Yili plays a joke on Luyu: a unique marketing move or a borderline controversial one?

Yili recently successfully attracted the public's attention through a clever marketing campaign. They took advantage of the similarities between the Paris Olympic Games emblem and the image of the famous host Chen Luyu, played a "stalk", and achieved high-profile exposure of the brand through a series of creative commercials. This strategy not only demonstrated Yili's creative thinking in marketing, but also triggered discussions about "ambush marketing". This article will take a deep look at Yili's marketing campaign, analyze its success and the controversy it may cause.

In the blink of an eye, the Paris Olympics, which has been labeled as "the most dramatic Olympics in history", is about to open. To sum up the "big events" that have attracted everyone's attention in the past period of time, in addition to the Paris mayor swimming in the river, the various brands have shown their power.

In this process, whether it is becoming a partner of the Paris Olympics or inviting athletes to endorse their products, what brands are pursuing are almost the same:

How to stand out from the massive amount of similar exposure, execute unique marketing actions, and use social media to catch this "flood of wealth" and achieve successful marketing.

Among them, Yili, as a "non-partner of the Paris Olympics", stood out with its brainwashing advertisement featuring Chen Luyu, which was a "stalker". It was the talk of the town and successfully got a share of the pie amid the undercurrent. So, where did this advertisement succeed? Before analyzing it, please watch the VCR.

1. "Luyu becomes the Paris logo"

Yili's counterattack in marketing In 2019, once the emblem of the Paris Olympics was released, it quickly set off a wave of enthusiasm on the Internet because of its similarity to the classic image of the well-known host Chen Luyu. The design of the emblem inadvertently inspired the creative enthusiasm of netizens, and various secondary works emerged in an endless stream, making the "Luyu becomes the Paris logo" joke continue to ferment on social media. In 2021, Luyu herself even responded to this hot topic in person, further driving the popularity.

Paris Olympic Games emblem and Lu Yu

The picture shows the nail art Lu Yu & Paris Olympic Games logo created by netizens

As the Paris Olympics approached, this topic was brought up again, and the heat continued to grow. Celebrities such as "Red-robed Leader" Zhou Hongyi also joined the discussion, making the topic even hotter. Finally, Yili seized this opportunity and officially announced Chen Luyu as the Paris Games ambassador on July 17, and released a "brainwashing video" on the same day. The latter was widely circulated, marking the success of its marketing strategy.

Yili official announcement

Yili's "brainwashing video" successfully attracted the audience's attention with its concise and rhythmic content. In the video, Lu Yu appeared in her classic interview format, talking to the athletes, and cleverly implanted her famous meme "Really?" At the same time, combined with the image of the "Red-robed Leader", the meme of "Lu Yu turning into the Paris logo" was pushed to a climax. Every scene in the video is full of laughs and brainwashing elements, making the "Paris logo" and Yili brand image deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

Lu Yu mentioned her famous joke again in the commercial: "Really? I don't believe it."

From Luyu's "A date in Paris" to the foreign guy's rapid repetition of "Luyu Paris logo Yili sponsored" in a French accent, to the scene of Luyu holding a plane ticket to Paris, the video, with its fast pace and dense jokes, made the audience remember Yili in laughter.

The successful spread of this video not only made the "Luyu becomes the Paris logo" meme a hot topic on social media, but also allowed Yili to continuously build closer relationships with consumers in the process of playing memes with them, thus creating a younger brand image.

A foreign guy with a French accent kept repeating "Luyu Paris logo Yili sponsored"

2. Beyond brainwashing: Yili’s ambush marketing tactics

However, while being brainwashed by the video, it is not difficult for us to find that the "Paris logo" that appears in the video is not the same as the "Paris Olympic Games emblem", but there are subtle differences. What is going on?

The top is the Paris logo in the video, and the bottom is the Paris Olympic Games emblem

In fact, Yili is not a partner of the Paris Olympics. In the 2024 Paris Olympics, Yili is only the "official dairy product of the Chinese sports delegation", so it is not qualified to use the Paris Olympics emblem.

According to the official website of the 2024 Paris Olympics, the partners of the Paris Olympics are divided into four categories: global partners, senior partners, official partners, and official sponsors. All brands outside of these categories are not allowed to use the Paris Olympics logo without permission, otherwise it will constitute infringement.

Paris Olympic Games Partner

Support the national team

However, there are countermeasures for every policy. Yili used a trick called "ambush marketing" to cleverly avoid infringement and take advantage of the popularity of the Paris Olympics. (Ambush marketing refers to a business practice in which a non-sponsoring company conducts marketing activities related to the sponsored object, causing consumers to mistakenly believe that it is an official sponsor and "illegally" shares the official sponsorship rights.)

If you look closely, Yili made a slight adjustment to the Paris Olympics logo in the ad that played with Lu Yu, making it look more like Lu Yu, but also like the original logo; in addition, if you look closely at the video, you will find that there is no audio or text mentioning "Olympics" in the video. The "Paris Olympics logo" was replaced with the "Paris logo", and Lu Yu was only the "Paris Watching Ambassador", not the "Paris Olympics Watching Ambassador".

3. Dancing on the edge of rules

Of course, controversy is inevitable. Yili's approach may cause unfair competition to those brands that have truly invested resources and money to become official partners. After all, sponsors have paid huge economic and resource costs to obtain official status. And Yili's "riding on the popularity" in this way seems to be a bit of "getting something for nothing".

However, from another perspective, Yili's marketing campaign also demonstrated the brand's innovation and flexibility in the face of fierce market competition, that is, under the premise of complying with laws and regulations, it enhances its brand value by creatively establishing connections with large-scale events or hot issues.

With the increasing development of digitalization and social media, brands need to think more flexibly and innovatively about how to communicate and interact with consumers, while also paying attention to maintaining their brand image and social responsibility. Only in this way can brands stand out in the fiercely competitive market and achieve long-term development.