Is the awkward advertising placement really a panacea for brand marketing?

This is the best of times.

For film and television drama IPs, they are praised by capital, "loved" by people, and are in the limelight for a while. In particular, all kinds of large, medium and small brands are scrambling to establish relationships with them.

Star halo, hot-selling products, and super entrance. . . . . Film and television drama IP is given great room for imagination.

However, as the Bible's third chapter on rebirth tells us, "All things have spirits": everything has two sides. Is the IP of film and television drama really a panacea that works all the time? What should brands that hope to win the support of wealthy people do if they encounter a "viral" IP?

Film and TV drama IP is toxic, marketing should be cautious

Sorry, when the film and television IP is in jubilation, Xiangling plays the role of the little boy who tells the truth after seeing the "Emperor's New Clothes". For those who are currently or are preparing to bundle film and television IP for marketing, the film and television IP is not a "one-trick pony that can rule them all". If you don’t believe me, let me tell you three aspects.

1. Even a meteoric IP may not be able to adapt to local conditions, so don’t expect it to be a panacea.

Recently, the Japanese anime-adapted TV series " Midnight Diner " starring Huang Lei suffered a Waterloo on its first broadcast. Some media reported that its ratings on Beijing Satellite TV were only 0.5, and its ratings on Zhejiang Satellite TV were only 0.48. The number of views on video websites was only over 28 million. On the 2nd day of its broadcast, its score on Douban was only 2.3 points, and 90.5% of the audience gave it a one-star bad review. However, there are countless TV dramas and movies that have encountered similar embarrassment. For example, Huang Lei's other Japanese IP movie "Troublesome Family" had a Douban score of only 4.7 points and a box office of only 32.27 million. "Operation Wedding", which is also adapted from a Japanese IP, although it has the support of popular young actor Zhang Yixing, its first broadcast ratings were still only 0.5.

Therefore, IP is not a magic medicine, and it often has "strange" phenomena such as "not being able to adapt to local conditions". Brands need to be extra careful when leveraging it.

However, after analysis, the reasons why such situations frequently occur are:

1. There are too many film and television dramas and too many IPs nowadays, but there are still very few really good film and television drama IPs. Most film and television dramas are not obviously different, and the probability of success is low.

2. Most film and television IPs have strong subcultural attributes, or are created in specific scenes. Forcing them to fit in will only cause problems. For example, "Midnight Diner" is a Chinese take on Japanese canteen culture, but it has almost no "localized" features. The reason why "Operation Proposal" was popular in Japan 10 years ago was determined by the subculture of Japan at that time, but if it were put into China today, things have changed. In other words, the viewing habits of Chinese audiences have changed greatly. In the current cultural consumption environment, if the Chinese version of an overseas IP does not maintain the same level or undergo innovative adaptation, the formerly powerful overseas IP will also lose its IP effect. This is true even for China’s own IPs. Think about the super IP Journey to the West, for example. Only a handful of them have been successfully adapted.

3. The proliferation of advertising and marketing transition have changed the nature of IP. The intrusive insertion of advertisements has always been one of the original sins that ruin the color of TV series. Just after the audience directly called "Ode to Joy 2 " "Ode to Advertising", "Midnight Diner" came to make up the knife again, intensively "inserting TV series into advertisements". "Operation Wedding" is not much better. The exposure of DR diamond rings, Cornetto, etc. is normal, but when Cornetto is everywhere, "Operation Wedding" has become an ice cream commercial, which is not normal.

Moreover, although these celebrity IPs seem to have huge traffic, they have actually become shooting stars. These original versions have many fans and are extremely popular. The stars starring in the remakes bring their own traffic and topics. It was thought that this combination of a successful original plus a popular star was the safest way to play, but it was this waterfall-like traffic that made the audience place great expectations. In the end, the greater the expectations, the greater the disappointment. Advertisers who had implanted their products in the remakes also suffered and were met with a barrage of criticism.

