Real-time marketing is marketing performed “on-the-fly” to determine an appropriate or optimal approach to a particular customer at a particular time and place. The real-time media has opened a tremendous opportunity for anyone to inject ideas into a breaking news story and generate tons of media coverage. On February 2013, @Oreo’s “you can still dunk in the dark” tweet seized the fun moment in real-time and injected their brand into the most talked about news story at that time. It was a huge success, which got the company a lot attention while save $3.7 million for the same exposure with 30 second spot ads. In China, with the developing of social media (although Facebook and Twitter have been blocked by government…), real-time marketing has began to attract many companies’ attention. An amazing “Newsjacking” can mean a lot. Here are two very interesting RTM examples in China.
In June 2012, Beijing encountered with a serious rainstorm, which was the most serious one in about one hundred years history. This rainstorm forced Beijing’s traffic into a serious jam, and low-lying areas appeared serious “ponding”. At that time, many people discussed this disaster in their social media and blog, and posted a lot of pictures. This rainstorm became many companies’ real-time marketing point. Tons of companies and brands were using most suitable methods to promote their products.
Example one: durex (the condom producer)—using story to emphasize products’ attribute
Durex created an amazing usage of their condoms–protecting your sneakers form the water. They post this fun idea on their blog and attracted more than 90,000 likes. The company used this fun idea to show their products’ key features, such as good elasticity and unbreakable. This amazing idea and post has drawn tons of likes and interaction with customers. Definitely, this is one of the most successful RTM.
Example two: Bai He website (the online dating platform)—using story to enhance brand image
This online dating platform said on their blog: the most romantic thing in the world is seeing sea with you inside office, and seeing waterfall with you under subway. This blog won more than 10,000 likes. They combined the topic with their brand image. Although the rainstorm is terrible and definitely not romantic, the website provided a little warm into it. In this way, the website showed their “warm” feature and interacted with customers.
Wen 