From muscular men to subject three, the most exciting track has produced the best performance

The article reviews the moments of major catering brands going viral in 2023, and combines a series of examples such as "McDonald's", "Haidilao", and "Kuafu Fried Skewers" to analyze the marketing methods of brand-user interaction. Recommended for Internet people who are interested in catering marketing.

Looking back at the marketing hotspots in 2023, food and beverage brands and the catering industry still occupied the most shots.

At the end of last year, "Subject Three", a test subject originally dedicated to the driving test, "inexplicably" turned into a magical dance of "Guangxi Social Shake" and "Northeast Flower Hand Shake".

According to a widely circulated joke on the Internet, "Subject One" for people in Guangxi is singing folk songs, "Subject Two" is slurping rice noodles, and "Subject Three" is shaking hands.

With the popularity of "Subject Three" nowadays, it is hard not to wonder whether the folk dance of Guangxi region will have a place in "Subject Three" in another twenty years.

Haidilao version of "Subject Three" dance

With the explosive popularity of "Subject Three", Haidilao took advantage of the situation and launched a lively male beauty marketing in its offline stores.

Whenever a customer asks to watch the third driving test, the handsome employee in the store will bravely take the stage and perform a set of silky little combos. Various videos related to this have been widely circulated on short videos and received many likes.

Not only Haidilao, many catering and food brands have successfully occupied the homepage of social media topics through marketing planning and ingenuity.

There is no doubt that content has become the universally recognized magic weapon for communicating with users and stirring their emotions. A brand that can connect with users must be a "brand that knows how to stir up emotions."

Being able to flirt means being able to provide emotional value and “seduce” users into having conversations.

The prerequisite for doing this is to empathize with users and understand their most essential needs on a psychological level.

This may be what luxury goods are best at. After all, dream-making is to inspire people's yearning for a refined life. Even if you can't participate, it's good to discuss it.

So why have catering brands become the most successful brands?

To become a brand that communicates with users, what issues should we pay attention to and what ways to break through should we find?

1. From McDonald's to Haidilao, they rely on "fancy activities" to stand at the center

When reviewing the brands that are the best at making things happen, have the most popular marketing plans, and have relatively high praise in 2023, Kas found that brands such as McDonald's and Haidilao are roles that cannot be ignored.

Because brands and consumers provide each other with information and value, a social relationship is formed between them.

McDonald's, the favorite study room for young people, is changing in the process of interacting with consumers.

In July 2022, 42 McDonald's restaurants in Yunnan announced the opening of "Maimai Study Rooms", which not only provide free study space, but also free drinking water, WiFi, and some study rooms also have USB charging ports.

In September 2023, McDonald's officially launched study room reservations on its official APP and mini program, and refined the relevant rules. Nearly 20 stores in Beijing and other places have opened "Maimai Study Rooms".

If Starbucks is the third space for white-collar workers, then McDonald's is the third space for students.

This move immediately aroused heated discussion among netizens, "Mai Men awakens, this wave of operations really hits the heart" and "There is air conditioning, toilet, Internet access, and preferential packages, which is amazing."

Haidilao, which has always been known for its "attentive service", has also made great efforts to provide convenience to users. They pay real-time attention to users' behavioral trends and changes in hobbies, and respond promptly.

Data from the China Performing Arts Association shows that the number of commercial performances in the first half of 2023 increased fivefold compared to the same period last year; the number of audiences increased tenfold, with more than 500 large-scale concerts and music festivals and more than 5.5 million spectators.

Haidilao actively seized this opportunity.

In some first- and second-tier cities, after a celebrity concert, Haidilao will deploy dozens of buses to play the celebrity's songs to help fans maintain their emotional value. When fans arrive at the restaurant, the store will prepare speakers, microphones, banners, posters, and even set up a carnival area for fans.

Haidilao sends a bus to pick up fans for dinner

Also last year, the psychological test questionnaire "MBTI Personality Classification" became popular on the Internet, and i-person and e-person became widely used personality labels for young people.

