What are the “menstrual-like” hot spots in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou?

In this article, Li Jiaoshou analyzes: After changes in economic conditions and identities, in a living environment where excitement and pressure coexist, what "menstrual needs" do white-collar workers in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou who are highly educated and have high status but not much capital have that can be used by marketers as a continuous hot spot.

When it comes to leveraging "hot topics", many people first think of leveraging current events - when there is a new discovery on Pluto, they quickly post a poster saying: "Wang Ergou brand charger, far away from the earth to see you"; when Apple releases a new ultra-thin iPhone, they quickly post a Weibo saying: "Who can be thinner than me?"

But I don’t think this is the “hotspot” that we should rely on the most.

In fact, many successful communication activities are not really relying on hot topics such as current events, but rather on psychological needs that people constantly discuss, care about, and regularly express in the current cultural environment. Here, I call it - "menstrual needs".

1. The need to regain control due to external pressure

Many new white-collar workers in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou have been the best among their peers since childhood, and have obtained a relatively glamorous position through years of hard work and fierce competition. However, they did not enjoy the expected happiness and freedom - they had to abide by work regulations, assume role responsibilities, and bear the pressure of housing prices every day. They felt that they could not do what they wanted and lost a sense of control over themselves.

Many marketing activities seize this long-standing and regularly erupting "menstrual demand".

In the recent "escape from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou" event, Xin Shi Xiang and Flight Butler called on hard-working white-collar workers in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou to temporarily put aside their stress and tasks and go on a trip at any time.

Many people really said, "I want to put down my work and go wherever I want."

If you think about it for a moment, you will find that this "menstrual demand" occurs almost every few months.

For example, the previous hot resignation incident:

“The world is so big, I want to see it.”

A widely circulated passage on the Internet:

"When you are writing a PPT, cod in Alaska are jumping out of the water. When you are looking at a report, golden monkeys in Meili Snow Mountain are climbing to the top of the tree. When you are squeezing into the subway, mountain eagles in Tibet are circling in the clouds. When you are arguing in a meeting, backpackers in Nepal are sitting by the fire with glasses in hand. There are roads that you cannot walk on in high heels, air that you cannot smell with perfume, and people you will never meet in an office building."

A very popular topic in February: Should we escape from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou or escape back to Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou?

I saw a question on Zhihu before:

"My dream is to own a farm of about 50 square kilometers. I currently work as an office HR with an annual salary of 40,000 yuan. How can I get closer to my dream step by step?"

There are also countless hot topics such as "quit your job and open a hotel in Lijiang" and "travel around the world".

The reason for this is that these white-collar workers are "controlled" day after day (such as going to get off work on time or squeezing into the subway no matter how much they hate it), and they happen to see activities to break free from this control and briefly fantasize about taking back their freedom.

(Li Jiaoshou once said: The experience of imagining something is similar to the experience of actually doing it)

A sense of control over oneself is a basic need, just like drinking water, eating and sex. When people feel that they have no control over their lives, they have negative experiences.

For example, a study on nursing homes found that among the same group of patients, those who were allowed to move their beds and place flowers and plants by themselves lived longer and were healthier than those who were taken care of in every way.

Because for those who have everything taken care of, even the placement of flowers and plants is fixed, their sense of control over themselves is reduced.

This is the case with many white-collar workers in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou - when the external environment constantly deprives them of their sense of control, makes them unfree, bear many responsibilities, and succumb to many goals, they naturally develop this need to "regain their sense of control."

This demand continues to exist, just waiting to be activated once in a while.

So how do marketers take advantage of this demand?

The key method is to find the external forces that control these people and then help them get rid of it temporarily (such as calling on people to give up, calling on people to be themselves, creating idols that help them break free, etc.)

For example, socializing in the workplace is a kind of "external force that controls them", making them feel that they have lost their freedom in the face of external responsibilities and pressures. So you can help them temporarily get rid of it and control themselves:

For example, the goal of promotion is a kind of "external force that controls them", which prevents them from living freely and forces them to work overtime and cater to their leaders. As a result, some people call for resigning to start their own businesses , "be their own masters" and "be their own bosses."

Even if they start a business, the pressure of profitability and financing is a kind of "external force controlling them", which prevents them from doing what they want to do, so there are new calls...

