How to create a “hit product”?

Introduction: As long as the trend is right, everything can become a hit. "Hot-selling products" are like Schrödinger's cat, which both exists and does not exist.

In the era of information explosion, the word "hot product" has great magic power, as if it contains countless energy, and has become a goal that brands are competing for.

From the art era to the pan-entertainment era, and from the pan-entertainment era to the cultural and creative era, the commercialization characteristics of content products have become increasingly obvious, and the degree of commercialization has also become a hard indicator of "explosive products".

Why is it that the "koi" that symbolizes good luck can be forwarded by countless "social animals" without getting tired of it? Why have Gavin, the fake smile boy, Xiao Wu, Ouyang Nana, and Yang Chaoyue become popular emoticons on the Internet?

"Hot sale" is a conspiracy with the participation of multiple parties and a common perspective.

What are the common characteristics that make "hot items" become "hot items"? This article attempts to analyze "hot items" from the perspective of their content production and dissemination methods.

How to create a “hit product” ?

1. “Best-selling” content creation

In my opinion, the creation of a "hit product" is basically based on these three points, which is a judgment formula. Simply put, it is to understand human nature and arouse resonance.

The formula for a hit product: social pain points + empathy + down-to-earth

1. Based on the observation of life: restore the pain points of modern people's lives

Grasping the pain points of modern people’s lives is a methodology that will never go wrong in creating “explosive products”. Spring Festival travel rush, overtime work, 996, insomnia, difficulty in buying a house, these problem labels that plague contemporary people are not only personal pain points, but also social pain points.

"What's Peppa Pig?" analyzes the contradictions and conflicts of modern people in the "urbanization process". In fact, elderly relatives are the biggest victims of this contradiction and conflict.

A grandfather who lives in the mountainous area stands on tiptoe, waiting for his son and his family to come back for the New Year. He wants to give his grandson his favorite Peppa Pig, but the grandfather, who has been isolated from the big city for many years, doesn't know what Peppa is. So he tries his best to uncover the mystery of "Peppa", which leads to a series of hilarious events. In the end, the grandfather makes a Grandpa-branded Peppa by himself.

Everyone who watched "What's Peppa Pig?" seemed to have experienced a collective memory shock, and there was even a comment saying that this advertisement surpassed the Thai advertisement.

"Afraid to Go Home" tells the psychological changes of every person working hard in the city when they go home for the New Year, whether it is inferiority, fear, or confusion, but in front of close people, these become warm.

Life is not easy, so cherish every moment you have. In today's world where "sorrow culture" is popular, everyone has their own anxieties of this era.

This book, A Picture Book of 30 Million Insomniac Youths: Working in a White Body to Earn Rent and Listening to the Couple Next Door Clapping for Love at Night, restores the state of anxiety of every young person who works hard in a big city and is anxious about renting a house or working.

The boy who had wanted to resign for a long time received a notice of rent increase from the landlord as soon as he opened his eyes in the morning, and deleted the resignation letter he had written in despair; the girl who worked hard to earn rent during the day and had to endure the sound of the couple next door banging their heads against the wall at night. These truly reflect the current situation of young men and women working alone in big cities.

"Hot-selling products" reflect social anxiety. Whether it is the "Thai" tear-jerking advertisement that moved the world, or the Indian anti-violence advertisement, they all resonate with readers by reflecting real social phenomena.

2. Create user "empathy"

"Empathy" is one of the ways to create a "hit product". By being consistent with the users' ideas and opinions and achieving the purpose of "empathy", a "hit product" is just around the corner. However, this does not mean that as long as "empathy" is achieved, it will become a hit product.

Finding the explosive point, or finding a degree of social resonance, can determine the influence and vitality of the "explosive product". Starting from emotion, finding values ​​that conform to social values, and accurately getting the public's "G-spot".

