Dark cuisine, giant packaging, weird names…Why does “curiosity marketing” repeatedly become the secret code for traffic?

In today's highly competitive market environment, it is becoming increasingly difficult to attract users' attention and gain traffic. Therefore, some peculiar and unique marketing strategies have successfully attracted users' attention and brought considerable traffic and attention by breaking the routine and challenging the tradition. Let us learn about the secrets through this article.

Iced black tea flavored braised beef noodles, hot sauce ice cream, Sichuan pepper flavored Wanglaoji... When you see these "weird" products, would you feel curious or even want to try them yourself?

In the Internet age, "living things up" and "hunting for curiosities" have become means for many brands to stand out from the crowd. By launching novel products or services, they satisfy consumers' curiosity and desire to explore, and thereby increase brand awareness and popularity.

However, "curiosity marketing" is not a panacea. If the scale is not properly grasped, it can easily cause disgust and even backfire.

So, what is the key point of this kind of marketing? Through some cases, we will analyze the logic behind the brand's "curiosity marketing".

1. Four types of brand “curiosity marketing”

The "curio marketing" of current brands is refreshing our imagination every time. There is nothing they can't do, only what we can't think of.

Below I have summarized the four common types of brand "curiosity marketing": product curiosity, packaging curiosity, gameplay curiosity, and name curiosity , and see how these brands attract consumers.

1. Product hunting

Catering and food brands have a natural advantage in engaging in exotic marketing. It is easier for them to play with the taste of their products, creating a contrast with their regular products and attracting user attention.

For example, KFC Taiwan recently launched a product called "Scallion Preserved Egg Tart". Just looking at the picture, it's hard to eat. Many netizens said that they felt like Italians seeing pineapple pizza.

Before KFC, McDonald's took the lead in "curio marketing". In 2022, a coriander sundae combining vanilla and ice cream appeared on McDonald's menu for the first time.

The combination of coriander and ice cream made the entire Internet boil, and also made coriander new land a hot search on Weibo.

Careful netizens said that this is not the first time McDonald's has done something weird. In 2021, McDonald's launched its first "dark cuisine", which is the spicy oil-splashed sundae. The combination of hot sauce and ice cream is unprecedented, but it is this contrast of "ice and fire" that makes many people extremely curious and want to check in and try it.

2. Packaging for novelty

The way to open "curiosity marketing" is not only the product itself, but product packaging is also the "main battlefield" of brand creativity.

For example, the national snack brand Three Squirrels once launched a giant snack gift bag. One bag weighed more than 6 kilograms and contained 30 bags of different kinds of snacks, which attracted a lot of attention.

Similar to this is Sam's Club. In July this year, the largest Sam's Club flagship store in Shenzhen opened. On the opening day, a "Cup Noodle Bucket" successfully went viral.

It turns out that this giant instant noodle bucket is 45 centimeters high, priced at 168 yuan, and contains 24 small buckets of instant noodles. Although the actual product is no different from the Cup Noodles commonly sold on the market, the exaggerated packaging attracted many Internet celebrities to check in at the store as soon as it was released.

Even on second-hand platforms, this instant noodle is sold at high prices ranging from 500 to 800 yuan, but it is still in short supply.

Another brand that uses "novelty" packaging is Real Banana Milk. The brand's banana milk is packaged in the shape of a banana, and the way to open the product is just like peeling a banana. Once you peel it, you can see the milk coming out of the glass bottle, which is quite creative.

3. Novel gameplay

People have always had different opinions on whether they like to eat coriander, and the "coriander dispute" has sparked heated discussions on the Internet.

Taking the Douyin platform as an example, Baixiang collaborated with Douyin influencers to create interesting short videos. Douyin topics #Whose instant noodles come with a bunch of cilantro# and #1 second to prove you are a cilantro fan# have accumulated over 220 million views.

Offline, Douyin e-commerce Super Product Day held a coriander-themed pop-up store and set up six themed interactive sessions such as "Coriander Lover Identification" and "Protect Coriander Pledge" to attract coriander lovers to participate. With the help of social media communication, it brings sharing and fission.

In addition to pop-up stores, opening blind boxes, which has been very popular in recent years, is also a form of "playing in a novel way", and its essence is also to take advantage of consumers' curiosity and desire to explore.

4. Name hunting

Compared with the above-mentioned marketing methods, brands’ pursuit of novelty in product names costs less but may also yield miraculous results.

For example, in today's world where the "appearance economy" is popular, Yineng chose to go against the trend and was the first to combine beauty and ugliness with product names, naming its own durian mango flavored drink Ugly Water.

This unconventional naming method attracted the attention of consumers because it was curious enough.

On Xiaohongshu, many netizens said that they were attracted by the product name when shopping in the supermarket, but after tasting it, they found that it was a bottle of durian and mango flavored mixed drink.

In addition to "ugly water", "dirty bun" is also popular because of its name. The so-called dirty bun is not a real dirty bread, but a croissant wrapped in chocolate. It is named because it looks dirty and your mouth is full of powder after eating it.

Compared to croissants, dirty buns have only been around for a few years. However, due to their interesting appearance and name, they became very popular once they were launched, and celebrities posted photos of themselves eating dirty buns on social media.

Under the influence of celebrities, more and more people spontaneously bought and tried the dirty buns, so the expensive dirty buns naturally became the new internet celebrity in the bread industry.

Finally, let me summarize. Whether it is the product, packaging, gameplay or the novelty of the name, as long as it is used properly, it can produce unexpected results.

