The second “escape from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou”: the courage, challenges and dilemmas of Xin Shi Xiang

My original plan today was to post a long article about " knowledge payment ", but after getting up early, I saw the second season of " Escape from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou " on Xin Shi Xiang , and I had some thoughts at the moment, so I decided to talk about it.

Note: This article does not discuss business and models, but only talks about some feelings from the user's perspective.

1.

I knew quite early on that Xin Shi Xiang was going to make the second season of Escape from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

I also know that this is bound to be difficult - because their first time was too successful.

2.

I have a very vivid memory of the “ 4-hour escape from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou ” more than half a year ago: as soon as Xin Shi Xiang’s tweet was sent out, the whole thing started to spread like wildfire, not only flooding the circle of friends , but also almost every group I belonged to quickly became a hot topic of concern to everyone, which can be said to be “dominating the screen”.

However, as of 10 o'clock this morning, as far as I can see, there were only 3-4 people in my group who mentioned the second season of "Escape from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou". Moreover, even among the few people who paid attention to this matter, their attitudes were mostly similar to "Why is it happening again?", which was not entirely positive.

More than one person also mentioned that this time, the degree of screen-sweeping and popularity of "Escape from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou" in the circle of friends was obviously not as high as last time.

3.

Everyone knows that the biggest challenge for New World View in making the second season of “Escape from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou” is how to come up with something “new”.

The reason is simple. If you redo an activity that has previously won praise from almost everyone, you will most likely face the accusation of "rehashing old stuff". Moreover, users' standards for judging you will definitely be higher and more discerning.

From this perspective, it is actually quite admirable that Xin Shixiang is willing to continue trying, and they must have their own thinking behind it.

But judging from the actual event content released today, the main highlights or gameplay of the second season of "Escape" of New World are mainly -

• 13 stars designed escape routes and missions;
• Trying to help some people actually leave Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou and find a job in their hometown.
• By cooperating with Didi and Mobike , we are trying to call on more people to "take action" and start a short "escape".

Other than that, in terms of gameplay, it doesn’t seem to be much different from the first season. However, the product placements by various marketing parties seem much more mature than the first time, which is also something worth mentioning.

However, it seems that none of the above points can constitute "absolute" attraction and stimulation to users.

This may be the reason why today's "Escape" Season 2 does not seem as popular as Season 1.

And, behind this, there may also be a subtle reflection of some of the troubles of the "new world".

4.

From the perspective of " operation " or even a business, if we focus on the issue of "how to attract users' attention and recognition", we usually need to pay attention to two types of user value: one is short-term value and the other is long-term value.

The former include, for example, fresh topics, never-heard-of phenomena, some breaking news, an activity or plan with amazing gameplay, etc.

As for the latter, for example, "you can definitely eat delicious food in a certain restaurant", "the content pushed by a certain public account is very useful every day", "you can hook up with a lot of girls as soon as you open a certain APP", "you can really learn XXX things after taking a certain course", etc.

In actual operational work, many people tend to prefer the former, hoping to gain continuous exposure and user attention by constantly creating hot spots.

But the problem with the former is that it is actually something that can only be encountered by chance.

The simplest example: no matter how awesome an advertising creative planning company is, it cannot guarantee that every one of its creative ideas will be successful.

Once when I was communicating privately with the marketing guru Mr. Shen Yin, I heard him say something with some emotion: When it comes to marketing, no matter how awesome your background, abilities and methods are, in fact, this thing itself is still a nine-to-one failure. In other words, no matter what, even if you make 10 plans, only one is destined to be truly successful in the end.

Just like, even though Xin Shi Xiang’s planning ability is recognized as very impressive in the circle, they still cannot guarantee that every one of their plans will be a great success.

It’s just like, even if I can explain it clearly every time I analyze and review, I can’t guarantee that I can definitely produce something awesome if I do it myself.

Therefore, if you encounter bottlenecks and obstacles in the former and cannot break through, the best approach and thinking logic may be to prioritize the latter - first allow a part of users to get a certain stable value expectation in your product and continue to satisfy them, and then gain more user recognition by amplifying their satisfaction.

Or maybe the means you use to gain user recognition or " attract new users " can themselves bring about certain stable value expectations. For example, the “ Luoji Siwei ” audio program on “Get” now only costs 1 yuan.

However, for Xin Shi Xiang, at the moment, whether it is the content of the official account or the "Escape from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou" campaign, the answer to the question "What is the long-term stable value expectation that it provides to users" may not be so clear.

5.

Everyone knows that from "Shi Xiang" to "Xin Shi Xiang", this public account was written by Zhang Wei alone in the early days.

At the Huxiu FM conference at the end of last year, I was sitting in the audience when Zhang Wei gave a speech.

At that time, Zhang Wei mentioned a point. I can’t remember the exact words, but the general idea was this:

What Xin Shi Xiang is doing is actually no longer what is commonly understood as " content entrepreneurship ". In the past six months or so, Xin Shi Xiang has actually been weakening the proportion of "content", and it itself has been writing less and less. Xin Shi Xiang has begun to use the method of "continuously calling on people to complete certain joint actions" to connect with users, such as book drifting, escaping from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, book throwing campaign, etc., which are all "joint actions" initiated by Xin Shi Xiang.

But the problem is, if it is an occasional "joint action", users are willing to devote their enthusiasm and energy to participate and interact with you out of curiosity, impulse, fun and other factors. But if a "joint action" is stabilized and continued, then most people will definitely start to think about what long-term value and positive feedback this thing will bring to them.

For example, if a lot of books are lost, can we really see some changes? Or receive some thanks and feedback? For example, after escaping from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, are our living conditions really getting better? Can we have some stable and clear expectations for such activities?

If not, what is the reason for us to continue to pay attention to and participate in them?

This logic is like the Ice Bucket Challenge, which everyone does once and finds fresh, fun and exciting. But if it happens every quarter, everyone will eventually question the significance of this matter and even feel stupid.

I also remembered that there seemed to be an event called "Earth Hour". Many years ago, I was very serious in cooperating and participating in it, and called on everyone around me to "turn off the lights for one hour" on time. But now, because I have never received any positive feedback and stable expectations, I no longer pay much attention to it.

From this perspective, I actually think that in today's "Escape from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou" Season 2, the point of "helping some people truly escape and return to their hometown to find a good job" is likely to become a "stable expectation". I am also wondering whether the addition of this part is also a conscious attempt by the New World team to build some "stable expectations".

However, it is still not easy to do this well, and the specific results still need to be observed.

6.

According to the official press release of Xin Shi Xiang, the exposure frequency of the second season of "Escape from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou" is still quite high, even "exceeding any activity initiated from the WeChat channel ."

In a sense, the second season of "Escape from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou" may not be considered a failure in terms of data, communication and other aspects. It may just have lost the sense of surprise of the first season.

But the issue of "long-term value" reflected behind this is real, whether it is for the "4-hour escape from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou" event itself, or for the "New World View" public account and this company. I believe that the New World team themselves can feel it to some extent.

I think this is a difficult problem facing New World right now, and it is also a challenge they must face.

I also guess that they actually have some thoughts and actions of their own, but it is not yet time to show them to others.

Anyway, good luck to the new world. After all, it is quite rare to see a team with such strong planning ability that can often touch people's hearts, and we like it very much. (over)

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