Double 11 Metaverse brand marketing trends!

Some brands no longer know how to conduct Double 11.

Celebrity marketing can no longer just sit back and reap the benefits of fan economy. There are countless examples of people who were the hottest ones yesterday but became the most fallen ones tomorrow. However, safe and effective traffic has been divided up by big brands, and new brands have become more cautious in choosing celebrity spokespersons.

Going to the live broadcast room of a big anchor has become an option that requires "all-in", and even "losing money to sell publicity". Of course, brands can still broadcast their own content, but the timeline for live streaming is getting longer and longer. A beauty brand entrepreneur told me that this year on Double 11, they plan to do a "never-ending live broadcast" from October 20 to November 11, in two shifts.

The major content platforms have scheduled their content placements from October to the end of the year. The closer to the big promotion period, the more staggering the traffic prices become. Many brands are caught in a dilemma: if they don’t do it, competitors are doing it and they are afraid of losing; if they do it, the ROI is low and a slight loss of 1:0.8 to break even is the last bit of decency they can hold back.

E-commerce platforms are also constantly exploring new possibilities for Double 11. On the one hand, this year is the 13th year of Double 11, and consumers are almost familiar with the gameplay and routines of traditional e-commerce platforms. In addition to the "lowest price" and "stockpiling" mentality, they also need some new concepts and new ways of playing to attract users. On the other hand, the rise of some new traffic channels is also posing challenges to traditional e-commerce giants.

This year's Double 11 will be a tough battle for both brands and platforms.

As the saying goes, heroes are made by the times. When the bubble in the consumer industry bursts, it is actually the time for capable people who work hard to build brands to take off.

The Double 11 battle has just begun, and I have also sensed the changes in brands’ marketing strategies. The most notable point is that brands and platforms are doing their best to find emerging marketing breakthroughs - from culture to technology, from real communities to the virtual world.

1. From traffic to brand-effect synergy, brands expand their marketing boundaries

Double 11 is not only a traffic battleground, but also the most exciting arena for brand marketing.

Left: Huaxizi Miao impression; Right: Perfect Diary stilettos

• On the eve of last year's Double 11, Huaxizi launched the "Great Beauty of the East, Impression of the Miao Nationality" high-end gift box series, linking up with celebrities and KOLs such as A Duo and Li Jiaqi to lock in consumers in advance and consolidate its "Oriental Beauty" brand positioning;
• Perfect Diary has gained a lot of discussion on social media by officially announcing Zhou Xun as its brand spokesperson and Zai Ye as its brand ambassador, while also raising the brand's tone;
• Ubras held an event called "Find U Show Koi and Contract Underwear for a Year" at the end of October, encouraging users to share their orders and build momentum for Double 11.
• Before the big sale, Santonban launched the "Return Plan", calling on users to come to the brand's offline "Return Point" to exchange empty product shells for brand-related supplies, while simultaneously completing the implementation of the brand's sustainable concept and in-depth communication with users...

All this shows that many brands, in addition to GMV, are also paying more and more attention to their own brand building during Double 11. The brand has also transitioned from simply pursuing growth to product and effect synergy.

By the way, let me share some "warm knowledge" here: whether it is 618 or Double 11, brands need to submit their brand marketing plans during the promotion period to compete for some platform slots. The truth behind this is that e-commerce platforms have realized the power of brands even earlier than some brands.

Discounts, big sales, all of these are based on "brand premium". If there is no brand premium, and you just buy the white label, wouldn’t it be more affordable? Without the blessing of brand halo, the prices of many products on Pinduoduo and 1688 could allow consumers to celebrate Double 11 every day.

Therefore, during the 618 and Double 11 promotions every year, we can see that e-commerce platforms work with brands to carry out online and offline marketing activities. For example, since 2018, Tmall has collaborated with brands to launch "cat head posters" and has laid out ground advertisements on a large scale.

On the one hand, the platform needs to consolidate consumers' impression that "all your favorite brands are here" and repeatedly remind users to come and consume during the promotion period; on the other hand, this is actually also to build momentum for brand promotion, reaching a wider consumer group through high frequency and high density, and strengthening the public's awareness of these brands.

However, with the rapid development of China's economy and domestic consumer industry in recent years, new domestic brands have continued to emerge, and foreign brands have continued to enter the domestic market, and competition among brands has become increasingly fierce. In contrast, there are very few marketing methods that are effective and fast-moving.

This directly leads to the fact that once a certain brand has found an effective path, domestic brands will immediately follow suit by relying on their strong competitive awareness and imitation capabilities.

For example, the “three marketing tricks” of a new consumer brand that caused heated discussions in the industry in June this year. At first glance, it seems to be in line with the growth path of new domestic consumer brands, but in fact, I think it more reflects the new consumer brands’ desire and competition for online traffic, as well as their lack of understanding of the methodology of shaping brand image.