China Merchants Bank’s slogan “No matter how big the world is, it’s not bigger than a plate of scrambled eggs with tomatoes” is a powerful interpretation of the “explosive” route of “counter-empathy”. However, while “counter-empathy” causes disapproval, it will also trigger some critical voices.

Ian, a Chinese boy studying in the United States, happened to have a dinner party with friends. Everyone needed to cook a specialty dish from their hometown. This boy thought of making an entry-level Chinese home-cooked dish - scrambled eggs with tomatoes.

Ian, who never cooks at home, thought of asking his parents on the other side of the ocean for help, but he didn't think about the time difference. Ian's parents got out of bed in the middle of the night, his mother cooked and taught at the same time, and his father was responsible for recording the video.

The advertisement of fried tomatoes and eggs was intended to be warm and sentimental, but it lacked the "emotional" feasibility and the audience did not buy it. Netizens unanimously believed that the boy's behavior of asking his parents for help in cooking in the middle of the night, firstly, reflected the boy's low self-care ability, and secondly, reflected the failure of Chinese-style education.

So much so that after the advertisement was released, voices such as "There are three unfilial acts, and the worst is not being able to make scrambled eggs with tomatoes" were heard one after another.

Warmth marketing often fails to hit the mark and ends in failure due to "anti-empathy". In fact, it is not easy to achieve "empathy" and it is easy to become chicken soup for the soul-stirring marketing, which is annoying and has no practical help for the brand's subsequent advertising exposure and brand building.

Forced "empathy" was a mistake made by scrambled eggs with tomatoes, while McDonald's made the mistake of inappropriate "empathy".

A McDonald's advertisement in the UK was taken down due to complaints. In the advertisement, a little boy is talking to his mother about his long-deceased father. From his mother's description, the little boy finds that his father is simply a male god-like figure who is good at sports, clean and tidy, and popular with girls. Comparing his father with his biological father, the little boy realizes that he is like a clown.

Having nothing in common with his father, the little boy inevitably fell into a cycle of depression. At this time, the discouraged little boy was ready to relieve his mood by "eating". When he was about to eat McDonald's, his mother told him that his father actually liked to eat Filet-O-Fish burgers just like him. The little boy suddenly felt that he had similarities with his father.

After the ad was aired, a psychotherapist said he received many calls from parents, and many children who had lost their fathers or mothers felt sad after watching the McDonald's ad. "Can the pain of losing a loved one be solved by a McDonald's meal?" "Does McDonald's want its products to be associated with consumers' painful memories? That's terrible." Such doubts never stopped, and eventually the advertisement was forced to be removed from the shelves.

McDonald's originally hoped that this advertisement would move consumers, but the result was the opposite of what it expected. McDonald's, which has always been known for its cheerful and lively image, suddenly took a warm and sentimental approach, but it went astray.

In the complainant's view, using the serious and heavy topic of death as a marketing point to sell hamburgers is quite absurd and unacceptable. "Death" is a heavy topic in itself, and trying to link it with marketing is a very risky thing in itself, not to mention McDonald's, which has always presented a lively and optimistic image.

3. Down-to-earth: originating from life and transcending life

The secret to a “hot seller” is being “down-to-earth”; “hot seller” and “down-to-earth” are almost synonyms. To put it simply, it is popular, down-to-earth, has simple values, and can enable the audience to clearly understand what you want to convey.

The 2019 Spring Festival short film "What's Peppa Pig?" generated 230 million views and 1.6 billion Weibo reposts. Director Zhang Dapeng bluntly stated that most of his works are within the scope of realism, that is, maintaining enough subtle observations of life.

Rocco, the content director of "GO Lab", mentioned their group portrait series at this year's New List Conference and said: "All people who create content must have a pair of particularly sharp eyes to see the friends and things around them. Many of the characters in this series are people around us."

Learning to perceive and capture details and understand the psychology of the public are almost essential skills for producing high-quality explosive content.

Originated from life, but higher than life, perhaps this is the unique charm of "explosive products".

