An article that explains the underlying logic of advertising communication breaking the circle

Although the fragmentation of media has resulted in a lower and lower cost-effectiveness of brand advertising, it is undeniable that brand advertising still has important value in enhancing brand potential when encountering milestone nodes such as brand upgrades, brand updates, and heavyweight sponsorships.

Our motherland is 72 years old. During the years of the country's rise, some excellent brand advertisements, with their accurate grasp of the beauty of traditional culture, their understanding and empathy of public sentiment at important historical moments, supplemented by excellent communication strategies and solid execution, have left behind some classic advertisements that have achieved both great popularity and good reputation.

Today we will take you to review six classic brand advertisements (including but not limited to music MVs, promotional videos, typical commercials, etc.), and analyze their breakthroughs from multiple dimensions such as advertising strategy, creative implementation, and communication effect. The following subdivisions will be mainly involved:

1. Advertising purpose (Objective):

What message does the brand owner want to convey through this advertisement? What is the purpose?

2. Target Audience (TA):

Sometimes you don’t understand or agree with an advertisement because it is not made for you in the first place.

3. Timing:

Communication is both a science and a metaphysics. If you want to increase the probability of breaking the circle, it is important to actively choose the opportunity.

4. Single Message:

People's attention is limited. The more focused and clear the communication content is, the better the communication effect will be.

5. Media:

In an age of media diversity and fragmentation, media selection should take priority over creative conception.

6. Idea & Content:

Good content is not about free divergence without boundaries, but about being unexpected within the framework of it and the media.

7. Call for Action:

A marketing campaign that makes people worship will not only move people, but also effectively stimulate people to take action.

8. Why do audiences watch (Benefit):

There are so many free and excellent contents now, why should he/she read your content? Or an advertisement?

9. Why do audiences switch (Incentive):

If forwarding a message not only does not cause social burden to him/her but also brings social added value, it will be difficult not to be forwarded.

Among today's six brand advertisements, there are both commercial advertisements led by various companies, as well as public narrative advertisements owned by national teams such as People's Daily and charitable organizations. Regardless of the type of advertising, the advertising and communication principles used behind its successful breakthrough are the same.

Dissecting these principles and how they use their insights and reflections on Chinese culture and major public events to enhance their communication potential can provide reference for individuals and communication practitioners on how to improve communication effectiveness in an increasingly complex communication environment.

To ensure a good reading experience, this article only focuses on two cases. For the remaining cases, we only provide reasons for recommendation and analysis of complete communication strategies. You can refer to the cases to practice on your own.

In addition, if you are already a marketing veteran and think the content of this article is helpful to newcomers, please forward it to newcomers in the team, younger brothers and sisters who want to enter the marketing circle, or any friends who may be interested in communication or marketing~

Kangmei Love, 2007

(Kangmei Pharmaceutical x 10th Anniversary of the Company)

Recommended reasons:

Kangmei Pharmaceutical was only a young company that had been established for only 10 years at the time, but the traditional Chinese medicine it dealt in had a long history and high public recognition in China. During the thousands of years of inheritance, there are countless historical stories related to traditional Chinese medicine, and many Chinese people always have a special affection for traditional Chinese medicine.

The creators of this brand advertisement had insight into this point, so they did not directly tell the history of Chinese medicine to raise the brand potential. Instead, they started with the love story of the founding couple. Through the background of natural landscapes and shooting techniques with the beauty of oriental blank space, they successfully aroused many viewers' warm interpretation and romantic imagination of Chinese medicine. Kangmei Pharmaceutical also successfully grafted the "profundity and warmth of Chinese medicine history" into the audience's perception of the corporate image.

Case analysis:

This brand advertisement commemorating the tenth anniversary of the company's establishment was shot in 2007. The brand owner Kangmei Pharmaceutical invested 3 million yuan in the filming of this film, which was repeatedly broadcast during prime time on CCTV3, CCCTV6 and other CCTV prime channels.

The year 2007, when this brand advertisement was aired, was the last golden period when traditional media such as television dominated the attention of the national audience. At that time, Sina Weibo, the first king of mobile Internet, was not established until two years later. Many viewers who had never heard of Kangmei Pharmaceutical learned about this southern pharmaceutical company through this commercial (today we are only watching the commercial, Kangmei Pharmaceutical’s corporate affairs can be transferred to the financial section).

