Recently, a video of a food “delivery boy” (外卖小哥) named Eason expressing his desire to buy an Audi and a Cadillac in English went viral on the Internet. In Chinese netizens’ views, compared to the cold courier and delivery man, such calls as delivery boy seem to be quite affectionate. Eason read an introduction in English in front of an Audi, which gained immense popularity online, and even Audi officials used the voiceover as an advertisement. He then recorded a video for Cadillac, which also became widely popular, leading to the Vice President of Cadillac at General Motors China to record a congratulatory video for Eason and even travelled to Hunan to meet him.
Eason, who has 1,219 followers on Douyin (China’s TikTok), is a food deliveryman and spends all his spare time learning English, developing very pure and fluent English, even with a bit of a Birmingham (UK) accent. Through the videos he recorded in English for Audi and Cadillac, his spirit of striving for self-improvement, despite his position at the bottom of the social hierarchy, has touched many people.
Audi officially used Eason’s voiceover for their promotional video and gave him a ticket to Andy Lau’s concert. Cadillac, on the other hand, was more attentive. In the video recorded for Cadillac, Eason said, “Congratulations on becoming a distinguished Cadillac owner. May the colourful holy shield illuminate your career and future.” It concludes by noting that he is 400K units away from purchasing a Cadillac himself. Tim Heile, Vice President of Cadillac at General Motors China, posted a video to cheer him on, referring to the brand’s spirit: “All greatness begins with a single, courageous attempt.”
After the video was released, it received a lot of feedback from netizens, who called for Tim to engage further with Eason, and Cadillac listened to their advice. Tim brought Cadillac car models and other gifts to Hunan to meet Eason and deliver takeaways with him.
In the video, Tim wears a helmet and sits on the back of Eason’s electric bike. Under Eason’s guidance, he climbs six flights of stairs to deliver a single takeaway, which is exhausting but provides a unique experience. They make many more trips on the shift until eventually, Tim invites Eason into his Cadillac to experience it.
Netizens praised Cadillac’s approach, commenting, “So many executives say they don’t know how to engage on social media, but it’s really all about empathising with your prospective users.” On Weibo (China’s Twitter-equivalent), related topics saw a surge in popularity, with #Cadillac’s president flying to China to experience food delivery# (凯迪拉克总裁飞中国体验送外卖) getting 3.95 million views, and #Delivery man’s English vocabulary shocks Cadillac’s vice president# (外卖员英文词汇量震撼凯迪拉克副总) getting 2.66 million views.
In this viral event, both Audi and Cadillac have leveraged the wave of attention, especially Cadillac. The vice president’s heartfelt response and delivery of takeaways with Eason not only presented the brand’s people-friendly image but also showcased its spirit.
It is worth noting that since the beginning of this year, many famous European and American luxury automotive brands, such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Audi, have seen their prices plummet. The popularity of domestic new energy vehicles is the main reason for the price drop of foreign luxury cars. Interacting with more ordinary Chinese people, as this marketing campaign has done, may reap better word-of-mouth and higher sales for the brand.