2. Spread of “explosive” content:

1. Create content that promotes “artificial vibration of heaven and earth” and triggers self-propagation

The old advertising theory system is outdated. In the Internet era, information is growing explosively and fragmentation is increasing. Consumers are overloaded with information, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to effectively convey brand information.

The traffic dividend has disappeared, and the mobile Internet is about to enter a more brutal second half and face higher thresholds.

Wanamaker, who is known as the "Goldbach Conjecture of the advertising and marketing industry", admitted: "I know that half of my advertising budget is wasted, but I don't know which half."

Consumers have dominated the consumer communication rights in today's era, and the shock waves spread spontaneously by consumers have greatly increased the brand's exposure and return on investment.

The biggest winner in the 2018 Russia World Cup marketing is none other than Vatti, which was praised by the advertising circle as a "textbook-level" marketing case.

Vatti, a kitchen appliance maker, has vowed to offer a full refund on products it sells if the team it sponsors wins. This refund promise has attracted more than 90,000 discussions on Weibo. The French team's victory marked the pinnacle moment in Vatti's marketing history, and Vatti was called the biggest winner of this World Cup.

In addition, the creativity is closely tied to the fate of the French team from an advertising strategy perspective. Both poster design and copywriting creativity simply and directly get to the point. In terms of communication channels, it mainly adopts a combination of "two Weibo and one Douyin" and outdoor advertising to achieve multimedia cross-resonance.

In addition, the creative work "Afraid to Go Home" won the Country Garden and Golden Investment Awards "Trust is Gold" million-dollar creative competition, touching countless netizens who went home for the Spring Festival.

Compared with many Spring Festival advertisements that focus on festivity and joy, "Afraid to Go Home" seems particularly heavy. The short advertisement truly presents the daily life of a Chinese family during the Spring Festival. No matter what everyone has experienced outside, home will always accept us.

Failure is everyone's daily routine. There are not so many successes in the world. Behind the advertisements is a profound insight into human nature that touches people's hearts.

2. Create brand influence

Consumers are always God, and God is always the most picky. Users are like goldfish, whose memory can only be retained for about 7 seconds.

This explains why giant brands continue to advertise, and why old brands are increasingly distracted from their main business and are engaging in cross-border marketing. Behind the noise are the anxiety and continuous evolution of these "old" brands.

From Dove chocolate launching eye shadow palettes to Weilong launching nail polish, from the liquor "master" Luzhou Laojiao launching perfume to White Rabbit milk candy shower gel, from the "national aunt" Lao Gan Ma playing with fashion, going for a rustic cool style and transforming into a "national goddess", to Weilong, which is not willing to just make spicy strips and has also begun to enter the fashion circle.

Brands are well aware of the principle of "winning the world of young people" and frequently establish the image of "advanced cross-border players" in the minds of young people.

Without constant and fresh advertising and marketing stimulation, even the "giants" will gradually decline.

Apple has long become a benchmark in the industry. In terms of "hard power", its product quality and design are the best in the world. In terms of "soft power", Apple's advertising is also a benchmark in the industry.

Apple's Think Different ad, launched in 1997. Jobs used his "crazy" trait to create dreams and convey the idea that everyone can be crazy enough to change the world. Advertising slogans with extremely high "burning" points can easily move consumers and create a place for empathy between the brand and users.

Jobs believed in belief-based marketing, rather than talking about products. Improving the brand's own connotation is a more advanced communication method, which delivers the brand's core value by telling what the brand is and what it is doing.

The reason why this advertisement has become a classic in advertising history is that its advertising value was successfully converted into commercial value, had a huge influence, and became a turning point for Apple's resurgence. As the first brand marketing after Jobs' second comeback, Jobs was eager for change and wanted a different way of presentation.

It is also through the Think Different advertisement that Apple has gradually become synonymous with "innovation, changing the world", attracting young people who are also unconventional, innovative, and have ideas about changing the world. This is the greatest wealth that Jobs brought to the brand as the founder of Apple.

