Insights into new marketing trends in 2022

2022 is getting closer and closer. Looking back at 2021, what are the cases that you really remember?

In fact, with the dispersion of social media platforms, traffic has become relatively fragmented in omni-channel marketing. Even if the traffic between platforms begins to communicate with each other, the cumbersomeness of multiple paths and multiple operations and the platform's reverse diversion will greatly reduce the communication effect.

So in recent years, you will find that there are very few cases that have gone viral through particularly good creativity. The ones that have really gone viral are either because the topic is interesting enough to cater to public sentiment, or because the UGC communication attributes are particularly strong.

This point about UGC attributes has also been mentioned in the previous sharing. In order to fit the emotions of a certain circle, KOLs, passers-by, etc. can be appropriately embedded for guidance. By triggering the emotions of the circle and then the emotions of the public, it is a process of detonation. In fact, topicality is more direct and more brutal than UGC attributes, and it can instantly detonate the entire social media.

We have compiled 16 hot marketing topics for 2021, both positive and negative. We hope that brands can capture the current public sentiment and gain in-depth insights from positive topics, learn lessons from negative topics and avoid making the same mistakes, and at the same time, comprehensively consider the pros and cons and gain insight into new marketing trends in 2022.

1. The lessons of celebrity failures should be remembered, representative figures are Zheng Shuang, Wu Yifan, and Li Yundi

When a celebrity fails, it is essentially a lose-lose situation. Even if the brand can obtain compensation through the artist’s breach of contract, there will still be a significant loss in brand assets and reputation.

In fact, celebrity marketing is a particularly risky marketing move for brands, but at the same time it is also an operation that brings particularly quick and direct benefits. On the one hand, it can quickly break through the circle of voice with the help of fan economy, and at the same time, it can also use the public's perception of the artist to strengthen brand awareness and thus seize the minds of users.

However, with the continuous failures of celebrities in recent years and the strengthening of control over the domestic entertainment industry, brands should be more cautious in choosing celebrities. They should not select and determine them directly through suppliers. Instead, brands themselves should conduct certain considerations and investigations.

2. Andy Lau’s first social media account in the world is only on TikTok!

The best celebrity marketing this year was Andy Lau joining TikTok. This event marketing can be viewed from two aspects.

First of all, on the platform side, Andy Lau has a strong public recognition in terms of reputation, status, works, character, etc. The platform can reach a cooperation with Andy Lau, which not only increases traffic, but also consolidates the brand. Whether it is the content level or the word-of-mouth level, it will help Douyin in the competition in the short video track.

Secondly, on the communication side, through this event marketing, based on an ordinary day, it not only shows the true side behind the superstar, but also stirs up a wave of nostalgia. The insight can be said to have both dug deep into human nature and guided the public's emotions.

The last case of this level of communication was when Luo Yonghao announced that he would sell products on Douyin. Both use the same techniques and routines but different angles, and both have achieved commendable communication effects.

3. What else can be done if famous directors participate in advertisements?

It is not uncommon for famous directors to participate in advertisements, such as the previous works of Apple directed by Jia Zhangke and Chen Kexin.

However, during the Spring Festival of 2021, Wong Kar-wai shot a TVC for Mercedes-Benz, which received mixed reviews. It was indeed not as popular as Chen Kexin's "Three Minutes" that year.

Director Jia Zhangke also teamed up with Sandunban this year, showing the interesting point that even in front of a famous director, the customer is still a father. Compared with the overall out-of-circle effect, the influence is actually not that great, but in fact, it can be understood from an industry perspective. The key is to see what the core brand wants, whether it is the director's influence, creativity or contribution to the brand.

4. Involution is prevalent and will not stop

Unfortunately, “involution” is not one of the top ten buzzwords of 2021. But even so, the emotions and state of internal competition among workers can still provide brands with more insights.

On the one hand, focusing on the "involution" itself, as long as the goal of capital to pursue efficiency remains unchanged, the situation of involution will not disappear. How to alleviate the involution of workers or advocate anti-involution may be a direction for brands to win the favor of users. On the other hand, focusing on the "users" themselves, advocating that involution objectively exists, and loving oneself well is also a perspective for emotional communication between brands and users.

5. Male rights and female rights become the new red lines of communication?

This year's "Talk Show Conference" once again put Yang Li in the center of public opinion. Because of her complaints and criticisms of men, not only did she instantly become the center of controversy, but many of the advertising businesses she participated in also failed, such as Intel.

The issue of male and female rights is essentially an extreme attitude, which is not accepted in the current relatively relaxed public opinion environment, not to mention extreme conflicts.

But from the perspective of people in the industry, it is indeed difficult to find novel ideas or perspectives that express men and women. At the same time, the attitudes or opinions presented by various brands are highly homogenized. However, after this incident, it is still recommended that brands can take a different approach, but not to extremes. Creativity is not just about attitude. You can find the surface based on the line, and you can also increase or decrease the dimension.

6. The Tokyo Olympics have passed, are the big ideas for the Beijing Winter Olympics ready?

The Tokyo Olympics is one of the more popular event IPs this summer, and the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics, which coincides with CNY, will also become a new hot marketing node.

There are still many outstanding cases in this year's Olympics, such as "Battle in Tokyo, Olly Gee" and the million-level posters of Zhibo Bar, etc., but looking at the Olympic marketing cases, you will find that the core of the communication content focuses on "attitude", "story" and "public sentiment" . These three categories basically cover 80% of the content of the Olympics.

Are there any more groundbreaking points outside of these three categories? Brands can focus on Olympic marketing and sports marketing and try this out. After all, new ideas always have new followers.