The single media environment at that time and the exclusive broadcasting rights of prime media + prime time were indeed the important reasons why this music MV (a kind of brand advertisement) became popular. However, one of the secrets of why it can still be watched many times by countless viewers and praised by today's young people lies in the beautiful story, scenery, people and singing at the content level.

The plot of this film is adapted from the personal experiences of the boss and his wife of Kangmei Pharmaceutical, and the singer Tan Jing, who is respected as the "Big Devil" by many young people today, was invited to sing. The male and female protagonists were played by Ren Quan and Li Bingbing, a screen CP that was popular with the audience at the time. It tells the beautiful story of a pair of childhood sweethearts who get to know each other and fall in love, and then jointly establish a traditional Chinese medicine company.

The entire filming linked together nine famous scenic spots in Guangxi, including Guilin's Langshi Beach, Yulong River, Xianggong Mountain, Huitong Bridge, Laozhaishan, and Detian Waterfall on the China-Vietnam border. The production team used superb photography techniques to vividly depict the beauty of the mountains, rivers, and humanities of the Guangxi region.

Whether shooting natural landscapes, buildings, human activities, or long shots and close-ups of people, the composition and color matching can get full marks.

The switching of scenes is very neat and antithetical. The shots of the protagonist and supporting characters are switched in turn according to gender, either male first then female, or female first then male; close-ups are all close-ups, and long shots are all long shots.

The content not only emphasizes the composition of a single frame, but the camera switching also understands the beauty of blank space with oriental charm. For example, there is a scene where the heroine goes in the rain to give the hero an umbrella and is about to fall.

But the next second the camera cut directly to the straw hat worn by the heroine drifting in the water, suggesting that the heroine did fall.

Just when the audience wanted to know what happened to the heroine, the next shot continued to maintain restraint, showing that the hero collected the medicine and met the heroine on the stone bridge.

The director only uses the simplest camera language to present key information. As for whether the heroine is injured after falling, whether there is anyone around to help, and how the hero rushed over anxiously after seeing the heroine fall from afar, all are left to the audience's imagination. This is why there is a perfect effect where the audience exclaimed, "I thought it was a trailer. I've been waiting to watch a 30-episode TV series, and you tell me this is an advertisement?!"

In addition, in order not to spoil the audience's viewing experience, the obvious commercial traces of this film only flash at the beginning and the end. In the feature film, the main business of the financial sponsor Kangmei Pharmaceutical, Chinese medicinal materials, is one of the clues throughout the entire text; and the company name is only naturally implanted in very limited scenes. Even if there are close-ups, it is perfectly integrated into the plot and there is no sense of incongruity. Even many viewers didn't realize it was an advertisement until many years later.

The brand owner’s actions at the time to achieve the story content are certainly worthy of praise, but this is more a result of the times. It is difficult to produce such brand advertisements in today’s communication environment.

In the communication environment at that time, the channels and information density for the public to receive information were limited. As long as such unobtrusive brand advertising mastered the core media resources, it would not worry about not getting wide exposure and goodwill. Moreover, in the private enterprises led by the first generation of entrepreneurs at that time, many publicity decisions were actually based on the personal preferences of the bosses, and they did not value commercial returns as much as companies with a mature professional management system.

If we change to today's noisy and fragmented communication environment, where television and print media have fallen from their pedestal, if such an excellent brand advertisement does not want to spend a lot of money to buy media resources and wants to stand out through social media, how can it make the audience remember who the brand owner is? How to use word of mouth to let more audiences see this advertisement?

Let's open our minds boldly:

Keep the full content of the main film, but the ending can follow the movie tradition, with the production team list on the right and star creators sharing on the left, telling the company's story through the creators' mouths. This way, you can retain high-quality content and ensure that the audience remembers who paid for the film and what the company does.

Before and after the advertisement was released, celebrity creators and the company’s official Weibo account were invited to collaborate, and a hidden short film was announced to be released three days later (an interview with the founding couple). KOLs in vertical categories such as love, entertainment, travel, and fashion were sought to spread the word of mouth. PGC+UGC helped boost word-of-mouth and triggered the first wave of social media peaks.