Apple did not stop at the "think different" advertising achievement. It invested heavily in advertising in the later period, trying to present the brand concept to consumers with the simplest and most understandable visual stories.

3. Understand needs and tap into users

Understand who the first group of people you will ignite are, explore their needs, and find the qualities that can meet their needs.

Why is NetEase DaDa able to produce hit products so frequently? Paying more attention to hot topics and IPs is basically equivalent to creating hot topics by itself.

As the saying goes, brands leverage marketing momentum. Every festive season is a time of constant battle. Faced with a dwindling holiday marketing, finding less popular nodes, such as holidays that no one knows about, is a good method.

However, the marketing of unpopular festivals should not focus on the node itself, but should be linked to the content. The content should be regarded as the main body, rather than the node.

There is no methodology for hot selling products

In fact, there are too many uncontrollable factors that make a hot product a hit.

Zhang Dapeng, the director of What's Peppa Pig?, also said frankly: "This doesn't mean that the film is well made, but it just happened to have the right time, right place and right people, so there is no way to review it. Just like movies, true popularity can rarely be controlled by humans, so the possibility of reviewing it is very small. There are too many things that cannot be controlled, such as the time of release, the movies released at the same time, the expectations of the audience, the mood of the times, etc.

“There is no methodology for making a hit product. If you think about making a hit product every day, it’s just like thinking about how to get rich every day. It’s impossible.”

"Hot hit" is just an appearance, and "hot hit" should not be the criterion for judging the quality of an advertisement.

The key is to see whether the advertisement solves the customer's marketing problem. If a so-called "hot product" does not solve the customer's actual marketing problem, has no logic, and has an unclear brand, what is the point of becoming a so-called "hot product"?

In fact, this refers to the conversion rate of advertising. The one-shot advertisement "1931" produced by the local climate adjustment team for Pechoin promotes Pechoin's customized Mother's Day gift box "Moonlight Box" by telling a suspense story in the Republic of China with a miraculous twist. The nostalgic factor of the Republic of China and the miraculous reversal of the ending caused a phenomenal screen-sweeping.

Behind the “explosive” reading volume and dominating the WeChat Moments are dismal marketing data. “1931” has over 30 million readings, but a conversion rate of less than 0.00008. “Phantom Pain” has only over 2,000 monthly sales on Tmall.

Judging from the results of product marketing, the extremely high reading volume and Pechoin's extremely low conversion rate are in sharp contrast, and the advertising has not brought about a significant increase in Pechoin's sales.

The brand linkage of "explosive products" must also take into account the brand characteristics of both parties.

Durex and Huanshi have been cooperating for 7 years, and it can be said that they complement each other. The "old driver" persona created by Huanshi for Durex has become an object of worship in the copywriting circle. Durex has won a large number of customers for Huanshi, making Huanshi famous in the advertising circle. However, Durex and Huanshi, which are envied by others, still cannot escape the "seven-year itch".

The effect of hot-button social marketing is that fans who have placed Durex's copy on a pedestal only remember the exquisiteness of Durex's copy, but fail to remember more product information about Durex. They have to jump to other pages to find hard information about the product and its price-performance ratio.

Existence is reasonable, but "hot products" should not be the goal of brand competition.

The hot social marketing of the times has brought one "hot product" after another, but it has not brought about brand accumulation, nor has it formed a positive cycle in traffic.

Conclusion: "Hot products" can generally stimulate the sensory needs of the public, form a certain social and cultural phenomenon or match a certain cultural phenomenon. What is important is that the requirements for measuring "hot products" should not only be based on the number of readings, but also consider factors related to sales conversion.

Related reading:

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2. Video promotion skills: a hit? Just 15 seconds is enough!

3. Event promotion and operation: 8 hot-selling creative forms of H5!

4. New media operation, how to write a hit article?

5. Brand marketing and promotion: How to create a popular brand?

Author: Clockwork Brown

Source: PR Home