No one expected that Porsche's most out-of-the-circle in China this year was not a new car, but a comment.

Just at the end of last month, in a street video, a Porsche Paramela dressed as a wedding car was framed with a white-haired old couple supporting each other.

Porsche's official account left a message: "How fortunate to walk with love. ”

It was such a simple sentence that it received 699,000 likes and was called "the best advertisement" by netizens.

This is not the first time that Porsche has become popular for its "high emotional intelligence reply".

In July, a young man posted a video of seeing a Porsche 911 in a mall with the caption "So close and so far".

And Porsche China used the sentence "When a boy fell in love with a sports car, this sports car was also optimistic about this boy", which not only ignited 390,000 likes, but also ignited a big discussion on "how the brand talks to people".

Earlier, when netizens shared photos of the old 911 on the streets of Hyundai, Porsche wrote: "Some cars have the ability to travel through time.

When the Xiaomi SU7 caused controversy because of its resemblance to Porsche, Porsche executives said indifferently: "Good design always has a good heart." ”

Time and time again, Porsche has swiped the screen with "human words" on social platforms. Netizens were surprised: "Porsche, you have changed." ”

It has indeed changed. From an unattainable "high-level symbol" to a "netizen" who can chat, answer memes, and accompany you to dream.

But in stark contrast to the scenery on social media, it has encountered a cold winter in the Chinese market: profit in the first three quarters of 2025 is only 40 million euros, a year-on-year plunge of 99%; Sales in the Chinese market fell from 95,700 units in 2021 to 56,900 units in 2024.

Porsche quarterly earnings

Heartfelt comments, along with plummeting profits, appear on a century-old luxury car brand at the same time, absurd and real.

So when we applaud Porsche's "god reply", why are we paying for it?

Don't "pretend"

Once upon a time, the marketing logic of luxury brands was simple and crude: to create a sense of distance.

Exquisite promos, perfect spokespersons, impeccable slogans, everything suggests: "I'm fine, but you're not worthy of me".

Porsche is undoubtedly the master of this - the advertisement is always perfect light and shadow, smooth lines, and speeding moments, which can only be viewed from a distance when displayed inside.

But this logic, which has been running for decades, suddenly fails in front of new consumers.

Generation Z doesn't eat this set.

They grew up on social networks, are accustomed to equal dialogue, and have a very low tolerance for "pretending to be X".

They use emoticons to deconstruct authority and stalk to dissolve the sacred. While brands are still preaching "how good we are", consumers have already rowed away.

The Porsche China marketing communication team was the first to smell the change.

They found that users on social media are "using" the symbol of Porsche in a more vivid and realistic way: young people choked up in the video of picking up the car, couples taking wedding photos in front of Porsche, and entrepreneurs using ten years of struggle in exchange for their dream car.

The turning point came at the beginning of this year.

One car owner shared two photos on social media: one is an old car that has accompanied him for many years, and the other is a Porsche that he just mentioned, using the same license plate. The caption sighed: "You always have to go through a period of time when no one cares." ”

Porsche saw it and left a short sentence: "However, you handed over a perfect answer." ”

It is these 10 words that were on the hot search that night.

The comment area became a large-scale touching scene: "I cried", "This is the brand of my dream".

Porsche discovered for the first time: it turns out that if you don't preach or show off, just gently catch the user's emotions, you can get such a turbulent response.

Since then, Porsche's social team seems to have opened the second vein of Ren Du.

From seeing a UGC video to finalizing the copy, commenting and responding, it took less than 10 minutes.

“It's better to ask for forgiveness than permission.”——宁可事后道歉，也别事事请示。

“It's better to ask for forgiveness than permission.” ——I'd rather apologize afterwards than ask for instructions on everything.

This phrase circulating at the German headquarters shows that what is needed here is not a step-by-step executor, but someone who dares to hold the steering wheel and step on the accelerator.

Not only Porsche, everyone is "de-installing X"

If you think it's just a Porsche family game, you're wrong. "Talking about people" and "de-pretending to be X-modernized" are spreading in various industries.

For example, Luckin Coffee, I have to say that it is too good at picking up and playing memes.

Also in October this year, the three Oroqen eldest brothers became popular on the Internet because they wore cute "roe deer horn hats".

Because the hat is very similar to Luckin's logo antlers, netizens have joked: "Isn't this the team building of the Luckin patriarch?" "Luckin logo has become refined".

In the face of this wave of wealth, Luckin did not stay in the comment area to interact, but went directly to Hulunbuir and invited the three eldest brothers to serve as "spokespersons" to shoot outdoor blockbusters.

