Marketing promotion analysis: What is the marketing secret of Three Squirrels?

Why has Three Squirrels achieved such success in less than a year? What's his marketing secret?

A successful business is inseparable from successful marketing. Three Squirrels is such a business. It was founded in February 2012, and in less than a year, it took the first place in sales of snacks and specialties on November 11 of the same year. Its growth rate is truly amazing.

Why has Three Squirrels achieved such success in less than a year? What's his marketing secret?

Today we will take a look at the marketing secrets behind these three cute little squirrels.

1. Communication Disassembly
2. Creative disassembly
3. Event Marketing Disassembly
4. Deconstruction of human nature
5. Brand Disassembly

1. Disassembly of Communication

1. Weibo communication

Cooperate with certain brands and IPs, and you will be eligible for a lucky draw and have a chance to win prizes as long as you forward a Weibo post. This will encourage users to actively forward Weibo posts in order to get rewards, thus creating dissemination and also allowing them to gain more attention through the effects of cooperative brands and IPs.

2. Welfare distribution

There is a promotion with benefits every 3-4 days. During the specified time, as long as you spend xxx yuan or more, you can get a discount of xxx yuan. For certain foods, you can get more gifts if you buy more. Attract users' attention and make them choose to continue paying attention because they are greedy for cheap prices.

3. TV drama advertising placement

Whether it is "Ode to Joy", "Mr. Good", "Love O2O" or "A Little Farewell", you can see the three squirrels, either appearing as snacks or as toy dolls. The advertisements are always implanted just right and are very impressive.

At the same time, these popular dramas themselves are extremely eye-catching, allowing the dissemination effect of Three Squirrels to be further amplified. In terms of return on investment, it is still beyond the reach of general hard advertising.

4. Create an animation with the same name and build IP

In April this year, Three Squirrels released a 3D animation of the same name, "Three Squirrels". So far, the number of views has exceeded 100 million (based on iQiyi), which shows how popular it is.

The animation of the same name released by Three Squirrels can be said to be an imitation of Haier's "Haier Brothers". It is to better maintain the relationship with users, and also to layout the IP of Three Squirrels, make its brand entertaining, and let the brand bring more joy and laughter to users.

Moreover, while building the IP, it can also bring more attention to the brand. Just from the animation "Three Squirrels", we can see that the 100 million views have brought immeasurable potential customers. It not only maintains old customers, but also develops new customers, which can be said to kill two birds with one stone.

2. Creative Disassembly

1. Service Creativity

"Master, master, I am Little Mouse."

Three Squirrels has opened up a new path in service. Every customer service staff must communicate with customers in the tone of a squirrel and call the other party "master" to create personalized service.

This innovation has undoubtedly improved the customer experience, strengthened the brand image, and made customers think of Three Squirrels when they hear the word "master".

2. Channel innovation

In 2012, Taobao's dividends were still there, but the dividends had gradually shifted from free traffic to paid traffic. Advertising was still very cheap at that time, but too many businesses were too eager to enjoy the comfort of free traffic and were unwilling to spend money on advertising.

Three Squirrels seized this opportunity and spent a lot of money on through trains and diamond booths on Taobao. But hard work pays off. On Double 11 of the same year, the company took first place in sales of snacks and specialties. Therefore, spending money on advertising was a major factor in the rapid rise of Three Squirrels.

3. Packaging creativity

Let’s first look at the outer packaging. The UI is unified, and the boxes and tapes are completely unified, which strengthens the brand image and facilitates better communication.

Attached is a three squirrels unboxing label and unboxing tool, with cute "unboxing words":

"Master, I am Shu Xiaoqi, please rescue me quickly, I can help you unpack the box."

It indirectly tells customers that the package has not been opened, conveying safety. It optimizes the customer experience. Who doesn’t love such a cute image? It strengthens the brand image and improves customers' favorability towards the brand, while at the same time stimulating customers' desire to share, forming implicit communication.

Looking at the inner packaging, in addition to the snacks you buy, Three Squirrels can also give you surprises beyond your expectations, making you curious about what is in the box.

For example, the box will contain:

• Mouse pouch : the fruit shells can be thrown directly into it after eating;
• Mouse towel : can be used to wipe the mouth after eating snacks;
• Three Squirrels series card sets : Similar to the card game of Little Raccoon, with a variety of styles, it stimulates customers' desire to collect, thus making them more motivated to buy snacks from Three Squirrels;
• Sample packs : other snacks under the brand, indirectly promoting sales of other products;
• Keychain : Increase emotional identification and facilitate brand communication;
• Postcards : Holiday-exclusive gifts highlight the festive atmosphere, express the brand’s intentions, and win the favor of customers;
• Handwritten letter to customers : increase the degree of surprise and let customers recognize the brand's sincerity and craftsmanship. At the same time, it also creates a dissemination effect, stimulating customers' desire to share.

3. Event Marketing Analysis

On February 12, 2017, Three Squirrels CEO Zhang Liaoyuan shaved his head and led his core team to smash the offline feeding store in Suzhou Golden Eagle Commercial Center, resulting in a loss of more than 2 million yuan.

This is the Three Squirrels’ recognized feeding store with the highest traffic, sales and conversion rate. It can be said to be the offline store with the best performance. Why did Zhang Liaoyuan target this store with the best performance?

Think about it, smashing a store of a well-known brand is a very eye-catching topic in itself. Moreover, the store smashed is its best-performing store, which inevitably makes people curious: why is the store smashed? Why destroy the best store? Why is this?

