In-depth analysis | How did the 400 million yuan worth of advertising and content of "The Debaters" come together so perfectly?

There is a variety show that inserts advertisements unscrupulously, but it is not annoying at all;

There was a debate where many “weirdos” gathered together, but they did not “compete with each other for beauty”. This was “The Debaters”!

This article will review the following three aspects:

1. What achievements has "The Rap of China" brought?

2. Why is the advertising method of "The Debaters" successful?

3. Reference and inspiration from the advertising and marketing of “The Debaters”

The fourth season of "The Rap of China" officially ended last weekend. As of now, the total number of views has exceeded 600 million , and the cumulative number of readings of the Weibo topic #奇葩说# has reached 4.82 billion . The investment amount for the fourth season reached nearly 400 million , once again becoming the online variety show with the highest investment amount. At present, many advertisers have prepared "billions of dollars in supplies" and plan to join the battle for cooperation in the fifth season of "The Rap of China".

In addition to the consistently wonderful content, this season's advertiser sponsorship placements have been well received since the show began. Brands that have appeared on "The Debaters" in the past have all achieved their own growth. Judging from the relevant data, the combined influence of the five brands has increased significantly before and after the sponsorship .

It can be said that no other program can do what "The Debaters" does, where advertising is the main body and marketing and content are perfectly integrated.

1. The core driving force of cross-border marketing generated by topic tags

Each character in "The Debaters" is a label , each label brings together a type of fans, and each type of fan hopes to find recognition in another circle - this is one of the motivations for socializing and is also the core driving force of brand cross-border marketing .

Topics are labels, and opinions are identities. From the perspective of topics, the fourth season of "The Rap of China" has made new breakthroughs in content. (As shown in the table below), it focuses more on the thoughts and dilemmas of young people today , and many debate topics come from scenes and topics in daily life.

Let’s take a look at the labels of the ads in the show: Xiaomi’s “Xiaomi mobile phone, a camera-friendly technology that can be used to create trouble”, Chunzhen yogurt’s “Truth comes out after drinking milk”, Head & Shoulders’ “Don’t let your dandruff stay with me overnight”, Xianyu APP’s “Fuck, this can also be sold”, Mirinda fruit soda’s “If you don’t play big enough, don’t drink Mirinda”…

It can be seen that these advertisements are like Trojan horses, implanted into a topic in a life scenario. In this scenario, precise topic tags and personality tags combined with brands can accurately display brand characteristics, greatly improve brand recognition, and form a widely covered cross-border marketing scenario. This is the foundation of the marketing monetization of "The Debaters".

2. The diverse ways of playing native ads can improve the quality of content

The definition of native advertising is: not disrupting the user experience, providing users with valuable information, and allowing users to accept information naturally.

"The Debaters" does a great and natural job in this regard. For example: the magical Head & Shoulders talk show that popped up inadvertently swept the whole audience, and the contestants kept CUEing; Xianyu's expressions matched the atmosphere and emotions of the scene, and "bullet screen" appeared at any time; Mirinda fruit soda "played big" with everyone, and both parties integrated the "Mirinda 100 million hidden in the bottle cap" campaign inside and outside the program, and there was also Chunzhen yogurt that floated on the screen in every episode.

The special spoken-word advertisements in "The Debaters" have become a breath of fresh air in the variety show advertising industry. There is no lack of humor in the creativity, and it constantly strengthens brand memory without appearing abrupt . This form of treating advertising as content is actually one of the concepts of native advertising.

Advertisers have even signed contracts with debaters from "The Rap of China" to co-star in a short play, which is a deep integration with the "The Rap of China" scenes . At the same time, mentors and debaters constantly incorporate the brand spirit of the sponsors into their arguments throughout the program.

Through the diversified gameplay of native advertising , the advertisements and programs of "The Debaters" are integrated with each other to create more interesting advertising forms, and these interesting advertising forms in turn make the content more exciting and interesting.

3. Advertisers cooperate with program teams to deepen marketing

The key to Xiaomi's success in "The Debaters" lies in the internal and external linkages between the two parties .