7. How fierce is the people’s spontaneous “wild consumption”?

This year's flood in Henan Province made Erke a household name. Even though the brand officials strongly advocated rational consumption, it still couldn't stop people's enthusiasm for wild consumption. So what exactly makes ERKE win the favor of the public?

In essence, it accurately captures the public sentiment. Of course, the capture here is not the capture by the brand, but the spread of UGC emotions. Because of the extreme resonance, it can spread rapidly. In terms of consciousness, it is a sad character setting. Celebrities with hundreds of thousands of dollars can be on the hot search list, but conscientious companies with tens of millions of dollars are not spread. The audience can't stand it anymore. In form, it expresses a feeling of sympathy and strong recognition, such as “My God, it feels like you’re about to go bankrupt, yet you’re still donating so much.”

Frankly speaking, it is difficult for brands to plan such social events, so there are very few replicable routines. But this illustrates two things: one is that the public's attention to domestic brands is beyond your imagination; the other is the brand's social responsibility. The public may not react, but that does not mean they cannot see it.

8. The Banquet in the Tang Palace became a huge hit

In the 2021 Henan TV Spring Festival Gala, the program "Tang Palace Night Banquet" vividly displayed the prosperous culture of the Tang Dynasty with graceful dance moves. It was not only reprinted by major official media, but also became a hot search in a very short time, sparking a topic.

In recent years, national trends and national style culture have been regarded as hot spots for brand cross-border and leveraging communications, but objectively speaking, the overall level is uneven. It has neither been able to express the ultimate or out-of-the-box cultural creativity, nor has it been able to magnify the brand's commercial value to a certain scale.

Screenshot source: bilibili Henan Communist Youth League

Although there are some objective factors involved, and "Tang Palace Night Banquet" is broadcast on the satellite TV Spring Festival Gala, there is a huge disparity between public expectations and the value of the program. Coupled with the festive atmosphere, it is better to resonate with the public. However, from a case perspective, the collision of traditional culture and brand can still inspire greater possibilities.

9. When will a domestic drama like "Squid Game" be released?

“Why doesn’t China have a company like Netflix?”

This is one of the most popular comments on Weibo after "Squid Game" became a hit. The reason why "Squid Game" became so popular is nothing more than the battle royale theme. The game relies on childhood games, simple rules and other plots as well as high-saturation and high-density rhythm to create pleasure.

For brands, this can be done from two perspectives: disseminating content and leveraging momentum. First of all, it is about disseminating content. It is well known that the extreme conflicts in film and television can make the film and television more interesting, but advertising cannot. Therefore, in terms of disseminating content, brands can learn from the insights and narrative methods of film and television dramas.

Brands should also go a step further from the perspective of leveraging momentum. They should not only be limited to the creative extension of symbols, products, and plots. How to leverage events at the brand level may be a new means of efficiently obtaining traffic.

10. The extended Double 11

This year's Double Eleven cycle is longer than before. At the end of October, Li Jiaqi and Wei Ya launched the opening battle of Double Eleven, but after the grand start, you will find that this year's Double Eleven does not actually have any particularly memorable points or cases.

In addition to the reasons for everyone's anxiety about traffic, the novelty of Double Eleven has passed in the minds of the public. Instead, the complicated preferential benefits and not-so-cheap prices make the public more anxious. Even if they still place orders on Double Eleven and have a sense of ritual of Double Eleven, the "Double Eleven" in everyone's mind seems to be getting farther and farther away. If any brand can return to that day under the platform system, it would also be a big idea.

11. Jiang Xiaobai’s “Solemn Statement”

When everyone was talking about the lack of good cases and not seeing any cases that went viral for a long time, a series of statements from Jiang Xiaobai came out of nowhere. Responding to external controversy in a self-deprecating manner, no matter the strategy, creativity or execution, it is sure to be among the top ten cases of the year.

From the perspective of event marketing, this kind of creativity itself is not difficult. For example, Durex called out to major brands before, Wufangzhai paid tribute to employees on Labor Day, etc., which are all the same creative forms. It’s just that Jiang Xiaobai chose relatively controversial content points. This also led to Jiang Xiaobai quickly deleting the 100 statements on its WeChat after becoming popular, and at the same time extending the creativity of the supplementary statement on Weibo.

From this point of view, creative ideas that want to stand out nowadays must either stand at the commanding heights and gain insight into public sentiment, or spark discussions through controversial topics. But no matter what, being able to gain a great brand reputation with a small budget and lightweight creativity is already a successful marketing.

12. B station 2021 annual barrage, breaking the defense

The annual barrage can be regarded as an IP in Bilibili's year-end summary. Although this year's annual barrage is not particularly outstanding in terms of creativity, it is a good entry point and direction for brands to break through defenses. As CNY and the Winter Olympics are coming up, what else can brands communicate with users besides the emotional topics of previous years?

As the annual barrage of B station in 2021, "Broken Defense" has rich enough points to combine and topics to associate with. Whether cooperating with B station or not, new possibilities can be found beyond the creative points discussed in the past, which will help to break the circle of communication. I look forward to seeing good cases that will make people like it at this year's CNY+Winter Olympics.

The above are the top 12 marketing topics of the year listed in 2021. Objectively speaking, they may not be so comprehensive, but from a marketing perspective, these 12 topics are relatively representative. I hope they can bring some thinking to marketers/brands.

Whether it is the new communication that will follow or the creative marketing in the new year, we hope to help everyone find insights reasonably and objectively, and thus achieve the integration of brand, effect and sales.

Author: Community Marketing Research Institute

Source: Community Marketing Research Institute