Top 10 Brand Creative Case Studies in 2021

As the final chapter of the year-end review, this article will focus on the top ten classic creative cases in different dimensions, providing brands with in-depth and systematic inspiration at multiple levels and dimensions. It is hoped that advertising and marketers can absorb inspiration while also coming up with more brilliant Big Ideas. Without further ado, let’s get to the cases.

1. Brand Renewal | Zhihu, where there are questions, there are answers

Zhihu's brand renewal this year is truly eye-catching. After all, it is produced by Shengjia and has the strength to be a high-quality product.

As we all know, before this brand renewal, Zhihu's slogan was "If you have any questions, go to Zhihu." This slogan can better reinforce the positioning of Zhihu as a problem-oriented community, and tends to let users get the attributes and characteristics of this community at once in the platform war.

With the development of the platform, Zhihu has become a highly recognizable media on the Internet platform. Therefore, on the node of its tenth anniversary, Zhihu chose to go a step further, raising the dimension of the problem, challenging the "no man's land", and launching the slogan "Where there is a problem, there will be an answer" . Based on the "problem", it also gave the response of "there is an answer". From a strategic perspective, this is indeed a very visionary idea.

The last sentence of the short film is also very to the point. It not only elevates Zhihu's brand mission and social responsibility from the perspective of the times, but also incorporates the main theme of "the problems of this generation will find the answers of this generation." It is profound and powerful, which helps to ferment into a social issue and then deeply rooted in people's hearts.

It can be seen that dimensionality upgrading is a good idea both from a strategic and creative perspective.

2. CNY Breakthrough｜BMW "ba ma wo, together for the year"

During CNY last year, among many heartfelt and sensational advertising films, an entertaining short film from BMW stood out, which was a good example of making a small profit with a big investment.

In recent years, big brands have mostly used micro-movies directed by big names and produced in big ways to convey their brand value during CNY. However, as the public becomes more and more aesthetically fatigued and lacks a sense of novelty, a single form of expression and content tone can hardly arouse users’ appetite.

This short film by BMW uses a light and humorous atmosphere, combines different dialects and connects different scenes. It also expresses the meaning of Ba Ma Wo, BMW and "year" together. It is fun and light, but also to the point and not overly sensational, which makes it very impressive.

Therefore, at the juncture of the 2022 CNY+Winter Olympics "hundred schools of thought contending", there still has to be something innovative!

3. New consumer branding | Bananain "The Bottom Line" commercial

In fact, Bananain is not the earliest example of new consumer branding. Brands like Heytea, Pop Mart, Genki Forest, and Perfect Diary have all moved towards branding sooner or later, but among them, Bananain has adopted a more traditional way of presentation.

For example, Heytea has been creating creative content for young people from the beginning, and has been constantly innovating. Perfect Diary chose Zhou Xun as its spokesperson, while the two founders of Bananain used the CCTV platform to shout out the brand mission and values ​​on the May Fourth Youth Day, using the main theme to draw a line for the brand itself, and then announced Zhou Dongyu as its spokesperson.

Main theme advertisements seem to be the mainstream topic in recent years. Compared with entertainment and warmth-themed advertisements, they seem to be easier to go viral.

From the very beginning, Bananain took advantage of the momentum of the main theme to strengthen the new bottom line of domestic products, further interpret the brand core of redesigning basic models, and at the same time integrate creative events, brand value and social responsibility, which is another example of a dimensional upgrading case.

4. UGC goes viral｜Mixue Ice City

The most metaphysical and at the same time the most enviable case this year is none other than Mixue Bingcheng. A sweet trend started from Bilibili, sweeping across Weibo, Douyin, Kuaishou, WeChat... For a time, everyone knew the magical song "You love me, I love you, Mixue Bingcheng is so sweet", and then many versions were released one after another, which was a complete screen-sweet hit.

Although the official later admitted that it was not driven by internal brand promotion, the speed at which it fermented did make many big brands jealous. Therefore, in addition to taking advantage of the main melody, it can accurately capture the emotions of the people and also resonate with the public.

For example, KFC’s joke literature seems to be on the rise recently, with all kinds of imaginative jokes conveying KFC’s Crazy Thursday. To put it simply, it is “popular + meaningful (fun and worth complaining about) + low threshold for participation + easy to share”.

It can be seen that UGC has increasingly become an important communication method that cannot be ignored in brand marketing .

5. Entertainment Marketing｜TikTok x Andy Lau

The model of entertainment marketing this year is none other than Andy Lau’s entry into Douyin. On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of his debut, the program premiered on Douyin with the core theme of “This Ordinary Day”. The reason why it is so popular, from a creative perspective, is that the biggest feeling is that it is real. It may not seem to have any creativity, but it actually contains great creativity.

Many people think that he is Andy Lau, and there are too many angles and space to play with, but what is most rare about Andy Lau for the majority of users is that he is willing to put aside the halo of a star and share the real side of daily life with everyone like a friend. There is no need to play tricks or plan too much. A simple chat is enough, because he is Andy Lau.