2. IP is “openly repairing the plank road”, but the brand is “secretly moving forward”

To put it bluntly , when it comes to leveraging film and television drama IP marketing , the IP itself and the brand owners have different purposes and meanings, and if not handled properly, it can easily go in the opposite direction.

As former Marvel chief artist Walter McDaniel pointed out: "Brands have a life cycle and will die at a certain time, but IP will not."

Most companies or brand owners who leverage film and television drama IPs focus on their own brands. The brand’s initial design is aimed at a certain form of presentation, and the main issue is how to make money with this form. Therefore, it is easy to understand film and television IP as some character images and stories (content), and then cover these with your own brand for marketing.

However, this is only superficial, not the essence of IP. A large number of facts have proved that this kind of strategy disguised as IP is becoming less and less effective. Even popular IPs such as "The Voice of China" have performed extremely poorly after being made into big movies, not to mention the brands that have been kidnapped on this basis.

The biggest difference between IP and brand is that a real IP has its own values ​​and philosophy . The reason why "Captain America" ​​has remained popular since its creation and its peripheral products have continued to sell well is that it has constructed a complete system of values, culture and philosophy. Moreover, the core of the IP industry is users and fan economy , and what needs to be paid attention to is the psychological needs of fans.

Therefore, when brands leverage the IP of film and television dramas, they can only achieve "perfect harmony" if they connect their brand concepts with the spiritual core of the IP and reach consensus.

But in reality, there are many disgusting product placements, such as the forced plot and character settings, unrealistic food, and exaggerated acting skills of the actors in "Midnight Diner". For example, you can see Wu Xin's exaggerated noodle-eating scene:

Moreover, the first two episodes were dominated by "Uni-President Old-Style Pickled Cabbage Noodles". During the process, PepsiCo , Jiang Xiaobai , Anjuke, Golden Dragon Fish Cooking Oil, and Miaojie frequently appeared, and the list of thanks at the end of the film also included a large number of partners such as Anheuser-Busch InBev, Si Nian, Joyoung, and Forever Bicycles.

Of course, this also depends on the brand temperament and the type of film and television drama. Some brands are not born to be suitable for film and television IP marketing, while some are born for this type of marketing. The DR diamond ring (Darry Ring) implanted in "Operation Proposal" has always defined the diamond ring as "true love", and its brand has also been shaping the core of "the only true love in life", so it takes advantage of the emotional dramas in film and television dramas. For example, in the movie "So I Married an Anti-Fan", the male protagonist, the future Oppa [played by Park Chan Yeol (Park Chan Yeol)] proposed to the female protagonist Fang Miaomiao (played by Yuan Shanshan) with a romantic DR diamond ring, which just expresses the romance and love that needs to be expressed in the movie, and the appearance of DR is not abrupt.

Similarly, in the cooperation with "Sherlock Holmes", the marketing of "Double Tube" a high-end gum protection toothpaste under Oral-B was just right. The partnership spirit of "Sherlock Holmes" is strongly correlated with the highlight of "Double Tube" toothpaste - "double tube". When launching the extra video of "Sherlock Holmes", Oral-B's new product marketing team cleverly integrated its product highlights such as "double tube" and "long-lasting gum protection" into the plot, which became the key to solving the case and also made Sherlock Holmes fans very excited.

