The complexity of marketing: Blue Moon, Meijia Landou, Apple and Baidu

Recently, Blue Moon's marketing has caused a new hot topic. The article mentioned that the marketing environment has become complicated. How to deal with it? Let's read the article to find out.

In the past week or two, several eye-catching events have occurred in the field of public relations and marketing. Blue Moon's Mother's Day advertisement has caused widespread controversy. The phrases in the advertisement, such as "making mom's laundry easier, less labor-saving, and less worrying", were interpreted by some consumers as stereotypes of female roles, and they believed that it tied the housework of laundry to the role of mother, ignoring the sharing of family responsibilities and the values ​​of gender equality.

When Meiji Landau officially announced that Wang Yibo became its spokesperson, #Meiji Landau trans fatty acids became a hot search on Weibo, and reports that the company's market value had evaporated by 36.5 billion yuan in three years greatly drowned out the voice of Wang Yibo's endorsement.

Apple's latest iPad ad, which showed a series of objects squashed into extremely thin shapes to emphasize the new iPad's slim design, sparked widespread controversy, and Apple eventually issued an apology in the face of strong public reaction.

Baidu Vice President Qu Jing expressed some controversial views in a short video, such as "I approve employees' resignation immediately" and said that I only have an employment relationship with employees and have no obligation to understand their personal situations. These remarks triggered widespread public discussion and controversy, causing Qu Jing and Baidu to become the focus of public opinion, and eventually Qu Jing resigned.

From these cases, we can find a problem, that is, the current marketing environment is becoming more and more complex. Any brand may cause controversy or even crisis if it is not careful when doing marketing, which will affect the image of the brand itself.

These cases also bring some inspiration to the industry.

1. Products must keep pace with the times and continue to evolve.

Since the birth of the Internet, we have entered an "accelerated society."

In Hartmut Rosa's book "The Birth of the New Alienation", the author believes that acceleration has become a reality in today's society. Whether it is the speed of dissemination of products and information or the speed of their updates, the speed is getting faster.

For example, Coca-Cola has launched more updated or new flavors in the past decade than in the nearly 100 years since its birth.

In the "accelerated society", consumers are no longer satisfied with unchanging products. When weight loss becomes a trend, products with high sugar content are no longer hot-selling. When green becomes a trend, products with too many additives will also be boycotted.

At the same time, the explosion and rapid dissemination of information have also made consumers pay more and more attention to details of products, including product standards, ingredients, etc.

For example, trans fatty acids did exist in the past, but few people paid much attention to them. After they were noticed by a large number of bloggers on Xiaohongshu and Douyin and were discussed and compared extensively, consumers began to realize the problem of this substance and began to find ways to avoid it.

For any brand, just because there were no problems with its products in the past does not mean there are no problems today.

For example, in the past, if a product contained too much sugar, no one would pay attention to it, but today sales would be affected. For example, if there were too many additives, no one would take the ingredient list seriously in the past, but today they would be classified as unhealthy. For example, trans fatty acids and non-dairy creamer, no one discussed them in the past, but today they have become something that everyone is afraid to avoid.

Therefore, brands need to keep pace with the times and improve their products in line with consumer expectations, and cannot rest on the laurels of successful products.

If current consumers no longer buy your products, it is essentially because your products no longer meet consumers' expectations.

2. Marketing requires a deep understanding of the current context

Times are changing, and the context is evolving. In the 1960s and 1970s, "comrade" was a term of endearment, but today, it has a completely different meaning.

With the development of the times, the Internet context is constantly evolving, which puts higher demands on marketing. When planning marketing content, brands must deeply understand and respect the current social context and cultural sensitivity. You need to pay attention to whether your words are friendly to women, LGBT people, and ethnic minorities.

Take Blue Moon for example. Its advertisement “making laundry easier for moms” might not have caused any controversy 20 years ago. But today, as feminism (a neutral word) occupies more and more mainstream discourse on the Internet, such expression will make some consumers feel uncomfortable, believing that it reinforces the stereotypes of gender roles.