In a few days, the official blog will officially release a brief interview with the founding couple, and then collect some pictures of the planting, production, and manufacturing of Chinese medicinal materials, leaving some "topic hooks" at the end, such as "What beautiful stories or associations has Chinese medicine brought to you?", "What nice names do Chinese medicinal materials have", etc. This will not only encourage people to spread the message within private WeChat circles and other areas out of motivation to share good things, but will also encourage KOLs on various social media platforms to take the initiative to create content based on this hot topic in order to increase and retain fans, which can help brands gain more natural traffic. If you’re lucky, you may even get likes and reposts from official media due to the positive energy of traditional Chinese medicine, which will help the brand further break out of the circle.

If the brand still has the need to increase its fans, it can also specify topic content and invite viewers to leave messages on official blogs, official WeChat accounts and other private platforms to participate in a lottery. It can also promote the further spread of content through social fission techniques such as full xx reposts and full xx likes.

The above communication idea may seem good, but how can the various platforms be initiated, supported, transferred and integrated to achieve the best communication effect? There are a lot of details here, such as:

How many days apart should each piece of content be released for best results?

At what time of day is release most effective?

How many KOLs should be invited to the head, middle and tail parts?

Which KOL with similar quotations is more suitable for my brand? More suitable for this campaign?

How to filter out KOLs with the most serious data inflation?

Should online and offline be linked? How to link?

How can subsequent operations be designed so as not to waste this huge amount of accumulated attention?

What are the possible public opinion risks after word-of-mouth ferments? How to deal with it?

…

These may seem simple when you think about them, but the final results will not only test the operator and his/her executive team’s ability to integrate resources within the company, but also their experience and ability to integrate external partner resources in terms of strategy, creativity, directing, production, media purchasing, scheduling, etc. If you lack experience, don't have a good grasp of the marketing rhythm, or the relevant collaborators are not good enough, you may even waste a good idea.

Even if you have a great strategy and strong execution, it is possible that on the first day the content goes online, a more explosive piece of news will come out of the blue and completely overshadow your content. Your content will either be completely overshadowed or forced to be delayed online, and it will be difficult for various dissemination links to form a perfect closed loop, resulting in a reduction in the final effect. This is not a daydream at all. If you don’t believe me, please review for yourself why Mr. Wang Feng has not been on the headlines in the past few years...

This is why I said at the beginning that communication is both a science and a metaphysics. In this regard, I just want to say, "Do your best and leave the rest to fate" and encourage you all.

Immortal Monument, September and December 13, 2017

(Caring for Anti-Japanese War Veterans Charity Fund x 80th Anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre)

Recommended reasons:

The greatest sound is the one that has no voice. Remembering history does not necessarily require exaggerating and amplifying painful emotions, nor does donating money alone count as “doing charity”. A simple hum, a simple movement, a minimalist message, and two restrained photos, if they can attract you to stop and pause for even just a moment, are the best way to remember and pay tribute, and are also a public welfare action.

Case analysis:

This film was released on the 80th anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre, with the aim of calling on the public to pay attention to the veterans of the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. The core creative content of the entire film is "salute": from the tributes from modern people in the film, the photos of veterans in the film, to the call to action to the public at the end of the short film, the action of "salute" connects the entire film, aiming to call on people to pay respect and attention to the veterans without psychological burden through this simple but respectful and warm action.

Why is the creativity of this main-theme public service promotional video (theme promotional video is also a type of brand advertising) worth analyzing and learning? In addition to the media selection and application that we will analyze later, more importantly, the creative team's in-depth thinking at the creative level after receiving the client's brief:

What is real public welfare? How to convey and present the real needs of the beneficiaries from an equal perspective? How can we get the public to take action with the least psychological burden and lowest cost?

Many of these old people, who have experienced the baptism of war and lived for nearly a century, have long since become indifferent to life and death. It’s not that it’s unimportant to use material things to allow old heroes to spend their old age with dignity, but perhaps, compared to material things, making them feel that they are still appreciated and missed by their compatriots from all over the world is what they want to see and feel more in their twilight years.

I think this is also the reason why the creative team not only designed the "donate photo" function of "take a salute photo to pay tribute to the veterans" in the final "call for action" link, but also placed this function before "donate".

