Buy one get one free for all series, but the gift is a car model. SAIC Audi used Zheng Qinwen to win the championship and the marketing overturned.

Abstract:

According to reports, the 2026 China Open women's singles final was held on October 11. Zheng Qinwen defeated Andreeva 2-0 to win the championship, becoming the first local women's singles champion at the China Open and winning her first 1,000-match championship. After the news of winning the championship came out, the official account of SAIC Audi published an article that night with the title "Congratulations to Qinwen for winning! Buy one and get one free for all AUDI series", which quickly attracted attention.

However, after consumers clicked on the event details, they discovered that the so-called "buy one, get one free" gift was a car model, not a car. The "full series" in the title is not the entire range of Audi brand models, but only the two electric cars under the AUDI letter logo, E5 Sportback and E7X.

On October 12, the media contacted SAIC Audi’s official customer service to learn about the situation. The customer service staff explained that the event is from October 1st to October 31st. If you purchase an Audi E5 or E7X model, you will receive a car model of the corresponding model as a gift. Regarding the gap between the "full range of AUDI" in the title and the "full range of Audi" that consumers understand,

customer service emphasized that AUDI is the alphabetical logo of Audi electric vehicles, which is clearly distinguished from the four-ring brand logo. "AUDI does not target the four-ring, but only targets the entire series with the alphabetic logo."

According to previous reports, AUDI is a new letter-branded brand launched by SAIC Audi in November 2024. It focuses on the field of electric vehicles. It has a clear division of labor with Sihuan Audi at the channel level: the Sihuan brand focuses on fuel vehicles, and the lettermark brand focuses on electric vehicles.

On November 15, 2024, Zheng Qinwen appeared at the Guangzhou Auto Show, and the AUDI brand officially announced that he would become the spokesperson. After winning the China Open, SAIC Audi quickly took advantage of the opportunity for marketing, but the expression "buy one, get one free" caused controversy.

A Weibo user said bluntly: “The buy-one-get-one-free concept that consumers understand is not the buy-one-get-one-free proposition you have. To be honest, I don’t like it very much.”

It is reported that Zheng Qinwen is not only the spokesperson of SAIC Audi AUDI, but also the global brand spokesperson of Bawang Cha Ji. To celebrate Zheng Qinwen’s victory at the China Open, Bawang Tea Ji launched a “buy one, get one free” limited-time event across all categories.

Unlike SAIC Audi, Bawang Chaji’s “buy one, get one free” offer is a real gift. Consumers who buy one drink can indeed get another one for free. All types of drinks are buy one get one free for a limited time. The event includes in-store Gelato ice cream, popular products such as Boya Juexian and Yiqi Hongchen.