Choco Pie's Occasional Marketing: A Sweet Treat Before Exam

Take a look at how Choco Pie ceases the opportunity to a dreadful occasion into a lucrative buying habit.

The best friend of Vietnamese

Choco Pie, the prize child of Korean confectionery giant Orion, is as ubiquitous as it gets in Vietnam. The soft, chocolate-covered marshmallow sponge cake has become a daily go-to snack in countless families, thus averaging 500 million pieces per year and dominating its market with up to 64% share in 2018 (The Investor 2018). Last year, Vietnamese sales revenue (80.9 million USD) managed to surpass that of its motherland (73 million USD) thanks to the 600 million pieces sold, making our country the second biggest market for Choco Pie after China (Saigoneer 2019).

And those achievements aren’t easy tasks. Orion got to this position thanks to various factors. The first is early penetration. In a country where familiarity means everything, entering first is a huge advantage. Orion officially started business in 1995, the same year as Unilever. This was quite a gamble as Vietnam had just entered Doi Moi era in 1986 and the country was still underdeveloped, hence soap and shampoo were far easier to sell than snack-time treat. Yet the gamble paid off, Vietnam flourished and Orion now has the biggest slice of confectionery market.

But a head start alone isn’t enough, in this age of disruption, anything can happen. Thus, Orion pays extra attention to promotion and distribution. On the talking front, it builds solid communication foundation for Choco Pie through its platform ‘Tình’, or ‘Affection’ in 2008. This message has been the face of Choco Pie since and adapted into various Tết campaigns like ‘Hành trình yêu thương’ 2019, ‘Trao yêu thương, tình trọn vẹn’ 2018. For distribution, it’s safe to say that all retail stores, be it traditional or modern, have Choco Pies.

Later on that ‘Affection’ seems to have dumbed down so Choco Pie needs to refresh its communication with a different message. It needs something that can appeal more strongly to younger audience but just as sustainable as the first. Finally, the company has found its sweet spot.

A treat before exam

Despite studying so hard for so long, these students are still doubtful about their ability to pass the exam.

Choco Pie turns to another annual occasion besides Tết to gravitate their campaign around. The dreadful national university entrance exam. Orion wants to push sales during this occasion to create steady revenue. But the habit of buying a Choco Pie before an exam isn’t fully formed yet, so the objective of this campaign boils down to justify and ingrain in consumers’ mind a new buying habit.

Contextually, their target audience are final year high school students who’ve been working tirelessly their whole high school (or at least the last year): taking up extra classes, stay up late, doing extra work to prepare themselves for the ultimate test. Why? Because they understand clearly the significance and pressure (from peer, family & society) of getting into university. But subconsciously, despite studying so hard for so long, these students are still doubtful about their ability to pass the test. That’s why Choco Pie will be their trusted friend on exam day who both reminds them about their hard work and provides them with a soft sugary treat to calm themselves so that ‘They Can Do It’, a cheer frequently dubbed as magical spell during the campaign, and ace the test.

Praise is given to the planning for its cohesiveness and single-mindedness. However, execution-wise, in all fairness, the campaign doesn’t deviate much from standard practice. All deliverables synergize and materialize the message above, but doesn’t pack any wow unto itself. While this campaign has been run in both 2018 and 2019, the latter saw much greater success thanks to the massive hit of Vietnamese Running Man (Chay Di Cho Chi) combined with aggressive media buying.

Choco Pie’s key hook is the twice used TVC featuring Lee Kwang Soo, a Korean celebrity famous for his appearance on the original Running Man. The 30s clip, repeatedly aired during Chay Di Cho Chi episodes leading to the exam, shows a high school girl confidently prepares to take the test next to a Choco Pie, accompanied by uplifting drum beats and ends with Soo wishing ‘You Can Do It’. This video establishes both the functional and emotional appeal to TA just when repeated airing reinforces buying occasion for Choco Pie. Moreover, the nearest episode to the test, sponsored by Orion, showcased CDCC entire cast wishing good lucks to exam-goers, which further visualize that emotional appeal to dreadful exam-goers. Supplement deliverables like Facebook posts or mini games add in interactive element and freebies at test locations strengthens buying habit.

There are no official numbers on the goals achieved for ‘You Can Do It’. But when comparing the number of posts, online views and interactions between two years, 2019 boasts much better results. Hence, with an educated guess, it’s safe to say that Choco Pie aced this year’s exam.

An imperfect 9 out of 10

Choco Pie campaign almost scored a perfect 10 had it done better on these aspects, granted that all of them are minor nitpickings. For instance, Choco Pie could take more risk and become more subversive with their message like McDonald’s did for Chinese Gaokao (China’s version of entrance exam) to be truly creative. McDonald’s chose the message ‘An exam doesn’t determine your life’ instead of flowing with the prevalent ‘do-or-die’ mentality to stand out and in return, beat out competitors for the best results during this occasion (WARC 2019).

All in all, with good planning and correct execution, ‘You Can Do It’ further consolidates Orion’s Choco Pie as a fan favorite and secures a strong, sustainable usage occasions for years to come, guaranteeing ever sweeter future for the Korean confectionery giant.