Some "crazy" marketing

"Forrest Gump" said: "Life is like chocolate, you never know what you will get in the next second"... There are possibilities everywhere in life, as long as you have the courage to try.

Just like marketing , there is no standard. Every idea, every creativity, and every way of playing has infinite possibilities. Those who dare to jump out and dare to break are always closer to miracles.

However, there are always people in the marketing world who do not play by the rules, and their marketing may be playful, scheming, quarrelsome, finding fault, or reversal... and among them, "intercepting marketing" is particularly ambitious, yet brave and resourceful.

Today, I will share with you several typical marketing interception wars. The word "intercept" alone is exciting enough. However, when you read about these colleagues who "crazily" cheat their opponents, you will realize that you are too young and too simple, and you have to kneel down!

Volvo's Super Bowl ad

The Super Bowl is the annual championship game of the National Football League. It has been the most watched television program in the United States for many years. Its popularity can be said to be comparable to the American Spring Festival Gala. The Super Bowl attracts three times more television viewers each year than the Major League Baseball and NBA Finals combined. This is obvious.

During the Super Bowl, more than 200 TV stations in 180 countries and regions around the world will broadcast the Super Bowl live, and the price of a 30-second advertisement has soared from US$42,000 in 1967 to US$5 million in 2017, an average annual increase of 10.8%, undoubtedly the most expensive advertising space in the sports industry.

Although advertising is expensive, the Super Bowl's extraordinary exposure has always attracted many brands to compete fiercely. However, in the 2015 Super Bowl, the car brand Volvo did not spend a penny on advertising during the Super Bowl, but it still attracted the most attention and became the big winner during the Super Bowl.

Here's the thing. A few days before the Super Bowl, Volvo aired an ad that went something like this:

You'll see a lot of car ads during the Super Bowl, but you won't see Volvo. Instead, we're giving our viewers a chance to win a car for free, and give it to the people you care about most!

PS. Be sure to send a tweet when those car ads are airing, write the name of the person you want to give it to and why he deserves a Volvo, and you will have a chance to get a brand new XC60.

Volvo cuts off advertising in 1 minute

For those brands that have spent a lot of money to sell themselves to the Super Bowl, this is a bolt from the blue! WTF! But before they could spit out a mouthful of blood, Volvo said again:

While other brands want you to know about their performance and equipment, we only care about "who occupies an important position in your life."

This is really amazing. He cheated everyone and still acted like a good kid. Just imagine, when those car brands that have racked their brains and spent a lot of money to buy a 30-second Super Bowl advertisement are about to show the audience the idea they came up with after staying up all night, the audience collectively lowered their heads and tweeted to participate in the activities of other car brands. Then, when you look up again, millions of dollars of advertising are gone. How can you not be hurt?

I have to admit that Volvo’s shady tactics are indeed more effective, a typical form of marketing that cuts off competitors’ products. First, use television to announce the event, then actively spread it through the Internet through netizens, leading the event to the Super Bowl. When others are ready for everything, you suddenly come out and win first.

Even the Financial Times said after the game that this was the most awesome interception in history!

McDonald 's coupons all-inclusive

As we all know, fast food restaurants such as McDonald's, KFC , Dicos, etc. like to use discount coupons for promotions, which is a very common marketing method. But McDonald's is more powerful. It not only uses discount coupons for itself, but also wants to use discount coupons from other rival stores.

At that time, in order to promote its new spicy wings, McDonald's launched a "coupon-for-all" promotion and played the words "At McDonald's, other chicken wings coupons can also be used" on its official domestic website. To be honest, this activity is really "crazy".

During the event, the price of McDonald's spicy chicken wings was reduced from 7 yuan to 5 yuan per pair. Consumers holding chicken wing coupons from any rival fast food restaurant, whether it is KFC, Dicos, etc., can enjoy an additional 10% discount, that is, 4.5 yuan per pair, regardless of the discount on the coupon.

I have to say that this marketing hack is really sharp. The coupons are all-inclusive, really all-inclusive, all similar coupons are my coupons. Not only did it expand its own media exposure and increase the promotion of new products, but it also consumed its competitors' coupons.

