Craftsmanship in the Marketing Circle VS Market Style

I have forgotten what advertisement I saw that made me decide to write this article, but the advertisement that touched me at the time was probably like the "powerful combination" of a well-known watch using PAPI sauce, which was really heartbreaking. When you see the brand’s logo and the spokesperson’s face appear together, all the stories that the brand has prepared seem to be written on that key visual. The details are as follows:

Product sales are declining, brand influence is weakening, new media marketing is prevalent but chaotic. If you want to tell a story, tell it well, and tell it influentially, then find an internet celebrity ! Bang, the advertisement is out.

Let me first make it clear that I don't think this is wrong. What I want to lament is that marketing has really become a job that is becoming more and more tiring and more and more difficult to handle. And I see more and more brands trying to achieve sales through the "free market shopping style".

I repeat, this is not wrong, it’s just mixed feelings. The characteristic of buying vegetables at a free market is that everyone who enters the market has the same identity - a common person; the purpose of entering the market is the same - to buy some raw materials to cook; the method of buying is the same, asking the boss for the price, bargaining, and selecting goods for trading.

Mindset

The catering masters go to professional markets to select the best ingredients. For them, choosing ingredients is the most fundamental factor in preparing a delicious meal and cannot be taken lightly. Of course I wouldn’t just find a vegetable market near home and run in to pick whatever I want. Although searching for specialized raw materials may be time-consuming, laborious, and even expensive, it is the only way to pursue the best and must be done strictly.

Selecting agencies, content producers, media, big accounts, spokespersons, etc. is the same job as that of marketing advertisers. Should we just pick whatever is nearby to make the dishes, or should we go to great lengths, waste time, or even pay extra fees to make a table of exquisite dishes? This is a difference in mentality, which of course determines the product. There must be a difference between preparing three meals a day and opening a Michelin three-star restaurant.

responsibility

Recently I have been thinking about a question: should advertising cater to mainstream aesthetics, or should it be unconventional and seek to lead the market?

This is not just my personal question, but a good question that many friends in the circle should think about calmly. As part of mass communication, advertising not only has the responsibility of helping brands, but also has the task of guiding the public's aesthetic taste. Things that are going to be released should advocate beauty, lead aspirations, and customize better dreams.

However, with the popularity of so-called new media, aesthetic tastes that cater to the so-called Internet culture have begun to spread. To put it bluntly, the more you speak in a rude manner and the more you expose the ugliness of human nature, the more likely it is that it will become popular. Complaints, sarcasm, vilification, and even abuse have all reached the peak of Internet popular culture. A fashion expert won’t be famous unless he calls the clothes ugly, and an internet celebrity in advertising won’t be reposted unless he calls the clients stupid.

There is nothing wrong with this; this is the current situation in China. Our netizens are dominated by young people who are habitually distrustful, like to express their individuality by being unconventional, and lack awe of responsibility and the law. Content produced by such logic is likely to be popular. This is "down to earth". It's like going to a free market to buy vegetables, there are real ordinary people there.

But do we want to be down-to-earth? You may have a different opinion. But I always insist on having a higher sense of responsibility. What we do may influence a generation. Our stuff says a lot about who we are, our motivations and our values.

Sometimes we go to high-end imported supermarkets to buy some foreign small ingredients and foods. It’s not that we want to pretend, but to give ourselves different experiences in life. The most important thing is to give ourselves more calmness, freedom, and beauty. Let yourself feel the quality of life. This is different from going in and out of the free market at will every day.

value

Making the same dish at the lowest cost - this is probably the mentality of most people entering the free market. Being able to lower prices or even get something for free is a skill that people who spend money should develop. But cheap things don’t come cheap, and as the saying goes in English, “garbage in, garbage out.” On the one hand, you can find a website developer who can make a website costing 200,000 yuan for only 10,000 yuan, but on the other hand, there will definitely be constant errors and omissions, and the experience will be extremely bad. All the money invested will definitely be reflected in the quality, without any surprises.

In addition, there are some prices that cannot be bargained for and money that cannot be saved, such as the service fees of service providers and the cooperation fees of KOLs . Of course, the premise is that the other party’s offer is reasonable and not exorbitant. It was supposed to be done by ten people, but after some bargaining the service provider gave in and it now required five people to do the job. The result is predictable. Things are done in a disorganized manner, the service staff constantly complain about having to work overtime, and they are constantly replaced, and in the end they are the ones who suffer. Cooperation with KOLs is more risky because you have to pay them to say something good. After the haggling, the brand was given a bad image, and the KOL told everyone he met that the brand was not very good. In the end, you're really just asking for trouble. It's better not to have looked for it at all.

Craftsmen don't think so. It is inevitable that good things are expensive. But the price can be higher and the quantity can be smaller. The most important thing is that everyone who eats it is happy. As long as you have a good reputation, you will have many repeat customers and referral customers. Business is a long-term business, but everyone's perception is formed at one time. If you don't want to spend that much money, don't do those things. Now that you have decided to do it, don't save some money. To put it simply, that's it.

If you do a job for a long time, you will inevitably become numb. Just like housewives have to cook three meals a day, it is impossible for them to devote their full energy to preparing each meal as if it were a lavish banquet for guests. But just when everyone thinks that marketing communication is something that can be done mechanically like eating and sleeping every day, some people, or sometimes some people, treat it as an art and do it seriously and in-depth, which is very touching. We still need to be touched occasionally.

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