Last October, someone discovered that as long as customers entered Haidilao to wait for a table, they would see two red and blue signs, and there would even be special signs for "i person" and "e person" on site.

Customers in the "i zone" do not have to worry about being disturbed by noisy sounds while waiting for a table, while customers in the "e zone" can interact with other customers and participate in various mini-games.

By the end of the year, the "Subject Three" dance once again put Haidilao at the center of the WeChat Moments.

Haidilao successfully transformed this short-video hot spot into an offline experience by relying on employee performances, allowing consumers to experience the pleasure of watching short videos in physical stores.

For some employees, performance does increase the difficulty of their work, but for many users who want to try something new, "Subject Three" is one of the reasons for them to check in at Haidilao.

Haidilao’s style of “being able to make things happen” has also been extended to its sub-brands.

On December 29, 2023, Haidilao's brand "Yanqing BBQ Shop" started trial operation.

According to the catering industry media "Hotpot Canjian", the restaurant provides braiding, hair washing, and subject three performances, and you can also order songs and send birthday wishes on the spot.

For this reason, the newcomer in the barbecue industry took the top spot on Dianping’s regional check-in popularity list shortly after its debut.

Customers have given positive reviews on Yanqing's service, environment, and products. Some netizens have given it better-than-expected reviews, saying that eating here satisfies both the stomach and the eyes.

2. With so many popular contents, how do they communicate with users?

In recent years, in order to communicate closely with users, brands have chosen to open personalized accounts. At a time when "post-00s dominate official accounts", operators who keep surfing 5G are very good at playing with memes.

On social media platforms, some food and beverage brands also rely on close communication with users to create more new memes, thereby further expanding their circle.

For example, after Coco Tree became popular with its "macho men's fitness" live broadcast, Hope Water copied this routine, looking for Douyin bloggers to cooperate with, and released a large number of short videos showing off their bodies in an attempt to win over female users.

According to statistics from Kas, the cumulative number of views of topics related to Good Hope Water on Douyin is close to 3 billion, accompanied by discussions about the brand by many media and users.

Haowangshui Douyin Marketing Campaign

Last August, the milk tea brand Cha Baidao launched a limited edition glittering cup. The bling bling cup sleeve and large pearl chain made it popular in the beginning of autumn in 2023. Among them, the pearl handbag can be used as a handle, and can also be disassembled and DIYed into clothing, bracelets, and pendants. This practical design aroused the desire of users to actively share and created free traffic for the brand.

LINLEE Linli Hand-beaten Lemon Tea attracted many young fans by offering a free duck toy when buying milk tea, thus creating a differentiated positioning for the brand.

Marketing planning of Cha Baidao and LINLEE lemon tea

The above-mentioned brand operations require a lot of manpower and money, which is not friendly to some brands with insufficient funds. Kas noticed that as long as there is the ability to create content, brands can also successfully break out of the circle without spending any manpower, relying on memes and imagination.

Kuafu Fried Chuan means "using an account with 20,000 followers to create the work of a million followers", creating the visual effect of understanding young people very well and never falling behind in chasing hot topics.

Last year, the egg-filled pancake vendor "Zhou Binglun" from Baoding, Hebei, became popular on the Internet because of his resemblance to Jay Chou. Kuafu Fried String took advantage of the situation and invited him to be the chef, which attracted a lot of attention.

When topics such as "national trend" and "beauty marketing" were all the rage, Kuafu Fried Skewers also invited a beauty blogger to shoot a video, which successfully brought a wave of popularity to the brand.

@Kuafu Fried String Xiaohongshu Note Screenshot

Crazy literature was originally a form of exaggerated emotional expression among young people, but it gradually evolved into a marketing path for brands on new traffic platforms.

It is undeniable that users have a good acceptance of this kind of marketing method with active interaction and quick feedback .

On the homepage of Kuafu Fried Chuan, we can see the mental state of the operators trying their best to make users smile.

For example, in one note, corn kernels were glued to ham sausage one by one to make an abstract corn cob with angry hair, which attracted many netizens to watch. The note received 13,000 likes and 2,600 comments.

