Lotus Cars creates a classic cross-border marketing campaign for music enthusiasts.

by lianhqc on 2011-11-21 11:59:12

On the morning of November 21st, at the Young Lotus exhibition booth located in Hall 3 of the Guangzhou Auto Show, a bustling scene once again emerged. Young Lotus held a grand signing ceremony for its strategic cooperation with the "Haikou Jin Island Music Festival." The event gathered many rare and heavyweight figures from the music industry, and the music superstars ignited the entire venue. Every year at the end of the year, the Guangzhou International Auto Show has always been a major event where manufacturers showcase their marketing moves for the next year. Just months ago, Young Lotus made a deep impression by launching a new car in the form of a Guinness World Record challenge. This time, through a distinctive announcement event, Young Lotus displayed its strong cross-border marketing posture, which once again became a hot pursuit for media coverage.

Deep Cooperation to Create a World-Class Music Festival

Jointly organized by the Hainan Federation of Literary and Art Circles, Haikou Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Film, Television, Press, Publication, Sports, Haikou Movie Commune Advertising Media Co., Ltd., and China Social Culture Development Foundation, the "First Haikou Jin Island Music Festival" held a press conference at the Young Lotus booth of the Guangzhou Auto Show. According to the organizers, this "Grand Musical Event" will create five "firsts" in domestic music festivals: "the longest duration, the largest city coverage, the strongest lineup of performing stars, the most participants, and the latest and most unique interactive performance methods." As part of the national strategy, Hainan will be developed into a world-class island leisure holiday tourism destination, and the cultural industry will become a key pillar industry of Hainan Province. Establishing the "Haikou Jin Island Music Festival" is a significant move to promote the construction of Haikou's international city brand, aiming to make the music festival a top-notch and internationally renowned large-scale musical event.

At the press conference, the official launch of the music festival's official Weibo account and website was announced, followed by the signing ceremony for the strategic cooperation agreement between Young Lotus and the "Haikou Jin Island Music Festival." Young Lotus announced that it would invest nearly a certain amount of money to participate comprehensively in the strategic cooperation of the "Haikou Jin Island Music Festival." First, the Young Lotus color fleet will gather well-known musicians, celebrities from the cultural and sports fields, directors, and journalists to form a "Music Truck," setting out simultaneously from three routes: Xi'an, Zhengzhou, and Qingdao. The "Music Journey Southward" will travel thousands of miles, interviewing grassroots bands and music experts along the way, finally converging at the "Haikou Jin Island Music Festival." Young Lotus will provide more than 20 luxury buses, cars, and engineering vehicles as the sole designated vehicles for the "Music Truck Fleet," ensuring the entire "Music Journey Southward" activity.

The entire "Music Journey Southward" will last 22 days, covering 12 major and medium-sized cities across the country. The Young Lotus dealers in these 12 cities will actively participate in the tour exhibition activities, with special skill performances from the Lotus Color Fleet also joining in. It was reported that Li Yatao, the creator of the Guinness World Records and successful challenger of the 360-degree aerial fire star stunt, will also perform. Meanwhile, the image ambassador of the Young Lotus brand, "Lotus Little Prince," will serve as the image promotion envoy for the "Haikou Jin Island Music Festival" Music Journey Southward, grandly attending relevant promotional activities.

Young Lotus will also invest a large sum of money in joint promotions between Young Lotus and the "Haikou Jin Island Music Festival." Trendsetters from all over the country can join this music army at any time. In terms of performance lineup, Taihe Maitian will produce it with participation from many front-line singers both domestically and internationally, featuring rock, pop, electronic, and alternative music styles, showcasing a luxurious team. The Haikou Jin Island Music Festival will undoubtedly become a top-tier musical event gathering numerous stars.

During the signing ceremony, senior executives from the organizing committee of the Haikou Jin Island Music Festival, including the China Social Culture Development Foundation and the Movie Commune, as well as co-organizers Taihe Maitian, attended and delivered speeches. Huang Zhiqiang, Vice President of China Youth Automobile Group and General Manager of Zhejiang Youth Passenger Car Group Sales Company, expressed that "combining the sportiness of automobiles with the passion of music will surely set a new benchmark for cross-industry marketing."

