Hashtag Marketing: #Magnum vs. #ChowkingChefBowlSpecials

Posted on Mar 11, 2012 in Marketing, Philippines, Social Media, Twitter | 18 comments

I do not work for Magnum nor Chowking. I also am not a fan of either. What I am is an active Twitter user who has seen both brands do “hashtag marketing.”

#Magnum Trends on Twitter PH

If you’ve been on Twitter a lot the past couple of weeks, you might have seen the buzz on this Magnum ice cream bar. February 28 was when they had their press event and had their brand ambassadors, together with food bloggers, tweet about how ridiculously delicious this ice cream is. Of course, the #Magnum hashtag had to be there.

Yes, I will admit, I was one of those who got suckered by this marketing tactic.

To be fair, I wasn’t alone in this.

There were a lot of other tweets but I won’t include it here anymore. I’m thinking you’ve already seen a lot. But yes, #Magnum trended for a few hours that day and even my Facebook newsfeed picked up on it.

Of course, you can’t please everyone and so naturally, Magnum also had some people feeling they were ripped off or that this is a ridiculous campaign that just used celebrities and food bloggers. I’m not here to judge the product as I am by no means an ice cream connoisseur.

If you appreciate marketing or you’re a marketer though, you’ll know that if brand awareness was your objective for this product, then this campaign truly succeeded. I don’t know just how many of these things were bought that day but based on the number of people I’ve seen tweeting that they’re going to Ministop, the 7-Elevens that “ran out” of Magnum bars, and the number of people I’ve seen walking around with chocolate popsicles, I’d say they’ve sold a significant number.

But yes, whether or not you liked it, if you tweeted/Facebooked/Instagrammed your experience, you just helped them create even more buzz.

As for reaching 10 million tweets, I wonder if they included all the other non-ice cream Magnums out there? I actually had a friend from the US ask me why I was tweeting about condoms. LOL. Turns out Magnum is also a well-known condom brand. Interesting.

Spotted: A Copycat?

5 days after the #Magnum tweeting first started, I see around 2 tweets for this Chowking Chef SuperBowl Specials promo. I do a quick Twitter search and find the following: (I am not even going to comment on the #ExtremelyLongHashtagThatTakesUp1000Characters)

They used Twitter bots.

I’m not sure if this is something they’re proud of but the way I see it, it just looks… sad. If you don’t believe me, check out this Twitter user named Andre Pitt. In case he deletes his account, I also took a screenshot.

They spammed users.

Obviously, they have not heard about what happened to Ragu in the US. This tells me they don’t care whether people get annoyed by what they’re doing or if they’re labeled as spammers. As long as people see this #superlonghashtagabouttheirbrand, they’re fine.

They don’t even understand what they’re talking about.

How exactly do you trend on a Twitter fan page? I suppose if it’s your fan page, you’ll be trending on it 24/7?

I understand Chowking may not have the same budget as Magnum in that they couldn’t afford to have brand ambassadors or have nice press events but I really think this could have been done way better. You know, without the spamming, the bots, or the #extralonghashtagyesishouldprobablystopdoingthis.

http://twitter.com/_MartyParty Martin Bakunawa

The Marketing Manager is a lazy pig and spams the tweets. This account should be blocked and reported for spam.

http://twitter.com/Skushno Peanut Dela Cruz

Hi Martin!

I know right! But at the end of the day, I think it’s Chowking’s reputation (at least on Twitter) that gets affected anyway. :D
http://twitter.com/kingdelrosario king del rosario

I kinda know them, actually….

http://www.facebook.com/people/Jamez-Gomez/100002289593485 Jamez Gomez

Guys. You should really read before you post. Chowking was offering a 50% off on its Chef Bowl Specials. In other words, it’s a promo. Magnum trend was not a promo. I don’t know what this blogger is crying about but both brands managed to spread the word out. I got my promo coupon from Chowking, and I was satisfied with the Chef Bowl Specials. You should try out the Chef Bowl Specials. More power to Chowking! At least, they gave us a meal worthwhile.

Don’t judge a book by its cover.

http://twitter.com/ejdelavega Edward dela Vega

@Jamez,

No need to get so defensive. The post just pointed out the way that Chowking tried to get their promo trending. Think about it, when something starts to trend, it should mean that people are genuinely interested in that topic or there is actual conversation going on around it. It’s a great resource to see what’s really going on around Twitter locally.

