The concept of brand co-branding exists in many industries. Generally speaking, it can be a brand and a brand joint brand, or a brand and a star joint brand. Most of the joint funds we see every day appear in fast-moving industries and fashion trends, such as Xicha and Coca-Cola, which often break through 100 million yuan, and Nike and Adidas, which often sell at sky-high prices.
In the automobile industry, it is not the first time to jointly sign, but when? After the listing of Audi A3, it still caused quite a stir.
The price is 268,500, only 23 sets.
165438+1In mid-October, a new generation of Audi A3 Ebo co-branded limited edition was officially launched, with a price of 268,500 yuan, which was divided into matte manganese stone black and matte Gotham green. There are limited editions of 23 models in the world, including 20 models of manganese stone black and 3 models of tran green. The car uses two snapping methods: reservation spike and friend assistance. The snap-up time will last until the end of 65438+February, and the purchase qualifications will be released one after another. What followed was the overwhelming publicity of Audi.
Limited edition based on A3? The Sportback model was built, and the overall appearance was transformed. The front lip and tail are made of carbon fiber. The front grille, the front fender and the back door all have the joint logo of Audi xYIBO, and the pattern of the welcome light also adopts the joint logo. The car also reflects the particularity of the limited edition. The interior trim strip has the signature of Yibo, and the joint logo is hot stamped on the central armrest.
Limited edition cars are usually high-end supercars from high-end luxury brands such as Maserati and Lamborghini. And there are few joint names in the car circle. Ebo's launch of the Audi A3 joint model is really significant. Why do car brands start to lean towards traffic stars? Why did Audi choose Ebo to release the joint model? From this topic, we can talk about many things.
Brand selection traffic is a trend.
In fact, it is not just in Ebo. In recent years, there have been more and more cooperation between car companies and traffic stars. BMW chose Jackson Yi. Besides Ebo, Audi also cooperated with Dany Lee. Buick chose Wan Qian, Chevrolet chose Qin Hao, Hyundai chose Yang Mi and MG chose YCY. They are either popular traffic stars or artists whose variety shows have greatly increased this year.
In the Internet era where traffic is king, car companies have gradually begun to change their propaganda methods. Different from the previous choice of big-name star cooperation, in recent years, car companies pay more attention to the star's own traffic when choosing partners. Although the established stars are famous and have high status, the traffic they can drive is very limited compared with the new generation. Judging from the actual communication effect, powerful stars are of course of high style, and it is difficult to cause too much waves in network communication.
The communication effect brought by traffic stars is very significant. The linkage between SAIC MG5 and YCY before listing brought huge traffic to MG, and a single pre-heated short film generated 340,000 reposts, 20,000 comments and 6,543,809 likes. The way to expose the price in the preheating short film is also quite clever. Different from the stereotyped promo, this video of MG5 left a deep impression on the author. This kind of communication effect is difficult for traditional celebrity spokesmen to achieve.
Audi and Ebo have a long history.
The cooperation between Audi and Ebo is not only the cooperation of spokespersons. By the end of 20 19, Ebo was already the strong voice ambassador of Audi Q2L family. This year, he was elected as the youngest member of Audi Yingjie Club and became the brand ambassador of Yingjie Club.
What is Audi Yingjiehui? Let's take a look at its official profile:
"Audi Yingjiehui" is an elite user organization that embodies the representative figures in various fields in contemporary China, presents Audi's user values of "thinker, leader and creator" in a three-dimensional way, strengthens Audi's enterprising spirit, interprets Audi's lifestyle and attitude towards life in a diversified way, and promotes the sustainable development of the future society.
Different from VIP clubs and other institutions, Yingjie Club, as the club of Audi's top users, has the function of circle marketing and promotion. The members of Yingjie Club are social elites and have social influence. The title of Yingjiehui brand ambassador is also very special. Members of Yingjie Club have many titles, such as table tennis world champion Malone as a pioneer, and Ma Weidou and Yang Lan as cultural ambassadors. Not many people have won the title of brand ambassador, such as Andy Lau and Maggie Cheung. It can be seen that the origin of Ebo and Audi is extraordinary. In Audi's external publicity, Ebo has a great weight. The launch of the joint version is a further deepening of the cooperation between Audi and Ebo, and also a further exploration of the commercial value of Ebo by Audi.
