Established in 2015, CHINESE SAUERKRAUT FISH has had three hundred stores in China. The internet-famous store in Sichuan-style pickled fish features long queue and is doing a brisk trade everyday. In late August, CHINESE SAUERKRAUT FISH first overseas store was officially opened at Singapore Changi Airport. It invited 222 Chinese fans and local food bloggers, making tasteful sauerkreut fish made by old jar go global and successfully buliding up appetite of Singaporeans.
To gain a good reputation, marketing for targeted customers
Although CHINESE SAUERKRAUT FISH is quite famous on the Internet, the airport store is not as crowded as it used to be due to the epidemic. Without the geographical advantage of being a hub of traffic, how can the store fight its first overseas battle?
We had already built up a certain amount of buzz and good reputation in China. With the Chinese population in Singapore accounting for 70% of the residents, we needed to do what we could to attract consumers’ attention and promote customers, rather than just raising brand recognition without making a real profit.
We noticed that the contrast in colour between the unique black and white cartoon style of its store décor and the vivid dish colour was a good way to capture consumers’ attention. Therefore, the most important thing was to identify the platforms and channels that would maximise the exposure of the products and stimulate the audience to forward them.
So we turn our focus on the Internet. Visiting restaurants by influencers is alwasys the hotspot on social media. Indeed, food bloggers make netizens feast their eyes in the context of epidemic. Instagram and Tiktok are home to many young people, one is a photo-sharing community that gathers trendy lifestyles; the other is the hottest short video platform. Ins is a great way to showcase the tantalising sauerkraut fish in visual, while Tiktok is the most immersive way to present its quirky rules in one go (such as shouting slogans before serving, and answering code words for hidden prizes).
Interaction with fans at home and abroad by invitation
However, although the exquisite pictures by influencers who visited the store are very appealing, the consumers may not buy it, especially for those prefer strong interactive young consumers, the matrix posts from of KOLs and KOCs are more like advertisements, so it is hard to convince young overseas consumers with a few words, pictures and videos. And then, we think of the store’s huge fanbase in China. What if domestic fans are involoved in the new overseas store marketing, would there be a pleasing effect?
We invited 222 hardcore fans based on the brand, and asked them to send out “An Invitation to Visit Store” to Singapore’s food bloggers and introduce interesting ways to eat and play. Moreover, the bloggers are asked to find out what makes this restaurant unique. The participation of fans greatly increased customer-friendly opening event and attracted many regular consumers to have a return visit.
By creating a buzz for the new Singapore store through a combination of domestic and overseas social media, CHINESE SAUERKRAUT FISH not only maintained its usual Internet fun image, but also further strengthened its interaction with its fans. With its second spreading by Web impact, the store brought authentic Sichuan flavours overseas and further realized its corporate vision of “Let the whole universe eat sauerkreut fish”. In this campaign, we eventually invited over 30 local Singaporean bloggers with medium-volume fans and classic content to visit the new store for a tasting, with 57w+ views of the post. The marketing method of invitation also attracted active participation by store’s fans at home and abroad and won a good reputation.
About us
Beyond Next is an agency specialized in global branding strategy. With precise insight and efficient execution, we tailor marketing solutions and implement on the ground for our clients. We carry out corporate goals from the view of achieving long-term brand development. We work to improve our service through continuous polishing and studying of marketing cases. We also cherish every opportunity to deeply discuss with our clients in order to help them break the marketing bottleneck and increase the overseas reputation.