Having bots do that kind of marketing is artificial and totally defeats the purpose. Good for you that you enjoyed your coupon but personally, I’d be more inclined to try it if I heard a genuine recommendation from an actual person vs. “Andre Pitt” spamming me.
http://twitter.com/Skushno Peanut Dela Cruz

Hi Jamez,

Thanks for stopping by!

You see, it’s not whether it was a promo or not, it was the way they did it. If you look at the Twitter accounts they used, they’re bots. Not real people. Just because it’s a promo doesn’t mean it’s fine to create fake accounts to promote your offering. Or to automate your tweets just to let your customers know about this promo.

Some people may like this route, like you did, but some of us won’t. And so I blogged about it. :)

Peanut

http://www.facebook.com/people/Paulo-Addikto/100001533716600 Paulo Addikto

It seems that PLDT does the same thing. I was checking out Twitter and found this. I guess nobody is perfect.

http://twitter.com/kingdelrosario king del rosario

If we’re gonna talk about the execution of the 50% off, if the Chowking guys get to read this comment, I’m still waiting for my voucher, or at the very least, for my e-mail to get through…. It always bounces back. :)

http://twitter.com/GeloLopez Angelo Louise Lopez

Oh please, we all know that spamming is not a good way to trend. And it is relatively free to make a twitter campaign.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Cattleya-Oliveros/100000029915834 Cattleya Oliveros

Hmm. Honestly. I don’t really care about which marketing tactic each brand used. Bots or no bots. It worked didn’t it? You got the message. I heard about the Chowking Chef Bowl Specials through Twitter. The admin actually replied to me, and it helped out a lot. I tried the Chef Bowl Specials through the promo which was sent to me through my email. They did a good job, and I was quite satisfied. I also liked the Magnum ice cream.

I noticed this blog has lot of negative sentiments among other brands. In my opinion. This is just bias. This is just one person opinion. I don’t know why people have to heckle others just to get a few points for their blogs.

Peace

james

Hello Cattleya. It seems to me that if you don’t care about which marketing tactic was used, then this post really won’t make a difference to you. It shouldn’t even matter. But still, it apparently mattered enough that you took the time to comment. Which is perfectly fine.

You see, that’s how blogs work. The blogger sees something, has an opinion about it, and shares that opinion online. If the opinion is positive, then good. If it’s negative, is she supposed to NOT share? Why not? And by extension, that is how the comments section works as well. You read something and you form an opinion about it. You like it and want to say so, that’s good. But if you don’t like it, should you shut up about it? Your opinion about this particular post was negative, wasn’t it? And you felt that it was okay to share that negative opinion. So why should the blogger not share her opinion on something that she saw?

There is enough room in the blogosphere for all sorts of conflicting points of view, without anyone being required to agree with anyone else. :) Cool, no? Oh and, for people who actually make a living out of marketing, this blog post is actually useful. Kinda like a case study.

James
http://twitter.com/Skushno Peanut Dela Cruz

Cattleya,

All bloggers are biased. In my case, my bias is towards what I think is a good marketing campaign, like the one Magnum did. I’m also biased against spamming, like what Chowking did.

I am certainly not heckling here as these are brands (not people) and I am a potential customer. I would like to think I am free to write what I want to write about – including my own opinion towards things they have presented to me.

http://twitter.com/kingdelrosario king del rosario

All bloggers are biased. Some are paid for the bias. Some are not. Te-hee!

Christine

I’ve been seeing Magnum in SG for a while now and it’s not such a big deal as it is here. Or I may just be oblivious to trends, I guess. =)
http://www.digientrepreneur.com/module-3.html Janette Toral

Thank you Peanut for this post. It is interesting that as much there are bloggers who actively participate in promos, there are a few who also share their perspective on its effectiveness. This is healthy and can help us learn in the process. More power to you.
PumbaaDpig

That’s the Best Ice Cream Bar here in the EU! Belgian Chocolate and ice cream = GOOOD!
http://twitter.com/kingdelrosario king del rosario

I can’t speak for all brands/products/services, but a good social media promotions/campaign does not necessarily translate to good sales or profitability…. or vice versa….