Text: Giselle Yin
*: foodaily daily food (id: foodaily).
Some time ago, it was found that many netizens participated in an activity called "gambling on sugar".
Little Red Book.
According to netizens, this candy is called Erbao Candy, which is a jam-filled hard candy launched by the nimm2 brand, with two flavors: orange and lemon. What's special is that the number of two flavors in each Erbao candy is random, so this sweet and sour candy is not only the childhood memories of many Cantonese people, known as Guangdong Province Sugar, but also known as "Cantonese people's legal gambling".
It can be seen that the audience of this candy is divided into three factions: the Orange Party, the Lemon Party (Yellow Party) and the Fraternity Party. Offering a double treasure candy with uniform orange and yellow can be regarded as luck, and it can even be regarded as novice protection for netizens who participate in the "first bet". As the ratio of a particular taste rises from 4:5 to 1:1 or even 9:0, the mood of the various parties is also more and more agitated. Yellow is greater than orange, and the lemon party is ecstatic, shouting "This bet wins!" The orange party could only sigh again and again that they loved it but couldn't, and left the scene with regret; Orange is greater than yellow, and the orange party has praised this perfection again and again! The Lemon Party lamented in despair, "Bad hands! Break the big defense! Be sure to fight back next time! ”。
Little Red Book.
With the spread of social **, this blind box-like candy finally aroused the curiosity of netizens from other provinces, netizens from Northeast Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Sichuan and other places have bought Erbao candy, some are curious about the difference between the two flavors, and some people are just to experience a hearty gamble. In the absence of the official end of the brand, the topic of Xiaohongshu related browsing 91380,000, Douyin praise**1490,000 likes, this phenomenon made some Guangdong netizens still a little unable to react: "Huh? How has this sugar become popular lately? ”
Little Red Book.
Actually, in retrospect,Erbao Candy is not an isolated case, people with different taste preferences spontaneously form partisans, which in turn leads to partisan disputes and countless examples of consumer self-propagation, such as the sweet and salty dispute that is staged during the Mid-Autumn Festival and the Lantern Festival every year, the Ao Ao Party and the Lilly Party argue about which part of Oreo is more delicious, and the Salt Party and the Cucumber Party of Lay's support PK in the comment area, sucking the original chicken and ** crispy chicken in the open ring ......
We've also found that brands have taken advantage of consumer partisanship to orchestrate highly successful marketing events that have been used for more than 20 years on this idea alone, and even have their own Wikipedia, and they have announced that by 2025, they are going to take this "war" to the world.
This is the famous Meiji battle of "Mushroom Mountain vs Bamboo Shoot Village". Next, we will introduce to readers why this party dispute, which has lasted for more than 20 years, and how Meiji used this protracted party dispute to create a topic that sparked water supply and repurchase by consumers of all stripes.
"Mushroom Mountain or Bamboo Shoot Township, which do you prefer? ”
1. The old production line is reused, and the new "anti-epidemic" snack is bornMushroom Mountain and Bamboo Shoot Village are snacks introduced by Meiji in 1975.
Five years before the product was released, Meiji was selling a cone-shaped chocolate called "Apollo", and because of the mediocre sales of this snack, Meiji decided to try to make a new snack using this line.
At that time, chocolate on the market was still dominated by blocks and bars, but Meiji tried to make chocolate snacks by adding cracker-shaped biscuits to the Apollo cone, and after five years of research and development, the new product was finally successfully tried.
Comparison of Apollo and Mushroom Mountain, **Meiji.
In 1975, Japan was in a period of rapid economic growth, and the industry was becoming more and more developed, but the public began to re-examine the nature and hometown and beauty, so Meiji did not follow the popular practice of the snack industry at that time to name the new product with foreign words, but took the mountain village scene of mountains, people, and villages as the worldview, and designed the name "Mushroom Mountain (Mountain)" with a gentle and intimate feeling, and the packaging also adopted the green color that was rarely used in the industry at that time.
The nostalgic and natural imagery displayed in the product name and packaging is also one of the important factors that quickly became a popular product after the release of Mushroom Mountain.
The first generation of mushroom mountain packaging, **Meiji.
After the mushroom mountain exploded, Meiji decided to make a brother product. In 1979, Bamboo Shoot Township (Li) was launched, and it quickly became a popular product, establishing a new category of chocolate snacks in the market. With the release of the advertising song produced by the well-known Japanese composer Yuji Ohno and the release of the animated advertisement, the popularity of Mushroom Mountain and Bamboo Shoot Township has further exploded and it has become the top brand.
2. After becoming a national snack, "partisan controversy" has become a national topic againAlthough they are both a combination of chocolate + biscuits, Mushroom Mountain and Bamboo Shoot Village are not only different in shape, but also in texture.
Mushroom Mountain's chocolate and cookies are separated, and the mushroom handle is made of crackers, which are lighter, harder, crunchy, and less likely to get hands dirty; Bamboo shoot village is a cone-shaped cookie wrapped in chocolate, which is relatively soft in texture and sweeter in taste.