Three marketing strategies for new consumer brands

It is true that traffic is the core growth method for new consumer brands to grow from 0 to 1, but traffic cannot be used for a long time or alone, but must be used at key points in conjunction with brand marketing. Double 11 is undoubtedly the biggest training ground for new consumer brands to collaborate on product and effect. Both brands and platforms are in urgent need of finding newer marketing methods that are more likely to attract user attention, deepen the interaction and communication between brands and users, and broaden the boundaries of brand marketing.

2. Breakthrough in brand marketing starts with technological innovation

This year's Double 11, brands are also trying their best to come up with new ideas.

For example, the collaboration between Santonban and director Jia Zhangke has been all over the news these days. The brand’s new TVC was made into a TV series, implanting the “super value” mentality of Santonban super buckets to warm up for the Double 11 event.

Another example is Mr. He, who had been missing for many months, collaborated with Lechuang to create a video about eating food, which became a hit on Bilibili and ranked first on the hot list. It also drove up Lechuang's stock price. Although it is impossible to confirm whether the original intention of the cooperation was to warm up for the Double 11 promotion or to promote new brands, the explosion of the video at this time point undoubtedly brought huge traffic and voice to the brand. We can see many "innovative" marketing methods from it, such as scene marketing, experience marketing, emotional marketing and so on. In my opinion, these are more of a further iteration and segmentation of traditional marketing methods. Simply put, it is old wine in new bottles.

Looking back at the development history of brand marketing, innovation and breakthroughs are often closely related to technological development.

The maturity of printing technology has made books and newspapers popular and normalized, and people have gradually learned to embed "advertisements" in books and newspapers; with the development of cable television, TV advertising has become the backbone of brand marketing and still plays an important role today; and the leap in Internet technology has directly changed the form of information dissemination and reception, which has also directly given rise to the various gameplays we are familiar with today, such as private domains, live broadcasts, KOL/KOC content seeding, etc.

So, what is the next innovative point for the brand to break through?

I saw Tmall Super Brand Day’s Double 11 communication activities this year and proposed a possible direction - the metaverse .

The Metaverse is undoubtedly the hottest new concept this year, and has become popular in the cryptocurrency, art, and music circles as well as the brand marketing circles. Recently, many brand investors and brand founders have come to me to discuss the impact of the Metaverse on content, consumption and business.

I try to use the simplest language to describe the metaverse as I understand it. It is a third independent world derived from the real world and the online virtual world. The most talked about NFTs and virtual idols/hyper-realistic digital people are important components of the metaverse.

Hyper-realistic digital people are the natives of the metaverse, and NFT relies on blockchain technology to make it unique and have additional rights or rights descriptions. For the time being, I will simplify it and understand it as the "value currency" of the metaverse. Now that we have understood the basic theory, let’s take a look at the communication activities of Tmall Super Brand Day, which focuses on the two core elements of hyper-realistic digital humans and NFTs.

This year on Double 11, Tmall Super Brand Day will bring together nine major brands to create digital virtual musical instruments based on classic products and perform a digital opening show. This reveals Tmall Super Brand Day’s thinking on the concept of the metaverse: the integration of the virtual world and the real world will be the biggest growth area.

It provides brands with new ideas on "how to show consumers the diverse forms of brand marketing interactions in the future metaverse" when AR and VR technologies are not yet so mature. Brand and product images do not necessarily have to be consistent with reality, and every touchpoint that may interact with users is worth rethinking.

For example, the trumpet is incarnated by Bobbi Brown lipstick, and the buttons are popular colors of lipstick. When it is played, mist of the corresponding color will be sprayed out from under the trumpet. If the simulation reality technology is more perfect, it is possible for consumers to feel the touch of the lipstick and the texture of the packaging through the trumpet buttons.

Coca-Cola transforms into a timpani, and its colorful tone coincides with the brand's desire to bring consumers an exciting drinking experience. On the other hand, it is also a creative interpretation of the new global brand concept “Real Magic”.

Brands are willing to collaborate with Tmall Super Brands on digital collections because they recognize that, in a rapidly changing world, if they want to stay relevant, they must continue to listen, learn, respond, and keep pace with the times. Tmall Super Brand Day invited the country's first hyper-realistic digital person AYAYI to become the digital manager, providing a smooth and ceremonial interface for its subsequent layout of metaverse marketing .

During the Double 11 shopping festival, AYAYI, as a creator and curator, collaborated with multiple brands including BURBERRY, P&G, Kiehl's, and Alienware to create 8 digital collections. Some of the collections will be delivered to consumers along with purchase orders and in the form of raffles.

This is the first time in China that ordinary consumers can participate in NFT interactions on a large scale with a low threshold. For example, consumers can spend 1 yuan to grab P&G's limited edition of 100 "one-click package" exclusive digital collections, which also come with a physical cleaning and care gift package; consumers can even try their luck and participate in the alien's digital collection lottery without spending a penny. As of now, the number of people participating in the lottery has exceeded 20,000.

For consumers, NFT allows them to obtain corresponding rights and interests, whether in the virtual world or the real world, such as ownership of a work of art or the right to use a designer clothing item.

