Behind the endless debate on coriander is good business for brands

This article specifically analyzes the reasons behind the flavor marketing caused by coriander. It is recommended for friends who want to learn about flavor marketing to read and watch~

Coriander ice cream, coriander hot pot, coriander American coffee, coriander perfume, and even coriander shoes...

The debate over cilantro, once a hot topic at the dinner table, has now become a popular topic for various brands and restaurants, with cilantro products being launched one after another. In the first half of this year alone, Haidilao, Huiyuan, Taier Pickled Cabbage Fish and other brands have launched "flavorful" cilantro products.

As a controversial food, people who like cilantro would like to "hire people to plant cilantro all over the world", while those who hate cilantro have even set up "World Cilantro Hate Day" to vent their dissatisfaction with cilantro. This extreme and uncompromising preference dispute has also brought cilantro traffic. From the dining table to social platforms, the cilantro dispute has not only not subsided, but has intensified, and the group participating is getting larger and larger.

In the endlessly controversial topic of coriander, users see fun, while brands see business .

Although some brands have tried to use coriander marketing to attract traffic in the early days, the real breakthrough of coriander marketing can be traced back to Wang Yibo and the brands he endorses. In 2020, Amul launched a "coriander-flavored yogurt" to celebrate Wang Yibo's birthday. Since then, Laiyifen and Shanghaojia have launched related coriander products.

From the perspective of Wang Yibo's endorsement of the brand, the purpose of this action is more to use the endorser's preferences to do marketing and leverage the fan economy. However, with the curiosity of the taste, the natural topic attribute, and the blessing of the traffic idol, the value of coriander marketing has been magnified, and more and more brands have begun to launch coriander-related products .

Last year, the cilantro noodles launched by Baiyang on Douyin e-commerce Super Brand Day sold out on its first launch, with 200,000 cilantro heads (40,000 boxes) sold, becoming a hot item on the Internet and even making the Baiyang brand popular again and achieve growth. This success has further promoted the trend of brand cilantro marketing.

Moreover, as more and more brands join in, coriander has gone beyond being a food and has become an IP, and brand coriander marketing has also shown new characteristics. In fact, it is not just coriander, but also other equally controversial foods such as durian, leeks, and soy milk, which have also become the targets of brand marketing.

01 From food and beverage to beauty, how did coriander become an IP?

Although consumers are no longer unfamiliar with coriander products, from the perspective of brand marketing, unlike the initial cautious and restrained approach of gaining traffic, the current coriander marketing is bolder and even has a resolute attitude of being committed to "creating a sensation for everyone (people who love coriander and those who don't)".

First of all, it is reflected in the "purity" . Previously, many brands only used coriander as a gimmick, but the taste was still very mild. For example, although the coriander sundae launched by McDonald's caused a lot of discussion as soon as it was launched, it was also questioned by coriander fans because it was not pure enough, because the product actually contained lemon sauce and the outer layer was sprinkled with dehydrated coriander leaves.

The coriander fans who were dissatisfied with the new product specially DIYed the authentic version of coriander new land.

Now, emphasizing the coriander content has become an important selling point for brands to promote coriander products . For example, the coriander noodles launched by Baiyang not only have coriander juice added to the noodles, but also 5 fresh corianders. The coriander juice recently launched by Huiyuan has the selling point of "100%, real ingredients, one box is equivalent to about 15 corianders, and does not contain a drop of water", focusing on the original flavor.

The emphasis on content is essentially to highlight the main body of coriander and weaken the product itself. After all, some coriander products with too high purity are "silent whether you like coriander or not." Because it is too pure, this coriander juice also comes with a peripheral product - a cleaning bag for Xiangyue. In addition, the consumption instructions of Huiyuan coriander juice include "drinking it raw directly", "serving it with sauce and condiments" and "serving it with rice for seasoning".

"Those who like coriander must buy it! Those who don't like coriander must also buy it! Because this way everyone will form a united front!" some netizens joked.

Secondly, the categories of coriander marketing have also expanded from the early food and beverage track to beauty, clothing, and even fragrance brands . Previously, the domestic cosmetics brand Jill Leen launched coriander "cheek green", and you can feel a strong "vegetable flavor" just by looking at the packaging; Anta also launched coriander skateboard shoes, which of course has nothing to do with the taste. It mainly uses coriander green visually and adds coriander logos and coriander prints on the shoes.

In contrast, the coriander products launched by fragrance brands are less out of place. After all, products with higher average order value are unlikely to attract consumers to buy them impulsively. Previously, Loewe launched a coriander fragrance. Although some netizens complained that "it smelled like it just came out of the vegetable market", many consumers still said that "it doesn't smell like coriander, but a stronger herbal smell" and "it smells better than expected".

