The World Cup is not only a sports carnival, but also an emotional socialization.
Every move that happens inside and outside the arena can always trigger people's content discussions, let each other find common language topics, and let the hot topics follow.
Open Weibo every day and you can see the new topics of the competition. On the first day of the competition, 222 hot searches were on the list, and the number of topics read reached 5.2 billion.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored a goal and searched directly on Weibo.
Argentina and Germany have been upset one after another, and the hearts of fans have frozen.
Neymar was injured, a yellow card foul appeared on the hot search, and fans followed with apprehension.
Messi led Argentina to win, there was a boil on Weibo, and the restless youth of countless people resonated with the public at that moment.
When Brazil and Portugal sealed the group, the hearts of many fans finally landed.
These Weibo hot searches are simply an electrocardiogram, describing the emotions of the majority of fans.
The topic of the World Cup continues to be hot, not only the top stars, the game process, but also the "dumpling skin" and the heartbroken little prince, which has attracted huge attention, but also become a hot competition field for the brand.
How to catch these fleeting World Cup hotspots? How to spread the situation? How to turn World Cup popularity into brand popularity? This is a proposition worth considering.
I have observed that on Weibo, many brands have very exciting hot game play. With the super high discussion concentration of the World Cup, the brand crossed the boundaries of fans, played memes and memes with ordinary netizens, and co-created consumer content, igniting the topicality of this World Cup and making the story of World Cup marketing richer.
Next, take stock of several brand cases for reference:
1.
Anticipate hot spots
The old terrier plays new tricks
As we all know, waking up and smashing the TV is an old terrier.
In the 2019 Champions League semi-finals, Barca, which he supported, was reversed and lost and smashed the TV in anger.
This kind of radical behavior is not desirable, but it does project the mood of the majority of fans.
The World Cup is always upset, and the emotions of the fans are inevitably excited.
To this end, Jingdong Home Appliances predicted the hot spot of "smashing TV" in advance and played a new trick with this old terrier.
JD Home Appliances and Suxing collaborated to design a clever linkage of communication.
After the upset in Argentina, the awakening was used as a topic introduction to arouse the public's heated discussion, turning the attention to the TV that "bears too much football love".
Jingdong Home Appliances, on the other hand, is undertaking as a business, launching a 0 yuan TV exchange activity, humorously dissolving the emotions of fans and transforming topic traffic into specific products.
Netizens have said: Jingdong Home Appliances definitely understands fans, and even more so hurt fans.
In the entry point, the inner emotions of the fans were explored, the behavior of "smashing the TV" was found as a communication medium, the resonance point with the fans was grasped, and then the "nervousness" of the fans was cleverly solved through the "0 yuan for new" activity, and their own business was firmly bound to the pain points.
Then the most interesting thing is to join @Wake AllenSu, and renovate the old terrier, which attracted netizens to join the discussion. Awakening as a fan sat real, when Argentina temporarily lost in the first game, as an old fan of Messi, he even issued an unloveable expression on Weibo, constantly bringing heat to the topic.
This provides a better idea for brand marketing, finds a business combination point, lays a communication lead in advance, and actively leads the hot spot to the brand.
It has to be said that this kind of pre-judgment thinking makes the brand walk in front of the hot spot, and it is also the most certain route when the hot spot comes, and it is easier to get applause.
2.
Reverse out of the loop
Make terriers with netizens
Since the start of the World Championship, Mengniu, as the official sponsor of the World Cup, has firmly occupied the hot search list related hot spots on the Weibo platform, and wherever the Weibo hot search list has "exploded", there is Mengniu's figure.
In addition to the popularity of the event, there were many "accidents" in this World Cup.
There are some missed goals that, if handled well, can be a surprise goal.
And in the marketing arena, the same is true.
In this World Cup, Mengniu staged a textbook-level "reverse" marketing operation.
Here's the thing: some enthusiastic netizens saw Mengniu's billboard logo pasted in the World Cup training arena, and posted Mengniu on Weibo.
In the face of such an embarrassing incident, knowing that the local supplier staff in Qatar worked too hard, coupled with not knowing the Chinese, would paste the logo of the fence backwards, Mengniu stood in the big brand pattern, did not speak from the perspective of attributing responsibility, but did a timely and ingenious treatment, posted three social posters in a row on Weibo, turning a work mistake into an interesting hot spot.
It can simply be called "absolute"!!!
For Mengniu's wave of operations, clap your hands and praise.
It not only reflects the company's output of brand values around the core communication point of "goal", but also reflects the humanistic care and courage of the brand, and exports Chinese culture to the world.
Mengniu responded to the situation and turned the logo sticker into a communication material, creating a "anyway" pun creativity, and carried out a social reversal in the communication context.