Of course, for businesses, all marketing ultimately has a purpose. Let’s discuss the benefits of “curiosity marketing” below.

2. What are the benefits of “curiosity marketing”?

From KFC to McDonald's, from White Elephant to Cup Noodles, more and more brands are choosing to join the ranks of "curiosity marketing".

So, what are the benefits and value of this unconventional marketing for brands? I think there are two very important reasons.

1. Grab the user’s attention

In the era of attention economy, consumers are more likely to be attracted by unique products. "Quirky marketing" quickly catches consumers' attention by virtue of topic attributes and communication attributes.

Especially for some brands with limited budgets. Instead of spending money on advertising, it is better to make a "strange" good product. Curiosity marketing arouses people's curiosity and desire to show off, which is easy to spread and share. It helps brands achieve rapid exposure and achieve a great effect with little effort.

For example, Taobao has held the "Ugly Things Contest" for three consecutive years, satisfying young people's curiosity and aesthetic taste for ugliness.

The core value of "ugly things" resonates with the spirit of young people pursuing individuality and enjoying freedom, allowing the brand to have an intimate dialogue with young consumers. Its inherent social attributes provide young people with topics to talk about and inspire their desire to share and spread.

2. Create consumer demand

In today's world of serious product homogeneity, it is not easy for ordinary products to "break through the siege" and win the favor of consumers. However, novel, rare and interesting products can often become a hot item for a while and even set off a shopping craze.

Taking stock of those best-selling products, it is not because their quality has been recognized by the public. Most of them have sparked heated discussions from the outside world simply because they are novel enough.

For example, during the Dragon Boat Festival in the past two years, some businesses have launched new types of rice dumplings such as spicy strips, durian, and crystal dumplings to meet consumers' pursuit of taste.

Similarly, with the rise of the "pet economy", businesses have also ingeniously created various curious products, such as a tongue-like combing brush that can be held in the mouth to comb the hair of your cute pet at home, allowing you to enjoy the pleasure of "licking the dog".

Although the actual experience of these products may not be very good, it does not prevent consumers from buying products out of curiosity.

This fully demonstrates that consumer demand can be created. If your product is novel and interesting enough, it is possible to attract their attention.

3. “Curious Marketing” Must Also Be Scaled

Of course, we don’t need to exaggerate the role of “curiosity marketing”.

For brands, this marketing method is actually a double-edged sword. If the scale is not properly controlled, it can easily frighten consumers.

The original vision of the brand to play with consumers has turned into consumers feeling that the brand is playing tricks on them, which is not worth the loss.

For example, on Xiaohongshu, some netizens posted a photo of sparkling water that looks very similar to White Cat dishwashing liquid, which is said to be a joint product of a certain brand and White Cat.

Whether the product tastes good or not is not the point, because the brand image of White Cat dishwashing liquid is too deeply rooted in people's minds. Such a drink can easily make people associate it with sparkling water with detergent bubbles, which in turn damages the brand's impression in consumers' minds.

Coincidentally, last year, a Nan Ye Li Thai food stall in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province launched a product that uses a shell similar to a bucket of laundry detergent to package Thai milk tea. The product is called "Ban Lan Hou Ye Ye" and is sold for 18 yuan per bucket. Due to its unique packaging, this creative idea has been a big hit after its launch.

However, there are also many criticisms about this milk tea online. Some netizens believe that not all new ideas are worth promoting, and innovation must have a bottom line. Because the product looks like laundry detergent, will it cause children to accidentally ingest laundry detergent?

As expected, in response to issues such as the packaging of this milk tea product, the Nanjing Market Supervision Department has filed a case against three stores of the restaurant. Currently, all three stores under its name have stopped using this packaging.

This reminds brands to be careful about the scale when using "curio marketing" and not to "lose the big picture for the sake of sales."

In addition to the two types of failures mentioned above, there is another common scenario in which "curiosity marketing" fails, which is that the brand pursues innovation too much, resulting in the product being far from the overall tone of the brand.

In August this year, Amul launched a customized version of "coriander flavored" yogurt for Wang Yibo, limited to 15,000 copies. Relying on the influence of the traffic star, the yogurt was sold out by fans as soon as it was launched.

Having tasted the sweetness, the brand subsequently launched a series of "dark" flavored yogurt, including ten "weird" flavors such as stinky tofu, aged vinegar, and garlic.

Regarding these "dark" flavored yogurts, some consumers said that they "can't accept them, both physically and psychologically reject them." Ultimately, the dismal sales volume also proved the failure of this marketing campaign.

In fact, looking back at the "rollover" of Amul this time, the fundamental reason is that the brand pursued innovation too much, resulting in the product being far from the brand tone. When fans regain their rationality and no longer pay for their idols without thinking, such products obviously cannot impress them.

4. Final Thoughts

In fact, both marketing and products need to keep pace with the times.

For the new generation of consumers, "curiosity products" can quickly attract their attention, redirect traffic back to the brand or product, and stimulate their desire to try.

However, most of the current curiosity-seeking products are still at the one-time consumption stage, and apart from helping companies stimulate sales, their benefits are limited.

This reminds us that "curiosity marketing" is just a means. Only when companies can attract consumers comprehensively from brand to product can they truly impress consumers.

In addition, when doing marketing, you should also pay attention to whether the product is consistent with the brand tone to avoid wasting the hard-earned brand image for the sake of traffic.

Author: Yan Tao Editor: Chief WeChat public account: Yan Tao Sanshou