Under the camera, the Oroqen uncles are dressed in traditional costumes and roe deer horn hats, drinking Luckin coffee in the forest.

National traditions and modern commerce have produced a wonderful chemical reaction.

Luckin upgraded an online anecdote into a cultural dissemination. Netizens have praised his sincerity in promoting ethnic minority culture, and also made himself the protagonist of "playing together" from "being played with".

No wonder the Oroqen people came out to "crusade": I never expected that all the traffic would go to you!

Well...... This wave of interception is wonderful.

There is also McDonald's, the global fast food giant, which has recently changed its painting style, and the official account is no longer just about golden fries and tempting burgers, but posting the harvest scene in the field and the real scene of farmers' work.

There are no filters, no exquisite posing, but unexpectedly gaining more empathy.

It even launched the music video "Maimai Farm is Here", which combines Inner Mongolia Humai and Fujian Nanyin Dongxiao, with more than 10 million views in the 24 hours of launch, and swipes social media.

The BGM adapted by the musicians triggered the national singing and dancing challenge, with more than 60 million views.

McDonald's did not stop at simple "labeling", but made Humai and Nanyin the "narrators" of ingredients - the vastness of the grassland breeds high-quality potatoes, and the warmth of the mountains nourishes the free chicks. Let natural growth without much explanation.

Mercedes-Benz, which has always been cold, has also changed the traditional shelf of luxury brands, and cooperated with McDonald's to co-coat the new pure electric CLA with butter coating, turning it into a "giant burger peripheral", and using youthful language such as "Mai Mai" and "Mai Chi" to communicate with consumers.

This self-deprecating humor has brought us closer to young people.

These cases all illustrate the same truth: today's consumers do not want high-ranking idols, but friends who can communicate on an equal footing.

Generation Z: Do you understand me?

Why has everyone changed?

Quite simply, because Gen Z is starting to take the stage.

According to a joint study by Kantar and Snapchat, Gen Z, which accounts for about 25% of the global population, represents a market size of about $9.8 trillion.

Unlike Generation Y, which advocates "globalization, big brands, and big narratives", Generation Z is developing in a more localized and segmented direction.

Liang Chen, head of marketing science at Snap Asia Pacific, said: "What Gen Z wants to see most is emotional resonance and intimate connection. When overseas brands want to communicate with them, the most important minefield to avoid is grand narratives. ”

That is, they do not believe in myths, only in truth.

Instead of paying for "how awesome you are", they vote for "do you understand me".

The boy staring in front of the Porsche show car didn't want a chicken soup that "you can have it with hard work", but the empathy of "I see your dream".

The Guangdong user who accidentally broke into the Porsche Center really bought a car four years later, not because of the sales rhetoric, but because of the sincerity of the sentence "I wish you dreams come true".

Therefore, when the focus of marketing has completely shifted from "what the brand wants to say" to "what the user wants to hear", a "dream companion" who can restrain himself and know how to appreciate the willingness to accompany must be more able to capture the hearts of consumers than a company that tells its legendary story all the time.

A Chongqing user's sharing is very telling: "Porsche really, treats everyone who test drives equally, as if he has been waiting for you." ”

This kind of long-term thinking is the essence of current marketing.

There is also an overwhelming tap water from netizens: "Porsche, you don't need to advertise, I will naturally buy it if I have money." "The real brand power does not rely on persuasion, but on attraction.

"Success only belongs to brands that support Gen Z to achieve their dreams."

Angie Reid, known as the "mother of Generation Z marketing" by the advertising industry, pointed out in her book "Generation Z Marketing" that the consumption behavior of Generation Z is no longer a simple "hammer" transaction, but participates in brand building in the process of "consumption-interaction-creation".

They hope to express their social responsibility and responsibility through the brand they choose, and promote the brand to better change the world.

Something

In marketing theory, there is a classic concept: "noise" and "signal".

In today's information overload, most marketing has become "noise" in the eyes of consumers, and there are very few "signals" that can truly convey the core values of the brand.

The essence of marketing is shifting from "one-way output" to "two-way resonance". In the past, brands were used to telling consumers "I'm fine"; And now, consumers want to feel "like us".

From "looking up" to "head-up", from "exquisite" to "real". When consumers gradually become numb to "over-packaged" commercial content and dare to show the "unembellished side", it is easier to build trust.

And if we only consider cases such as Porsche, Luckin, and McDonald's as "lucky" or "quick to react", it would be too shallow.

Behind them, there is actually a complete set of communication concepts supporting it.

1. Use and satisfaction theory: users are no longer passive recipients of information

This theory, proposed by communication scholar E. Katz, emphasizes that audiences actively choose media to meet their own needs.