Therefore, when leveraging film and television dramas for marketing, the purpose is not to borrow their "corpse", but to attract their "soul". The whole process is not about marketing but about production. The success or failure of marketing through leveraging film and television IP lies in establishing a channel for emotional substitution, and the ultimate goal is to influence user loyalty. Its formation mechanism can be represented by the following figure:

3. Be wary of IPs that go against the grain

Of course, the most terrifying are those IPs that seem to have huge traffic but are inconsistent with the brand’s tone and target users . If brands leverage these IPs, it will only blur the brand positioning and leave consumers confused and at a loss. For example, in "Ghost Blows Out the Light: The Mystical Ancient City", the advertisement content of Bingo Candy Crush is that when "Satipeng" landed on the moon, he suddenly took off his protective suit and started playing Bingo Candy Crush. This plot design is surprising. Is Bingo Candy Crush really trying to promote itself as being particularly suitable for playing on the gravity-free moon? For example, in "Fighter of the Destiny", the gods actually buy and sell second-hand goods on Zhuan Zhuan. This is just like the anti-Japanese dramas where the Japs were torn apart with bare hands. It's absolutely ridiculous. Isn't this an insult to the audience's IQ?

Therefore, before taking advantage of the IP of a film or TV series, you might as well weigh yourself first, and then look at the other party to see whether your "horoscopes" are compatible and whether you are a good match. If a coal mine owner said he wanted to make an animated film, it would sound like he was just playing around. If Shanghai Disneyland wanted to find a partner, it would definitely be more appropriate to choose fast-moving consumer goods brands such as Pepsi and Master Kong than brands from other industries such as electrical appliances and finance. It is unlikely that we will market AKB48 to the square dance aunties, nor should we promote anti-Japanese dramas to the 2D otakus.

Although suitable film and television IPs can always be found as long as you explore them carefully, most failed marketing campaigns are caused by the brands or the film and television IPs themselves.

The brand itself is the antidote, so it can save itself

Okay, no matter how much we complain, we still have to return to reality, especially for the majority of PR dogs and advertisers.

In Xiangling's opinion, when choosing a TV show or film IP for cross-border marketing, in addition to matching the tone, there are several simple criteria:

1. Is there enough cognitive base? That is, we have to estimate how great the potential energy of the film and television IP is, and whether we can use the IP to make the brand and products more widely recognized, rather than putting the cart before the horse and using marketing to hype up the IP; in addition, it should be noted that every IP story has a cultural core. "Captain America" ​​and "007" are both telling stories of "superheroes". Japanese anime works have achieved huge success in China, but have not been as popular as the Marvel series around the world, because Japanese and Chinese cultures have the same origin and the expression of this culture and values ​​is limited to China and Japan.

2. Whether there is a strong sense of sharing connection, such as whether users are willing to participate; whether it is easy to drive social chains, etc.

3. Whether it has value sedimentation , such as sedimentation over time. Captain America was born in 1941 and Iron Man was born in 1963. IP operation cannot be fast-food short-term consumption. In terms of emotional sedimentation, whether it has elements such as love, family affection, justice, dignity, etc., which can drive the IP to the hearts of the people, such as the folk justice in "Batman" and the family affection promoted in "Big Hero 6", these core elements can transcend culture, region and time, and can be precipitated to form a subculture effect.

4. Whether it has strong adhesion, whether it can attract each other and trigger a trend . After all, artificial dissemination is limited in channels and time. A successful IP needs to constantly gain new traffic without any forced promotion.

But what should you do if you really step on dog shit and get poisoned by this type of film and television IP?

Of course you have to save yourself.

Indeed, including the brands mentioned above, they are also seeking self-help after encountering toxic IPs. For example, DR. After the ratings of the drama "Operation Wedding" were a flop and the film company imposed various harsh restrictions on publicity, the DR marketing team simply recorded a "complaining rap song" and posted it on the Internet. It was then forwarded by multiple advertising accounts, triggering everyone's enthusiasm for secondary creation. This kind of "self-deprecating marketing" is quite bold.

Of course, in addition to this unconventional self-deprecating approach, brands can also try these.

1. Only when a brand is not pretentious can it be supported by users

To put it simply, the brand needs to be down-to-earth.

You have already stepped on dog shit, but you still insist that you stepped on gold. This is just an attempt to cover up one's mistake, and you are deceiving yourself and others.