Internally: Xiaomi’s brand cartoon characters were the most active members in the audience. CEO Lei Jun personally participated in the production of the program, introducing Xiaomi’s own products in a ghost version of minitalk. Lei Jun frequently uttered golden sentences such as “mobile phones are handicrafts, and life is a work of art” in the program, which was extremely popular.

Externally: We planned linkage projects such as the fancy advertising competition #Speak out your creativity and Mr. Ma will read it to you#, the "Mi Fan Festival", and the launch of the Xiaomi MAX2 new product, so that the "spirit of making trouble" of "Qi Pa Talk" and Xiaomi can be continued throughout all aspects from online to offline, from brand to product, from activities to interaction. It can be said that the linkage at all levels such as the program, Xiaomi, and users is a win-win situation.

4. Advertisers’ own multi-dimensional marketing to strengthen brand placement and implementation

The way another "sponsor" Chunzhen yogurt plays its game is also eye-catching.

Chunzhen Yogurt put the magical short film specially shot for it for the fourth season of "The Rap of China" on offline LCD buildings and major media entertainment channels, and also launched customized product packaging. On top of the original influence of the program, the influence of the Chunzhen yogurt brand has been further expanded.

In addition to the three-dimensional linkage communication based on "The Debaters", Chunzhen Yogurt has never forgotten the original intention of all promotion and marketing - product implementation . Not only does it use Chunzhen’s own membership SCRM Zhenxianghui platform, it also specially designed the startup animation of "The Debaters".

We are also leveraging the social materials generated by the "golden sentences" in the program. On Chunzhen's social platform, we are deepening our fan base through rich content such as videos, posters, golden sentences, and voting. While interacting with fans, we are attracting them to further experience and feel the Chunzhen yogurt products.

(The search revealed that by the end of the fourth season of “The Rap of China”, the number of readings of the topic “Chunzhen Yogurt #奶后吐真言#” on Weibo had soared from 50 million before the show started to more than 410 million at present. During this period, it even ranked third on Sina’s real-time topic list, with 408,000 interactions and 12,910 audience participation in voting and interaction.

During the broadcast of each episode of "The Debaters", the average daily visits to the Points Mall increased by 50% , the average daily visits to the Zhenxiang Community increased by 180% , and the total number of Zhenxiang fans exceeded 3.1 million ! ）

1. Blindly choosing IP for delivery is asking for trouble!

"The Debaters" may seem like an entertainment program, but from its content, we can see that it is similar to "The Oprah Winfrey Show" - it not only focuses on entertainment and the debate topic itself, but also elevates the debate topic to an in-depth reflection on the current social situation and the value of life.

Only such an excellent program can generate a powerful IP, and only with the influence of a powerful IP can advertisers' marketing be better exerted.

But I need to remind you that: IP that does not conform to the corporate brand culture is no better than raising a dog no matter how powerful it is…

2. Advertisers should work together with IP to make it bigger!

A common misunderstanding among many advertisers regarding title placement is:

I thought that I could just title a super IP and hand everything over to the program team, and then I could just sit back and enjoy the fame and fortune ...

In fact, this is not the case. Looking back, these successful advertising sponsors have made every effort to become firmly integrated with the "U Can U Bibi" program . Through comprehensive program implantation, linkage with the program, micro-marketing of social materials, interactive activities, in-depth cultivation of online and offline fans, product experience , etc., not only the golden slogans in the program are integrated throughout, but also a unique brand label memory is formed.

Moreover, through this series of rich and three-dimensional integrated promotion and marketing, a "closed loop" has been formed from program to dissemination to users to products to sales . This is like a football game, the coach and the players need to cooperate and integrate into one to achieve the effect of 1+1>2.

3. Some suggestions for soft implantation

Reviewing the entire advertising and marketing of "The Debaters", we can see the importance of labeling, life-likeness and scenario-basedness .

It is recommended that when doing soft advertising placement, try to condense the product label from a daily life perspective; use scenario-based packaging for marketing .

After all, life is where advertisements shine in~~~