The Secret:
Why Corona Beer Took a Hit from Coronavirus?
The Novel Coronavirus epidemic has had a huge impact on companies all around the world. One of the biggest victims is Corona Beer. This world-famous Mexican beer, with its unique flavor of lemon, used to rank first in beer sales of the world. In the United States and China, its sales also ranked NO.1 among imported beer. However, in the past 2 months, its stock suffered a disastrous decline. What’s worse, its reputation has been destroyed, with its sales plummeting.
What happened? The staff of Corona Beer was infected with the Novel Coronavirus? Or the beer is a vector that spreads the virus? No. And the answer sounds so ridiculous. The tragedy is simply because the name of this beer is the same as the virus! Actually, the beer was named “Corona” originally with the meaning of “crown”. Regarding the brand name, Corona once proudly expressed in the advertisement that its taste is as touching as the name. What now? This once touching name is giving it a headache. The Novel Coronavirus turned into “Corona’s virus”. As to this, the Corona Company has emphasized more than once that drinking Corona will not be infected with the virus. But that doesn’t stop people from relating Corona with Coronavirus.
An epidemic kicks Corona out of the fashionable drinks for young people. Instead, it becomes a “virus” that everyone tried to avoid.
“My refrigerator is infected with the CORONAVIRUS!!!”
“Go away, Corona!”
“Protect the ones you love!”
Corona’ image was even printed as a logo on the creative “anti-virus jacket”.
Unfortunately, this is not just a joke for Corona. How big is the impact of this incident on Corona’s consumers?
KRON and CNN in the U.S. specifically launched a special investigation for this. To find out whether people would buy Corona Beer during the epidemic, they interviewed 737 people. The research has shown that 38% of American respondents said they would never buy this brand of beer, while 16% “not sure”. And for those who used to drink Corona, the report is showed as the chart:
People who usually drink Corona would...
Fallacies of Relevance
As a century-old brand founded in 1925, Corona is a global best-selling brand under AB InBev. It conquers the opponents in 95 years, but lost to Novel Coronavirus in just 2 months. In these 2 months, Corona’s loss was as high as 221 million pounds (approximated to RMB 1.96 billion).
Although most people know that Corona Beer has nothing to do with Coronaviruses, it is easy to relate the two with each other in their subconscious. And this leads to irrational behavior. It is not inconceivable at all. This is called “Fallacies of Relevance” in psychology, referring to ridiculously relating something to another thing that has nothing to do.
Such kinds of irrational actions are common in our lives. In this Coronavirus epidemic, Corona Hotel in Osaka, Japan had the same experience as Corona Beer.
This old-fashioned hotel that has been in business for more than 50 years, was described by Twitter netizens like this: As soon as I heard the name “Corona Hotel”, it felt terrible. There were even concerns that there will be Coronavirus in the hotel. In order to make the customers feel safe, even the piglet dolls in the hotel were put on masks! Funny, right?
How to Use Fallacy of Relevance in Business?
Smart people learn to avoid Fallacies of Relevance and irrational behavior in their lives. And smarter guys apply this to their business, especially in marketing.
The most common example you can find is the naming of big brands. Search on the Internet and you will see that most of them got marketing purpose.
Moreover, the visual connection is another useful tool of marketing. It means when people see something you want them to see, they will subconsciously think about your product, And this action may finally lead them to purchase, which is your real purpose.
It is easier to understand through 2 examples:
Wooden Fridges – “Healthy”
Preserving and displaying your food or beverage in a wooden fridge may turn them into “healthy products”.
Why? Because wood is a symbol of environmental protection, green and natural. Even though a wooden refrigerator does not make your food or beverage healthier on the ingredient, consumers will still be implanted with the concept of “healthy”, which will directly increase your product sales.