Jo Malone has also launched a "Lavender & Coriander" perfume, but according to consumer feedback, "the smell of lavender is stronger."

In addition, the current cilantro marketing has also broken away from the fixed time node and has become a regular action in brand marketing . Previously, many cilantro marketing campaigns were more centered around the time node of "World Hate Cilantro Day (February 24)", but observing this year's cilantro marketing, it is found that many of them were launched between February and April, and most of them have nothing to do with the node of "World Hate Cilantro Day".

When a marketing theme transcends time, crosses different categories, and even becomes a marketing subject, it also means that it has become an IP in itself. Coriander is not only a food, but also a traffic IP. Compared with whether to eat coriander, what kind of coriander products a brand has launched is more likely to become a topic of conversation.

02 Flavor marketing is popular, what is left after traffic?

Although the positioning of coriander in brand marketing has evolved into an IP, the origin of coriander marketing is actually a kind of taste marketing, that is, launching controversial products through obviously controversial tastes to trigger discussions and topics on social media.

Therefore, many controversial foods of the same type have also become means of brand marketing. For example, durian, soy milk, and bitter melon have all become choices for brand innovative flavors.

In addition to these foods that already have their own traffic, many brands will even make unexpected combinations to create a contrast in taste, such as Starbucks' previously launched braised pork latte, Weilong's DIY "spicy strips with watermelon", "spicy strips and durian pie", as well as American-style zheergen and snail noodle hotpot, etc.

Even though they are criticized and scolded, why are brands still keen on flavor marketing, and even going further and further with weird flavors?

In fact, for most brands, flavor marketing is a business that can leverage large traffic at low cost. This is because controversial or highly contrasting product flavors have the attributes of social currency and bring their own traffic . This is especially true for products like coriander, which are both popular and clearly controversial.

On Douyin, the topic #香菜 attracted 307,000 people and was played 7.09 billion times. On Xiaohongshu, searching for “香菜” brought up more than 3.79 million notes. Many users also consume this type of product specifically for sharing and reviewing on social platforms.

Of course, having consumers willing to pay is also an important basis for brands to continue to launch various strange-flavored products. The current Generation Z consumer group is willing to pay for curiosity and emotions. After all, flavor marketing, in the final analysis, satisfies more of a curiosity .

The consumption willingness of Generation Z has further fueled the brand's "creativity" in taste, and various foods that exceed normal taste perception continue to stir up social topics. Previously, Starbucks' "braised pork latte" aroused everyone's curiosity and discussion as soon as it was launched.

Although flavor marketing does generate traffic, objectively speaking, all flavor marketing, including coriander marketing, is not a universal formula and has certain limitations.

On the one hand, flavor marketing is essentially marketing a sense of freshness and scarcity. Although it can bring temporary topics, it is difficult to bring actual sales support and new product precipitation to the brand . Moreover, as more and more brands begin to roll out flavor marketing, consumers' sense of freshness will also decrease, and the social topic will also weaken.

White Elephant, which has been very successful in flavor marketing, has achieved such success because it has built a complete set of social media gameplay, from laying the groundwork for social topics in the early stage, to bold new product development, traffic boosting from platform KOL/KOC, to the e-commerce side of the Douyin live broadcast room, and has achieved a closed loop from topics to sales.

But such success is the result of the right time, right place and right people, and it is difficult to replicate. Previously, the head of retail of Baiyang's e-commerce group also said in an interview that "the breakthrough of coriander noodles is an accidental necessity, and every marketing success cannot be replicated 100%."

For most brands, flavor marketing at this stage can only be limited to launching limited-edition products.

On the other hand, taste marketing is not effective for all categories. It is mainly suitable for the food and beverage sector with low average customer spending and low trial and error costs .

Although some brands, such as cosmetics, footwear, and fragrances, have tried to market coriander, observing these marketing efforts reveals that they almost all downplay coriander and emphasize the product itself. The weakening of direct sensory stimulation also means that it is impossible to bring about greater social topic potential.

After all, people who love coriander may not really like coriander perfume, or even consumers who are interested in trying it should think carefully before spending thousands of yuan to buy a bottle of coriander perfume.

In the current situation of traffic, seizing controversial topics to attract attention is indeed an efficient thing to do, but for brands, the marginal benefits brought by limitation and controversy are very limited. Only by developing products that can be accumulated into classics can there be more long-term value.

Author: Douya WeChat public account: 剁椒spicy (ID: ylwanjia)