Analysis of 6 popular brand marketing cases!

Internet restructuring, new moves for brands.

Viya’s fall cast a shadow on the live streaming e-commerce industry at the end of the year. This week, there have been endless discussions about individual anchors, e-commerce platforms, and online live streaming marketing. From its inception in 2016 to its explosion in 2019, live streaming e-commerce's reconstruction of the people, goods and places has greatly improved sales conversion efficiency, and has also become a shortcut for brands to innovate product marketing in the era of short video live streaming.

But looking back, we also found that the amplification of the voice of super-head anchors has long broken the balance between brands and platforms. The "earthquake" brought about by the fall of the top anchor is essentially an industry correction, forcing all kinds of entities in front of and behind the scenes, who were a mixture of good and bad and had unclear rights and responsibilities, to clarify their responsibilities and achieve a balance between efficiency and fairness.

Of course, we believe that live streaming e-commerce will remain an important channel for brands to achieve sales and communication for some time to come. The extreme voice of top anchors will be broken, and space will be provided for the growth of brand self-broadcasting and mid-level anchors. To some extent, this brings opportunities for the redistribution of traffic and user attention.

And this is just one of the changes that the entire consumer industry and brand marketing will face in 2021. As markets, channels and consumers are growing and evolving, both new and traditional brands must quickly adjust their marketing strategies and explore certain paths amid uncertainty.

1. Brand marketing from being “seen” to being understood, discussed, and co-created

The epidemic seems to have stolen a lot of people’s time, but the limitations of physical space have accelerated innovation through the Internet and emerging channels. As mentioned earlier, live streaming has become an inevitable part for companies, but in the past year, we have also seen that it is unrealistic to excessively pursue product and effect integration at this stage. As an important channel for bringing tangible business growth and increasing corporate GMV in the past two years, live streaming e-commerce still has shortcomings in brand communication, especially in building the minds of new brand users.

In addition to product marketing using live streaming to convert traffic, more brands need to think about how to find the most suitable soil at the right time, establish communication with consumers through content, and achieve integrated communication from product to brand. If in the traditional marketing era, brand communication was more about seeking to be seen, then in the current social networking era where everyone is a media, brand communication needs to be understood, discussed, and co-created.

Looking back at the screen-sweeping marketing cases that impressed us in the past year, no matter whether it is a new brand or a traditional brand, product quality is the foundation, but the spread of hot products depends more on the brand's ability to understand people's hearts, find people and scenes that are relevant to themselves and have extensibility, clarify the positioning of content and activities, and then use the platform and algorithm mechanism to amplify, arouse users' empathy and achieve spontaneous dissemination.

What kind of content or format brings us the “Wow Moment”? What new ideas and methods do these cases bring to subsequent brand marketing?

1. How Lingna Belle became a female star

Chuansha Daji has charmed many netizens, and they say Lingna Belle is the top new female star this year. No one would object, right?

This little fox with no story in the Duffy family has quickly become popular since its debut at Shanghai Disney on September 29. It has been followed by photographers, peripheral products have been out of stock, and scalpers have speculated on the prices. Popularity and controversy have come together, but none of them have affected the popularity of Lingna Belle.

This is a typical case of understanding East Asian cute culture and using social media to create a virtual idol IP. The short video production and secondary creation of netizens provide a steady stream of traffic and popularity, and the production of these situational content and the interpretation of Lin Na Belle also add a sense of story to the image itself.

"Moe" is not an empty sensory cognition; its appeal to people is the result of the construction of part of social reality. For example, the image of Sanrio was once very popular in Japanese society. Its essence is that people use the virtual world to heal reality during the rise of popular culture.

In other words, Lingna Belle is an image customized for current fans of cute culture. This form of IP presentation, which focuses on character but has no story, fits the current media communication environment with fragmented information, scattered attention, and rapidly iterating demands. The characteristics and story-telling interpretations that netizens have given Lingna Belle during interaction and communication not only reflect the public's needs, but can also effectively guide the future operational direction of virtual idols.

Creating an IP without a story is not a false proposition. Disney has mastered the use of IP marketing. It first creates stars and then makes profits through theme parks, development of peripheral derivatives and other retail products. In fact, with the continuous maturity of the domestic cultural and creative industries, more and more local IPs have become popular in the past two years and become one of the symbols of popular culture. The marketing methodology for local IPs will become a topic of continued concern in the next few years.

2. The popularity of Mixue Bingcheng’s hit song and the secondary creative productivity behind it

The theme song of Mixue Bingcheng unexpectedly became popular on Bilibili, becoming a phenomenal communication case this year. The brainwashing MV images and magical lyrics spread almost all major social networking platforms, and the brand image IP of Snow King also became popular. This is an official advertising song produced and launched in 2019, and it has been played in offline stores on a loop for a long time.