The attention it receives can be further enhanced. It can be seen from the Baidu Index that on February 13, the incident of Zhang Liaoyuan smashing a store was widely reported and the search index suddenly reached a peak.

Therefore, the store smashing incident did produce a very good eye-catching effect. At the same time, it also made people see the advantages of Three Squirrels in pursuing quality and pursuing perfection, making people identify more with this brand. The effect it produced was comparable to the Zhang Ruimin smashing refrigerator incident that year.

I have to say this is a successful event marketing. It gained fame by losing money, and then gained profit again. How smart!

4. Dismantling of Human Nature

(1) Maslow’s hierarchy of needs – esteem needs

Everyone has the need to be respected, so Three Squirrels seizes this characteristic and creates personalized services, calling customers "masters", so that customers can enjoy their hearing and vision and satisfy their vanity. It makes people remember the brand, gives them something to show off, and indirectly helps promote the brand.

(2) Freshness effect

With the rise of the new generation, people are increasingly disgusted with greatness and glory, and prefer real, warm, living people. So why does a brand selling nuts use the name "Three Squirrels"?

Because the number "three" is a number that Chinese people particularly like to use and is easier to remember, and the squirrel creates a real and warm image for the brand, coupled with its cute appearance and highly personalized language. Naturally, people will remember this brand and can’t let it go.

(3) Mental Accounting

People are frugal with the income they earn from their labor and lavish with unexpected money. Giving customers some benefits at the right time can induce customers to repurchase or rush to buy. Therefore, Three Squirrels often broadcast welfare activities on Weibo and official accounts.

for example:

• During the specified period, if you spend xxx yuan or more, you can enjoy a discount of xxx yuan;
• For a specified period of time, some products are on sale at half price...

Make customers feel that they are getting a bargain and a good deal, and choose to buy it.

5. Brand Disassembly

(1) Brand market positioning

Three Squirrels positions itself as a real and warm company. All employees of the company play the role of a cute little squirrel. They must communicate with customers in the tone of a squirrel and call the other party "master."

This kind of positioning has never been seen before, so Three Squirrels can stand out in the snack specialty category and become the only and first in the category.

(2) Brand target audience

It can be seen from the Baidu Index that the main consumer group of Three Squirrels is mainly concentrated between the ages of 30 and 39.

The data is very different from what we imagined. Shouldn’t snacks be the favorite of young people? Shouldn’t the main consumer group be people between the ages of 20 and 29? Why is it between 30-39 years old?

The only explanation is that people between the ages of 30-39 are basically married and have children, but children love to eat snacks! Therefore, most of the time they buy Three Squirrels to feed their children. In addition, the target group of the animation of the same name launched by Three Squirrels is also young children, which further confirms this explanation.

Therefore, the index shows that the main purchasing group is concentrated between the ages of 30 and 39. Children have no purchasing power, and adults have to consume for them.

(3) Product image

Three Squirrels shapes its product into three cute little squirrels, which are easy to remember and recognize at first sight, thus saving communication costs. In terms of copywriting, it always makes people smile when reading it, and their originally depressed mood disappears instantly. In addition, the gifts given out each time always give people surprises and unexpected things, so users will naturally take the initiative to share and post on their Moments to promote the product.

(4) IP image

After the image of Three Squirrels became widely sought after, they took the opportunity to build it into an IP and launched various peripheral products, including dolls, masks, pillows, and other products with the image of Three Squirrels.

In April this year, the 3D animation "Three Squirrels" of the same name was launched to further consolidate the image of the IP and make the IP more widely spread. Why does Three Squirrels spend a lot of time and money to build its IP image?

This is because in addition to the quality of the product itself, users care more about the emotional experience. The IPization of the image just fills this gap and satisfies customers emotionally.

Furthermore, the IP image itself has great communication value, which can make the product more widely disseminated and let people see the shadow of Three Squirrels everywhere. According to the frequent viewing effect, when people see something frequently, they will be impressed by it and gradually develop a favorable impression of it, so the chance of repurchase will be greater.

(5) Founder’s image

Zhang Liaoyuan, the founder of Three Squirrels, is an interesting person. After the company was established, he announced internally that he would step down as CEO and became a full-time "chief brainwasher and founder". He slept until he woke up naturally every day, and his main job was to play cards, brag, drink and brainwash his employees.

But it cannot be denied that Three Squirrels was brought up by Zhang Liaoyuan. He made innovations to the existing service model, making Three Squirrels stand out among similar products.

When Taobao first launched paid advertising, he seized the opportunity and spent a lot of money on advertising, allowing Three Squirrels to rise in the shortest time possible. After the company encountered a crisis, he stood up again and took the initiative to smash the stores, especially the best stores, so that the brand once again gained widespread attention, made people trust the brand more, and carried out a successful event marketing.

This is Zhang Liaoyuan, interesting and informative. He is the Three Squirrels and the Three Squirrels are him.

Summarize

The success of Three Squirrels is inseparable from its positioning, its innovation, its huge spending, and its benefit from Taobao. These four factors are integrated together, so Three Squirrels succeeded.

At the same time, we can also see that Three Squirrels has made meticulous observations on the psychology of its customers. They know that people desire to be respected, so they call their customers “masters.” Knowing that people like surprises, let customers receive different gifts every time. Knowing that people like real living people, the image of three squirrels was created.

So why break up Three Squirrels?

We should learn his marketing ideas and see which methods can be used by us. The purpose of disassembling cases is not to disassemble them for the sake of disassembling them, but to disassemble other people's ideas and routines, and to take what can be used for my own benefit.

Source: Xinmo Marketing