In April, Internet companies flocked to the subway to do marketing. Which one has the best creativity?

The subway is regarded as the "showcase" of various brands in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, and many brands choose to communicate with consumers in the subway. Internet companies, in particular, would use various LOGO slogans to occupy subway light boxes every once in a while.

The reason is simple. The subway light box billboards have several advantages:

Massive users: The subway network is smooth and can cover the entire urban area, especially cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, which have very large daily passenger flows. For example, the Beijing Metro has a daily passenger flow of over 10 million. Due to the different directions of commuting, as people move, advertising content will continue to influence the audience and increase the frequency of exposure.

Mandatory viewing: Passengers usually wait 3-5 minutes on the platform and stay in the car for an average of 20-30 minutes. Some users may play with their mobile phones in the subway, but they will still see the billboards when entering the station or getting on or off the train.

The format is large enough: it can fully demonstrate the brand's creativity and taste. Whether it is a communication concept or promotional information, it can be fully presented in one poster.

Especially as the price of online traffic continues to rise, it has become the norm for Internet brand promotion to move from online to offline. As a result, all kinds of "celebrity endorsements", "joke declarations" and "brand promotions" swept across major railway lines. While enriching people's "fragmented time", it also makes us wonder, for the consumer public with diverse tastes, what kind of advertising form can impress users?

Take Momo, Zhihu and iReader, the three major Internet companies that have recently occupied the Beijing subway, as examples, and see how these Internet companies with different tones go out and roam the subway?

On a subway platform in Beijing, advertisements of three Internet companies are lined up

Different painting styles

The three companies have different main businesses and different advertising positioning. Zhihu focuses on the "Know more every day" series, Momo focuses on its newly determined video social positioning and launched the "Get to know me through video" series, and iReader will launch the "I Love Reading" series in conjunction with the upcoming World Book Day on April 23.

Here you can take a look at their respective copywriting characteristics:

The ones on Zhihu are like “Edamame is soybeans when young”.

Momo wants to promote a new positioning of video social networking, and the style is like this: "With just one word "good night", I can talk from midnight to morning."

IReader is a little different. It doesn’t use color tones. Let’s take a look at its style: “I love reading. Like many other things in life, it is more meaningful to be interesting than meaningful.”

Some people commented that the advertisements of Momo and Zhihu are the same, both have a large picture with a youth-style copy and their own brand proposition, while iReader seems a bit serious.

From a visual perspective, Zhihu and Momo require the eyes to jump between different fonts and connect the fragmented sentences before the whole meaning can be understood, while iReader uses a standard font that allows people to read a sentence in one go.

In terms of lineup, iReader invited ten cultural celebrities including Jackie Chan, Yang Lan, and Yuval Noah Harari, and the other two are smart short stories from grassroots netizens.

Directly reach target users

From the style of the subway posters, we can see that Momo and Zhihu are targeting active young people: they have jumping thoughts, are independent, have personality, and love to express themselves. The advertising copy is divided into three sections + a contrasting background, which is in line with the reading habits of young users and thus resonates with them. Specifically for different products, Momo hopes to highlight its recently transformed "video social" positioning, while Zhihu hopes to use advertising to let more people discover the true face of Zhihu and communicate with potential users.

iReader targets potential users who like or want to read, and uses black and white text + portraits of writers + famous quotes to introduce its brand proposition.

All companies that do subway advertising must know one thing, which is that "exposure ≠ brand awareness". Although you can show your advertisement to everyone (of course, only everyone under ideal circumstances), only a part of the people who see your advertisement will resonate with it.

For example, people who don’t like bright colors may find the ads of Momo and Zhihu garish, and the language a little hard to understand; and many people who like trendy and relaxed styles may find the ads of iReader too serious and not like them very much.

It’s impossible to please everyone! Right? !

So what? The target audience of subway advertisements is the general public, facing all the people who travel to and from the subway every day, but it is impossible to know their precise information such as age level, preferences and even occupations.

In Chuchu's opinion, a brand only needs to "let everyone know about it and let those who understand you like it." For example, Momo and Zhihu only need to make young people understand themselves, and what iReader needs to do is to make readers understand themselves.

How to attract attention

Among the billboards lined up in a row in the subway, which one will attract you to take a second look is also a question that brands should consider carefully when placing advertisements.

Because users will not move for advertisements, you can only attract passengers at the door of a carriage, so there are two main ways to get more exposure: the first is to put up more billboards, such as Haier Casarte, which put up two large advertisements at Guomao Station to bombard people's sight; the second is to work hard on the creativity and taste of the advertisement itself, how to gain more attention and recognition from the audience while being exposed, and leave a memory in their hearts.

However, many creative ideas are now well known to consumers, and many routines are no longer new, but taste is still effective and can segment the crowd and gain recognition from a part of the target audience.

Is it possible to do this style of advertising on one site and another style on another site and capture all users?

No, unless you promote two product ads.

Is it possible to attract everyone directly through a slightly stronger advertisement?

No, you can’t. You will get exposure, but your reputation may be damaged (some advertisements that claim to be heavy-tasting are actually not heavy-tasting).

Is it possible to present your ideas through beautiful images, such as comfortable environments and pleasant pictures?

Yes, but it’s not direct enough and won’t be memorable among the sea of ​​advertisements.

Is it possible that it is simply crude and a bit willful?

It’s okay, but it’s not refined or classy enough. Users may not necessarily use your product, and may even doubt your taste.

Well, since it is impossible to satisfy everyone, brands should still capture the most targeted potential user groups, arouse their interest and leave an impression.

As we all know, young people in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou are generally anxious. They have pressure and motivation. They need more energy, more knowledge reserves and more opportunities to show themselves. They care about salary increases and promotions, starting a business , buying real estate, and financial freedom... They are all people with dreams.

How to impress them in subway advertising? Chuchu believes that we can start from the following two aspects to meet their needs:

First, to improve them, such as the improvement of their abilities, knowledge and aesthetic taste;

Second, let them relax, get more interesting ideas, meet more interesting people, and gain spiritual recognition and satisfaction through the dissemination of copywriting.

As for NetEase Cloud Music ’s tear-jerking strategy, it probably won’t work in Beijing. On the crowded subway, people only think about two things: give me a chance so that I don’t have to squeeze into the subway every day; give me relaxation so that I can make up for the tiredness from the rush. It's tearful and sentimental, this is not the rhythm on the subway. In this tunnel leading to the destination, people will not stop their hurried steps to feel sorry for themselves.

Judging from these needs, Momo, Zhihu, and iReader still have a lot of tricks to try.

Mobile application product promotion service: APP promotion service Qinggua Media advertising

Please note that this article was compiled and published by (Qinggua Media) by the author @熊出墨. Please indicate the author information and source when reprinting! Site Map