In 2020, Calvin Klein (CK) signed black transgender Jari Jones as its spokesperson and launched a huge advertisement. This move was called "the most politically correct choice" by the outside world. Although from an advertising perspective, such a choice may be a bit excessive, it also reflects the complexity of the current public opinion environment to a certain extent.

In such an environment, brands need to carefully balance social responsibility and business goals and avoid getting involved in unnecessary controversies.

3. Humanism is not just empty talk

"Technology is people-oriented", Nokia put forward this slogan decades ago, but to this day, there are still many brands that have failed to truly achieve this.

People-oriented is not only a slogan, but also an indispensable core concept in modern marketing.

Apple has always performed well in this regard. Its advertisement last year, "Mother Nature," was widely praised for its focus on environmental issues and demonstrated its emphasis on social responsibility.

However, Apple's new iPad ad this time has neglected the concept of people-oriented due to its excessive pursuit of creativity. The ad shows a series of objects being crushed by a machine, especially the scene of squeezing the eyes of emoji emoticons, which made many viewers feel extremely uncomfortable. In essence, it has forgotten the concept of people-oriented.

Such problems are not hard to spot. After the ad is made, employees and external personnel are shown it. If it causes discomfort, it needs to be revised. I don't quite understand how such an ad was approved internally.

Similarly, the remarks made by Baidu Vice President Qu Jing on the short video platform also exposed the neglect of the humanistic concept.

Although employees and companies do have an employment relationship, they are first and foremost people, not machines. In the modern workplace, employee rights and care have become an important part of corporate management. Qu Jing's remarks clearly ignored this point and failed to reflect basic respect and care for employees.

With the development of the times, people's self-awareness has gradually awakened. Twenty years ago, 996 was regarded as a symbol of hard work and perseverance, but today it is considered a deprivation of employees' rights and interests.

Therefore, brands must always adhere to the people-oriented principle in marketing and management. This is not only the key to enhancing brand image, but also the basis for winning the trust of consumers and employees.

4. The complexity of traffic, fan circles are deeply involved in marketing

In today's market environment, many companies tend to choose traffic stars when choosing celebrity endorsements, because their huge fan base can bring considerable traffic and sales to the brand.

However, "if you want to bear the burden, you must bear the burden". While enjoying the huge exposure brought by traffic stars, brands must also bear the corresponding risks. Behind these traffic stars, there are powerful fan groups - fan circles. Their influence and action cannot be underestimated. If the brand is not careful, it may cause negative effects.

When Mikoland announced Wang Yibo as its spokesperson, it quickly became a hot search on Weibo. However, the topic #Mikoland trans fatty acids also came up, and a large number of related comments from Xiao Zhan fans appeared under the hot search.

Soon after, #Dove trans fatty acids also became a hot search, and the spokesperson for Dove was Xiao Zhan. The successive occurrence of these events shows that the power of fan circles is not limited to supporting idols, but can also influence the brand image through public opinion.

Today, fan clubs have penetrated into every aspect of brand marketing. Brands can gain support from a large fan base by choosing popular stars, but they also need to be wary of the potential risks they bring. For example, mutual attacks and evidence among fans may trigger a storm of public opinion, causing immeasurable impact on the brand.

The rapid development of social networks has led to an unprecedented expansion in the speed and scope of information dissemination. It is like a magnifying glass, spreading originally niche information to every corner, while also making it possible for any information to be exposed, analyzed, and deconstructed.

This makes marketing increasingly complex.

However, this does not mean that brands should give up marketing. Instead, brands need to understand the current context more keenly, be people-oriented, and maintain agility and competitiveness in a changing market by deeply understanding consumer needs and expectations, and ultimately achieve long-term brand value.

Author: Xunkong

Source public account: Xunkong’s Marketing Revelation (ID: 846631)