Corporate communication is not a universal and immutable science. They are checking it (with amazement) the Germans who have just discovered the tone that Lidl uses in X to announce your offers in Spain. The chain (remember) has its origins in Germany, a country to which it has been linked for several decades, but that does not mean that in all markets it must express itself the same as there.
It is not the only multinational that this happens to.
To understand it we have to go back to this Monday, when Lidl decided to advertise through its X account its cooked shrimp trays. So far nothing exceptional or surprising. The curious thing is how he did it. Instead of simply showing the tray with the price, the German chain used its imagination and published what looks like an illustration made with AI in which a shrimp is seen holding a machine gun, with a vest, long hair and a red ribbon.
Click on the image to go to the tweet.
In case the Rambo references were not enough, the multinational accompanied the image with a message that (it must be admitted) is quite ingenious: “Gambo III: I can’t feel my legs.” At the time of writing this post, the tweet in question has more than 1.4 million views. Not bad for the first 24 hours of a post that basically sells shrimp. Especially since @Lidlespana has 251,100 followers.
The merit of this exhibition is not only the community manager from Lidl. It’s probably also due to @cagroo7, an X user who shared the shrimp tweet with a message in german: “Was zur Hölle geht bei lidl Spanien”which means “What the hell is happening at Lidl Spain.”
He is not the only one who asked himself that question. Other users responded to your message also sharing their amazementespecially in German. “Lidl’s advertising is horrible and lacks creativity. Lidl Germany should learn from Lidl Spain,” commented another user on the same platform.
Some users did not stop there and delved into Lidl’s Spanish account to replicate previous ads with a similar tone. There are, of course. For example this in which it advertises chocolate bars next to an image of some “choco cars”, this other in which you see a kitten with a hydraulic jack or even this It sells “cured cheese” with a cheese with a band-aid.
Click on the image to go to the tweet.
The list of jokes is long. Very long. And probably not always understandable to Germans. For example, when March 26 Lidl wanted to advertise its trays of 400 grams of cut ham, and did so with a photo showing a family of seven members, all covering their faces with the trays. The message that accompanies the image: “Los Serrano XXL”.
AI, jokes and a good dose of humor to bore.
Is it so surprising? The truth is that yes. Yes, at least if we review how the same chain is expressed in other official social media profiles. For example, your X account in France He also plays with humor, but without going so far, just like that of the United Kingdom either Ireland. Let’s not say anymore the profile of germanymuch more orthodox and which has remained inactive since 2017.
Click on the image to go to the tweet.
The tone that the chain uses in its X account for Spain does not coincide with that used nationally on other platforms, such as TikTok, Facebook either instagram. The same thing happens in other countries. In these profiles, the chain uses a much more conventional, more orthodox tone, more similar to that used by the rest of the competitors in the sector. retail when they want to advertise their news or offers.
The truth is that Lidl is not the only one multinational that has found a rich source of communication in humor. In fact, in the thread of responses to @cagroo7 there are users who they quote KFCanother chain that usually uses irony and lightheartedness to sell its product. Again the tone of the Spanish account differs from the mainfrom the USA, with 1.5 million followers.
If there is a company that does not tremble when it uses humor and even sarcasm when it wants to express itself in X or (even respond to users) it is, however, Ryanair, which has already earned it some slap on the wrist by users. Humor, after all, can be an invaluable tool when it comes to communicating… but it also has certain risks.
Images | Lidl (X)
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