Meiji.
As a result, not only did there exist, but around 1980, a natural conversation began to pop among fans: "Mushroom Mountain or Bamboo Shoot Village, which do you prefer?" ”
Fans of various factions will describe in detail why they like Mushroom Mountain Bamboo Shoot Township: "I like Bamboo Shoot Township, and I like moist cookies very much!" "The cookies from Bamboo Shoot Village melt in your mouth at the same time as the chocolate, so you can enjoy it very much" "The texture of Mushroom Mountain is crunchy and addictive", "The part of Mushroom Mountain biscuits is not too sweet, and the taste is simple......, but I like it very much."
This "controversy" continued to spread, and even developed into an online meme meme in the 21st century, which laid the foundation for more than two decades of party marketing after the Meiji era.
After more than 20 years, the heat has not decreased
Meiji Mushroom Bamboo Shoot War What exactly is it fighting for?
Nowadays, a search for the Mushroom Bamboo Shoot War (戦與) shows that this war has a separate Wikipedia, through which we can see the protracted struggle between the Mushroom Party and the Bamboo Shoot Party, and both sides have won and lost, which is not unexciting.
In 2001, the official ended for the first time, and the two parties of mushrooms and bamboo shoots continued to fightIn 2001, Meiji held the first general election for mushrooms and bamboo shoots, which ended in the victory of the Bamboo Shoot Party, but the sluggish sales of Mushroom Hill were successfully restored.
After that, in 2002, Meiji also held a Beyond Bamboo Shoot Township for the defeated Mushroom Party! Mushroom Mountain 1 Million Party Member Recruitment (Chasing Yue Li Mountain's 1 Million Party Member Recruitment Year Held Mushroom Bamboo Shoot Which faction are you?) and other activities, the atmosphere of party contention continues to grow and intensifies among the fans of the two factions.
In addition to official organizations, there are also some spontaneous party disputes among the people, submitting various "evidence" to prove that their favorite products are more popular, such as:
In 2010, there were more reviews of Mushroom Hill on the American Amazon than Bamboo Shoot Township;
In 2013, Yahoo!Japan's keyword search shows that the number of searches for Mushroom Mountain in most prefectures exceeds that of Bamboo Shoot Township;
In 2014, a data analysis of purchases by Recereco, a free bookkeeping app, showed that the number of purchases in Bamboo Shoot Township was almost twice that of Mushroom Mountain, and there were no regional or gender differences.
In 2016, the Japanese people voted seriously on TV Asahi! Snacks General Election 2016 (Japanese National Vote!) In the 2016 program, Bamboo Shoot Township ranked 8th, and Mushroom Mountain ranked ...... outside the 30s
It can be seen that there has been no official conclusion on who is more popular in Mushroom Mountain and Bamboo Shoot Township, which has inspired the struggle between the two parties until 2018, when Meiji once again organized the official Mushroom Mountain Bamboo Shoot Township National General Election 2018 ( 山 山 National 総緸挙 2018), declaring that "it is necessary to put a stop to this long party constitution".
Cessation of war or "arch fire"? In 2018, Meiji introduced a third force and held a general electionFebruary 26, 2018, Mushroom Mountain, Bamboo Shoot Township National Election 2018 Open voting channels, you can participate in two ways: postcard voting and online voting, and there is no age limit for voters. The vote lasted five months and received more than 16 million votes.
Unlike in 2001, in addition to voting, Meiji also set up a lot of ceremonial sessions, produced materials that symbolized the identity of "party members", and developed a variety of reward mechanisms for each party to maximize the participation experience of fans and the desire to win.
*At the beginning, Meiji announced that Jun Matsumoto, a member of Japan's national boy band, would be the chairman of the general election committee, and Jun Matsumoto would call on the public to vote in an advertisement. On the same day, this general election was on the trending trend on Twitter.
Meiji.
At the same time, during the ** period, the leaders of each party will issue election conventions, and Meiji will also send researchers from Mushroom Mountain and Bamboo Shoot Township to issue a statement to make a concerted effort to solicit votes for their own parties.
Meiji also called for a vote on the conventions of all parties, and promised to do its best to honor the conventions, and the conventions with the highest number of votes would be honored first. Judging by the results of the vote:
The Mushroom Party's popular conventions include the release of limited new products, the release of oversized Mushroom Mountain pendant pillows, and the development of Mushroom Mountain's exclusive games;
The Bamboo Shoot Party hopes to create limited new products with athlete Yoshida Sabaori, hold an experience meeting of "Digging Bamboo Shoot Township", and make AI audio for Bamboo Shoot Township;
The "Mushroom Bamboo Shoot Shuangdan Party" hopes that Mushroom Mountain and Bamboo Shoot Township will respectively release new limited flavors that can be turned into new flavors by mixed food, hold a mixed product experience meeting in Mushroom Mountain and Bamboo Shoot Township, and hold a "Mushroom and Bamboo Shoot Wedding".