6. Brand Strategic Marketing | Kuaishou "Battle of Tokyo Olegay"

This year's more important campaign, and one of the more outstanding ones, is Kuaishou's "Battle of Tokyo, Ole Gei". Needless to say, this short film is remarkable from any angle, with a very high degree of completion and sophistication.

What’s important is that as the only short video platform with the rights to broadcast the Tokyo Olympics, Kuaishou’s overall strategy cleverly combines the tone of Kuaishou and the Olympics in terms of theme, and using “Oli Gei” as the core communication point is truly amazing.

Moreover, the commercialization strategy of Kuaishou's new urban business "Digital Fireworks, Return to the Urban Life" launched this year is extremely precise, fully tapping into the urban life with fireworks, making life richer, more diverse and fulfilling. While allowing the ecology to develop more healthily, it also makes Kuaishou's efficient commercialization more warm. Looking forward to Kuaishou ’s performance at the Beijing Winter Olympics + CNY.

7. Small but beautiful, big ideas | Xiaodu giant screen TV

A common problem encountered in marketing communication is how to achieve big communication with a small budget. This is a headache for many suppliers. On the one hand, it is difficult to achieve big results with a small budget. On the other hand, a small budget means no profit. Therefore, the issue of achieving big results with a small budget has always been criticized by people in the industry.

But the case of Xiaodu is really unique. Focusing on the core topic of "How big is 86 inches?", it focuses on common scenarios in daily life, explains the core issue in a vivid way, and communicates with users in a humorous tone. It is clear, simple and interesting. It is really a long-lost straightforward and good idea.

So sometimes good creativity does not necessarily require big scenes, big productions, or big plots. Focusing on one point and adding a little thought can often be particularly outstanding.

8. Brand Self-Breakthrough｜Timberland "You Who Can't Be Kicked"

I believe that Timberland is a brand that everyone is familiar with. From the first song "Indestructible", which interpreted the indestructible spirit in multiple dimensions based on yearning, determination, courage and love, to the second song "Indestructible, It Takes a Lifetime to Complete", "When I left, it was called Timberland, and when I came back, it was called Indestructible", which strengthened the indestructible spirit, and then to this year's "There are no indestructible shoes, only indestructible you", it gradually focused and gradually completed different missions in different stages of the brand. I have to say, the strategy and insight are really amazing.

To be honest, the quality of the first short film really reached its ceiling. For many creative people, it is difficult to continue without failing, let alone making breakthroughs. However, Shengjia's outstanding performance makes each of the series a classic.

As for the short film "You Who Can't Be Kicked Out", apart from the copy that points out the theme, the most outstanding parts are the BGM and the animation. So if a TVC has one truly eye-catching point, it is not a loss for the brand. Brands should also learn more from "You Who Can't Be Kicked Out" and learn how to make TVCs stand out and win reputation in this era when TVCs have extremely low cost-effectiveness.

9. IP killer｜League of Legends "Battle of Two Cities"

How to play IP marketing? Cross-border? Joint name? No, we should try to create a super IP like League of Legends, “Battle of Two Cities”.

It has to be said that many brands cannot reach the level of IP like League of Legends. The reasons why "The Battle of Two Cities" is loved by many people are nothing more than three aspects. The first is brand culture + fans, the second is plot + animation style, and the last is word of mouth.

The production cost of this animation alone can catch up with the market value of some companies, so what brands need to learn is not how to shape IP, but to convey the culture behind IP. Culture is the key to attracting fans, especially in the current era of material abundance and spiritual emptiness. Young, individual and vibrant culture will be loved by young people.

Therefore, the ultimate issue for a brand is: how to use brand culture to achieve deep communication and connection with users.

10. Small events, big victories | Jiang Xiaobai

To be more precise, Xiaodu’s case should be called small budget, big creativity. The recent Jiang Xiaobai is truly a small-budget, big-spread product.

The self-deprecating drunken copy is both ironic and cleverly expresses the product's benefits in the form of a statement. It is supplemented by a 50-cent earthy visual impact, which is full of style and unique. The key is that such creativity can be recognized by the boss and is worthy of praise.

The key to this kind of creativity is to have courage and objectivity, because after all, it is self-deprecating irony. If the irony is good, the topic will be natural and the conflict will be strong, and people will love to spread it. However, if it is not executed well, it is easy to fail, so the overall risk is still quite large.

But no matter what, cases like Jiang Xiaobai are really worth studying and polishing for major brands, especially those without a budget.

To sum up, this is an inventory of classic cases of different marketing methods under different marketing needs in 2021. Each case is worth careful appreciation and study. Again, the above cases cannot represent the most outstanding answers to the problems they solve.

Instead of worrying about what is good and what is bad, it is better to absorb good ideas, accumulate experience from failed cases, and create outstanding cases of your own. At the same time, I hope that in the new year, we can see more brands and more outstanding ideas, and together we can use creativity to solve problems in a more interesting and efficient way and create a greater impact.

Author: Community Marketing Research Institute

Source: Community Marketing Research Institute