In other words, even if consumers who go to Mixue Bingcheng stores do not pay special attention to the BGM, they will still subconsciously form an impression of the catchy melody. This is not enough to stimulate users to actively share it, but it has laid a certain cognitive foundation for the subsequent concentrated outbreak online.

The turning point came from the Chinese-English bilingual version of the theme song MV uploaded by Mixue Bingcheng on Bilibili. Its pictures and melody already have the genes of ghost animals. Under the official guidance and interaction, a large number of UGC secondary creation videos appeared. The theme song became a popular material in the ghost animal area and achieved cross-platform and breaking circle dissemination.

It is not difficult to find that the advertising songs and popular contents that have become popular in the past year almost all rely on users of platforms such as Bilibili and Douyin to refine simple and repetitive melodies, and then amplify and enrich them through creation. The brand’s official content planning must keep up with changes in user preferences and media forms, and make itself the “material” in order to capture the secondary creative productivity, mainly among young people, and form a tap-water-style dissemination.

3. Erke's "wild" consumption and the revival of the sentiment of traditional Chinese products

ERKE donated 50 million yuan to Henan, which was hit by heavy rain. The long-silent brand became unexpectedly popular due to its "bankruptcy-style" donation. Comments such as "low-key", "conscientious", and "afraid of ERKE's bankruptcy" flooded the screen, inspiring netizens to pay attention to and support consumption of old domestic brands. Related topics received over 1 billion readings on hot searches, and its official live broadcast room sold over 100 million yuan of goods in two days when netizens' popularity soared.

Similar to Erke, Fenghua also became a hot topic because of its "pitying misery" in response to netizens' comments that its packaging design was too rustic, which triggered a wave of online purchasing. Old domestic products have returned to the public eye after a "hot moment". This kind of popularity is accidental. What is important is whether the brand can immediately catch this wave of popularity. The acceptance of live broadcast room traffic is the key link that truly brings business growth, allowing Hongxing Erke and Fenghua to achieve the transformation from voice to sales.

But on the other hand, the wild consumption driven by the sentiment of domestic products will return to rationality as the attention to hot topics decreases. It comes with great force but goes away quickly. In fact, for many traditional enterprises and time-honored brands that were once submerged in the new consumption wave, the loss of their voice in marketing is only a superficial problem. The essence is that their business management models and product iterations have not kept up with the changing market needs.

With the improvement of consumers' cultural confidence and the reputation of domestic products, old brands must first open up their marketing ideas and seize new traffic, new content, and new channels to establish communication with consumers. But at the same time, they also need to cooperate with the iteration and upgrade of products, promote continuous product innovation through research and development, and walk on "two legs" to open up a new situation for old brands.

4. The virtual IP creation behind AYAYI and Liu Yexi's eye-catching performance

Virtual digital people have been frequently discussed in the past year. The most typical case is Liu Yexi, a virtual beauty blogger who became a hot topic with a video and gained over 4 million followers in a week.

Compared with digital personalities such as AYAYI and Imma who used static graphic materials to promote their products on social platforms, Liu Yexi's first video laid the groundwork for the story background and worldview. In other words, the linear plot can be gradually unfolded in subsequent videos, making it easier to create an IP with a story. Its track selection and content setting have also paved the way for subsequent commercial realization.

Objectively speaking, most virtual human IPs are still in the initial stage of character creation, but this does not hinder the popularity added by users' curiosity. Especially at a time when public relations risks for real-life stars are increasing dramatically, virtual idols have become the choice of cooperation for more and more brands.

But we still have to think about that when more and more near-perfect hyper-realistic images are created and replicated, the heat brought by the novelty will also be fleeting. What kind of content and operation methods can build an emotional connection between virtual digital human IP and users? When virtual idols become a profession, how should their growth system be set up? There are some lessons to learn from, but a mature and replicable methodology has not yet been developed. The operating companies and brands behind it still need to explore more paths together.

Further reading: With 4.28 million followers added in one week, who is Liu Yexi? ｜Marketing Highlights Vol.8

5. The traffic password for McDonald’s Cat’s Nest screen

McDonald's planned a marketing campaign of set meal + limited peripheral delivery, enlarging and redesigning the shape of the hamburger takeout box, and gave away 100,000 hamburger-shaped cat beds to consumers who ordered designated sets of meals. On the day the event was launched, the topics "McDonald's cat bed" and "McDonald's collapsed" both became hot searches, and photos of McDonald's hamburger cat beds and various pets flooded social networks.

Super brands have more traffic, channels and user assets, but they still need to rely on the potential of all parties to further expand their communication advantages. Combination sales of packages + linked IP food toys/peripheral products are a common marketing method used by fast food chain brands. In addition, McDonald's has insight into the development trend of the pet economy, seized the social topics of the young people behind it, triggered online discussions, and then used hunger marketing to further stimulate users to check in and share.