Increase income for yourself and save money for others, great!

Let’s take a look at their rules, which are really harsh: coupons presented by customers must be recycled or marked, and coupons can only be used within the validity period, and each coupon can only be used once.

Burger King is not easy to bully

One of the protagonists of this story is McDonald's again. The thing is, McDonald's started to make trouble again. They erected an outdoor billboard next to the road in Brioude, a small town in France with only 6,700 people. This time they erected two advertisements.

When you drive past here, you will see two billboards, one short and one long. The short one says "Just walk another 5 kilometers and you can eat at McDonald's." On the other piece, they were actually advertising their competitor, Burger King, with the words “Walk 258 kilometers to eat at Burger King” written on it in a very cheesy way.

Did you see that? It’s really bad. It only takes 5 kilometers to go to McDonald’s, but it takes 258 kilometers to go to Burger King. This is completely taking advantage of the fact that Burger King doesn't have that many branches. I guess the planners laughed out loud when they came up with this idea.

What’s more, McDonald’s was so shameless that it carefully marked the detailed route to Burger King on its billboards. It was really crowded, and it just emphasized one word: far. It's totally ironic to make such a big billboard for Burger King.

what to do? I've been bullied so badly that I can't help it. Do I want to fight with McDonald's? NO, the Burger King that has the mechanism will accept all the orders. Just stay away from me, I have a way to deal with you!

When the ad was at its peak, they released a sequel to the McDonald's ad: a couple drove past the billboard, then went to McDonald's and ordered a large cup of coffee, saying to the waiter, "Because we still have a long way to go." Everyone understood that all of a sudden, McDonald's became just a transit station, and Burger King was the final destination.

The identities were immediately reversed! I’m convinced!

(Thanks McDonald's everywhere)

After watching Burger King’s 1-minute response video, I believe you will be able to better appreciate Burger King’s wit in this marketing war, using the opponent’s strength to counter the opponent’s strength. I am really amazed by the wit of Burger King.

Mercedes-Benz's birthday wishes

Mercedes-Benz and BMW are old enemies, having been in love and hate with each other for many years.

March 7, 2016 is the 100th anniversary of BMW. BMW is holding various activities and making a lot of noise. When its old competitor Mercedes-Benz saw this, it thought, "BMW has a birthday, so I have to wish you all the best," and so it released a poster to congratulate BMW on its 100th anniversary. On the surface, BMW should be grateful and crying for the blessing from its rival.

But upon closer inspection, it was actually a graceful move by Mercedes-Benz to steal the attention of BMW's 100th anniversary. Pay attention to the line of text below this poster, which says: Thanks for 100 years of competition, the 30 years without you were actually very boring.

What's the meaning? What I mean is that my Mercedes-Benz was invented 30 years earlier than your BMW, and you are still too young.

Not only that, at this time, in order to celebrate its 130th anniversary, Mercedes-Benz also said: The Mercedes-Benz Museum will be free for BMW employees from March 8th to 13th. Drivers of BMW cars can park for free at the entrance of the museum square, and the restaurant will provide free food for the first 50 BMW employees. Here, BMW employees can learn about the 30 years of automotive history before the birth of BMW. Arrogant, so arrogant.

(Translation from netizens)

Durex, a veteran player, looks back

The end of every year is a time when hot topics frequently break out, and Alipay ’s annual bill is definitely the hottest of the hot topics, bringing with it super traffic and topics.

Every time at this time, when you open WeChat , you will see that your friends are all posting pictures of their bills. As soon as you open the webpage, you will see overwhelming reports about the "Alipay annual bill". Whenever we get together, everyone discusses this topic in various ways.

In particular, the 2017 Alipay annual bill became a more prominent topic and received more exposure due to the controversy surrounding “customer default authorization”.

At this time, Durex, a veteran player in marketing, came online and took the opportunity to produce Durex's annual bill, taking away a large amount of traffic from the "annual bill".

