Article by Li Ka-shing

Edited by Coldzelin

On May 27th, after the online concert by Cui Jian, Geely Auto sponsored another online concert by Luo Dayou. The nearly 70-year-old Luo Dayou returned to the public’s attention through a live broadcast.

Obviously, Geely auto wants to create a strong nostalgic atmosphere in this way, so that the audience can resonate at the first sound of the melody. It is common for car companies to cross over into the field of music marketing, but making the audience remember the brand sponsor’s information during the concert is not an easy task.

Geely Auto is a “life-saving straw” under the continuous sluggishness of BAIC Group. BAIC Group positioned it as a high-end product for the transformation of new energy and intelligence. The brand is also a partner of Huawei’s entry into the automobile industry and a cooperative partner of Apollo’s fifth generation Robotaxi of Baidu.

With the support of Huawei and Baidu, Geely’s sales are still unsatisfactory. Turning to the traffic self-help of Cui Jian and Luo Dayou is just… it is not known whether the concept of “priceless sentiment” of Geely can be transformed into substantial sales.

What does sentiment bring to Geely?

Geely received 110 million likes and reached 90 million users in Cui Jian’s concert before. At the same time, it also attracted more people’s attention to the brand. Data shows that after Cui Jian’s concert, Geely’s WeChat index increased by 54 times, reaching a historical peak.

Four days before Luo Dayou’s online concert, Geely’s official account released relevant promotional videos, most of which were presented to the audience with the theme of “sentiment”, which shows the importance Geely attaches to this marketing campaign.

The warm-up stage before the concert is not in vain. By the time of 22:10 when the concert ended, 5.918 million people had watched Luo Dayou’s video. The number of viewers had reached 356,632. It is worth mentioning that the exposure of this concert also exceeded three million.

From the exposure point of view, the method of using “sentiment” to evoke resonance is indeed effective. However, we must know that the online interaction of this concert and Geely are not closely related.

On the other hand, the people who resonate with Cui Jian and Luo Dayou may not necessarily fully meet the target customers of “intelligence and youthfulness” from an age perspective. How to turn the brand influence obtained through “sentiment” into purchasing interest is also one of the problems that Geely needs to consider.According to Jihoo’s information, in the future, Jihoo will also collaborate with new-generation musicians and various fields to break the inherent barriers of age and region in order to resonate with more users.

Is Jihoo’s Money Worth It?

In 2021, Jihoo took comprehensive actions in brand marketing, user operation, and channel construction to expand its brand influence. On the one hand, Jihoo invested heavily in branding and sponsored events, and launched the immersive “Jihoo Action” deep test drive. On the other hand, it aimed to expand its “circle of friends”, such as creating multiple IP projects, including Bing Lin Cheng Xia, Shan Ding Coffee, and Jihoo Planet Street Party.

Official information shows that starting in 2022, Jihoo will increase its investment in brand marketing. In the first quarter of this year, Jihoo’s parent company, BAIC Blue Valley, spent 309 million yuan on sales expenses, an increase of 63% over the same period last year.

Therefore, including this year, Jihoo will continue to increase its investment in marketing to expand its brand influence. From the current perspective, Jihoo has successfully spent the money, and the short-term effects are also prominent.

In the short term, Baidu search data shows that from April 11th to 17th, during the warm-up period and the exposure time after the concert of Cui Jian, the search index was 1404. During the warm-up period of this concert by Luo Dayou, the search index also reached 2162.

In the long term, Cui Jian’s online concert only lasted for about 3 days, while Jihoo’s sales in April reached 889 cars. Compared with the monthly sales of less than 500 cars in 2021, Jihoo has made progress, but the magnitude of improvement is small.

Jihoo’s marketing exposure and current sales are not directly proportional, and the investment in marketing and the corresponding income are also not proportional.

In 2021, Jihoo’s marketing expenses reached 400 million yuan, while the sales for that year were only 4,993 cars. Therefore, Jihoo’s marketing cost per car is about 80,000 yuan.

Jihoo’s “burning money” marketing approach has also brought considerable pressure to BAIC Blue Valley. Regarding the reason for massive losses, BAIC Blue Valley explained that “it is due to the company’s sales are not up to expectations and the continuous investment in research and development and marketing.”

As we mentioned earlier, in order to break free from this situation, Jihoo must learn to convert traffic into actual sales, which is also a key issue that should be focused on for Jihoo’s marketing in the next stage.

This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.