After netizens take these salute photos, the creative team will compile them into a book and send them to the old heroes, so that they can feel the attention and respect from their compatriots and become more dignified witnesses of history.

The final solution that comes out of these thoughts is the best idea, which is often mentioned as the "Big Idea" in the advertising and academic circles. In this case, the creative chain is as follows: charity does not mean selling misery—> what veterans need most is the care of contemporary people, followed by material care—> low-burden contributions can arouse people's actions to the greatest extent—> salute.

This short film is part of a marketing campaign by the brand owner "Caring for Anti-Japanese War Veterans Charity Foundation", and it is also accompanied by a set of H5s released on WeChat Moments:

With the help of Tencent social advertising's LBS technology (Location Based Services, a service that uses information technology to provide services based on geographic location data, mostly used in digital marketing, transportation and communications, etc.), the creative team accurately placed the public welfare H5 work "Immortal Monument" in cities that were once devastated by war. Users in different cities will receive 30 stories about the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression that took place near their location, turning everyday street scenes into "immortal monuments." Following the first round of releases in Shanghai, Chongqing and Shenzhen in September, the work was released in 14 cities on December 13, the National Memorial Day, encouraging users to express their respect for veterans by taking and uploading "monument salute photos" or making direct donations.

In addition to content creativity and media strategy, the timing of this marketing content is also worth mentioning: the creators launched it on the "Tencent 99 Charity Day", the largest private charity festival, with the help of the large-scale publicity and matching donation mechanism of the organizer Tencent Charity to attract as much public attention and donations as possible. The second wave of advertising was launched on December 13, the National Memorial Day of that year, which was also the 80th anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre.

According to relevant media reports, as of December 13, the project has received donations from 600,000 people and raised more than 12 million yuan in donations. This result alone has proved the correctness of the marketing strategy. This set of marketing content won the "Annual Award" in the 2017 "I am a Creator" public service advertising competition hosted by Tencent Charity Foundation and Tencent Social Advertising due to its excellent creativity and execution. The award was well deserved.

"The Last Transfer in the Tang Dynasty Mobei", 2019.8.19

(China UnionPay x brand upgrade)

Recommended reasons:

After watching this brand advertisement, I finally understand why UnionPay is nicknamed "UnionPay Pictures" by many netizens. Distant user relationships, belated mobile payment products, strong rivals… This is the dilemma facing China UnionPay in 2019, and it is looking around at a loss, with no way out. But taking this long brand advertisement as an example, let’s see how China UnionPay leverages its identity advantages and cultural status as a “national team” and successfully breaks through within a year with a set of strategic and organized marketing strategies.

In addition to this film, other creative outputs include multiple brand advertisements such as "Pujie's Winter" and "Riddle", some performance advertisements launched during the 62 UnionPay Festival and 1212 National Return Festival, as well as other supporting marketing ideas and actions such as "Dream Space".

"Shaanxi Kids, Joining the Army", 2020.7.28

(Shaanxi Provincial Department of Veterans Affairs x Recruitment)

Recommended reasons:

I never thought that recruitment advertisements, which have always been serious and solemn, could be so creative. The Qin army that unified the six kingdoms during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Guo Ziyi, a famous general of Qinchuan in the Tang Dynasty, the revolutionary spirit of Yan'an during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Qin Opera, loess, pot-cakes... these regional elements are linked together one by one using Shaanxi dialect, which not only brings out Shaanxi Province's famous examples of loyalty to the emperor and serving the country, reflecting the weight of history, but is also full of local characteristics. There is a line in the film, "Shaanxi kids, don't you dare forget your ancestors!", even if the audience is not from Shaanxi, it will resonate and move them.

No matter how much quarrels there are within the province, whether they are children from southern Shaanxi, Guanzhong or northern Shaanxi, at that moment, we are all children from Shaanxi; no matter how much quarrels there are between provinces, at that moment, as viewers, we are all Chinese children. Thousands of years of cultural accumulation and belonging will always be the most hidden reason for breaking down barriers and rallying people's hearts, and it is also one of the important secrets to breaking the circle with content.