Recently, " The Rap of China " has become extremely popular, and the product placement in it is also very familiar. We have to praise the marketing team for this. Just think about what kind of picture it will be if brands continue to be pretentious in the face of "The Rap of China", a "weird" IP (The Rap of China is a combination of no bottom line, full of funny people, full of spoofs, and sensitive topics). "Take it out to make trouble" has become "Born for fever", "Truth comes out after milk" has become "Every drop is pure, milk is so simple", "Don't let your dandruff stay with me overnight" has become "Dandruff disappears and calls come in seconds", "Fuck, this can be sold too" has been replaced by "Easily sell idle items, buy second-hand items with confidence", and "If you don't play big enough, don't drink Mirinda" has also been replaced by the original "Natural and healthy every day", "Listen to me freshly", etc. These brands are already hanging out with the funny and weird ones, so why not just join in the fun? This way, they can “birds of a feather flock together” and fully inherit and continue the charm bestowed by the original IP.

Let us think about it, if the DR team, faced with the salted fish of "Operation Wedlock", continued to be pretentious and dignified to promote their only love and eternity, or continued to throw money and diamonds everywhere, saying that this was a successful brand implantation, how embarrassing it would be. On the contrary, this kind of self-deprecating marketing, which seems to be "broken jar", has achieved the "adaptation to local customs" in marketing and used the power of others to defeat the enemy.

If we look at the PS poster of the movie version of "Love Is War", the spoof lyrics of the cartoon "The Smurfs", the satirical video produced by Zhejiang Satellite TV for the TV series "Lanling King", etc., they all achieved close contact with the audience by lowering themselves.
When we talk about " viral marketing ", we must first admit that we are "disease-prone", and then make good use of this "disease" and humble ourselves, so that we can become a real "pathogen" and accelerate the spread .

In fact, brands that use loudspeakers to brag about how righteous, noble, and serious they are are often looked down upon by no one; those screen-dominating communications that use material or monetary rewards to induce sharing, or direct sales-style shouting, are often very vulgar.
Nowadays, in most cases, people forward and like your posts not because you are serious or because of the money, but because they can arouse emotional resonance and people appreciate them from the bottom of their hearts. It’s because the brand and its audience are just like them, not pretentious but down-to-earth.

2. Only when a brand gets rid of its own excitement can it achieve public excitement

Simply put, brands need to abandon self-centered approaches and adopt decentralized communication.

However, in these "toxic" film and television drama IPs, brands' self-entertainment will only attract the audience's disgust.

In the past, communication was mostly centralized, with corporate brands at the top, focusing on grabbing communication entrances, and emphasizing obedience and execution, such as contacting CCTV. However, this type of communication was only corporate-oriented. Now communication needs to be user-oriented, because consumers do not need to enjoy corporate-centered headlines alone, but rather need equal communication with high participation of all.

The correct approach is to do "situational marketing", that is, to conduct targeted marketing penetration based on the consumer's situation, so that the viewer can resonate and trigger "heart-moving" consumption behavior.

There are at least three specific methods:

1. Leverage the product placement based on the plot of the TV series or film, rather than mechanically copying it.

For example, during the broadcast of "The Brain", for those viewers who are concerned about intellectual development and love intellectual competitions, if related products appear, their memory will naturally deepen, and Six Walnuts just took the opportunity to enter the market. For example, during the World Cup, even if it is already the second half of the night, die-hard fans will stay in front of the TV to watch the live broadcast . At this time, if advertisements for beer, football, etc. appear, in addition to catering to consumers' excited psychology, it can also stimulate consumption motivation.

2. Carry out implantation based on the brand’s own temperament and product characteristics, especially consumer usage scenarios.