In short, for white-collar workers in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, "responsibility" and "freedom" are in eternal conflict. In an era of such great social pressure, their way of resolving this conflict is to fulfill responsibilities in action and yearn for freedom in thought.

Many activities initiated by internet celebrities, corporate brands, etc. are likely to gain support if they provide a "short-term illusion of freedom" and allow them to regain a sense of control.

2. Nostalgic demand caused by role changes

New white-collar workers in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou are constantly facing various changes: many of them were originally outsiders, but later became "new Beijingers" or "new Shanghainese"; they were originally college students, but after graduation they became white-collar workers; they were originally white-collar workers, but after graduation they became entrepreneurs by joining startups; they used to work hard to take care of themselves, but suddenly they found that they had children and there was one more person to take care of...

This constant change of roles, identities, and environments creates a sense of discontinuity in people’s lives, making it difficult for them to identify “who I am”.

• “Am I the same person today as I was yesterday?”
• “Have I changed?”
• “Who am I now? Am I a kid who grew up in a third-tier city, or a modern Beijinger?”
• “Am I a young beauty or a beautiful mother?”

Once people have more of this sense of "discontinuity" and their role identities become blurred, it is easy to trigger nostalgia.

For example, during graduation season, college students face identity changes, which creates a sense of discontinuity and naturally leads to constant nostalgia.

In contrast, ancient farmers who worked hard all their lives were not so prone to nostalgia because of their fixed roles and identities.

This also leads to the following: among the new white-collar groups in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, whose identities and environments are undergoing drastic changes, nostalgia has become a menstrual need - existing for a long time, waiting to be used, and erupting regularly.

For example, various movies help us recall what we have done every once in a while:

• My Girlhood
• My Deskmate
• Lost in Hong Kong
• Warcraft
• "Those Years, We Chased the Same Girl"

Various golden quotes and jokes continue to become popular, making us go back to the past again and again to confirm "who we used to be".

• When I was a child, I would not throw away the lottery ticket even if I scratched out the word "thank you". I would not let it go until I had scratched out the word "thank you" for your patronage completely. This was exactly the same as many things that happened later.
• In the past, cars, horses, and mail were all slow, and a lifetime was only enough to love one person.

There are also various popular events, such as calling for Liu Xiao Ling Tong to perform on the Spring Festival Gala.

"Even if Liu Xiao Ling Tong eats peaches live during the Spring Festival Gala , I can still watch it all night while eating melon seeds."

So in marketing, if you want to stimulate people to participate in an event, how do you take advantage of this nostalgia?

It's very simple. Since the important role of nostalgia is to help people break this "discontinuity" and make people feel that "I am still the same as before", you just need to ask yourself two questions:

• What do I want users (also fans, consumers) to do?
• Is what I want them to do similar to what he did in the past under what identity?

For example, if you sell training:

• What do I want users to do? Want to let busy white-collar workers in the city spend time learning and training on weekends
• Is what I want them to do similar to what he did in the past under what identity? What you studied in high school (of course it can be other things as well).

Therefore, a public account can plan this activity: "I have prepared 40 desks, waiting for you to return to high school"

"How long has it been since you last studied for 10 hours straight? Some people say that the peak of their intelligence in this life is the moment when the college entrance examination is over. Now, we are planning an event to take you back to high school this weekend..."

For example, the activities of the Enterprise Club:

What do I want users to do? I want these entrepreneurs to join my “Walking in the Gobi” activity and endure the hardships.

Is what I want them to do similar to what he did in the past under what identity? These entrepreneurs’ younger selves (hard work and perseverance).

So, it can be said that:

"Entrepreneurs, we fought hard and suffered a lot to get to where we are today. Now, we drink tea in private clubs and lie in luxury cars. So, let us remember the entrepreneurial spirit of those days and walk with me in the Gobi Desert!"

In short, for people whose identities are constantly changing, "nostalgia" is a "menstrual" need that is easily stimulated regularly. Be sure to make good use of it : "World of Warcraft" allows players who are over 30 to fight one last time, love movies allow men and women who go on materialistic blind dates every day to love purely again, and "Six Little Children" allows busy people to return to their childhood and play again. So what do you want your users to do?

3. Equal rights movement brought about by changes in power distance

Our country has always been a country with a high " power distance ". (Power Distance: A cultural concept proposed by Geert Hofstede, referring to the tolerance of social class inequality .)

