From music reviews to branded videos, what are NetEase Cloud Music’s marketing secrets?

There is a jargon in the advertising circle: NetEase is an advertising company.

The reason for saying this is that NetEase is indeed good at marketing and often comes up with cases that go viral. Moreover, it is not the advertising companies that handle these cases, but NetEase’s marketing department itself. Among them, the most obvious example is NetEase Cloud Music , which has won the favor of a large number of literary and artistic young people in first- and second-tier cities through one marketing event after another, enabling it to stand out in today's music market, which is not easy.

On July 25, NetEase Cloud Music released a new brand slogan - "The Power of Music", and the brand video of the same name was also launched simultaneously.

The film is set during World War II, with British soldiers being targeted by German snipers while wounded. At this tense moment of life and death, he took out photos of his family and played "Danny Boy", a folk song by English composer Frederick Weedley, on his harmonica. His longing and desire for peace overflowed as the music slowly unfolded.

When the song ended, the British soldiers took off their hats and welcomed death. But at this moment, the melodious sound of the German army's flute came from afar, and the music also awakened the German army's beautiful memories of his fiancée...

Unsurprisingly, the film sparked another round of discussion on social networks as soon as it was released. This can't help but arouse my curiosity. Why can NetEase always come up with some interesting marketing? So I found a friend from the marketing department of NetEase Cloud Music. After a detailed discussion with him, I came up with some methodologies that are worth learning, and I would like to share them with you today.

From music review subways to brand films, NetEase Cloud Music focuses on "the power of music"

Let’s first look at the major marketing moves made by NetEase Cloud Music in the first half of this year: the music review train in conjunction with the Hangzhou-Hong Kong Metro, the music plane in conjunction with Yangtze River Airlines, the graduation screening room micro -film and other activities, as well as this time’s brand slogan and brand film online promotion .

It is not difficult to find that previous marketing either targeted specific product functions or seized the right time and was relatively concrete. And most importantly, the core of NetEase Cloud Music's external transmission through music reviews, playlists, and micro-films has always been the theme that music can bring power to people.

For example:

• Every music review in the music review column is a story. NetEase Cloud Music uses user UGC comments to express emotions, allowing subway commuters to see the power of music.
• The music plane uses a playlist to focus on expressing emotions, allowing users to feel the power of music while flying in the air;
• The graduation screening room uses music to connect graduation stories, giving graduates and the social groups that have already graduated a sense of youthful courage and strength.

This is like brainwashing. In the early stages, it is output over and over again through different product functions, different scenarios, and different stories. NetEase Cloud Music brings users not only music, but also the power contained in music. Once the time was right, NetEase Cloud Music launched its latest brand slogan and brand video - the power of music.

Obviously, all the actions taken by NetEase Cloud Music since the first half of this year are actually a brand upgrade, and an upgrade in concept, a process from quantitative change to qualitative change.

Moreover, if you think about it carefully, you will find that the previous slogan of NetEase Cloud Music was "Hear the Good Times", which focused on the interaction between individual users and music, and paid attention to individual feelings and cognition; while the current slogan "The Power of Music" focuses more on more emotional exchanges between different people using music as a medium. In short, NetEase Cloud Music used to make the cake, and now it is just spreading the cream on the cake.

After so many screen-sweeping events, what marketing experience does NetEase Cloud Music have?

The first half actually talks about the logical thinking behind NetEase Cloud Music’s brand upgrade, which is quite macro. Next, I will talk more specifically about NetEase Cloud Music’s marketing experience in planning specific events.

1. Use product ideas to market and find your own “users”

A friend from NetEase Cloud Music talked about the most important point of marketing. He believes that communicators should conduct marketing with the strategy of product development, and should regard the target audience as the "users" of your marketing campaign . Then, work backwards and create what the "users" want to see, dig out and guide content that can resonate with the "users", and your content should not be a one-way message transmission of the brand, but should be able to trigger "user" interaction.

Indeed, whether it is the playlist of the "Music Plane" or the music reviews of the previous "Music Review Train", NetEase Cloud Music designs marketing plans based on different scenarios such as airplanes and subways, combined with the needs of the passengers. “Giving users what they want, rather than what you want them to know, is more engaging.”

2. Use users to influence users and achieve accurate word-of-mouth communication

My friend also mentioned something very interesting. He believes that from a marketing perspective, the method with a higher input-output ratio is no longer one-way marketing such as "brand owner-user", but "brand owner-user-more users" method.

In other words, "using users to influence users" is a more appealing way of marketing. Because users' stories are more contagious and spreadable, with just a little help from marketers , the spread effect they can produce can be even stronger than many marketing events that we spend a lot of money on. A friend revealed that 40% of NetEase Cloud Music users are recommended by old users, and these recommendations come in various forms.

Therefore, during the graduation season, the three micro-films launched by NetEase Cloud Music were not promoted through other channels , but were promoted on the NetEase Cloud Music APP. Through personalized song matching, they reached the most precise audience. Through the secondary dissemination of these precise groups of people, it is easy to attract new users who match the tone of NetEase Cloud Music.

3. Explore real stories and let emotions become a booster of communication

What touches people most easily are stories, especially true stories. Because all "real" stories are often enough to arouse our empathy. We will unconsciously compare ourselves to the story and feel the joy, anger, sorrow and happiness in the story.

The brand film launched by NetEase Cloud Music this time - "The Power of Music" is actually a marketing case of digging out real stories.

It is reported that the story in the brand film comes from the self-narration of Jack, an American veteran during World War II, before a battle two weeks after the Normandy Landing in World War II. Jack felt very stressed and tried to relieve it by blowing his trumpet. The commander advised Jack not to blow at night because there was a German sniper nearby. But Jack thought that the German sniper at this moment felt the same lonely and scared as he did. So that night, Jack played a song about love. The next morning, on the beach 1.5 miles away, a group of German prisoners of war were escorted to Britain. One of the prisoners was in great pain and asked the American man who blew the trumpet because the sound reminded him of his parents, siblings and fiancée in Germany, which prevented him from shooting. Jack shook his hand and said, "He is not my enemy. He is just as lonely and scared as I am. This is the power of music."

Obviously, through this story, we can truly feel the power that music brings to people - when we are desperate, lost, sad, and in pain, through music we can feel positiveness and hope, just like a lamp is lit in our hearts and we are no longer confused.

To sum up, from the music review subway to the brand film, it is actually a brand upgrade campaign of NetEase Cloud Music. Through a series of step-by-step marketing activities, it will eventually deepen user awareness and set the tone for the brand image. In this series of brand campaigns, some of NetEase’s methodologies are also worth learning from.