The secret of Meituan Waimai's successful World Cup marketing: 1 foundation, 3 highlights, and 1 necessary guarantee

The World Cup, held every four years, has come up with new tricks. Although the World Cup has passed, its successful marketing secrets are worth learning from and referring to. The author summarizes 1 foundation, 3 highlights, and 1 necessary guarantee to share with you.

The World Cup, held every four years, is a carnival for more than 3.5 billion football fans around the world. It can radiate more effectively to the surrounding population and can be said to attract the attention of the whole world. Therefore, it is regarded by brand owners as a marketing focus that cannot be missed.

During the 2022 Qatar World Cup, many brands launched dazzling marketing activities, including becoming FIFA's official partners and sponsors, sponsoring jerseys, sponsoring teams, placing broadcast ads, and playing tricks to attract traffic. Among them, Meituan Waimai stood out like a dark horse, becoming a hot topic among the public and receiving quite high praise, which really became popular.

With so many brands doing World Cup marketing, why is Meituan Takeout the most popular?

I believe that in this World Cup marketing campaign, Meituan Waimai was able to stick to its brand positioning, identify the right communication targets, clarify its core information, and use marketing resources efficiently, thus successfully capturing the audience's attention and winning likes.

1. What tasks did Meituan Waimai’s World Cup brand marketing accomplish?

As we all know, Meituan and Ele.me are the most direct competitors. Both of them target young people and have gained a large number of loyal users in the food delivery market. It can be said that they are "rivals and it is difficult to tell who will win". They are evenly matched in attracting merchants to settle in, increasing delivery speed, and subsidizing customers.

In order to achieve sustained growth in performance, in addition to desperately expanding into more third- and fourth-tier city markets, both companies are also working hard to expand more product categories suitable for same-city delivery to increase consumer purchases, which has become a future strategic focus for both companies.

Whether it is Meituan Waimai or Ele.me, whoever can defend the city of food delivery and seize more territory in other categories of same-city delivery will be able to defeat the opponent. From a marketing perspective, the two brands must compete for the user mind of "fast speed", "full category" and "good experience" to occupy the impression of being the first brand of same-city delivery.

Observing from an outsider's perspective, I boldly guess that the brand marketing mission formulated by Meituan Takeout is: to target young people who have a strong demand for takeout ordering, and to convey the characteristics of Meituan Takeout that it is "faster, more comprehensive, and more convenient". While deepening the audience's understanding of the advantages of its core service of local catering delivery, it also attracts their demand for more categories of local delivery services and creates a younger brand image.

Therefore, Meituan Waimai chose the World Cup, which is popular among young people, to launch a marketing campaign, sponsored teams with larger amounts of money, and invested heavily in advertising for the event broadcasts. Only then did it have youthful advertising ideas and joint marketing with multiple categories and brands to accomplish this task.

2. Three highlights of Meituan Waimai’s marketing campaign

I reviewed the implementation of Meituan Waimai's World Cup marketing campaign and found three highlights:

Sponsoring unpopular teams: not only a cost-effective choice, but also a youthful tone;
Advertisement ideas that fit the scene: Turn the football watching moment into the brand’s home court to better convey advantages and promote business;
Multi-category and multi-brand joint marketing breaks the cognitive limitations of food delivery;

In addition, its choice of communication channels also ensured the success of this marketing campaign, which is worth learning from for marketers.

1. Sponsoring the Ghanaian national team: not only a cost-effective choice, but also a youthful tone

Team sponsorship not only demonstrates economic strength and enhances brand image, but also leverages the team's performance to create hot topics, making it the choice of many wealthy brands.

Among them, there are tycoons like Volkswagen, which sponsored seven teams at once, namely France, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Uruguay, the United States and Australia. Yili also sponsored four teams, namely Argentina, Portugal, Spain and Germany. Vatti Holdings, which attracted a lot of attention in the last World Cup with its "full refund of the championship package if France wins the championship", bet on Portugal this year, and Wanda Sports successfully selected the champion team Argentina.

Unlike other brands that bet on the favorites to win the championship, Meituan Waimai chose to sponsor an African team - the Ghana national team. Ghana is a team with no hope of winning the championship and will not attract much attention in China, but why did it become the sponsorship target of Meituan Waimai?

Is it because sponsoring the Ghanaian team is cheaper than sponsoring the favorite to win the championship? In other words, is Meituan Waimai short of money? I think there may be this reason.

Because every brand is short of money. The marketing budget is always limited, so we must use the best steel on the blade! Although Meituan Waimai can enjoy the shade of Meituan, it is really unnecessary for it to take out a large amount of real money to sponsor the favorites to win the championship like Volkswagen, Yili, and Wanda. Meituan Waimai is already well-known enough. With the help of World Cup marketing, it needs to convey brand advantages and promote key businesses. Team sponsorship can only provide a topic point. It is more cost-effective for it to complete the sponsorship at a lower cost and spend more money in the process of communicating with the target audience.