Durex is still Durex. When I see a hot opportunity, I will look back and take it out. Once the ghost knife is activated, I will move away immediately. The formula is still the same, and the taste is still the same.

Compared with general marketing by leveraging momentum, Durex's marketing by leveraging momentum immediately won it a lot of exposure. Not only did it dominate the screen, but it also received enthusiastic support from the majority of netizens.

DHL's God-level Marketing Strategy

Everyone should know DHL, the world-renowned postal and logistics group, which is a competitor of well-known express companies such as UPS and TNT. However, the marketing effect of an event created by DHL was so good that it could spread like a virus ... leaving UPS and TNT in tears.

At that time, well-known express delivery companies including DHL, UPS, and TNT were all emphasizing the speed of their services. If they simply advertised that they were faster than other express delivery companies, it would obviously not be stimulating enough.

DHL simply painted some half-person-high aluminum foil boxes with heat-sensitive materials, and then hired express companies such as UPS and TNT to deliver the goods. When these boxes are frozen to below zero degrees, they appear black and look nothing special. However, when the boxes are being delivered by couriers from other companies and the temperature gradually rises, the words originally painted on the boxes become visible - DHL is faster.

Isn’t that mean enough? Couriers from UPS and TNT were walking on the streets with their competitors’ boxes, and on them there was a big advertisement: DHL is faster! How frustrating it must be...

(DHL video)

However, it is the courier companies' purpose to ensure that the express deliveries are completed, and the items cannot be lost midway, so they have no choice but to continue delivering them. Just think about it, a person carrying an aluminum foil box that is half a person's height walking on a busy street is simply a walking billboard for DHL. It's really heartbreaking!

Huawei's advertising slogans are cleverly connected

When it comes to marketing masters in the mobile phone industry, Samsung definitely has one. But Samsung certainly never thought that one day it would be beaten to tears by the shameless marketing tactics of Huawei, a domestic mobile phone brand.

The story begins on March 1, 2015, when Samsung put the new product slogan "What's next" on the poster of the Mobile World Congress to warm up for its new mobile phone S6. At this time, Huawei came out to "make trouble". They immediately released a poster saying "Next is here" and started a chain game.

It is obvious that the meaning of Huawei’s poster is “Next is Huawei”, which directly intercepts the momentum created by Samsung, but the story is not over yet.

In April, Samsung put up a "What's next" billboard near Khartoum Airport Road in Sudan, turning to offline activities to warm up for the launch of S6 and S6 Edge in Sudan. Huawei quickly put up an outdoor advertisement with the slogan "Next is here" next to the Samsung advertisement.

It started as a spoof on a poster, and now it’s turned into a real fight. Who can stand it? However, this move by Huawei was forwarded crazily by major media outlets. In particular, domestic public opinion was overwhelmingly in favor of Huawei, and the general public praised Huawei's cleverness.

But Samsung is feeling very frustrated. This is intolerable! So, Samsung later changed the content of the billboard to "Next is now". At the same time, in order to attack Huawei, Samsung Egypt deliberately chose to launch S6 in Egypt on the same day as Huawei P8's global launch.

What no one expected was that Huawei would repeat the same old trick and continue to cleverly play the slogan chain game. On April 15, Huawei immediately updated its billboard to "Now is P8" after the P8 global launch. In this wave of hype, Samsung S6 was overtaken by P8 again. I am really tired of it.

Throughout the entire PK, Huawei intercepted Samsung's wave after wave through the clever connection of advertising slogans. It has to be said that this was a beautiful marketing war.

Although Samsung fought back, it can only admit defeat this time. Who let Huawei use the Black Tiger's heart-piercing move to gain advantage of the old master's force, which made the old master vomit blood.

Candy Phone: I Just Follow You

I remember watching "The Voice of China" on a certain video website last year. The sponsor of Hua Shao had just finished broadcasting OPPO 's "20 million front and rear pixels, clearer photos", and immediately inserted a new advertisement: "This program is not sponsored by the "clearer and clearer" Candy phone."

