A Huawei meme is atypically popular

"Far Ahead" once became Huawei's best advertising slogan. On the Internet, "Far Ahead" has become a hot topic and a topic of conversation. So how did this hot topic become popular and how did it help Huawei's marketing?

On September 25, Huawei held a new product launch conference in Shenzhen, launching a number of new products including the Huawei Mate60 RS mobile phone, Huawei MatePad 13.2, Huawei Watch 4 series smartwatches, etc. This conference attracted the attention of many media and netizens, but at this conference, the most impressive thing was not Huawei's new products, but the "far ahead" that was frequently screened.

In fact, ever since the Huawei Mate 60 series mobile phones equipped with the Kirin 9000s chip were directly announced to be put on the shelves for sale, the word "far ahead" has begun to be mentioned by a large number of netizens online. Even after the release of Apple's new products, the attention is still huge. For the first time, it is far ahead in terms of voice. In comparison, Apple's voice is "Apple-like".

On the Internet, "far ahead" has become a hot topic and a topic of conversation for everyone after dinner. So how did this hot topic become popular and how does it help Huawei's marketing?

01 “Far Ahead”, how did it become so popular?

The word "far ahead" first appeared at the Huawei Mate 40 series launch conference on October 22, 2020. According to statistics, Yu Chengdong said "far ahead" 14 times at the launch conference, covering almost all aspects of Huawei mobile phones, from processors, cameras, screens, batteries, charging, systems, applications, etc., all claiming that Huawei is "far ahead" of its competitors.

When talking about being far ahead, Yu Chengdong's accent and exaggerated style attracted the attention and ridicule of netizens. His "far ahead" soon swept the screen on platforms such as Weibo, WeChat, and Douyin, becoming a hot topic.

At this time, Huawei has the confidence to say that it is far ahead. The mobile phone is equipped with the Kirin 9000 chip and adopts 5nm process. It has powerful performance and low power consumption. From photography, screen to system performance, it is good. In addition, the previous generation Mate 30 was extremely successful. According to media statistics, the sales of the Mate 30 series exceeded 20 million units.

It is in this situation that consumers do not think the word "far ahead" is too much when it comes from Yu Chengdong's mouth.

A user of Bilibili commented after watching the press conference: "If Yu Chengshi doesn't say the words 'far ahead' at Huawei's press conference one day, it will be the end of us, proving that Huawei's innovation has reached a bottleneck."

On September 6, 2022, at the Huawei Mate50 series launch conference, Huawei, which was affected by sanctions, was obviously much more low-key. According to statistics, during the entire launch conference, Yu Chengdong only mentioned "far ahead" once when introducing the zoom function of the mobile phone's imaging, which is in sharp contrast to the 14 times of "far ahead" when launching the Mate 40.

Someone posted a promotional poster of Huawei Mate50 on a social network, which read "Huawei Mate50, far ahead", and then added a sentence: "A far-leading 4G mobile phone, do you dare to buy it?"

So, at this point, "far ahead" becomes a kind of irony, and the voice-over is "That's it? Far ahead?"

On August 29, 2023, Huawei's Mate60 series mobile phones were put on the shelves and sold without any warning or publicity. The biggest highlight of the Huawei Mate 60 series mobile phones is that they are equipped with Huawei's self-developed Hongmeng OS 4.0 system and Kirin 9000S chip. These two technologies, especially the self-developed chips, are considered to be important signs that Huawei has broken through the US blockade and sanctions.

Coincidentally, the launch of Huawei's Mate 60 series of mobile phones happened to be on the same day that US Commerce Secretary Raimondo visited China. The main purpose of Raimondo's visit was to have dialogues and consultations with the Chinese side on issues such as trade, technology, and climate.

However, with the strong performance of Huawei's Mate 60 series of mobile phones, Raymondo's visit was considered embarrassing and embarrassing. Netizens have regarded the launch of Huawei's Mate 60 series of mobile phones as a counterattack against the United States, and also as a manifestation of China's technological strength and national pride.

Whether the Mate 60 is really far ahead is no longer important. What is important is the power contained in it, as the netizen said in the picture below.

Against this backdrop, the meme "far ahead" started to sweep the screen again.

Netizens used the phrase "far ahead" to describe the advantages of Huawei's Mate 60 series phones, and also used it to express their emotional counterattack against US sanctions. The phrase "far ahead" quickly spread again on platforms such as Weibo, WeChat, and TikTok, becoming popular again.

Huawei is "far ahead", from fact to irony, and then back to fact, from a negative joke to a positive joke, which reflects the ups and downs of Huawei.

02 Why is “far ahead” so popular?

There are essentially two reasons for the popularity of "Yayue".

First, since this word was used by a large number of netizens on the Internet, it has actually become a meme. It is not only used for Huawei, but also used by many people to casually say when they are chatting to show their advantages in various aspects.

The second is related to the current international situation and national sentiment.

1. Becoming a meme

When a word becomes a meme, it means it has become popular.

You may have often heard the word meme in various occasions. This word actually originated from British scientist Richard Dawkins, the author of "The Selfish Gene". He defined meme as a factor that plays a similar role to the genetic inheritance process in the transmission of language, concepts, beliefs, behaviors, etc.

