User:Jessieyz/sandbox

Weibo
Durex markets on Sina Weibo which is a Chinese microblogging site.

The official microblogging of Durex opened at the end of January 2011. The number of its followers is about 2.65 million and the number of its microblogs is more than 20 thousand till now. The main contents on the homepage includes brand introduction, purchase links and promoting microblogs.

Before a company attempts to use a brand new digital channel to promote their product, the most important thing for them is to understand the macro environment of this organization.

Durex's marketing is discrete, with campaigns of their products run subtly under the premise of complying with the requirements of social ethics. In Chinese traditional cultural conception, sex is a topic that is best not to be explicitly put forward.

As the most popular micro-blogging platform in China, Sina Weibo is used by companies to promote their brand and products. Durex is among these companies, reaching users on Sina Weibo aged from 20 to 40, and primarily men under 35 years old.

In 2011, Durex began cross-industry advertising tie-ins with antivirus software company Trend Micro, utilising the common themes of "antivirus" and "security."

Through the digital platform of Weibo, Durex’s marketing staff has made the following efforts to help with marketing activities: 1. The personification of the Durex brand. The name “Du Du” is unique in the Chinese market. The purpose is to make ‘Durex’ become a friend of people, which is the difference between Durex and other brands. In life, people are willing to chat and interact with friends and share things in their lives. This is what ‘Dudu’ did as a virtual character. 2. In Weibo, unlike other brands, Durex does not focus on pushing product and brand information to the public. Instead, it uses humorous language to connect the current hot issues with Durex in a secret way with some relatively concealed meanings.

Content Marketing
In the overall digital marketing process, besides using the popular platform Weibo, Content marketing is also an important marketing tool for Durex. For example, Durex’s content marketing in 2015 was very attractive. During this year, Durex uploaded three three-hour advertising videos on the Bilibili website. These videos were watched by more than 6million people and their influence was very impressive.

In addition, Durex has also been very successful in the integration of business and art. First of all, Durex's brand value was promoted in a novel way through a series of copywriting and photo creations which Durex carried out. Secondly, Durex collaborated with artists to create an online art museum based on the topic “Liquid”. While promoting the value of products, so that customers also feel the atmosphere of art in an unconventional way.

Failure
In the process of digital marketing, the risk of communication is high, and in particular, the spread of such a private product as Durex in the conservative Chinese market. If the company is not well mastered in the marketing process, it is easy to touch the social bottom line. In April 2016, Durex held a "100-person test" campaign and conducted a live broadcast. This live broadcast not only failed to achieve the expected results, but also reduced the goodwill of users for the Durex brand. In addition, the six webcasting platforms that led to their cooperation with Durex have been criticized by Chinese government departments.