In the past, we emphasized that "the king is the leader of his subjects, the father is the leader of his sons, and the husband is the leader of his wife." We have long accepted the view that "different people have different statuses." This is reflected in our daily lives in the form of bosses bullying employees, parents interfering with their children's will, and women being discriminated against.

But in recent years, especially in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, due to the popularization of higher education and the awakening of citizens' consciousness, this situation has undergone tremendous changes, and the power distance has continued to shorten. For example, if you walk into any Internet company, it is increasingly difficult to find insults and exploitation of employees by superiors, and there is more and more equality between different levels.

Related to this is the emergence of a large number of "equal rights movements", such as employees' pursuit of autonomy, children's pursuit of independent personality, and the feminist movement.

These "equal rights movements" have also become long-standing and regularly erupting "menstrual demands."

For example, the most typical example is "women's equality" (feminist movement): in the past, women were treated as reproductive tools and were restricted from pursuing their own careers and lives. But now women are gradually awakening and do not want to be treated as vassals of men. They want to pursue their own equal values ​​independently.

A few months ago, Liu Yan was molested by the best man at Bao Beier's wedding, which caused a lot of disgust. (If it was 10 years ago, people would be much more tolerant than they are now.)

In 2014, a certain local Civil Affairs Bureau organized a women's moral education class, emphasizing that the key to women's virtues is "not fighting back when beaten, not retaliating when scolded, accepting everything submissively, and never getting divorced," which was met with large-scale boycotts.

In 2013, female students from Beijing Foreign Studies University launched the "My Vagina Says" campaign, emphasizing women's rights and sparking a large-scale discussion...

In addition to the feminist movement, there are also a large number of movements such as children pursuing power and employees pursuing power.

For example, the "Ten Thousand People Boycott Baihe.com" campaign was caused by Baihe.com releasing an advertisement emphasizing that children should listen to their mothers and get married early.

The essence is that it subverts the past concept that "children must listen to their parents", which is equivalent to a kind of equal rights.

Parents have higher status than children, bosses have higher status than employees, customers have higher status than waiters, men have higher status than women, large companies have higher status than small companies, etc. In the past, these behaviors that symbolized " high power distance " are gradually disintegrating or decreasing, resulting in a large number of white-collar workers in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou participating in and forwarding similar equal rights movements.

So how do marketers take advantage of this “hot spot” that appears every once in a while?

The key approach is to provide justification for affirmative action or to help users satirize actions that advocate for power.

For example, the advertisement "She finally went to the blind date corner" produced by SK2 a few months ago asked a group of parents who were forcing their children to get married to go to the blind date corner to read the heartfelt messages left by their children. Thus, it advocates women's independence and encourages people to pursue their own lives.

Didi Chuxing’s previous campaign against malicious overtime for white-collar workers was also helping them to fight for their rights.

In short, white-collar workers in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou are facing a society where the power distance is changing rapidly. At this time, the demand for equal rights will exist for a long time and wait to be activated. When planning social movements, don’t forget this.

4. The need for spiritual rebirth brought about by the increase in the threshold of feeling

White-collar workers in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, who are madly subsidized by global VCs, are facing a life where all their sensory needs are met to a large extent.

The first order is 29 yuan, and you can enjoy home massage, top global cuisine, a large number of movies and entertainment activities, abundant information on the Internet, and various social venues...

These have jointly led to an increase in the "perception threshold" of people in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou - when we eat more and more delicious food, no matter how much more delicious it is, we will no longer feel how delicious it is.

Although people in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou are under great pressure in life, their daily sensory needs are often oversatisfied, which leads to the demand for " spiritual rebirth in an age of rampant materialism ."

(In contrast, rural people will of course go eat if there is something delicious)

• For example, everyone is overeating, so there is a "bigu" activity (not eating for two weeks in a row);
• People enjoy too much leisure and don’t suffer hardship. There are activities such as “walking in the Gobi Desert” and “running a marathon”, and there are also communities that wake up early at 6 o’clock to check in.
• People are exposed to a lot of sexual information, so there are "quit porn websites";
• People are over-satisfied with their information needs (a lot of news, WeChat Moments, etc.), so there are "meditation" activities where people don't read anything;
• Everyone is socializing too much, so there are activities for alone thinking...

In short, people in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou are becoming less and less sensitive to tastier, more comfortable and richer information (that is, the threshold of perception has increased), and the opposite activities have become more popular - let us pursue more restraint, pursue "less is more", pursue a pure heart and few desires, pursue self-training, so as to reduce guilt...