Simply put, genes are inherited through the human body, and memes (also translated as memes) are passed on through memory and imitation.

In the Internet age, the word meme is increasingly equated with Internet memes.

For example, the word "Zhen Xiang" originally meant that the food was delicious, but after being interpreted by netizens, it became a synonym for face-slapping. Then, more and more people began to use the word "Zhen Xiang", which led to more people imitating its usage environment and usage scenarios, and spreading the word on the Internet.

So meme on the Internet is roughly equivalent to Internet memes, such as "Doesn't it smell good?", "Zundu fake du", "Chicken, you are so beautiful" and so on. Their popularity is due to the rapid spread of imitation.

The phrase "far ahead" was first said by Yu Chengdong. His thick Anhui accent and exaggerated style are contagious in themselves. After being re-created by a large number of netizens, "far ahead" began to spread widely on social networks.

This word has been copied and reused in different contexts and occasions, forming a cultural symbol. For example, the official Weibo account in the picture below also used this word when talking about China's high-speed rail, which is a typical example of copying and dissemination.

In the process of dissemination and replication, some mutations and selection phenomena have also occurred to adapt to new environments or add new effects, which is also an important manifestation of memes.

For example, someone once changed the word "far ahead" to "far behind" to add a sense of sarcasm or exaggeration; for example, someone used Jay Chou's "Compendium of Materia Medica" as the music, and Yu Chengdong's "far ahead" as the lyrics, making it a ghost music; for example, there were reports that a man had a gastroscopy operation and kept muttering "Huawei Mate 60 pro, far ahead" in a coma.

As a meme, "Far Ahead" has high recognition and popularity. It is widely used and spread on different platforms and occasions. It also has diverse variability and selectivity. It is changed in different contexts and occasions, which further enhances its dissemination ability.

2. Boost from the international environment

When "far ahead" has become a meme, its spread has become uncontrollable. In a special international environment, this meme has become even more contagious.

In recent years, China's high-tech industry has achieved remarkable development and progress globally, but it has also faced sanctions and suppression from the United States and other countries. Huawei, in particular, has been subject to multiple rounds of bans and restrictions from the United States due to its leading position in 5G, chips and other fields. The United States prohibits Huawei from using Google services and chip suppliers, which has caused Huawei's mobile phones to face huge difficulties in both software and hardware, causing it to be seriously affected in the global market.

When most people thought that Huawei was facing such a predicament and its mobile phone business was about to be over, Huawei suddenly announced on August 29 that the Mate 60 series of mobile phones would be put on sale directly.

As mentioned above, this mobile phone is equipped with Huawei's self-developed Kirin 9000S chip. This technology is considered to be an important symbol of Huawei's breakthrough in US blockades and sanctions.

What’s important is that, in the eyes of the majority of netizens, this is not only a breakthrough for Huawei in high-tech in the mobile phone industry, but also symbolizes China’s breakthrough against US sanctions in this field.

Therefore, "far ahead", a word that has not been widely discussed for a long time after Mate 50, was once again pushed to the peak of popularity by netizens. Behind this word is the traditional Chinese national spirit of self-improvement, and it has also become an expression of national sentiment.

03 “Far Ahead” is Huawei’s best advertising slogan

Huawei’s communication has its own characteristics, and it is very good at using non-original content for public relations and communication.

For example, on February 11, 2018, Meng Wanzhou, Huawei's CFO, who had been detained in Canada for nearly 10 days, was released on bail. That night, Meng Wanzhou posted a picture of "ballet feet" on her WeChat Moments, and added Romain Rolland's famous quote: Behind all greatness is suffering. Subsequently, this picture was widely shared on WeChat Moments.

On May 15, 2020, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced that chips produced with U.S. technology and equipment must first be approved by the United States before they can be sold to Huawei. This means that the United States has begun to block global semiconductor suppliers from supplying Huawei in all aspects, which is another escalation of the U.S. sanctions policy against Huawei a year ago.

The next day, Huawei's official "Voice of the Heart Community" released a picture on May 16, which showed an airplane covered with scars but still flying in the air. The caption on the picture was: "Without scars, how can you have thick skin and strong flesh? Heroes have suffered many hardships since ancient times." Afterwards, this picture also swept the circle of friends.

Neither of these two pictures is Huawei's original poster. They are just secondary creations after obtaining the copyright of existing pictures. These pictures vividly reflect the spirit of Huawei. From the effect point of view, they are much better than posters made by themselves.

"Far ahead" is not a word that Huawei's creative personnel pondered over, but a word that Yu Chengdong repeated a lot at the press conference due to his average eloquence. This was not a positive case, but after the secondary creation and dissemination of netizens, as well as the promotion of the international environment, it became the best "slogan" for Huawei's marketing.

"Far ahead" represents Huawei's leading R&D, product and brand capabilities, and also implies the company's spirit of self-improvement and striving to break through in the face of adversity. This term has almost been monopolized by Huawei. In the market, many companies are advertising the so-called "far ahead in sales". If they continue to advertise like this in the future, it will be nothing more than spending money to advertise for Huawei.

"Far ahead" can be said to be Huawei's best slogan.

Author: Xunkong, WeChat public account: xunkong2005