Cross-Border Marketing Builds Brand Personality

In 2011, Youth Cars entered the public eye with Saab on the left and Lotus on the right, marking the first year of transitioning from a strategic reserve phase to a strategic layout phase, the opening year of Youth Lotus' "big marketing" era, and a bountiful year for Youth Lotus. The player-level trendsetter sports car Lotus L3 competed and won consecutively in the China Auto Tension Championship, demonstrating Youth Lotus' unparalleled sportsmanship and control. On September 23rd, the "Urban New Sharp Coupé" Lotus L5 Sportback was launched on the banks of the Huangpu River in the form of breaking the Guinness World Record, creating a new record and pride for China's automobile industry.

This collaboration with the "Haikou Jin Island Music Festival" integrates "trendy sports" car culture with "fashionable music festivals," marking a breakthrough in Youth Lotus' cross-border marketing strategy. "Lotus, I'm Crazy About Music" positions its target consumer group as urban trendsetters who are passionate about sports, obsessed with music, and eager to pursue fashionable lifestyles. The "Haikou Jin Island Music Festival" serves as a platform that gathers various types of music, entertainment, art, and proposals, making it an ideal gathering place for Youth Lotus consumers. Therefore, the cross-border partnership not only achieves precise and widespread dissemination of the Youth Lotus brand and product characteristics but also plays a crucial role in leading sports trends and advocating fashionable lifestyles.

Reversing the "Niche" Positioning, Guiding Trend Consumption

The Youth Lotus brand, a result of the strategic cooperation between Youth Cars and the globally renowned British Lotus Group, inherits the high-performance product quality of British Lotus in terms of sports and handling. The Lotus L5 Sportback, launched in Shanghai on September 23rd, was another remarkable masterpiece created by over a hundred British Lotus engineers over five years, investing 3486 person-months. Since its launch, it has set a Guinness World Record. Due to Youth Lotus' unique sports nature, combined with previously high pricing, insufficient brand marketing, and low ownership, it had been labeled as a niche product.

This time, Youth Lotus adjusted its marketing strategy, claiming to enter the "Big Marketing Era" in 2011. Besides the breathtaking Guinness World Record-breaking launch event, there was also an official price adjustment announcement for the Lotus L3 on November 1st, reducing prices by 15,000 RMB, a drop of 20%. This price adjustment realized the brand positioning of "Youth Lotus pricing comparable to Korean cars," aligning Youth Lotus products with peer Korean cars in all aspects.

Huang Zhiqiang, General Manager of the Youth Lotus Sales Company, stated: "We will overturn the perception of 'niche cars.'" According to him, after surveying Youth Lotus car buyers, the primary reason for choosing Youth Lotus remains its trendy appearance, making our models mass-market, fashionable in appearance. Youth Lotus also adopts high-standard standard equipment configurations (such as aluminum alloy rims, remote-controlled four-door electric windows, multifunctional steering wheels, electronic anti-theft systems, reversing radars, semi-automatic air conditioners, etc.). After the recent price adjustments, without compromising on product aesthetics, comfort, or cost-effectiveness, the "niche" uniqueness becomes a bonus value-added feature.

Furthermore, in brand promotion, we follow mainstream mass interaction marketing strategies and will further increase marketing efforts. We consistently promote Youth Lotus' unique selling points and superior handling as differentiation appeals, continuously building the personality of the Youth Lotus brand. Therefore, we believe Youth Lotus should have the positioning of a "personalized mass brand."

Youth Lotus will focus on creating urban personalized sports and fashionable sedans, combining movement with entertainment to create a car trend culture. It is reported that this strategic cooperation with the "Haikou Jin Island Music Festival" is one of the series of "Trend Humanistic Culture" activities planned by Youth Lotus starting in 2012. Youth Lotus will transition from pure automotive sports to trends, fashion, and passion. Besides "trendy sports" and "trendy music," the next step will involve sponsoring a large annual satellite TV entertainment interaction program to create "trendy love." Through a "trinity" approach, Youth Lotus aims to create a new brand tone using "Trend Humanistic Culture" in three acts—successfully resonating with trends, fashion, and passion within the Youth Lotus brand character.

"Personality does not equal niche, personality does not equal high price; we aim to build a personalized mass market," Huang Zhiqiang expressed: "SUVs were once niche models but have now become mainstream mass models. Youth Lotus firmly adheres to sports, firmly follows trends, and firmly approaches consumers with ordinary people's prices. We firmly believe that the mass market expression will soon arrive."

Youth Lotus cars are a project introduced by Youth Automobile Group, incorporating the British Lotus car brand and technology, with technical output and quality control implemented by British Lotus, developing a series of new models, producing cars with high specifications and high quality. To date, it owns three major production bases in Shandong, Zhejiang, and Guizhou.