In other words, NFTs give brands the opportunity to create long-term, direct relationships with consumers, even in the real and virtual worlds simultaneously. From the perspective of this marketing plan alone, this is the Double 11 "easter egg" prepared by the brand and Tmall Super Brand Day for consumers to celebrate the happy experience consumers have on Double 11, and also to celebrate the fact that this innovative marketing method is becoming familiar to the public.

From a long-term brand marketing perspective, brands that release digital collectibles now actually have the priority to open up the consumer metaverse space. Even if people are not familiar with this new concept, the existence of digital collections has effectively enhanced brand value and brand culture.

The same story happens overseas.

In July 2021, Coca-Cola auctioned the brand’s first NFT collection, the “Loot Box,” on International Friendship Charity Day, which contained virtual customized clothing, friendship cards, sound visualizers, and a fully stocked Coca-Cola refrigerator in real life, raising $575,883.61 for charity.

The NFT collection reimagines Coca-Cola's iconic assets, adding dynamic movement and multi-sensory elements, and has received a lot of discussion and praise overseas. It also serves as a demonstration for how brands with historical heritage can find their true future in the metaverse.

Gucci X Genies

Gucci has partnered with digital avatar company Genies. In addition to having a virtual identity independent of the real world, users can also have their digital doubles wear Gucci's custom clothing to express their own attitude in the virtual world.

At the same time, this collaboration also creates a synergistic effect with the brand's real-life marketing actions - in the virtual world created by Genies, some digital avatars wearing Gucci virtual clothing are actually Gucci spokespeople. Creativity will be copied quickly, but technology will become the engine of creative evolution, constantly driving innovative platforms or brands, releasing the brand value they have accumulated in the real world, and allowing their ideas or original intentions to be displayed in more dimensions.

3. The Possibility of Brand Marketing in the Metaverse

Although there are many different opinions about the Metaverse and NFTs among the public today, from the perspective of content creation and brand marketing alone, I believe that the Metaverse has great potential. Yuval Noah Harari wrote in "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind": "The reason why humans have become the masters of the earth is that they can create and believe in 'fictional stories'."

In my opinion, the Metaverse provides a grand and inclusive theme for contemporary and future marketers, brand managers, and even ordinary content creators. Its emergence allows brands to create their own world while inviting users to co-create experience scenarios. And with the technological advances in digital space and the metaverse, after entering the metaverse, the way brands display their personality and attitude is completely unrestricted by time, space, and physics. There is greater room for imagination, and the way brands express themselves will be infinitely broadened.

As Alibaba’s classic marketing IP, Tmall Super Brand Day does not focus on large-scale sales, but is more concerned with achieving value enhancement and helping brands achieve leapfrog growth. This year's Double 11 marketing plan for Tmall Super Brand Day once again showed me the market sensitivity and ambition of their team - to find the most avant-garde and imaginative marketing direction to help brands test the waters.

Combining foreign NFT brand marketing cases and the innovative attempts of Tmall Super Brand Day in China, I have summarized the following potential trends and directions of metaverse brand marketing:

1. Seize the mind share of the blank virtual world

Overseas brands such as LV, Gucci, and Stella Artois have begun to experiment with brand marketing through NFT, but this field is still a wild place in China. As the Metaverse begins to take shape, brands that can provide unique experiences will serve as “enablers” of the Metaverse, capturing the minds of consumers in the virtual world while also demonstrating the brand’s foresight and pioneering nature.

2. Targeting future consumers: Generation Z

Even though the metaverse is an emerging concept, for Generation Z users who believe that “there is no difference between the experience of the physical world and the experience of the virtual world,” understanding and participating in the construction of the metaverse will be their passion. If brands can lower the threshold for them to enter the metaverse and provide more diverse and interesting interactive experiences, this will undoubtedly make young consumers who are eager for novelty become fans of the brand.

3. Personalized private experience

In the future, there will be more and more points of intersection between the virtual world and the real world, and brands will have the opportunity to provide consumers with service experiences that connect multiple worlds, such as launching personal NFTs on special anniversaries.

Travis ScottX Fortnite

4. Build a new entertainment lifestyle for consumers and integrate brand marketing

With the uncertainty of the epidemic, virtual concerts, immersive games, etc. will become new forms of entertainment and lifestyles. Hip-hop singer Travis Scott once collaborated with the shooting game "Fortnite" to conduct a virtual concert live broadcast. After the performance, some related merchandise, such as dolls and T-shirts, were sold out, proving the unlimited potential of integrating brand marketing into virtual performance events, and also proving the pioneering role of the Metaverse in future entertainment lifestyles.

Under the concept of the metaverse, the difficulties for future brands to conduct marketing are also obvious. For example, how do brands enter the metaverse? How do branders and marketers plan to rebuild brand image and shape brand positioning in a virtual environment? And, in a virtual world that is online 24 hours a day and mainly composed of user-generated content, how should brands design their communication plans to impress consumers?

There are always more solutions than problems. After all, brand building should be future-oriented.

Author: Bingqing; Editors: Mammon, Daojie Doris

Source: Daojie Doris (ID: doriskerundong)