For example, as mentioned before, in the emotional scenes of film and television dramas or the love stories of celebrities, the audiences are looking forward to the pairing of lovers finally getting married, the romantic proposal ceremony, the unswerving declaration of love, etc. Therefore, those diamond brands that can create exciting and novel technological products can take advantage of this opportunity. For example, we can see DR diamond rings at the proposal scenes of Wu Minxia and Zhang Xiao, Wu Jing and Xie Nan, Qi Wei and Lee Seung-hyun, Chen Yibing and his wife, Qi Xi and Song Ning, etc. When Wang Feng proposed to Zhang Ziyi with a DJI drone, it also made headlines. These marketing campaigns not only meet the unique needs of celebrities for marriage proposals, but also express the personal values ​​of celebrities (DR diamond ring is inspired by the idea that a man only gives the diamond to one person in his lifetime, and DJI drone’s brand concept of being omnipotent in the future is also in line with the values ​​of celebrities), enhance the topicality, and make the exposure of DR diamond ring and DJI drone’s own brands logical and unconventional.

For example, in "Tiny Times 4: The End of the Soul", for the proposal scene of Lin Xiao and Lu Shao, the strongest CP in Tiny Times 4, Guo Jingming personally selected a Darry Ring rare pink diamond as a token of true love. When Lu Shao proposed to Lin Xiao and put the wedding ring on Lin Xiao, not only was the scene moving, but Darry Ring also "took advantage".

3. Create specific scenarios to align the brand itself with the IP of the film or TV series.

For example, in the cooperation with "Kung Fu Panda 3", Yili Meiyitian launched the "Tian Maohao" series of products. After contracting the advertising for Beijing Subway Line 1, Yili Meiyitian Yogurt directly copied the 1:1 original version of the subway "Tian Maohao" car into Beijing Jinyuan Yansha Shopping Center, and at the same time added the smart wristband that once set off a social circle and Oriental DreamWorks' original star Po, creating a specific scene of "Kung Fu Jianghu" in the shopping mall. Consumers can have the same visual experience in the shopping mall as in the subway, take photos with the cute star Po, test their health index through smart bracelets, and play H5 games . For consumers, especially Po fans, this can evoke their memories of the first two Kung Fu Panda movies and subconsciously integrate Kung Fu Panda with the low-sugar concept of Meiyitian in the experience.

All of this contextual marketing is based on user experience , not branding.

3. Brands are willing to be small and do less in order to achieve bigger and more

To put it bluntly, brands should not be greedy.

For example, in "Fighter of the Destiny", the product placement of "Hansu Yiyezi Mask" has reached a crazy level...

First, canning:
Next, the real thing:
Finally, the signs were used:

"Midnight Diner" was criticized for being too greedy. Not only did it have 19 brands of advertising implanted, but also pots, pans, and even garbage bags had ads implanted. Moreover, a single brand appeared multiple times. For example, Budweiser (including Sedrin Beer and JA Cider) appeared 14 times, including 3 spoken announcements, while Pepsi appeared 12 times and Uni-President appeared 10 times, with 6 spoken announcements. In the end, these brands failed to benefit from the IP effect, but instead got into trouble and were singled out by netizens for criticism.

This tells us not to focus on popular IPs. When TV shows and movies take advantage of too many implants, we may choose to cooperate with IPs with fewer implants. It also teaches us not to pursue more blindly. Multiple risky exposures are not as good as one perfect exposure.

For example, in "The Garden of Words", the beverage brand Suntory is exposed in a small but clever way. In the scene where the hero and heroine first meet, the heroine is drinking Suntory's Golden Wheat Beer. After feeling the hero's gaze, she naturally turns the beer can in her hand, revealing the two Chinese characters for Golden Wheat.

As for the proposal scene mentioned earlier, the exposure of the diamond brand also follows the principle of "less is more". Although in the proposal scene, putting on a diamond ring of a certain brand is just a small movement between the fingers, the whole picture focuses on it, which strengthens the plot and brings the audience into the story.

In short, the above are all routines, and people still play a decisive role. Regardless of whether the IP of a film or TV series is poisonous or not, we should always have an antidote ready for ourselves and remind ourselves not to be fooled by the surface.