussion on operations - In the first half of the year, all industries switched to the work-from-home mode, and the demand for office software increased rapidly. From the performance point of view, Kingsoft Document, Tencent Document, WPS, DingTalk, and Feishu have all seized this special opportunity and are leaders in their field;

The above-mentioned products have different attributes, and there are natural differences in the operation of 2B products and Internet 2C products. The 2B business has a long customer acquisition cycle, high new customer acquisition costs, high product prices, and extremely high product replacement costs. However, once an industry scale is formed and in-depth industry solutions and vertical product solutions are bound together, it will form the power and speed of a snowball and form an industry-type moat!

Kingsoft Docs, Tencent Docs, and WPS are aimed at ordinary users. Based on their existing large user base, they are acquiring customers at a very fast speed through free strategies + various templates and promotion. DingTalk and Feishu are commercial enterprise-level 2B products that require integrated software and hardware solutions. Their products are often expensive. Once they are free and can be the first to win over the top corporate users in the industry, their leadership effect will be very prominent.

06. Douyin e-commerce live broadcast & Lao Luo

Through the cooperation with Lao Luo, Douyin's e-commerce live broadcast business has entered a fast track. After the first few live broadcasts, the overall effect is still very good.

1. [Operation time] Starts in April

2. [Operational products] Douyin e-commerce live broadcast

3. [Operational Strategy] Douyin’s first e-commerce show and cooperation with top influencers (Lao Luo)

4. [Growth Strategy] Luo Yonghao’s poster promotion, big V endorsement, #第一代网红# topic, high-quality product selection in live broadcasts, and good discounts

A brief discussion on operations - Internet companies, in order to establish competitive barriers, most of them continue to expand the scope of their moats. For ByteDance, after having Toutiao and Douyin, what it lacks besides advertising is commercial capabilities, so e-commerce is the most direct option. Among our competitors, Taobao has Li Jiaqi and Viya, but we ourselves do not have a typical “e-commerce spokesperson”. Douyin and Luo Yonghao are a perfect match, and Douyin has taken the first step in e-commerce live streaming.

07. Bilibili’s brand communication “Hou Lang”

On the eve of the May Fourth Youth Day, Bilibili launched a new brand TVC: "Rush Forward, the Next Wave". The topic #后浪# quickly fermented through Bilibili in a short period of time, swept through major media, and the topic continued to dominate the screen.

1. [Operation time] May

2. [Operational products] Bilibili brand

3. [Operational Strategy] Brand video promotion, celebrity endorsement, good timing (Youth Day), location and people (most of the users on Bilibili are young and active), and then follow-up by big V media and celebrity influence, together to form a communication potential

4. [Growth Strategy] Celebrity endorsements, the coordination of “Hou Lang” and Youth Day, and the spread of multiple topics such as #Hou Lang#

A brief talk on operations - The term "Hou Lang" reminds me of Uncle Benshan's skit:

The waves of Honghu Lake

The Yangtze River's waves behind push forward the waves ahead

One wave is stronger than the other

Shoot my dad on the beach!

——I think of a famous poem again:

The poems of Li Bai and Du Fu have been passed on by word of mouth so widely that they are no longer fresh to the ears.
Talented people emerge in every generation, and each of them leads the trend for hundreds of years.

08. DJI

During the first half of the epidemic, DJI drones made outstanding contributions in helping to prevent and control the epidemic in cities and villages, at street intersections, and in traffic inspections.

1. [Operation period] First half of the year

2. [Operational products] DJI drones

3. [Operational Strategy] Anti-epidemic cooperation - DJI plant protection drones assist in spraying and disinfection, epidemic prevention and disinfection operations before resuming work, traffic police prevention and control assistance, drone inspections, and the launch of epidemic prevention hotlines; video platforms such as Douyin and Kuaishou vigorously promote it;

4. [Growth Strategy] Cooperation with key departments/units, and support from a 10 million yuan fund

A brief talk on operations - Drones have been very popular in recent years and are mainly used for aerial photography, performances and displays in daily life. In the field of drones, DJI has a global market share of more than 70%, and it not only serves the general consumer market, but also the 2B field. In the special market environment in the first half of the year, "contactless and isolation" are the two main keywords: contactless delivery, home isolation, reduced gatherings... and the core functions of drones are just right for these needs, which can be said to be unique. It can also greatly gain the favor of users.

It also integrates platforms such as Douyin and Kuaishou to quickly and effectively spread the value of drones in a simple, direct and down-to-earth manner.

09. Sisters Riding the Wind and Waves

There are variety shows every year, but they are different every year. Last year there was Tencent's "Creation 101", and this year there is the popular "Sisters Riding the Wind and Waves". Recently, even the official media have been using the keyword "Sisters Riding the Wind and Waves".

1. [Operation time] June

2. [Operational product] Sisters Riding the Wind and Waves

3. [Operational Strategy] The contrast effect of talent shows - big names vs. newcomers, appearing in the same person and on the same show at the same time

4. [Growth Strategy] Spread various topics and celebrity endorsements of all artists

A brief talk on operations - each of the artists participating in the program has their own traffic attributes and is of high status, but talent shows are often equated with concepts such as interns and rookies. Given the contrast between big-name artists and rookie talent shows, the topic suddenly became popular. One of the core elements of variety shows is "topics". Where there are topics, there are discussions, sharing, and searches... As a result, the program received 140 million views within 12 hours of its launch, which was a great success.

10. E-commerce live streaming

If you ask what the hottest Internet economy was in the first half of the year, 99 out of 100 people would probably say e-commerce live streaming. Under the market pressure in the first half of the year, various bigwigs have come on stage to show their heroic spirit. Taobao, JD.com, Douyin, Kuaishou and other platforms, as well as Ctrip, Baidu, Gree, Sohu and other bigwigs have all launched their live broadcast debut.

1. [Operation period] First half of the year

2. [Operational products] Taobao, JD.com, Douyin, Kuaishou

3. [Operational Strategy] Leverage the power of e-commerce live streaming, cooperate with live streaming influencers, and have corporate leaders make their first live streaming appearance

4. [Growth Strategy] High-quality products, good promotion efforts, endorsements from big Vs from all walks of life, cooperation with KOL media such as CCTV (including hosts), charity live broadcasts, and Wuhan special live broadcasts

A brief discussion on operations - The innovation and vitality of China's Internet economy has been leading the market trends and directions in the past 10 years. From the sharing economy to live streaming e-commerce, there are popular and reliable operational trends every year. Under the performance pressure in the first half of the year, live streaming e-commerce was extremely popular. With the help of Li Jiaqi and Viya, it attracted the active participation of CCTV hosts, Ctrip chairman and others, created hot spots such as Peppa Pig and Viya selling houses, and injected significant effects into the economic vitality under the epidemic.

author: Zhao Feitan

Source: Lao Tan's Internet and Outdoor Travel

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