The timing was chosen three days before the August 1st Army Day. The media first released the video on the official Weibo of People's Daily Online, and the official account of Guangming Daily on Bilibili followed up on the same day. The various dissemination data of this video alone were already very impressive, and it received warm praise and discussion from young people on the site.

Youth, March 9, 2021

(People's Daily x 100th anniversary of the founding of the Party)

Recommended reasons:

Huanghuagang, Dadu River, the Hundred Regiments Campaign... For those who are familiar with China's modern history, their hearts may be filled with emotion just by reading these words. As a theme MV for all Chinese people, it once again pays tribute to the national team's communication strategy, especially the core idea - "boy", which adds a touch of human sobriety and calm restraint to the tribute work that is good at taking the sensational route, and the effect of breaking the circle is further improved.

Standing at the crossroads of another major historical change, no word can more accurately convey the brand owner's meaning than "youth". Words more elegant than this one are difficult to convey quickly to the billions of people with different educational levels and professional experiences; words simpler and more straightforward than this one may not be acceptable. In addition, this music MV, whether it is the choice of narration or the theme song, once again adopted the mass line - the opening narration comes from popular lines in popular TV series such as "Awakening Age", and the theme song is adapted from the song of the same name "Young Man" which has been loved by a large number of middle school students because of its positive energy content after the epidemic. Both are works that are widely loved by the public.

Even though the original song received a low score of 5.5 on Douban due to its simple lyrics and melody, if we analyze it from the perspective of communication alone, the excellence of this commercial itself, the original song, and "My Motherland and I" for the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China has undoubtedly been greatly underestimated.

On the intellectual level, simplicity is the best. The plainest and simplest things are often the most effective. On an emotional level, the deepest love is like this. Although I can’t help but complain and despise it every time I mention it, I can’t help but feel my eyes tear up every time I watch it. This is true for the affection within a small family, and also for the love for family and country. These "stories" that people today see are "true stories" personally experienced by their blood-related ancestors. How can they not bring tears to people's eyes and encourage them to actively forward them.

"Fight to the Last Step", June 26, 2021

(ANTA x Tokyo Olympics)

Recommended reasons:

The film's accompanying marketing campaign not only utilized celebrities and KOLs on social media, but also focused on television media. When the media strategy is not lower than the average, high-quality content can amplify the communication effect several times. The most wonderful thing about this film is its insight and creativity, with both the text and the camera language being extremely sharp.

Although today's young people face several times more intense competition and social pressure than their parents, they have more freedom and richer life possibilities. When food and clothing are no longer a problem, the inner motivation that supports them to overcome difficulties often comes from the awakening of self-awareness and the questioning of the meaning of individual existence. Compared with the previous generation, today's young people pay more attention to their inner selves and the process.

The creators of this brand advertisement obviously have insight into this point: every word and every question asked over and over again in the film is not only a self-dialogue between the athletes deep in their hearts, but also makes every viewer feel strongly involved. The fast-switching camera language not only highlights the thrill of competitive sports, but also allows the audience to understand what sportsmanship is as the athletes pursue higher, faster and stronger, and in their constant lows and breakthroughs. It is more likely to touch the inner emotions of today's young audiences. The brand also used the Olympic Games, a major historical event, to successfully communicate with young audiences, further enhancing its brand potential.

In addition, the creative content is also closely linked to current affairs, incorporating the impact of the postponement of the Olympics on the competitive state of athletes. Accurately recording the characteristics of the times is not the privilege of documentaries and books; excellent commercials can do the same. The vitality of the work, the depth and warmth of the brand are extended and accumulated in this way.

Conclusion

The underlying tone of communication is to communicate with people warmly from a human perspective. A successful brand advertisement is inseparable from insight into local Chinese culture, sensitivity to and empathy for public sentiment. I hope that today's six cases will help you understand how to leverage major events to enhance brand potential.

In an era where it is increasingly difficult to win the audience's attention, not every advertisement has to be as successful as the above case. However, for companies and organizations that really want to build their brands, leaving behind such a classic advertisement is still necessary and important for building their own brand potential.

After all, grand narratives are generally useless, and when they do work, they're terrifying.

After reading these six cases, have you learned anything? 🤪

Author: The Beauty of Marketing

Source: The Beauty of Marketing