We have seen that in the past two years, more and more users have begun to pay for emotional and experiential consumption, and many brands have achieved good market feedback with the help of cute pet element marketing. For mature brands, creative exploration of existing product elements and extending product design and brand symbols from consumption scenarios to social scenarios and life usage scenarios can also subtly strengthen users' awareness and favorability of the brand.

Further reading: McDonald’s cat bed is all over the news, how can the traffic of pet economy be “eaten”｜Marketing Highlights Vol.13

6. Jiang Xiaobai’s 100 statements became a hot search topic. How does marketing copywriting work?

On the day of the brand’s tenth anniversary, #Jiang Xiaobai issued 100 statements in a row# became a hot search, with the topic exposure exceeding 550 million times.

Jiang Xiaobai used a poster design with exaggerated colors and concise and humorous copywriting to cleverly respond to the outside world's doubts and complaints about Jiang Xiaobai in recent years in a self-deprecating way. It also popularized Jiang Xiaobai's brand background and corporate culture, and also added a wave of exposure for the latest products. Companies such as Ele.me and 58.com, which were mentioned in Jiang Xiaobai’s statement, have joined the topic, and their official Weibo accounts have released posters with the same style for interaction.

The intensive voices quickly heated up the topic. When traffic poured into the brand's official blog, it was guided to pay attention to the live speech of its founder Tao Shiquan on Douyin, which continued to attract traffic for the 10th anniversary online event and expand the volume of communication.

Over the past decade, Jiang Xiaobai has frequently relied on marketing copy to become a "traffic-based" enterprise among liquor brands, and has blazed a new trail in the stable Chinese liquor industry. However, it has also been criticized by the outside world for excessive marketing, product controversy, strategic mistakes and other issues. In the past few years, it has gradually built its own winery, expanded its product line, continuously improved its supply chain, and improved product quality. For consumer brands, the only way to move forward into the next decade is to listen to the voice of users, communicate with users, and accept comprehensive tests from consumers.

Further reading: After issuing 100 statements in a row and becoming a hot topic, is Jiang Xiaobai becoming popular again? ｜Marketing Highlights Vol.10

2. How to replicate the spread of hot products

The cases of explosive product communication in 2021 are certainly not limited to this, but they can roughly reflect the direction and focus of the marketing strategies of enterprises at different stages of development, and still have certain reference significance for subsequent brand communication. Every upgrade of marketing methodology is accompanied by a wave of mass media replacement, and brand marketing is also a process of finding suitable media to reach consumers.

With the improvement of domestic supply chain capabilities and the saturation of the consumer goods market, product production efficiency is no longer a problem. How to occupy the minds of users has become particularly important for brands. Content marketing is the only way to occupy the minds of users.

We have seen that whether it is Mixue Bingcheng creating the theme song or Lingna Belle going from offline to online, the continuous output of interesting, relevant content that has insight into Internet trends and social language is an effective way for brands to interact with key communication groups, turning users from mere consumers into participants in brand building and communication.

Advertising guru David Ogilvy also proposed in his theory of brand image that brand image is not inherent in the product, but a collection of associations that consumers have with product quality, price, history, etc. What consumers buy are the material and psychological benefits that the product can provide. From this perspective, the current content and media environment are fertile ground for satisfying users’ psychological interests.

On the other hand, the spread of popular cases is inseparable from key channels and key groups. The content and tone of Mixue Bingcheng's theme song naturally fits Bilibili's tradition of ghost animals. If the focus of dissemination in the cold start-up phase was placed on Xiaohongshu, it is hard to say what the subsequent effect would be. Similarly, the exquisite photos of the hamburger cat bed and various cute pets are more suitable for checking in and sharing on Xiaohongshu, and did not cause much discussion on Bilibili.

In addition, although the resurgence of traditional brands such as Hongxing Erke was accidental, the brands also quickly used short videos and live e-commerce channels to convert the traffic. Their reaction speed and subsequent operations are worthy of reference for other traditional brands, which should not only seize opportunities but also plan ahead.

In general, whether it is content marketing or live streaming marketing, the changes in channels and media communication forms have, to some extent, put new and old brands on the same starting line, allowing good ideas and good planning to have the opportunity to be seen by more people and re-occupy the minds of users like a reshuffle.

2021 has seen its ups and downs. We have seen Double Eleven become quiet after several years of excitement. We have also seen the emergence of new channels and new traffic break the traditional marketing nodes and business models. Every brand in it is catching up with the changes and trying to predict the direction of the tide in order to meet new challenges. In the future, the only constant will be change itself. When popular products can no longer be crudely copied, the rapid rise of underwater brands will be more worthy of exploration. See you in 2022.

Author: Wang Fengzhi, Editor: Wang Xiaokun

Source public account: Kr brand manager