Even pirates need branding

Open Source Marketing is a fancy "web 2.0" term describing interactive campaigns that invite the millions of consumers online to contribute ideas and/or content to a campaign or promotion. It is quite the buzz word with marketing types and many of the big brands have launched campaigns in 2006.

Here are some examples from China:

• Pepsi Creative Challenge: submit script idea for the next Jay Zhou TVC
• Nike Just Do It: submit video demonstrating your passion for a sport
• TCL: write a script for the next Zhang Liangying TVC
• Ponds: select next spokesperson

There is another Chinese company, which, if you live in China and partake in the occasional purchase or at least browsing of pirated DVD's, you may recognize. The company is called KIRIN (麒麟) (no relation to the Japanese beverage brand). Little did you know that actually KIRIN launched its own open source marketing campaign in 2005. Yes, they had the vision of open source marketing before almost any big brand in China, if not the world.

Here are the deets taken from an introduction of the contest which can be found on a DVD collectors BBS here:

KIRIN (nicknamed “QL”) decided to collect logo design since so many DVD fans said the logo of QL was so ugly. The winner will be awarded 50 QL DVDs. You can release your design on this post or e-mail to QL’s official mailbox

Here's the original "ugly" design:



Here's one contest submission:



Here's another submission:



Here's the winner:



Compare the winner to the original:




The lessons here? Well besides realizing that pirates need branding too, we can see that every industry, no matter how big or small, can have fans talking online and can be leveraged to help create your brand (it is THEIR brand, anyway).