The "involution" of the 618 content marketing war

This year's 618 is becoming more and more "involutionary".

In terms of time, the "opening day" on May 24th was nearly a week earlier than last year, and the "final payment day" on June 1st ushered in the first small climax. The promotion had been going on for nearly a month before the actual day on the 18th. In terms of quantity, the "old e-commerce" cats and dogs and lions + the "e-commerce upstarts" Douyin and Kuaishou fought on the same field, and the war between the seven warlords escalated.

In contrast to the "energized" attitude of platforms and merchants, more and more young people choose to "lie down" in the face of 618 this year. They are losing their previous enthusiasm for group buying and desire to participate in activities, saying that "the gameplay is too stressful for users" and "the fluctuating prices are simply a scam."

Today, there are a dazzling array of 618 ways to play, such as cross-store subsidies, playing mini-games and team PK, but the discounts are far less direct than those a few years ago. The increasingly frequent promotional activities and the proliferation of "shopping festivals" have also made consumers gradually numb to them. When users lose patience and gradually become desensitized to playing "digital games", various platforms are thinking about using various types of content marketing to grab more people's attention.

Since last year's "618 Gala First Year" led to a competition among several major platforms' galas, this year there are more entrants into the e-commerce gala; some are making use of celebrity live broadcast rooms, some are inviting "newcomer" celebrities to join, some are shooting plot promotional videos to warm up, and some are making in-depth integration with variety shows, starting a new round of live broadcast IP arms race.

However, these content marketing actions seem to be lively and complicated on the surface, but in fact they are still the same old strategy of using large traffic and big stars to attract attention. With the 618 shopping festival "rolling up", Rhino can't help but ask, how many people can still be interested in e-commerce content marketing today?

618 Gala falls into a "traffic competition"

The 618 Gala continued the chaotic situation of last year.

Last year, Tmall's "618 Super Night", Pinduoduo's "618 Super Night" and Suning.com's "618 Super Show" brought together several major e-commerce companies. This year, short video giant Kuaishou made its first foray into the "e-commerce gala". In addition, JD.com's Love Festival opened the "618 Boiling Night", and Tmall and its old partner Hunan Satellite TV jointly created the "618 Super Night". The competition in the gala track remains fierce.

However, just as Henan TV was on the hot search again with its Dragon Boat Festival program "The Goddess of Luo River", and after the Spring Festival Gala's "Tang Palace Night Banquet" and the Lantern Festival Gala's "Wonderful Lantern Festival" it went viral three times for its "new Chinese style content", Rhino discovered that several 618 galas held at the same time were all trapped in the inherent routine of "competing for traffic and ratings" without exception.

For netizens, it doesn’t matter which platform initiated the 618 Gala. “Wherever my idol goes, I go” is closer to the truth. On the one hand, Henan TV’s high-quality program "Water Ode to the Goddess of Luo River" made #河南卫视杀疯了# top the Weibo hot search list, while on the other hand, the brand communication of several 618 evening parties was much inefficient.

The “battle for traffic stars” stood out in this year’s 618 evening marketing event. JD's Boiling Night invited high-traffic artists such as G.E.M., Bai Jingting, The Youth League, and Chris Lee to host, while Kuaishou's 616 True Love Night brought together top idols such as Huang Zitao, Cheng Xiao, and Hard Candy Girls. Tmall's 618 Super Night is rumored to make great efforts to bring together Li Jiaqi and Viya to promote products and check in, and has confirmed top candidates such as Kris Wu, Chris Lee, and Lelu Xu.

E-commerce galas have been around for many years and are popular mainly because of their "event marketing effect." Galas that feature celebrities are the best opportunity to harvest fan traffic, and images of various celebrity couples on the same stage are often hot searches. However, the use of popular celebrities as a selling point also shows that these galas are weak in content innovation.

The online broadcasting platform for JD.com's Boiling Night is Tencent Video. It is said that most of the people watching the party are fans of the guests. With this, Tencent Video launched new events VIP618 Super Welfare Festival and Pet Goose Plan at the same time, encouraging platform users to interact with the content of the party in a fan-pampering manner. These online marketing actions are among the few differentiated attempts of the party.

The reason why organizers of evening parties are forced into the "involution" of competing for stars and neglecting content is that, in the final analysis, although the world has suffered from a lack of traffic for a long time, it is still one of the most efficient ways for first-tier TV stations to attract young audiences to pay attention to the evening parties and the 618 platform promotions.

There is nothing new in the celebrity live broadcast room

Where will celebrity live streaming go in 2021?

Since the beginning of this year, the industry has generally had a pessimistic view on celebrity live streaming sales. The GMV of celebrity anchors’ live broadcasts on major platforms has declined sharply, and it is difficult to replicate the scene of new entrants lining up and competing for the top spot a year ago. The comprehensive occupation of the market by brand-owned live broadcast rooms has directly squeezed the living space of current celebrity live broadcasts.

In this industry situation, you can't just sit there and wait for death. In order to attract more attention to celebrity live broadcasts during 618, all platforms have tried their best.