This is also a " menstrual " need that is exploited regularly.

So how do you take advantage of this demand?

It's simple - in your activities, deprive others of a sensory need that is being overfulfilled.

For example, if you sell tea, you can organize a "1 hour tea only" campaign where people are not allowed to look at their phones or chat with others (limit information and social interaction), so that tea lovers can enjoy the tranquility of solitude in this materialistic world.

5. The need to defend rules brought about by changes in social evaluation standards

In recent years, Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou have experienced rapid changes in their economic structures and rapid mobility of various classes (an unknown loser becomes famous overnight, and a powerful entrepreneur goes bankrupt overnight), which has gradually brought about conflicts between the old and new social rules, forcing white-collar workers in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou to constantly and actively defend the rules they adhere to.

For example, some time ago, Baidu UE Director Liu Chao gave a very "frustrating" PPT presentation at a design conference, and was criticized by thousands of people. Later, netizens dug up the news, saying that this director was overpaid but incompetent, with only qualifications for nothing, and was criticized by many white-collar workers in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

(ps. Even Li Jiaoshou himself is not ashamed of attending meetings without proper preparation)

Then why did the suspect who committed murder at the Jingshuyuan bus stop in Haidian District, Beijing not long ago, not receive so much criticism despite his extremely serious crime?

A very important reason is: we are not criticizing Liu Chao himself, but defending a rule recognized by the new generation of white-collar workers - we should rely on our abilities rather than our qualifications to hold high positions and get opportunities (such as the opportunity to speak at a conference).

Any society or group has some default rules of conduct. If someone breaks the rules that are considered reasonable by everyone, they will be criticized by supporters - because if this reasonable rule is broken for a long time, everyone's interests will be harmed.

Just like in the movie "Master" I watched before, the master who had just entered the Tianjin martial arts world broke the rules that had been maintained by Tianjin martial arts for many years and was naturally not tolerated by the maintainers of the rules.

In the rapidly changing Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, various rules are being replaced. Young white-collar workers in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou are trying to replace old rules with new ones and to defend the rules they support.

For example, I am observing some of the alternations between Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou:

• Evaluating people by qualifications vs. evaluating people by ability
• Judging heroes by results vs considering process justice
• Winning with relationships vs. winning with performance…

For example, white-collar workers in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou felt that the Liu Chao incident implied the social rule of "judging people by their seniority". When they felt that Liu Chao had average ability but rose to the top through seniority, they felt that he had broken the new social rule they were defending (judging by ability).

As a result, even people within Baidu were calling for Liu Chao to resign.

The alternation and defense of new and old rules is an important "menstrual" need that exists for a long time and waits to be stimulated.

For example, a few years ago, when "Guo Jingming was suspected of plagiarism" was a hot topic online, many people were disgusted with this plagiarism. This was because they were upholding rules such as "process justice" and "intelligence has value."

But I remember that some people from my hometown said, "No matter how much Guo Jingming plagiarizes, he still makes tens of millions every year. If you have the ability, you can also make tens of millions."

Their evaluation criteria are different from those of white-collar workers in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. They judge heroes by results and believe that the rule of society is the survival of the fittest, and whoever has money and power is right.

There are also various popular ones: "Young people should not be bullied", " I have Ctrip in hand, but I can't leave", "XX, why did you plagiarize my article", "Tian Pujun redefines a type of woman: the independent bitch", etc., in which obvious rule-maintaining behavior can be seen.

Figure: "Young Man Should Not Be Bullied" incident

So how should marketing utilize this “menstrual” demand?

You need to accurately identify the various rule conflicts that this group is hotly debating and position yourself on the side they support.

For example, after Jiaduobao lost the trademark lawsuit against Wanglaoji, it took advantage of everyone's support for this rule: we should win by our abilities rather than by external factors such as relationships, thereby arousing a sense of resonance.

Conclusion

There are many articles that will give you today's hot topics and suggest that you take advantage of them. And I wrote this article to try to analyze the hot topics that have affected this group for at least a few years .

These hot spots, which I call "menstrual needs", are generally hot spots that inevitably arise from changes in social structure, cultural transformation, etc., and can be reused.

The impact of current events only lasts three days, but hot topics caused by cultural changes will last for years. As a marketer, you should consider the latter more.