In addition to traffic, EBO also has cargo carrying capacity.
Audi chose Ebo, in addition to the above-mentioned traffic is king, but also took a fancy to Ebo's cargo capacity. Any communication will eventually lead to the success of the transformation of the seller. Traditional celebrity endorsements, for food and other industries, may still be bought by spokespersons, but in the automotive field, I am afraid that few people will buy cars for spokespersons before.
But this logic may have to change in front of traffic stars. It is a common phenomenon for fans to spend money on idol endorsements, but the fans of Yibo have a large age span, and quite a few people have great purchasing power. Previously, when EBO endorsed Q2L, it launched the activity of # Want to be a co-pilot in EBO #. Looking through the speech records under the topic, you will find that there are quite a few acts of visiting shops and even buying cars caused by this activity. When this kind of behavior spreads online and offline, it will inevitably attract new attention, which is also the embodiment of Ebo's commercial value.
Choose traffic, will there be side effects?
As mentioned earlier, it is a trend for car brand selection to cooperate with traffic stars. At the same time, traffic stars also have certain commercial value and the ability to carry goods. But if luxury brands choose traffic stars, will it reduce brand tonality?
This year is 2020, and the first batch of 90-year-olds are 30 years old. According to the survey report of relevant institutions, the post-90s generation has become the main force of automobile consumption in China, accounting for more than 45%.
Whether it's MG5 with a price of 80,000 yuan or Q2L with a price of more than 200,000 yuan, their target population is, and should be, young people born after 1990. Even if many people are dissatisfied with the traffic stars, the development of the world will always be new. With the replacement of the main population in the market, people who accept traffic stars will gradually become the mainstream. Will the combination of brand and traffic hurt some people? Sure, but it will also please more people. Just as in the 1980s and 1990s, old people didn't like young people to wear bell bottoms and perm their heads to play rock and roll, after the millennium, old people didn't like young people to wear low-cut short pants with an open back. If you don't like watching it, you'll get used to it. Facing the consumer market, car companies must take the lead. It's too conservative. It's too late to change after others share the cake of emerging consumers.
Of course, everything has advantages and disadvantages. Among some young and middle-aged people who explicitly reject traffic stars, are not interested or even deliberately contradict them, Audi's choice to cooperate with such a slightly "superficial" traffic star is a kind of harm to its serious and technological brand image. How did Audi get rich in China market? It is Audi A6L, the image of the official car and the image of the middle class ... Although Audi doesn't think their products have anything to do with official cars for a long time, it is undeniable that this stable and atmospheric inner temperament has been deeply rooted in people's hearts for many years. Just like the former members of Yingjie Club were Dānlín, Ma Weidou, Maggie Cheung and other well-known stars and artists, their strength and reputation have been good in the industry for a long time. Now they have been replaced by Ebo, a small traffic group, but they still have a little less cultural background and a little more frivolous and commercial flavor.
Just like several post-70s around me, I don't know who Ebo is or what his representative works are, and I also express my disgust and disdain for Audi Ebo's global joint advertising. Of course, there are young and middle-aged groups who stubbornly resist new things and keep pace with the times, but this tear and gap in aesthetics and values between different age groups also exists objectively. And these are the invisible costs of choosing traffic stars.
『? Finally? 』
The biggest difference between luxury brands such as BBA and mid-range brands such as Buick and MG is that the latter has a small historical burden, can follow the traffic at will, and has more room to move. The foundation of luxury brands is the history and technical details of brand culture. Once they lose their proper style and serious aura, this aura means being broken, and this intangible loss is irreparable. Imagine that if one day the Audi Yingjie Club is full of all kinds of "brothers", it is simply unimaginable.
To be more practical, it is doubtful how much purchasing power traffic can bring to luxury brands. Audi only launched 23 limited editions this time, which also proves that its focus is not on selling cars, but on publicity. Besides, do luxury brands like BBA lack traffic? Compared with mid-range brands, luxury brands that rely on serious details should be cautious and more cautious in chasing traffic.
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This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.