Welcome to The Viral Campaign Crisis!

Can you take a Shanghai lifestyle brand global, without destroying its reputation along the way? In this fast-paced business simulation hosted by David Stephen, a communication coach for high-level executives at companies including Douyin, Apple, New Balance and L'Occitane, you’ll join a rival marketing agency competing to create the campaign that turns a local success into an international sensation. Working in creative, influencer, data and brand-strategy teams, you’ll identify your target customers, adapt your message for audiences in China, London, Singapore and New York, create a bilingual slogan and pitch your international launch strategy. Along the way, you’ll look at real-world inspiration such as Spotify Wrapped and explore how great campaigns combine data, creativity and personal identity to get customers talking, and sharing.

Then everything goes wrong. Your campaign goes viral, but for all the wrong reasons: your slogan is misunderstood overseas, an influencer creates a controversy and angry comments begin spreading online. Now your team must think quickly, respond to criticism, protect the brand and rebuild trust before one mistake destroys the entire launch. It’s a fun, high-energy challenge, but the skills are extremely real: communicating ideas clearly, giving constructive feedback, handling criticism under pressure, working across cultures and explaining difficult decisions persuasively in business English. Whether you work in marketing or not, you’ll practice the kind of teamwork, communication and crisis-solving that happens every day in international companies, with David coaching you through the challenge.

欢迎来到“爆款营销危机”！

你能把一家上海生活方式品牌推向全球，同时还不把它的声誉搞砸吗？在这场快节奏的商业模拟中，David Stephen——一位曾为抖音、苹果、New Balance和欧舒丹等公司高管提供沟通辅导的教练——会带你加入一个竞标团队，跟其他营销公司比一比，谁能打造出那个把本土品牌变成国际爆款的营销战役。你会被分到创意组、达人组、数据组和品牌策略组，找准目标客户、把信息适配给中国、伦敦、新加坡和纽约的受众，创作双语口号，并展示你的出海发布策略。过程中我们会借鉴Spotify年度回顾等真实案例，看看那些厉害的营销战役怎么把数据、创意和个人身份感结合起来，让用户不仅自己看，还主动分享。

然后，一切都会出岔子。你的营销爆了，但爆的原因全错了——你的口号在海外被误读，合作的网红惹出争议，愤怒的评论开始在网上蔓延。现在你的团队必须快速反应、应对批评、保护品牌，在一步错毁掉整个发布之前重建信任。这是一个好玩又有冲击力的挑战，但练到的技能非常实在：清晰表达想法、给建设性反馈、在压力下应对批评、跨文化协作，以及用商务英语有说服力地解释艰难决策。无论你做不做营销，你都会体验到国际公司每天都在发生的那种团队合作、沟通和危机处理，David会全程给你指导。