It not only skillfully resolved the embarrassment, won the recognition of netizens, but also posted and consolidated the brand topic of "no matter who scores, come to Mengniu".
Mengniu's wave of communication path is actually a two-way rush of "netizen memes + brand terriers".
Turning a public opinion into a positive event staged a wonderful interaction for the audience.
This points out a good marketing direction for the brand, and while paying attention to the dynamics of the arena, you can also focus on the netizens and fans on Weibo.
In the World Cup communication, Mengniu not only resides in the Weibo hot search list, but also actively plays the self-communication value of social communication, making fun in memes, entering the context that young people like, and creating its own brand hot spots.
3.
Reduce dryness while it's hot
Played a good "yellow card"
Taking advantage of hot spots is the most basic, and it is also the most testing of the brand's gameplay.
It must do two things, one is that the angle of borrowing the momentum must be novel, and the other is that the hot spot and the brand have a good fit.
Sprite this World Cup marketing, both did it.
While the brands were aiming for the stars, Sprite looked at the yellow card in the referee's hand.
The yellow card is like an emotional explosion switch, igniting the mood of the fans.
Based on this arena insight, Sprite launched a special set of yellow card posters, opening up a topic of "yellow cards are dry, Sprite is dry". During the FIFA 2022 Qatar World Cup, please drink "Sprite" for free at every yellow card hot moment.
On the one hand, it took the lead in occupying the medium of yellow cards and binding a special World Cup scene. When players are frequently fouled, yellow cards are on the hot search, which also brings continuous heat to Sprite.
On the other hand, this is a clever entry that strengthens the Sprite "Cool Heart" product label.
Its communication logic is clear, it is a process of emotional dissolution.
First, it captured the "ignition" of the fans' emotions in the arena, used the topic of "yellow card" as the topic to ferment the discussion of netizens, and finally fell back to Sprite's "drying" products to achieve a complete World Cup brand communication.
This also gives an interesting angle, when people are heating the heat, can the brand also pour a little ice water.
Be a charming villain and cool down the enthusiasm of the fans.
4.
Play terriers with the homeopathy
In case of "cold", do not panic and harvest "love"
In this World Cup, Yili personally demonstrated a wonderful scene that reversed the plot without panic.
Yili's World Cup marketing is to sponsor teams and stars, conform to the emotions of fans at different stages based on the relevant hot spots of star teams, and leverage more traffic through the attention of star teams.
When the star team comes on the field, with the star team related hot spots #Germany men's model team debuting tonight# #Spain goal difference earned numb#, together for the love of playing.
There was also a sad withdrawal from the World Cup due to Benzema's injury, and the brand quickly took advantage of the situation to #Homage Benzema# with thousands of netizens.
But the most interesting thing about competitive sports is that you can never guess what the next story will be.
When everyone was expecting the strong team they supported to win, Attingen, who signed with Yili, lost to Saudi Arabia, and then Germany also lost to Japan.
The successive upsets made the fans' emotions explode, and they all ridiculed football for buying villas by the sea.
In the face of this upset situation, Yili integrated into the fans' emotions and followed the trend #Football against buying Villa by the sea # Hot spot, using "Yili anti-buy, villa by the sea" to ridicule the brand anti-buying, expressing that the brand is not panicked and believes that love has light. And organize a group to link other Argentine team sponsorship brands to form an Argentina Support Alliance to cheer for love to the end!!
Use a humorous interactive meme, support love with practical actions, let fans find resonance and refreshment, convey a positive and optimistic attitude, advocate everyone's positive energy to ridicule the results, so as to digest the fans' "upset" emotions.
Harvest the love of users by blending with users, and have said that Ilido will play!
Although Argentina and Germany lost, Yili did not panic, believed that love has light, and used brand values to bring consumers a physical and mental healing.
This kind of brand communication idea well conforms to the emotions of public fans, but can attract a large wave of fans' goodwill.
5.
Reverse operation
Hot search with unpopular teams
The World Cup also has a way to play called buying unpopular.
While brands were sponsoring the favourites to win the championship, Meituan Takeaway went straight to the opposite and sponsored the unpopular team Ghana.
However, although Ghana can't win the championship, the topic is very high, it can be said that it is "the winner of the championship, the king of topics".
The first game against Ronaldo brought a lot of heat, so the brand's sponsorship is also more topical, specifically look at the logic behind it:
On the one hand, take advantage of the popularity of the schedule to create topicality for Meituan takeaway and Ghana.
In the match between Ghana and Portugal, although Ghana lost, it also brought good heat to Ghana with the huge flow of opponent Ronaldo.
Coupled with the dramatic scene in the final moments, Garner almost stole the ball successfully, which allowed Garner to gain a lot of attention.