If a year ago was the "barbaric era" when celebrity live streaming grew wildly, this year's celebrity live streaming track has moved towards a mature stage. We have not seen "new celebrity anchors" join the platform for a long time.

However, during the big promotion period of 618, Zhang Dada joined Diantao (formerly Taobao Live), Lou Yixiao started her first live streaming show on Douyin, and Han Mejuan returned to Douyin and contributed to her first show with a GMV of over 10.49 million. The attempts of these "newcomers" to join the platform set off waves of event marketing.

In addition to the “new anchors”, Tmall 618 this year also continued last year’s “Kung Fu Anchor” promotional short film IP and launched “Kung Fu Anchor 2”. “The Big Shopkeeper of the Western Region” Wei Ya, “The God Pusher of the Northern Territory” Li Jiaqi, “The Master of the East China Sea” Liu Tao, and “The Bamboo Hermit of the South” Wang Han are all Taobao Live’s signature star anchors, and their greatest marketing potential has been stimulated during 618.

In addition to these top anchors, more than 600 presidents and celebrities went live on Taobao to sell goods during the 618 period, a number similar to that of JD.com's activities. It is reported that JD Live, which will take the C position, will welcome more than 300 celebrities, more than 600 brand presidents, and more than 1,000 KOLs, aiming to create a "618 live streaming sales team." Among them are many celebrities with rich experience in broadcasting, such as Wang Feng, chief live broadcast officer of JD.com’s flash sales, and Su Xing, the value-for-money recommendation officer.

In addition, JD.com has also gone to major offline cities in China and cooperated with Mango TV to create the variety show "Happy Hi!". This large-scale event combines live broadcast and variety show, and creates a new live broadcast program through celebrities with different personalities and game interactive team PK. The first battle was scheduled in Chongqing.

Furthermore, Douyin, which did not hold a 618 gala this year, continued to transform its series of celebrity live broadcasts into "small galas", with the participation of Qi Wei, Zhang Tianai, Li Chen, Hu Haiquan, Luo Yonghao, Maomao Sister, Beibeitu and others. As of 2021, consumers generally have higher and higher requirements for live streaming sales, and trust is difficult to establish, but Douyin's celebrity matrix is ​​eliminating the distrust of most users.

Looking at this year's 618 activities, the marketing related to celebrity live broadcasts seems diverse, but in fact most of them have not deviated from the past gameplay. For example, "Kung Fu Anchor" is a continuation of the short film marketing idea of ​​the previous season; for another example, JD.com also had 300+ celebrities participate in live broadcasts to sell goods last year, and combined with the relevant content of the Strawberry Music Festival, its live broadcast content has long been moving towards high-quality and variety shows.

To sum up, although today's celebrity live broadcast rooms seem to be full of new tricks, in fact, most of them are the "old routines" of the past. Moreover, it is difficult for "newcomer" celebrities to enter the industry today, and there are fewer and fewer "on-the-job" celebrities who can take on technical responsibilities. The celebrity live broadcast rooms, which have nothing "new", are becoming more and more popular.

The internal mechanism of marketing “involution”

Why do young people choose to “lie down” during 618?

On the one hand, the current young group of Generation Z grew up under the influence of information networks and can better understand the routines of Internet marketing. They are also very sensitive to content marketing. On the other hand, after years of evolution, the scenarios of content marketing are still the same over and over again. Evening parties compete for traffic and live broadcast rooms compete for popularity. In the long run, the audience is showing signs of fatigue.

618 is a typical "artificial festival". It provides a good opportunity for e-commerce companies to hold mid-year promotions and creates a unique "sense of ritual" for the shopping scene. But the problem is that this kind of "ritualistic" festival has long been commonplace in the e-commerce industry, and we have to experience it too many times a year.

The lineup scale and performance form of today's 618 Gala are very similar to those of Double 11 and New Year's Eve galas, and there is no unique feature that attracts young people. In today's celebrity live broadcast rooms, it is difficult to find celebrities who can be as "dedicated" and focused as Li Jiaqi and Viya, and the products purchased may not be the lowest price. 618 has become an activity that can be participated in or not.

From its opening on the 24th of last month to now approaching June 18th, whether it is e-commerce galas, short film promotions, live broadcasts, or celebrity/corporate influencer alliance activities, they have generally shown a tendency towards homogenization and serious involution. Because in the final analysis, the price-performance ratio of the products, the authenticity of the source, and the after-sales service are the issues that users are most concerned about in the 618 marketing .

Merchants are forced to get involved in the 618 event because they are afraid that they will be abandoned by their peers if they do not participate in the promotion. Users are also forced to get involved. The marketing cycle is long and there are many routines. Even if users are interested in the stars of the evening parties and have a strong trust in the stars who bring goods, it is difficult not to lose patience and pay attention in a long marketing cycle of one month.

As of 2021, e-commerce content marketing urgently needs to find new stimulation points and new innovative ideas. Otherwise, if it continues like this, the performance of e-commerce holiday marketing will eventually hit the ceiling.

Author: Fang Zheng, Editor: Xia Tian

Source: Rhino Entertainment (ID:piaofangtoushijing)