case study

(* Source: One9Ninety *)

Over the 2009 Chinese May holiday, Lenovo launched a social media campaign titled “Red Laptop Girl” (红本女), which featured a man who was trying to track down a mysterious girl who carried a red Lenovo laptop.

While the campaign created a short-term spike in traffic, the story was quickly exposed as being fake by Chinese netizens, creating negative word of mouth for Lenovo.  In a detailed analysis of the “Red Laptop Girl” incident, an IWOM expert in China identified the reasons why the campaign was a failure:

1. Chose the wrong platform to release the information- Campaign launched on SOHU’s digital channel, three clicks in from the homepage so the page wiews were limited.
2. Pictures too professionally manicured- Photos released were obviously photoshopped.
3. Format / content too commercial- Information was formatted and written in a very obviously commercial manner.
4. Timing too obvious- Campaign launched during the Labor day holiday (May 1) to attract attention from netizens, but smart ones figured out this timing was chosen as many people are online during vacation periods.
5. Effect of the campaign too obvious- The campaign created a lot of buzz without much cost. IT netizens figured out that Lenovo was trying to use a low cost way to attract a lot of attention.
6. Underestimated Netizens Ability to Spot Fake Campaigns- Chinese Netizens see too much commercial crap online and brands should not underestimate their ability to expose fake campaigns.

Tagged as: case study, IWOM, Lenovo, Negative WOM, Red Laptop Girl, 红本女

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