The Transition of marketing strategies of RIO Cocktail in China

Abstract

RIO Cocktail established in 2003 when it accessed the market with unfamiliar alcohol, pre-cocktail, to Asian people. RIO tailored the recipe for Asian people according to their tastes and eating habits. Being inspired by a Japan cocktail Chuhai cocktail, RIO is low-alcohol which becomes the main selling point of itself. Reaching the peak in 2014, RIO was successful due to high exposure by inundated advertisements and massive product placements in TV shows, however, RIO witnessed a severe decline in sales in the next few years. In 2018, the new series of RIO was released with a new spokesperson, Zhou Dongyu, and started a new “RIO craze”. The transition of RIO’s marketing strategy is worth study since it covers the mistakes and possible corrective actions which are of referential value for corporations and enterprises which face similar marketing challenges while suffering sales decline. In this research, RIO’s transition of its marketing strategy could be reflected in three aspects: redetermining brand image by choosing spokesperson, impressing consumers through context marketing in advertisements, and stimulating purchase by means of creative and innovative co-branding activities. Taking the abovementioned three steps, RIO made improvements and had better performance in sales.