On the other hand, Meituan Takeaway sponsors the unpopular team Ghana, which is dramatic in itself.
The contrast brought about by such reverse sponsorship can arouse the curiosity of the public, and make people look forward to what kind of wonderful reaction will happen between the two.
To this end, Meituan Takeaway followed the idea of creating fun points and launched the topic of #Ghana Shirt Knockout Takeaway# on Weibo.
This training uniform without a sense of violation makes people suspect that this may be Ghana's uniform, which has become a source of happiness for netizens.
Some people ridiculed the international skin of Meituan takeaway online, and some netizens suggested that Ghanaian players deliver food part-time, anyway, they are all dressed so similarly.
In the constant relish, this topic also quickly fermented and appeared on the hot list.
Meituan takeaway's anti-borrowing thinking is really strong, which has attracted a lot of discussion on the topic, and at the same time buried a flashpoint. If Ghana really wins, Meituan Takeaway is the biggest winner.
In addition, this brand behavior also realizes the output of brand values, "everyone who is ordinary, hardworking, and struggling is worthy of attention and worthy of sponsorship."
It is worth mentioning that the underlying logic of this "upset" marketing, of course, is not a small probability of upsetting events, but essentially attracts the attention of the public with the reverse operation of "upset", thus transforming into a brand hotspot of its own.
6.
Dig deep into the content
Use columns to undertake hot terriers
At the World Cup, Hisense's advertising slogan "China first, world second" was out of the circle.
The majority of fans are curious about who is the number one in the world. These curiosity and discussion instantly pushed Hisense to the focus of discussion.
Hisense took advantage of the trend to open the "guess the world's second, win the 10,000 yuan grand prize" activity, online cooperation with @sina news @number one youth to launch the H5 promotion road quiz.
That is to say, people guess first, Hisense "guess the second in the world" operation, so that the majority of netizens have a better understanding of Hisense's international influence.
However, what we also need to see is that Hisense's popularity is not accidental, but the result of long-term deep cultivation.
Hisense continues to bind football-related topics, and deeply cultivating the content of the World Cup is Hisense's confidence in the face of popularity and traffic, and even controversy.
Hisense and Weibo continue to create the topic of "Hisense Spit Ball Conference" and give netizens a platform for "Spit Ball", and this year's 2022 Qatar World Cup launched version 2.0, which is a hot spot for the World Cup Spitting Ball.
Some netizens spit out advertisements for the World Cup, and some people ridiculed the audience in the stands, and the little prince of Qatar was dressed like a World Cup mascot of "wonton skin".
"Hisense Spit Ball Conference" is a flowing topic pool, not only digesting their own brand memes, but also collecting stories from inside and outside the arena.
In this content section, fans can find a common language and release each other's emotions.
In addition to spitting out bad emotions, Hisense also cooperated with @Sina News to open a #HiWorld Cup# topic, collecting World Cup stories from netizens, sharing World Cup wonderful moments, and also interestingly popularizing World Cup related knowledge to fans through notes and asking questions.
I have to say that this [Black Dictionary] is really a treasure.
The World Cup hot spots continue, wave after wave.
If you only stay at the current heat, then it will drift away like smoke in the wind. But if you take the hot spot as an "introduction" to make the brand visible and enlarged the window, and use the corresponding content and position to undertake the traffic and exposure brought by the hot spot, this is a more effective way for the brand to take advantage of the popularity.
It can be seen from the case of Hisense that brands must not only keenly grasp hot spots, but also go deeper, aggregate users' UGC, co-create with users, and precipitate event marketing into solid content.
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The World Cup is a feast for the public and an arena for brands, where everyone can create their own content while it is "hot".
Weibo is an infinite field, brands adopt different paths, different chemical reactions will occur.
There seems to be no fixed formula for hot spot borrowing, but from the above cases, you may be able to find some ways to do it.
The Public Opinion Monitoring Office of People's Daily Network once said that the timeliness of information release determines the different trends of events. The faster you follow up on hot spots, the sooner you can seize the opportunity, which is also true for brand marketing.
To grasp these hot spots, brands must have strong social acumen, discover content that fits their brand, and respond quickly and efficiently.
Jingdong home appliances predict the flashpoint, Mengniu cleverly picks up the terrier, Sprite creatively cuts in, Yili plays the terrier with the trend, Meituan takeaway reverse operation, Hisense continues to cultivate the content... They are all like this, taking hot spots as an opportunity and Weibo as the soil for communication, and brands have blossomed in their respective social games.
In fact, whether it is with the help of the platform's advertising tools or chasing hot memes with netizens, more and more brands are skilled in creating hot topics.
It can be seen that the above is only a microcosm of the World Cup marketing, and there are more stories to be staged.