Durex teaches you new ways of IP marketing

Just search for "gift box" on Taobao and you will see a variety of gift box products. In addition to their exquisite packaging, they also meet the needs of different festivals.

I have been paying attention to a brand for some time. It has upgraded the traditional product packaging and created many new ways to use "gift boxes". This brand is Durex .

Let’s first take a look at what gift boxes Durex has produced?

1. Hot gift box

December 19, 2017 is an important day for basketball fans. This day is the day when Kobe 's jersey is retired. The numbers 8 and 24 are indelible memories. Durex launched the "Zero Sense Moment" and "The More You Dedicate, the More You Love" gift boxes on this hot topic to "pay tribute to the legend"!

Durex’s official Weibo account on December 19th changed its theme to basketball and “The more you invest, the more you love it.”

While Kobe's jersey retirement was being live streamed , Durex's official Weibo account was also setting new records in leveraging the momentum, with posters and gift boxes already prepared, as well as Weibo, Hupu, and WeChat Moments ads , as well as e-commerce marketing , all done in one go.

(Tencent live broadcast of Kobe Bryant's jersey retirement ceremony)

(Durex launched an advertisement in WeChat Moments on December 19)

(Dieselbon uses posters, videos, and netizens’ comments)

(Diesel gift boxes are sold on JD.com )

2. IP gift box

There are many popular IPs nowadays. These IPs have enough eye-catching effect, which naturally attracts many brands to participate in the marketing of bundled IPs. In the marketing of bundling IPs, Durex also uses "gift boxes" to play a different approach.

『Sports IP——NBA Gift Box』

In recent years, the sports industry has attracted more and more attention from the whole nation, and brands have been constantly improving their marketing strategies. In the tide of consumption upgrading, innovations are constantly being made from product services to marketing methods. For example, in 2017, Durex cooperated with Tencent Sports to broadcast NBA live, and the approach was very different.

Tencent's NBA live broadcast attracted 453 million viewers last season, and had 80 million paying members, most of whom were young men, highly overlapping with Durex's target audience. In the face of a more precise group of people, Durex further selected targeted gameplay. Every online game live broadcast is broadcast by a host, and there is a "Zero Sense Moment" gift box display in the live broadcast room. It even invited Tencent host Wang Meng and Auntie to shoot creative mid-insert video advertisements , and organized college basketball games across the country offline. Targeted investment was made around the NBA, and the output was also huge.

"Entertainment IP - Feng Tang's "Nothing Better Than You" Gift Box"

The TV series "Nothing Good Can Match You" is one of the top hits in 2017. It is adapted from Feng Tang's work. In August 2017, Durex and Feng Tang cooperated to launch the "Spring Breeze Gift Box", which is another in-depth exploration of IP marketing , in-depth communication with young people, and the main feature is the zero-sense ultra-thin series.

Generally, the broadcasting time of a TV series spans nearly one and a half months, which is a long time. However, the dissemination cycle of social media is relatively short, and the hot spots are fleeting. When Durex took advantage of "The Best of Us", it not only launched the "Spring Breeze Gift Box", but also launched 3 youth series short videos and two H5s, linking the interpretation of Feng Tang with the brand from multiple angles, and conveying the brand and products in a seductive way. In terms of e-commerce, searching for “Ten Miles of Spring Breeze Is Not as Good as You” on Taobao will pop up a plot H5, and the landing page will lead to the Durex brand event page.

The total exposure of the project exceeded 31 million, and the social media interactions exceeded 250,000. Compared with July 2017, the sales of Durex's "ZERO Zero Sense" series products on e-commerce in August increased by more than 100%. In 2017, Durex also won multiple marketing awards based on this case.

"Fashion IP——Victoria's Secret Gift Box"

The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show has always been a global fashion focus. The appeal of "supermodel + underwear" became a well-known hot topic in 2017 because of Xi Mengyao's fall. As early as the end of 2016, Durex cooperated with Tencent Fashion Victoria's Secret Show to launch a Victoria's Secret exclusive gift box. The dazzling angel wings became an important packaging element. This time, it also took advantage of the opportunity to launch a blockbuster new product, Durex Zero Sense Thin Invisible. With the blessing of the highly talked-about Victoria's Secret IP, this product became an absolute eye-catching product when it went online. This product is limited to 1,000 boxes each on JD.com and Tmall , and will be sold out while stocks last.

3. Holiday gift boxes

Many brands make gift boxes during festivals. The formula of "festival + gift box = sales" has become an element of festive gift boxes. Of course, most of them are related to Spring Festival gifts, Valentine's Day gifts, Mid-Autumn Festival moon cakes, etc. Durex, an authoritative player in the condom gift box industry, will certainly not miss it.

『Western traditional festival - Christmas gift box』

As soon as the 2017 Christmas gift box was launched, it immediately attracted the attention and praise of fans.

