Earlier, we looked at a few examples of products that were launched successfully with creative marketing strategies. This discussion asks you to identify and share effective marketing strategies from a short case study about a WePay launch and from your own experiences with successful product launches.
Instructions: Identifying WePay’s marketing strategies
- Read the case study: WePay seized an opportunity for its launch when its competitor, PayPal, received negative publicity about freezing member accounts. WePay showed up at PayPal’s annual developer conference and demonstrated a massive block of ice with frozen cash and the message ‘Paypal freezes your accounts’ in it.
WePay wanted to assure its users that it would never freeze their accounts. Within about two hours of dropping the ice, WePay’s stunt was on TechCrunch’s front page. It also featured on other popular tech sites. The publicity from the exercise resulted in: three times more conversions on the stunt landing page 225% increase in web traffic 300% increase in signups. This was achieved with a start-up’s limited marketing budget. - Answer the following questions:
- How was WePay positioned and what was its main product messaging?
- What specific factors of their marketing strategy do you think made it successful?
- Post your answers in the discussion group.
- Respond to at least one of your peers’ posts by considering the risks associated with the WePay strategy and reflecting on other examples of successful product marketing strategies that you have experienced or learned about.
WePay capitalized on PayPal’s negative publicity, creating a clever and attention-grabbing stunt that resonated with potential customers.
they were very creative with the use of a massive block of ice with frozen cash and a bold message created a visually striking and memorable experience.The stunt’s unique nature and visual appeal made it perfect for social media and tech sites, generating organic coverage and amplifying the message.
Overall, WePay was positioned as a reliable and trustworthy alternative to PayPal, emphasizing that it would never freeze user accounts. The main product messaging was centered around this key differentiator, highlighting WePay’s commitment to user security and convenience and all of these combined to create a successful marketing strategy that effectively positioned WePay as a trustworthy and innovative player in the payment processing space.
Wepay positioned itself as the savior and solution of stranded customers who had their accounts frozen with Paypal. The main product messaging was that they are the alternative to Paypal and would offer better services in terms of seamless cash transfer.
The specific factor of marketing that got WePay an edge is the solution for easy and readily available cash transfer solution.
WePay astutely capitalized on the opportunity PayPal presented to demonstrate their trustworthiness and reliability. They assured users that with WePay, they wouldn’t face account freezes.
Key factors in their effective strategy included:
Addressing the Issue: WePay clearly highlighted the problem, showcasing the benefits of their services.
Creative Stunt: The ice stunt at PayPal’s annual developer conference cleverly captured the attention of potential users and the attending media.
Timing: By delivering their message at the conference, WePay maximized impact, drawing significant attention and raising awareness among potential users and media outlets.
Resourceful Execution: Conducting the stunt at PayPal’s conference was a cost-effective move. The message spread widely via social media and news outlets without the need for paid advertising.
Results: This strategy led to a significant increase in new users within a short period.
WePay smartly capitalized on the opportunity presented by PayPal’s negative publicity about freezing member accounts, showcasing their reliability and trustworthiness. They assured users they wouldn’t experience account freezing with WePay.
Addressing the issue: WePay clearly addressed the problem, highlighting the advantages of their service.
Creative stunt:The ice stunt at PayPal’s annual developer conference cleverly captured the attention of potential users and the media.
Timing: WePay’s timing was impeccable, delivering their message during the conference to maximize impact and media coverage, thereby raising awareness.
Cost-effective resources: The stunt was a genius move, using minimal resources. There was no need for paid advertising, as the message spread organically through social media and news outlets.
Results: This approach led to a significant increase in new users within a short period.
Wepay took some high risks in its strategies especially that it was not aware of the extent and dimension or the liabilities it will inherit from paypal because it took all this decisions in the conference meeting immediately wepay made the announcement of freezing customer account without undertaking any research to understand more about wepay operations and liabilities.
The examples of product marketing strategies experienced are:
Product -it meet the needs of the consumer.
Price -wepay offer it’s products at the lowest cost possible as it leverage on the media groups available at the conference organized by PayPal.
Promotion -Wepay made a lot of publicity to promote it’s products thereby creating awareness to cross sections of the public .
Place and People-wepay took advantage of the organized conference and people who are reputable members of society in different sectors of the economy who attended it.That is ,it saw the audiences as a good market for its product-the bail out.
Your analysis highlights the significant risks and smart moves in WePay’s strategy. Indeed, WePay took a bold risk by leveraging PayPal’s negative publicity to position itself as a trustworthy alternative. However, this approach had potential pitfalls:
Risks Associated with WePay’s Strategy
1. Unknown Liabilities
2. Potential Backlash
3. Legal and Ethical Issues
We pay was positioned when it’s rival PayPal posted that it will freeze members account.
We pay announce that it will never freeze account of members and therefore provided massive cash to liquidate any liability.
We pay main product message and strategy was to announce and publicize their remedy and not to freeze members account through Techcrunch and popular tech sites.
Their marketing strategy are:Address the needs of customers.Gave assistance to customers.
Timely intervention -wepay provided a solution to the challenges of customers that were desperately in need.
Publicity to both the customers, stakeholders and public of how the situation will be remedied with no cost to the customers of PayPal through popular popular and reliable Tech sites.
This encourage more users to sign up into the package with wepay thereby boosting customer base ,success and huge income.
Wepay was quite smart to seize the opportunity PayPal gave them to show how trustworthy and reliable they could be. They assured the users they won’t have to experience the freezing of accounts at any time while using their services.
Key factors that helped in their brilliant strategy:
Addressing the issue: The issue was addressed quite clearly, thus showing the advantage of their services.
Creative stunt: The ice stunt at the PayPal annual developer’s conference was a clever way to get the attention of potential users and media that was present.
Timing: Wepay made sure their message made an impact at the conference which gained the attention of potential users and the media, thereby increasing awareness.
Resources: Use of resources was cost effective. It was a genius idea to perform the stunt at PayPal’s conference. There was no need for paid advertising as the message was spread via social media and news outlets.
Results: There was a high increase in number of new users within a short period of time.
We pay positioned itself as reliable and trustworthy with the message…. “We pay never freezes customers account” .
What makes We pay market strategy successful is Timely execution by using the weakness of their competitors to focus on the gap in the market and logically fill in the gap.
Strategic location We pay used is the stunt performed at PayPal’s developer conference when the We pay targeted audience are present and disappointed.
WePay discovered a need for a guaranteed service. The service that will note be unduly interrupted (the customer’s account not be suspended.)
WePay was able to address the fears of their customers and the general public via social media. They leveraged on the power of the social media.
Already talked about the power of using social media to market products.
With the influence of social media and news outlets, WePay was able to showcase its product credibility by making use of the PayPal fallout with the customers and rendering quality service that PayPal lacks to its customers, thereby making waves and a good name for the company.
WePay used its product credibility to win customers’ loyalty, which was what PayPal was not able to achieve.
Sure