Mengniu brings "Chinese elements" to 2018 FIFA World Cup, attracting much attention from football fans on social networks

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Jul 12, 2018, 05:23 ET

MOSCOW, July 12, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- During the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia, Mengniu has become a hot topic among Internet users worldwide. For the first time, many Internet users outside of China tried to pronounce the name, and came out with various approximations of the word "Mengniu" or even, simply, "Niu". Mengniu's public service campaign centered around the idea that playing football can make a teenager strong also received a lot of attention from the non-Chinese audiences.

Mengniu's videos and images have been streamed and viewed tens of millions of times and shared between of millions of viewers on various social media networks around the world. Many users said Mengniu has become the internet presence they most associate with China.

The influence of "Niu"

Nyu is a well-known beauty blogger with many fans and supporters in Russia, with much of the attention that she receives due to her healthy and fashionable young appearance. Her every move always appeals to Russian fans.

Nyu has 503,203 subscribers to her YouTube account, where she regularly shares her fitness and lifestyle videos. Much to her own surprise, she has become a guiding force for the pursuit of fashion among young Russian men and women.

In her video released during the FIFA World Cup, Nyu told the story to her fans: Chinese sponsor Mengniu had brought the young children with football dreams from the disadvantaged areas of China to Russia to see the World Cup. She tried to correctly pronounce the name Mengniu in Chinese and let her fans know about the Chinese company's good deed.

Due to Nyu's enormous influence, the video had already been viewed 94,196 times and liked 4,402 times just a few days after being uploaded to the YouTube platform. The video also received 205 comments.

Besides Nyu, Russian child blogger Arina also noticed Mengniu. With 153,790 subscribers to her YouTube account, the goofy, lively and cheerful video clip of this lovely little angel was watched over and over by many Russian children.

In her recent video, the blogger is drinking milk and watching a football match on TV. Then her mother comes in and asks what he is doing, she says that it is rather obvious that it has something to do with the World Cup.

The topic of discussion with her mother then moves to Mengniu's "soccer teenager" video. That video was viewed 12,732 times and liked 1,600 times in just three days and received 239 comments.

On Instagram, the world's largest photo social platform, influential fitness, lifestyle and fashion bloggers across Russia each interacted with World Cup fans in their own way. Many of them had one thing in common, they all mentioned Mengniu, either by posting photos with Mengniu's World Cup sponsorship logo, or asking fans to pronounce the name "Mengniu", to see how accurately they could say it. All these photos were read and commented on by many fans.

A small video that teaches friends from all over the world how to say the word "Niu" was uploaded to China's Pearvideo and viewed nearly 30 million times, demonstrating Mengniu's efforts to not only export products, but also popularize the appeal of Chinese characters all across the globe.

The power of public service campaigns

For many foreign Internet users, the reason why they are interested in Mengniu, is not only because of the frequent appearance of the Chinese character for "Niu" around the World Cup stadium, but more importantly the strong resonance felt by fans when they saw the public welfare campaign "playing football can make a teenager strong".

Many Chinese journalists in Russia have also sent a positive message to local audiences. For example, China Radio International reported that the "playing football can make a teenager strong" campaign is making the dream of many young Chinese football fans come true.

Many bloggers from outside of China say in their videos that the 88 soccer loving children who have the courage to fight are another way for Chinese football to participate in the World Cup. In another 8 to 10 years, some of them may represent China in competing in the World Cup finals, becoming the new hope for the future of Chinese football. Some bloggers even asked their own children or children in their neighborhood to start practicing football so they can measure up to the young Chinese footballers. One of them said, "I hope to have a chance to play against these Chinese football players in the future."

And this is what Mengniu would like to see. As for why Mengniu chose Lionel Messi as the newest brand spokesman, Mengniu president Lu Minfang said: "this is not only because of his superb skills, but also because of his football spirit which he describes as "fighting to be strong". Although the Chinese football team failed to qualify for a place in this year's World Cup, the Chinese firms represented by Mengniu demonstrated the Chinese spirit of "fighting to be strong".

Through these positive interactions with the Internet users around the world, Mengniu is creating a brand-new image with the aura of a champion and can confidently say "we will take the Russian World Cup to China".

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/717762/Mengniu_bloggers.jpg