In addition, sponsoring Ghana is more in line with its brand tone and can better meet its brand rejuvenation appeal, because Ghana is "very young". Compared with the old World Cup powerhouses such as Brazil, the Netherlands, Argentina and France, Ghana only made it to the World Cup finals for the first time in 2006, and the Ghanaian team has the youngest average age in this World Cup (only 24.7 years old), which is definitely a young and energetic team, and therefore has received considerable attention.

When Ghana lost its first match against Portugal, Meituan Waimai’s official Weibo account stated: “Indeed, Ghana is not the favorite to win the championship. There are no superstars in the team, and most people can’t even call out their names. However, it is not only the most popular one that deserves attention. Every ordinary, hard-working, and struggling person deserves sponsorship, just like each of our delivery boys. This is our original intention for sponsoring the Ghana team.” This response was very beautiful, which resonated with many young people and increased the target audience’s favorability towards the brand.

Meituan Waimai’s subsequent communications about its sponsorship of the Ghana national team also fully highlighted its youthful tone.

After the video of the Ghana team warming up before the match against Portugal was exposed, it attracted a wave of high attention to Meituan Waimai. In the video, the yellow jerseys worn by the Ghanaian players are exactly like the Meituan Waimai brothers on the field, with the words "Meituan Waimai, goals are also fast" and the logo printed on the chest and back. The video attracted the attention and heated discussion of netizens on Douyin and Weibo; Meituan Waimai subsequently released a series of videos of the Ghana team training in Meituan Waimai jerseys (including fun clips such as goals, running to the wrong side, etc.), and released more fun and eye-catching "delivery boys wearing the same clothes", which triggered netizens' secondary creation on Weibo and Douyin, and even received many reposts from official self-media. Related topics continued to ferment, and the slogan "Meituan Waimai, goals are also fast" also became popular.

The number of views of related videos on Douyin exceeded 10 million, and the topic on Weibo #Ghanaian football jersey wears the same jersey as delivery guy# also received over 100 million views.

During the World Cup group stage, the Ghanaian team's overall performance was remarkable, and Meituan Takeout's exposure continued, gaining huge brand recognition.

2. Advertisements that fit the scene, turning the football viewing moment into the brand’s home court

Advertisements during the live broadcast of the World Cup can reach a wide range of people, so they are favored by many advertisers. In the CCTV broadcast of the 2022 Qatar World Cup, we can see advertisements from brands such as Liepin, Boss Zhipin, Mengniu, Yili, and Meituan Waimai.

I asked my friends who work in marketing about their evaluation of various advertisements: many people are deeply disgusted with Liepin and Boss Zhipin, complaining that their "psoriasis" advertisements are annoying; some people think that the advertisements of Yili and Mengniu are just average, and that they focus more on emotional communication with consumers, which can demonstrate the strength of the brand.

In sharp contrast, most people liked the Meituan Takeout ad, believing that it was more in line with the theme of the football scene, could retain the audience and generate positive comments such as "fun", "magical" and "creative", which played a role in brand exposure, building goodwill and promoting business.

Meituan Takeaway World Cup Creative Advertising Copy

Copy 1:

"It's a penalty, what's there to be afraid of? We can order footballs, balloons, balls of yarn, shrimp balls, yo-yos... send them all to me!"

Copy 2:

"Isn't it just an Oolong gift? Can you only give Oolong gifts? Can't you give milk tea or beer? Can't you give hot pot, barbecue, or cat food?"

Copywriting three:

"Coach Yang, what's the reason for your frequent substitutions in this game?" "Because I have a lot of people. We have fried shrimps with melon seeds and walnuts, and we don't need to ask for toys. We have sweeping robots."

Slogan on the advertisement landing page:

"Whether you want to watch the game or not, order some takeout from Meituan."

The creativity and copywriting of Meituan Takeaway’s World Cup advertisement are completely different from other brainwash advertisements that have nothing to do with the theme of the game. It is particularly suitable for the football scene: Yang Mi becomes Coach Yang, and through the interesting plot of coaching the team, the "completeness" of Meituan Takeaway's categories is told to all audiences. Not only is it not offensive, but it also makes people feel fun and interesting.

This advertisement combines the brand, business and the game scene, replacing football terms such as "penalty", "own goal" and "substitution" with the concepts of "ordering takeout" and "commodity". It creates dramatic conflicts by stealing concepts and using homophonic puns, keeping the audience watching the advertisement and falling in love with the nonsensical plot. It can be said that it transforms the football watching moment into the brand's home court, and then the concept of "Meituan takeout delivers everything" occupies the minds of the audience.

The slogan on the landing page, "Whether you want to watch the game or not, order some Meituan takeout," breaks the boundaries of time, space, consumer groups and consumer categories. The social marketing launched simultaneously on platforms such as apps, Weibo and Douyin calls on the audience to take action and try Meituan takeout.

