Red Star Capital Bureau reported on October 13 that a few days ago, Yang Dacheng, vice president of ZEEKR (ZK.US), posted a video of eating hot pot on ZEEKR MIX on social media, causing a large number of netizens to complain.
This is not the first time that car companies have revitalized their marketing. Previously, Liu Tao, co-CEO of Zhiji Automobile, had made dumplings in the back row of the car, and the poster at the beginning of this year was also in the Zhiji LS7. Chang Jing, the founder of Polar Stone Automobile, put forward the idea of a car toilet. Huang Hongsheng, the founder of Skyworth Automobile, has frequently caused controversy due to health-care marketing.
Industry insiders pointed out to the Red Star Capital Bureau that in the extremely involuted automotive industry, sales volume is closely related to traffic. Nowadays, "refrigerator color TV sofa" has become the standard configuration of smart cars, some car companies in order to win traffic, choose to create hot spots in marketing, some of them use too much force or even overturn.
Eat hot pot in the car with ZEEKR MIX
Netizens complained: Pseudo demand
In the video, Yang Dacheng and his entourage rotated the front seats 180° to face the back row, and also placed a pot bottom, a plate of hairy belly, a crispy meat, a plate of green vegetables, and four small plates of dipping sauce on the expandable table. Yang Dacheng also emphasized that the air conditioning in the car works well and feels very cool. He also said that he could play mahjong in the car.
Yang Dacheng Weibo
Yang Dacheng wrote to this video on Weibo: "The product still has to listen to the most authentic voice of the user, and the product definition stage is still in place to create ZEEKR MIX with the user." ”
For this promotional video, many netizens complained that eating hot pot and playing mahjong were pseudo needs for cars, and thought that the marketing direction of ZEEKR was wrong. "I've driven more than 200,000 kilometers of car, and I don't have the desire to eat hot pot and play mahjong in the car at any time" "The whole hot pot is really unnecessary, just the oil smoke and steam of the hot pot, the car is disposable" "How to get rid of the smell of hot pot in a car?" What should I do if I brake suddenly?"
Douyin netizens complained
It is worth mentioning that the hot pot in the promotional video is not lit, and there is no mist steaming on the pot. Netizens pointed out that ZEEKR is just posing, and in order to reflect the product capabilities, there is no scene to build.
Red Star Capital Bureau noticed that at the Beijing Auto Show in April this year, ZEEKR MIX ushered in its world debut, and as an MPV model, large space is one of its major selling points. In order to reflect the spacious cabin space and versatility, the propaganda at the time mentioned that "it can be turned into a restaurant in seconds" and "you can eat hot pot in the car".
Yang Dacheng is also the product manager of ZEEKR MIX, and his Douyin account "Test Driver Yang Dacheng" has been posting videos since June this year, half of which are promotional content of ZEEKR MIX.
ZEEKR MIX will be officially launched at the end of October, and dozens of models will be launched intensively by the end of the year. To stand out from this "sea of cars", Yang Dacheng announced on September 23: "I will go to Chongqing next week...... We ate hot pot together in the car. Since then, he has successively released 20 videos related to ZEEKR MIX in Chongqing, including the use scenarios of the car driving on mountain roads, Panlong Interchange and the old city, U-turn on narrow mountain roads, open sliding doors to enjoy the scenery, fishing in the car, and eating hot pot in the car.
Fishing in the ZEEKR MIX car
Dumplings in the car, car toilets, life extension and health care
Car companies take the edge of marketing
In the beginning of winter 2023, Zhiji Auto launched a live broadcast event. In order to show the magnetic ecology of the rear seat of the Zhiji LS6, Liu Tao, co-CEO of Zhiji Automobile, wrapped dumplings in the car and posted pictures and texts on Weibo.
"Chinese New Year's Eve blocking the high-speed while watching the Spring Festival Gala on the big color TV in the car, while going to the refrigerator to make dumplings, right?" "These executives and marketing of SAIC are not too much to kowtow to R&D every day...... This marketing method was widely questioned, and Liu Tao finally deleted the relevant pictures and texts.
Zhiji car dumplings in the car according to Weibo
At the beginning of this year, Zhiji Auto released another poster of eating hot pot in the car. A female model sat in the back row with chopsticks in her hand, with a nine-square grid hot pot in front of her, with the text "This car is your gimmick", which was once again questioned by netizens as "marketing for the sake of the scene".
Zhiji car poster according to Weibo
In May this year, Chang Jing, the founder of Polar Stone Automobile, claimed that "the car toilet is coming soon". According to reports, this initiative is a flexible emergency solution and a new initiative to truly meet the needs of consumers for cars. More than 4 months later, Chang Jing released a video showing that the car toilet is actually a small toilet seat stored in the Nakajima storage box, which can be used in a plastic bag, and can also put deodorization and absorbent gel. Many people point out that this is not about innovative design at all, but more like a manufacturing marketing topic.
Polar Stone Auto currently has only one model on sale, the Polar Stone 01, which will only be launched in August 2023, and the average sales volume in the first eight months of this year is only 407 units. "Bring your own one bedroom, one living room and one kitchen" is the focus of its promotion, with a rear kitchen system, providing three levels of drinking water, a simple kitchen counter and an exclusive kitchen appliance work area, this year also released a fishing kit, and will also develop accessories such as car showers.
Huang Hongsheng of Skyworth Automobile has repeatedly publicized the health benefits of Skyworth Automobile in public, and has been frequently questioned by false publicity. He once said that the life of Chuangwei Automobile has been extended by 30 years, and every car owner can enjoy a 100-year-old life. During this year's Beijing Auto Show, he said that Skyworth electric vehicles can alleviate high blood pressure, improve immunity, and eliminate habitual diarrhea.
At the 2024 Yabuli Entrepreneurs 20th Summer Annual Meeting, Huang Hongsheng said: "From the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine, the space in the car is very small and the gas is balanced. ”
Skyworth Auto was founded in 2019 and was formerly known as TiMi Automobile. In 2023, Skyworth Automobile's total sales will be 18,600 units, compared to 21,900 units in 2022, and the company did not disclose this year's sales. According to third-party platform data, in the first nine months of this year, the cumulative sales of Skyworth EV6 and Skyworth HT-i in China were less than 10,000 units. According to the "Daily Economic News", Huang Hongsheng said on September 25 that as of now, Skyworth Automobile's cumulative sales of new cars at home and abroad are more than 30,000.
"Although scenes such as eating hot pot in the car and the car toilet are 'confusing', they can leave a deep impression on consumers." Liu Hao, an analyst in the automotive industry, told the Red Star Capital Bureau, "At present, the volume technology, volume configuration, and volume service of smart cars are about to be rolled out." Some car companies without brand advantages go off the rails and gain traffic by marketing a certain scenario, which has the risk of overexerting force or even overturning. ”
He pointed out that manufacturing hot spot marketing is only a temporary strategy, and marketing should be guided by consumer needs and launch products that truly meet the consumption scene.
Red Star News reporter Wu Danruo
Edited by Yang Cheng
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