@Kuafu Fried String Xiaohongshu Note Screenshot

Of course, when talking about the brands with the best marketing skills on Xiaohongshu, we cannot ignore Mixue Bingcheng.

Mixue Bingcheng operates two official blue V accounts on Xiaohongshu.

Among them, @蜜雪冰城 mainly outputs brand dynamics, such as official MVs, new product displays, new store openings, milk tea carnivals and other relatively direct marketing information, and has accumulated 893,000 fans on Xiaohongshu; @蜜雪冰城雪王 has accumulated 1.983 million fans on Xiaohongshu, following the "plot + animation" route. The purpose of the account is not to realize cash, but to shape the Snow King IP.

According to incomplete statistics from Kas, the total number of fans of Mixue Bingcheng's matrix account ranks among the top three among Xiaohongshu's brand accounts.

Last year, Luckin Coffee successfully occupied the top of the hot search list with its new product "Sauce Flavor Latte", which triggered multiple discussions among users. Mixue Ice City spared no effort to interact with Luckin Coffee and successfully formed a CP with Luckin Coffee.

Kas once introduced that even if it is something unrelated to Luckin Coffee, users will actively cue the brand in the comment section.

Last August, because of the joint opening of a store with China Post, Mixue Ice City used the copywriting "Snowy, I can't hide it anymore" to respond to the ridicule of "The Snow King is included in the list", achieving a two-way rush with users.

@蜜雪冰城Little Red Book Notes Screenshot

The continuous exploration, extension, re-exploration, and re-extension of brand content has caused users who originally had no expectations for brand content to begin to embrace brand content and constantly follow updates.

When a brand tries to face consumers with a different identity, its marketing ideas undergo a radical change. Regardless of whether it can quickly integrate into the hearts of young people, it has at least taken the first step in communicating with young consumers.

3. Why have catering brands become the “smartest” players?

Why is the catering industry the one that understands consumers best and can quickly find new marketing plans?

Kas believes that the catering industry is a highly saturated industry, and competitive pressure forces businesses involved in it to constantly seek change and innovation to avoid being "shot dead on the beach."

Take hotpot as an example. Hotpot, the category of Chinese food that has done the best in standardization, is an indisputable "good business" with its elimination of chefs, low supply chain difficulty, wide audience and strong addictiveness.

Data from Meituan's "2022 Hot Pot Category Development Report" shows that by the end of 2022, the number of hot pot category stores in my country will reach 550,000, ranking second among the major categories of formal meals, second only to local cuisine.

At present, the competition for market share among major brands has entered a white-hot stage, and close combat is required in terms of dishes, dining scenes, marketing methods, digital transformation, etc.

At the same time, the delivery form of the catering industry determines that the brand can communicate directly with consumers, always stand with consumers, quickly understand changes in consumer demand, and make corresponding adjustments.

Kazuo Inamori, the founder of Kyoto Ceramics Company and a world-renowned industrialist, also said: " The answer is always at the grassroots level of the work site. If you want to find a solution to the problem, the leader must go to the scene in person, gaze with your eyes, listen with your ears, and get close with your heart."

In the fiercely competitive catering and food industry, brands that can stand out must have two advantages.

The first is the supply chain . A good brand must be supported by a strong supply chain system.

Secondly, it is good at providing emotional value . Today's young people are no longer satisfied with eating itself, but hope to have a better, more exciting and more refreshing experience and atmosphere.

The "breakout" of these brands that are good at communicating with users also conveys a message: the way out of the industry with homogeneous products lies in taking corporate culture and management model as the cornerstone, establishing brand differentiated competitive advantages by providing consumers with the ultimate service, and then achieving operating results that are above the market average.

No matter what industry a brand comes from, it cannot work in isolation or just sit in an office and ponder. Instead, it must go deep into the users and interact with them at all times.

Only in this way can we truly understand user needs, grasp industry trends, and make relatively correct decisions.

Author: Lou Xingchui; WeChat public account: Kas Data