In other words, contemporary consumers no longer passively accept information, but actively seek resonance.

Porsche captured that users were "using" the Porsche symbol with their life stories, so it stopped preaching "how good I am" and responded with "I understand you".

The owner who shared the entrepreneurial story did not show Porsche's performance parameters at all, but told his life path.

Porsche's response just met his emotional need to be recognized.

2. Spread the theory of adaptation: Only by speaking human words can we do personnel

This theory was developed by social psychologist Howard Giles in 1973 to explore how people adjust their language and behavior to suit others in communication.

Successful communication requires timely adjustment of communication methods according to the audience's preferences and context.

For example, Porsche put down the "old-school feeling" of century-old luxury cars and communicated in a friend-like tone; McDonald's puts aside the "sense of standard" of international fast food to show the reality of soil and harvest.

Luckin's case is also typical - when netizens start to play memes, the brand does not maintain its image high, but jumps into the quagmire and plays with everyone, even more than netizens.

3. Innovative diffusion theory: it can become popular by relying on "tap water"

Proposed by American scholar Everett Rogers, he believes that the diffusion of innovation does not depend on celebrities and stars, but on ordinary enthusiasts in their respective circles.

For example, Porsche provides consumers with an intuitive and interesting brand experience through social media interaction, which is a low-threshold and high-empathy method.

This highly "testable" interaction accelerates the spread and acceptance of the brand's new image.

Netizens' "tap water"

Therefore, when brands can go beyond simple functional publicity and reach the deeper emotional needs of consumers, this kind of "understand you" marketing is more effective than any advertising.

After "69.9" Ten Thousand Likes: The excitement is theirs, and the reality is their own

However, after the excitement, there is always a return to reality.

The reason why Porsche's review marketing can detonate the whole network is because it touches the softest part of people's hearts: we all want our efforts to be seen and our dreams to be respected.

But if consumers find that the brand only focuses on superficial resonance rather than the actual product strength, this emotional connection will be broken.

The first challenge is diminishing freshness.

When users get used to Porsche's "god reply", expectations will continue to rise. A plain response may be magnified as "Jiang Lang's talent is exhausted".

The second challenge is how to scale.

Relying on small teams to capture occasional hits can be achieved, but to continue to produce high-quality interactions, systematic methodologies and talent pools are required.

Porsche's social media team tirelessly swipes through users' videos for the next comment opportunity to drive traffic – can this model that relies on artificial acumen continue to support deep brand engagement with users?

And, in the longer term: how to prevent "sincerity" from becoming a routine in itself?

When every brand begins to learn to "speak human language", when empathy becomes a standard operating procedure, how can enterprises maintain their uniqueness?

The sense of contrast will disappear over time. When users get used to the "people-friendly Porsche", the brand must find new value points.

In addition, the most fatal problem is that under the collective pressure of BBA, the counterattack of domestic products such as BYD, NIO, and Ideal, and the triple siege of the car circle from "fighting for brands" to "fighting for intelligence", Porsche, which has plummeted profits, has to face not only writing one explosive review after another, but also how to make consumers fall in love with the product itself again.

The boy who stared at the Porsche in the mall was closer to his dream because of a comment; The entrepreneur who no one cared about really drove a Porsche many years later.

The flip side of these beautiful stories is that Porsche must prove that this is not just a successful marketing campaign -

When dreams come true, Porsche has to face more critical eyes and never-ending expectations.

What is the best marketing?

Former Porsche COO Philly Porsche once said: "When I looked around and couldn't find my dream car, I decided to build one myself. ”

So when the boy stopped and stared in front of the Porsche show, Porsche saw not a potential customer, but another dream-chasing self.

The ultimate goal of marketing may never be a short-term increase in sales, but a lasting brand identity.

When a brand crosses the boundaries of business and enters the hearts of users, it is no longer a cold trademark, but a warm footnote in the life story.

professionalism determines how stable the brand can go; Sincerity determines how far it can go.

Today, we may have to add a sentence: the product determines how long it can live.

Porsche's 699,000-like comments can't save the plummeting 99% of profits, but it tells us at least one thing: in this era, the most powerful marketing is not to persuade people to buy, but to accompany people to achieve it.

On the other hand, when users move from the comment area to the 4S store, from emotional resonance to real consumption, the test is no longer just whether the public relations rhetoric is warm, but the comprehensive strength of product strength, pricing strategy and user service.

When countless Gen Z warmed up by Porsche in the comment area grow up, when what they want is no longer just a resonant comment, but a car worthy of his growth -

By then, is Porsche ready?