As soon as you see this advertisement with a unique train of thought, you know it is going to be a hit. As expected, the barrage section of this video website was immediately flooded with messages on Candy Phones , followed by a flood of reports and analysis articles.

You have to know how popular "The Voice of China" was at that time, and how popular OPPO's advertisement "20 million front and back pixels, clearer photos" was. Soon, the Candy Phone successfully attracted public attention and started a beautiful interception.

Afterwards, the bold and careful Candy Phone started advertising next to an OPPO phone billboard in the subway. When others said "the photos are clearer", it advertised "clearer than clearer". I am just going against him, come and see, friends.

There is no doubt that this serious attitude towards doing things is the most popular on the Internet now. Especially since OPPO, which focuses on camera functions and spends a lot of money on advertising, how could it not become the focus of attention?

Of course, the purpose of this marketing campaign of Candy Phone is not to brag and earn some useless traffic. Its entire target population, communication channels , and product selling points are all just right, and high-definition photography is their main function. In fact, a series of more focused event marketing was also carried out subsequently.

However, this interception did quickly increase the brand awareness of Candy Phone.

Huadi, you play the riddle and I will guess it

From May 30 to June 1, 2016, in order to build momentum for its new product launch, Fotile anonymously published a full-page suspense advertisement in the Beijing Times for three consecutive days, asking people to play a guessing game with three very obscure characters. The advertisement said that the advertisement would not be unveiled until the launch on June 7.

This suspenseful advertising idea immediately attracted a lot of attention, and netizens were curious about what it was. At this time, Vatti, a competitor in the field of kitchen and bathroom appliances, appeared. Our talented Vatti directly took out three full-page advertisements targeting the three words "FOTILE" in the "Yangcheng Evening News" on June 1.

Not only did they clip the three words of FOTILE one by one, they also gave their own unique explanations for each word: "Removing smoke with your mouth, not your hands", "Steam melts oil and cleans it up", and "Precise micro-control to gather heat energy", aiming to promote their own three products: Magic Mirror Smart Range Hood, Steam and Hot Water Range Washer, and Energy-Gathering Gas Stove.

The key point is that they also make fun of Fangtai under every advertisement: "It is better to cook and spend time with the children than to play guessing games on Children's Day."

By doing this, Vatti immediately caught the public's attention and received a lot of exposure. It was definitely a beautiful move of taking advantage of the situation. Since the idea of ​​FOTILE’s advertisement was revealed in advance, it had to announce the answer in advance on June 2: in fact, it was FOTILE’s three new products - the all-in-one smart range hood, under-sink dishwasher and steamer/microwave oven. For example, the word "smoke" is mainly used to illustrate the function of FOTILE smart range hood that "no smoke escapes in all directions".

At the same time, Fangtai also responded by sending three posters to Vatti: "What are you grabbing for, little brother?", "Why are you so anxious?" and "Don't make trouble, little brother." The meaning is very clear, our side is the boss.

But this time, the "little brother" Vatti continued to perform stably. I won't say much to you and just threw out three posters: "Intercepted too squarely", "Shocked and lost too much", and "Too slow and it's too fast". He also joked: "I am very busy on June 7th and don't have time to see you, Concubine Fang, panic!"

It has to be said that after a round of advertising and public relations wars, the whole incident became more topical and interesting, spreading from a niche topic to a public topic and forming a self-propagating form. Although Vatti is the obvious winner and has become famous for a while, I think it is a win-win situation for both brands, because the effect is much better than that of Fotile's own advertising.

Well, after seeing these weird things, I wonder if you can hold back your laughter, or have you already knelt down?

In fact, intercepting marketing itself is not just about making yourself win and others lose. You will find that many times both parties work together to create momentum and achieve a win-win situation for the brands. They praise and criticize each other without losing their manners.

There are no experts in marketing, and really everything is possible! Never limit your own thinking, look more and think more. What you need to think about are ideas that break the routine, discover opportunities that others have not realized, and then why not give it a try?

Maybe you can also succeed in being "crazy"!

Source: Mumu Laozei