According to data from Meituan, during this year's World Cup, the overall number of takeaway orders for beer, beverages, snacks, fruits, etc. increased by 18.7% from before the game and 88.4% from the same period last year. Many fans also chose to buy viewing equipment on Meituan, which led to hot sales of takeaway products such as projectors, large screens, and speakers. The number of takeaway orders for projectors on the Meituan platform increased by 301% year-on-year and 15.4% month-on-month; the number of takeaway orders for speakers increased by 235% year-on-year and 10% month-on-month; the number of takeaway orders for routers increased by 263% year-on-year and 14% month-on-month.

From the perspective of brand and effect integration, Meituan Waimai’s advertisement can be said to be a strong contender and is really a very good creative advertisement.

3. Multi-category and multi-brand joint marketing breaks the inherent cognitive limitations of consumers

You may have noticed that in addition to sponsoring the Ghana national team, Meituan Waimai also sponsored 18 other teams at once. They are:

1. Meituan Waimai x Wanglaoji "Stay up late to watch the game and worry about getting angry team"
2. Meituan Waimai x L'Oréal Paris "Cheer but Dare Not Open Your Mouth Team"
3. Meituan Waimai x Heilan Home "Off-site Male Model Team"
4. Meituan Waimai x Master Kong "The odds of winning are really high"
5. Meituan Waimai x Budweiser Beer "Can-grabbing Ton-ton-ton Team"
6. Meituan Waimai x MUJI "Watching the football team calmly"
7. Meituan Waimai x Xiaomi "Watch the team anytime, anywhere"
8. Meituan Waimai x Lenovo "Watching the football team while at work"
9. Meituan Waimai x Mixue Ice City "Sweet Sweet CP Team"
10. Meituan Waimai x Coca-Cola "Add Ice No Matter How Cold It Is"
11. Meituan Waimai x Snickers "Hungry Team"
12. Meituan Waimai x Yida "Two teams to watch the game"
13. Meituan Waimai x Yili "Watch the team easily"
14. Meituan Waimai x McDonald's "Do you want to eat McDonald's team"
15. Meituan Waimai x Juewei Duck Neck "What to eat when watching the game"
16. Meituan Waimai x Dabao "The team that looks at faces instead of skills"
17. Meituan Takeaway x Si Nian "Watching the football team with dumplings"
18. Meituan Waimai x M&M "Super Idol Team"

This is essentially a joint marketing campaign launched by Meituan Waimai in collaboration with 18 brands in multiple categories, covering multiple categories such as food, beverages, men's clothing, and skin care products. It targets the fan groups of each brand and creates fans' own team.

Look at some slogans in the joint advertisements:

"See you every day, Dabao" - "See you every day, Meituan takeaway"

This shows that users use Meituan Takeaway frequently

"Sweep away hunger" - "Sweep away hunger, go to Meituan Takeaway"

Inspire users to place orders based on specific scenario needs

"Heilan Home, a man's wardrobe" - "Meituan Takeaway, a man's wardrobe"

Let consumers remember that they can also buy clothes on Meituan Takeout

…

The joint advertisements between Meituan Waimai and major brands portray different vivid user portraits through group photos, which stimulates resonance among fans and promotes the generation of UGC content. While winning the favor of fans of the joint brands for Meituan Waimai, the concept of "Meituan Waimai delivers everything" is successfully conveyed through the re-creation of the slogan, stimulating the audience's desire to try Meituan Waimai and deeply imprinting the "completeness" of Meituan Waimai's product categories in the minds of the audience.

In order to penetrate the whole, we chose to collaborate with influential brands in multiple categories that are in line with users' daily consumption needs, and we chose the right brands to cooperate with; we closely followed the fan portraits, had a deep insight into the needs, produced creative content that could resonate with people, and better connect fans with each other; not only did we link brands, but we also mobilized fans to participate, allowing marketing activities to continue to ferment as a mass innovation movement.

This wave of joint marketing by Meituan Waimai is very effective.

In addition, the communication channels chosen by Meituan Waimai for this Century Cup marketing are also very efficient, which is also a point worth learning from.

In addition to using CCTV to launch its core creative advertising, Meituan Waimai also made full use of the most active social platforms for the target audience, such as TikTok and Weibo, to complete dissemination and interaction, ensuring that the popularity continued and spread to the surrounding population. The outdoor advertisements placed at bus stops, subways and buildings were in line with the O2O characteristics of its food delivery platform, fully exposing it to the target audience. At the same time, it used its own App as a traffic entrance to complete the closed loop of "cognition-decision-purchase", ensuring the success of its World Cup marketing campaign and achieving the marketing effect of "online and offline linkage, efficient delivery of core information, and integration of product and effect".

Meituan Waimai fought a great battle in World Cup marketing and temporarily gained the upper hand in the marketing war with Ele.me. The Spring Festival marketing is about to start. How will the two major food delivery platforms fight fiercely in brand marketing? Let us wait and see.

Author: Chen Hao; WeChat public account: Brand Market Relativity (ID: Brand-Marketing)