『Chinese Traditional Festival - Mid-Autumn Festival Gift Box』

During the Mid-Autumn Festival in 2017, Durex launched a Mid-Autumn gift box. The copywriting "You are looking at the moon, I am secretly looking at you" added some interest to the festival that is originally a festival for mooncakes. No wonder fans on Durex's Weibo gave thumbs up to the comment "clear theme, rich content, exquisite packaging, and profound meaning."

"Product-related industry theme day - World AIDS Day gift box"

Durex cooperated with Hubei TV's "Informal Talks" program to launch an AIDS prevention gift box on December 1, World AIDS Day, focusing on sexual health education for young people.

"Brand Anniversary - 110th Anniversary Gift Box"

From 1905 to 2015, Durex customized a 110th anniversary gift box to commemorate the 110th anniversary of its brand. This gift box also became the marketing focus of Durex on Double Eleven in 2015.

Durex has participated in launching customized gift box products for the four types of festivals: “Chinese traditional festivals, Western traditional festivals, product-related industry theme days, and brand anniversaries.” The gift box packaging and gameplay are both related to the festival. The product features are combined with the festival attributes in terms of copywriting, design drawings and interactive content, turning a product into an interactive product that communicates with users.

Durex, which is known for its "hotspot gift boxes, IP gift boxes, and holiday gift boxes" , seems to be only involved in design and packaging boxes. Is it just what we see on the surface? What’s different about Durex gift boxes? What are the highlights?

Highlight 1: Product-based leverage

We can see that every gift box launched by Durex is its key product. The gift boxes in recent times have focused on promoting its "zero-sense" products, leveraging the NBA and Kobe Bryant's jersey retirement gift box. The small basketball box in the gift box is a very thoughtful combination.

The basic elements include:

1. Combination of product packaging elements:

Design combination - Victoria's Secret and Angel Wings, underwear colors, Christmas deer antlers, etc.

Boring combination of elements - the small label of angel wings stands out on the product packaging

2. Creative product combinations for inner packaging: bookmark cards with the words "Ten miles of spring breeze is not as good as you", red ribbons for anti-AIDS day, small tin box of basketball, etc.

3. Brand communication and user emotional resonance: From product packaging to brand communication sublimation. For example, during Kobe Bryant's jersey retirement ceremony on December 19, Durex provided a gift box with the theme of "The more you invest, the more you love." The video it created also became a social topic and was shared by netizens on platforms such as Weibo and Hupu.

Highlight 2: E-commerce marketing

By observing Durex, we find that this brand is not only good at social networking, but also very good at using it in e-commerce. For example, in the above example, regarding the hot topic of Kobe Bryant's jersey retirement on December 19, the brand interacted with netizens on Weibo and also launched interactions on the professional vertical Hupu.com. We also saw that the brand placed ads on Hupu's splash screen and WeChat Moments . This series of actions has only one purpose, which is to attract fans' attention to the brand through hot topics, and then convert them to the e-commerce sales page.

This strategy has been used since the launch of various gift boxes. As always, Durex is very familiar with the "gift box + social + e-commerce" strategy.

Highlight 3: IP brand

Durex's gift box leverages the IPs of Victoria's Secret, NBA, Feng Tang's "Nothing But Love", etc. Some brands can bind large IPs when doing marketing, especially different types, combined with sports, fashion, and popular dramas. Of course, these are the most attractive traffic sources for young people nowadays.

However, in terms of IP, Durex is not just leveraging other IPs, it is also constantly shaping its own image. For example, the "Durex Minions " wearing sunglasses often appear in various scenes.

From supermarket displays to offline interactions, to product packaging, dolls, and social sharing, this cool Minion wearing sunglasses has already become an IP, and we look forward to more extensions in the future.

To sum up, Durex’s gift box actually makes us realize that many brands can actually discover from their own products when marketing whether they can stimulate the product’s own marketing value. When users see your product packaging and the process of using the product, they will voluntarily share it on social networks . This is the value.

For example, Starbucks ’ graffiti LOGO works, the interactive use of cups to plant plants, and Ferrero chocolate origami are all great examples.

If we have to come up with a formula, it would be something like this using the Durex case:

Gift box marketing = product x (hot spot & festival & IP) x social x e-commerce

Gift box marketing is not just about simple product packaging. I think there are three important points:

1. Gift boxes sparked controversy
2. Gift boxes promote interactivity
3. Gift boxes promote sales

Some people may say that condom brands like Jissbon, Durex , and Okamoto are popular in themselves and any content they post can attract attention. This may be the natural attribute of these brands, but if you are an operator or marketer of these brands, you naturally know how difficult it is. There are many contents and methods that they cannot do, from social networking to e-commerce, from a packaging gift box to topics. This kind of marketing is both interesting and down-to-earth.

I wonder how many of these interesting Durex gift boxes you have?

The author of this article @魏家东 is compiled and published by (Qinggua Media). Please indicate the author information and source when reprinting!

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