What’s more, Corona found few people were willing to accept a beer without lime – like it has become their special identity.
With that in mind, Corona came up with the solution: “1/16 lime slice” method and took advantage of this retweet boom, distributing related content all over the online space.
Corona's 1/16 lime method in China
, and nearly everyone in japan phone number Shanghai (if not the whole country) was talking about them.
Some of the posts on Weibo with the “#Corona beer in Shanghai – do you stick the lime or not” tag
We also joined in the fray with a short clip, check it out!
The Weibo discourse could have swayed against Corona easily. However, the brand was quick to react. They showed the public that they can adapt to new things, and remove the obstacle for their customers.
Netizens in China also enjoy interacting with brands on social media in general, Corona surely gained many credits here as well.
Quick tip: Don’t invest your time in trends that are not at all connected to what you do. It is just a distraction, and it often gets you nowhere.
Take HEYTEA as an example. It is one of the most “Instagrammable” tea drinks in China. Still, for an unknown reason, they decided to launch a joint campaign with… Durex?
HeyTea x Durex ad
They teamed up and released a poster on Weibo that you can see above. Well, the public did pay attention to it, in a negative way this time. The caption literally says “Don’t leave a drop tonight.” But to Mandarin speakers, the whole thing is more like “I’m gonna f**k you tonight.”
NOTE: In Mainland, the number “419” is a code for “one night stand” because it sounds close to “for one night” in English. And that makes April 19 one of the Valentines-like day among youngsters.
Netizens tagged the posts as #vulgar and #brainless. And HEYTEA lost on this for sure, not considering that their customer base is predominantly women, and has been criticized online for being indecent and objectifying females in general.
That being said:
DO NOT jump on the trends just because. Find out WHO your customer is, and know your values… Otherwise, it can do more harm than good.
Key Takeaway: To do RTM well, you need to make sure you’re on the right track and know where exactly to capture the moment.
Make yourself stand-out
It’s a marketer’s job to keep your eyes on trends happening everywhere, but you don’t have to be involved in all of them. All the brands that have succeeded in RTM have done one thing right: Piggybacking on hot trends to maximize their uniqueness.
For example, during the Double 11 in 2019, a number of brands released a series of creative posters with the Cat-head theme.
Brands' posters tailored for Double Eleven.