To survive and develop in the market, businesses are forced to come up with many different marketing strategies. Some businesses promote advertising on mass media, while many businesses launch promotional campaigns and give gifts.
Any marketing strategy has some value and effectiveness. However, there is a significant power if a company's marketing strategy takes advantage of the direct involvement of customers in using the product in the process of building a brand.
Some examples that illustrate this power are the cases of Walt Disney, Coca-Cola and Adidas, the most famous brands in the world. Through this, businesses can see the need to involve customers directly in marketing strategies and draw some lessons in branding plans.
Walt Disney with Disneyland amusement park
From a mid-level animation production company, Walt Disney has now become the world's leading film corporation with globally famous cartoon characters. To achieve its current position, in addition to the uniqueness of its animated films, marketing strategies involving customers have always played an important role for Walt Disney.
Walt Disney spent all his money to make Alice's Adventure. Although he ran out of money before the film was completed, Disney was still very happy because he saw the good future that the film could bring. On November 18, 1928, Mickey Mouse premiered in New York and achieved great success.
In the mid-20th century, Walt Disney wanted to develop new marketing strategies that would also increase the value of his brand. The idea quickly took off. Walt Disney invested millions of dollars to build the 70-hectare Disneyland theme park, the world's first park entirely dedicated to entertainment based on his own animated films. Disneyland was a magical land not only for children, but also for adults who were fascinated when they traveled there. Visitors to the park were told myths and fairy tales that included Walt Disney cartoon characters and how the company developed its cartoon character empire. Once again, Walt Disney took a risk and succeeded: in the first seven weeks, Mickey Mouse and his friends welcomed a million visitors.
To visitors, cartoon characters are more valuable than the company's films. In fact, Disneyland has provided hundreds of opportunities for Walt Disney to promote his films and cartoon characters. More importantly, Disneyland has vividly connected customers' perceptions of the company's cartoon characters.
Since the mid-1960s, Walt Disney has embarked on a major project – building Disney World with social purposes. Disney World is nearly 151 times larger than Disneyland, including an amusement park, hotel complex, airport…
In the following years, an average of millions of people visited Disneyland and Disneyworld each year, not only contributing to the promotion of the image but also bringing significant profits to Walt Disney, thereby building a strong brand through articles and news published in the mass media as well as through word of mouth from visitors. Businesses related to Disneyland such as travel agencies, restaurants, and hotels also contributed to promoting the amusement park when they "marketed" customers to their services.
Without a doubt, Disneyland and Disneyworld have become one of the most successful brand development strategies in history. And one of the secrets to this strategy's success is extensive customer involvement.
Coca Cola – Customer is king
Coca Cola has always invested in customer-focused product advertising strategies. In retail stores and supermarkets, the brand is always displayed at eye level, right in the hallways, or in eye-catching places. Coca Cola has had to pay for this priority.
Another factor that contributes to the success of Coca Cola is the product presentation. Coca Cola is contained in aluminum cans or glass bottles, with a bright red label on the outside with the two capital letters Coca Cola tilted at 45 degrees. With the bright red color and the wonderful white curves, Coca Cola has succeeded in attracting and appealing to customers.
In its marketing campaigns, Coca Cola always considers “customers as kings”. The company has many different strategies to help customers truly feel the taste of Coca Cola. Many promotional programs focus on customers such as product trials, buy 1 get 1 free. A program that is considered quite attractive by Coca Cola is the “healthiest Coca Cola drinker” contest organized by the company. The contest is conducted in many major markets, in each contest there will be many rounds and in each round the contestants must try to drink a large amount of Coca Cola in the shortest time. Thanks to this contest, Coca Cola has created strong interest among consumers, thereby contributing to promoting the brand value of the company.
Adidas and the urban culture program
Adidas has developed a marketing campaign called “urban culture program” that includes special events with large crowds across Europe: street football tournaments, football festivals, and amusement parks. These special events not only include pure sports but also intersperse fashion shows, music (including a hip hop band) and other forms of entertainment.
By dedicating a significant portion of its budget to brand building, Adidas has attracted the cooperation of related business entities such as major football federations, famous sports stars, marketing experts interested in the youth market segment like Adidas and most importantly, the attention of the media. Although not using mass media for advertising, the media often reported on the above campaign of Adidas and this is a highly effective and extensive means of promotion without any advertising costs of the company.
Thanks to this “urban culture program,” Adidas reversed the declining sales trend that began in the 1980s and turned to strong double-digit growth and continued market share gains in the following years, while Adidas’ competitors such as Nike and Reebol actively used mass media advertising. According to statistics, the indexes measuring brand awareness and perception for Adidas increased significantly, especially among younger consumers.
Of course, not every company can build an amusement park like Walt Disney, or have the financial resources to implement an “Urban Cultural Program” like Adidas, but the lesson from Walt Disney and Adidas is valuable to many businesses: the connection between the brand and the consumer’s direct experience with the product, especially when it is a relaxing and refreshing entertainment moment, will contribute significantly to brand promotion.
Unicom