Example of part of the manifesto, **Meiji.
In addition, among the "party members" who vote on postcards, Meiji will randomly select 3,000 people and give out party member cards with their names printed on them, as well as gift cards worth 2,000 yen.
Meiji.
In May 2018, the results of the mid-term voting were announced, and the Mushroom Party was at a disadvantage, and Meiji invited the athlete Shinichi Shinohara, alias "Shinichi Mushroom", to record a speech for the Mushroom Party, and carried out the "Mushroom Party Counterattack Battle" luxury gift ** activity limited by the Mushroom Party, announcing that Mushroom Hill has obtained the three-dimensional trademark right, in order to call on and encourage the Mushroom Party to catch up with the number of votes and strive to overtake.
On July 15, the Mushroom Party was still behind in votes, and Meiji once again canvassed for votes through the "Mushroom Shinichi" final speech event.
On July 31, the Mushroom Party's counterattack finally paid off, with the Mushroom Party's votes reaching about 230,000, only 2 votes behind the Bamboo Party.
Meiji.
In addition to the election process, there is also a very big change, that is, Meiji introduced a third party in this election - the "Mushroom Bamboo Shoot Shuangdan Party", which loves Mushroom Mountain and Bamboo Shoot Township equally, hoping that both snacks can have a bright future and that the two parties can coexist in harmony. However, contrary to expectations, the new party that hoped for peace did not make the situation more peaceful, but only made the current party struggle more intense, and at the same time increased the topic.
Meiji.
On September 3, Meiji announced that the results of the ** vote would be released on September 11, and a celebration party would be held at 6 p.m. on the same day.
At the celebration party, the winning party will announce the plan to fulfill the convention, and you can also experience some of the conventions at the scene.
Meiji.
At the same time, in order to thank all the fans who participated in the election and voted, Meiji also launched two new products, Mushroom Mountain Purple Potato Flavor and Bamboo Shoot Village and Chestnut Flavor, and at the celebration banquet, you can eat 4 flavors including the new product Mushroom Mountain Bamboo Shoot Village buffet.
Meiji.
On September 11, the final election results were announced, and at the press conference and voting event for the new CM of the general election, Jun Matsumoto, chairman of the General Election Committee, announced the victory of the Bamboo Shoot Party and announced the votes of the three parties: 6,931,220 votes for the Bamboo Shoot Party, 6,761,773 votes for the Mushroom Party, and 2,238,204 votes for the Shuangdan Party.
The victorious Bamboo Shoot Party set up a convention implementation committee, announced the plan for the implementation of the convention, and gave priority to the "digging bamboo shoot township" experience meeting and AI audio decorations in the form of bamboo shoot township at the celebration banquet on the same day.
Meiji.
Since then, various conventions have been gradually realized, such as on December 4, Meiji released a new product of Yoshida Sabaori, the victory caramel of Takeda Sabaori, which Yoshida Sabaori will also melt.
Meiji.
And the bamboo shoot party, which lost in the party struggle, also won the consolation prize after **. On May 14, 2019, on the occasion of the resurrection of the defeated mushroom party and the 25th anniversary of the release of Meiji Essel Super Cup Ice Cream, the Essel Super Cup vanilla flavored pure white mushroom mountain was launched.
Meiji.
December 2018 In March 2019, Meiji held the Mushroom Party's Defeat and Thanksgiving Event, in which 500 participants were selected to receive gift boxes containing prizes such as 10 boxes of mushroom mountains and transparent water bottles.
At this point, the party struggle in 2018 has finally entered the final stage, but the struggle between the mushroom party and the bamboo shoot party has not "come to an end" as expected.
Summary
The partisan dispute between the mushroom party and the bamboo shoot party was actually determined by the characteristics of the product, and although it was not Meiji's original intention, the taste and texture naturally caused a division of preferred groups, and eventually formed a "point of contention".
This phenomenon of "controversy" is actually quite common in the food industry, and Meiji keenly developed this "controversy" into a unique brand culture of benign opposites, and continued to create ** topics and consumer topics in this way, and finally formed ** and purchases.
In public reports, an employee of the Meiji Public Relations Agency also mentioned that, like many longevity brands, as a national brand that has been sold for more than 40 years, Mushroom Mountain and Bamboo Shoot Village have reached almost universal recognition in the country, and the sales channels are quite mature and can be purchased everywhere, so it is difficult to create opportunities to buy and eat them purposefully.
The 2018 national election not only brought a large number of online and offline ** and tap water to the brand, but also brought excitement to consumers, which strengthened the connection between the brand and customers, and also effectively drove the sales of the product, and the effect exceeded the advertising and publicity expenses.
Of course, although the party struggle has never stopped, with the change of the times, the innovation of communication channels and the adjustment of the direction of brand development, the form of "general election" is not immutable. So, after 2018, what kind of fun marketing did Meiji plan to use partisanship? We'll break it down next time.