The fusion of brand advertising and performance advertising!

There is a logic that says that we should use the same mindset as we use to spread rumors to spread the truth, and use the same mindset as we use to design games to design math courses. Obviously, rumors and games are more in line with the logic of mass communication and information reception.

In the field of marketing communication, more and more integration and innovation are emerging, which are difficult to define using traditional standards: this is brand advertising , this is performance advertising , this is selling goods, this is brand spirit, and so on.

Things that are opposing in traditional standards begin to slowly merge in the new environment.

Today I would like to talk about the integration of brand advertising and performance advertising.

Big brands or Internet brands should know that brand advertising and performance advertising are two completely different departments. The marketing department strives to promote brand spirit and values, while the growth department’s performance advertising may be the same common routine used by retired teachers and traditional Chinese medicine practitioners.

But from the consumer's perspective, this is an advertisement for the same brand and it appears very fragmented. I believe many marketing departments have been troubled by this.

Some brands figured out, why not combine the two. Use the path of performance advertising to do brand advertising, and use the content of brand advertising to achieve conversions.

Therefore, I tend to think that it will be difficult to distinguish between brand and effect in future marketing content, just as in a marketing campaign, public relations and advertising are becoming more integrated.

Why and how can brand and performance be integrated?

Below, enjoy:

Insight: Demand now, meet now

Many years ago, the slogan of an Internet brand was: "I want it now."

It seemed very advanced at the time, but now this sentence accurately describes the habits of the new generation of users.

We buy products from live streaming that feature 2-minute product introductions; watch 15-second short videos; play 10-minute games; and socialize by swiping left and right.

Behind all these products, there is a sense of speed.

The convenience of the Internet has made information feedback paths and consumption paths shorter and faster, which has led to a new consumption habit that the needs generated at the moment must be met immediately, or at least feedback will appear immediately.

So feedback in marketing strategy means: demand at the moment, satisfaction at the moment.

Based on this, looking back at our advertising communications, brand advertising and performance advertising are clearly divided in many organizational structures. The brand only cares about spiritual values, while the performance only cares about conversion regardless of content.

The classification was initially set up in this way for the consumers' physical experience.

Brands believe that promoting products while discussing spiritual values ​​will destroy the overall creative structure and expression, and may even go so far as to deliberately shrink and hide the logo.

The content of performance-based advertising can usually lower aesthetic or moral bottom lines and make users click and jump in a more tempting way.

From the perspective of new consumer insights, brand advertising means you can’t get what you want immediately after seeing it, while performance advertising seems to trick me into spending money.

The old logic does not fit the new habits.

I tend to think that the trend is - brand advertising effectiveness.

Using the content of brand advertising, you can get the conversion efficiency of performance advertising, or even higher.

The logic here is not "product and effect integration". The purpose of effect conversion is to obtain a more complete consumer experience, so that consumers can have a deeper understanding of the brand mind. Brand is the purpose and effect is the result.

When consumers see a brand ad, they immediately get it in the best conversion path. From seeing the advertisement to the complete consumer experience, one can have a deeper understanding and cognition of the brand and establish the brand mindset.

Therefore, consumer experience is the key to building brand awareness.

From the perspective of consumers, what brands need to do is to activate demand and provide immediate satisfaction or feedback so that consumers can feel satisfied.

For example, when you are watching the European Cup, you see Meituan takeaway on the pre-match screen, you pick up your phone to order a midnight snack, and the takeaway arrives before the first half is over. This is the pleasure brought by instant gratification.

Next, let’s get into the case and talk about the specific methods.

Branded content, instant results

The European Cup has just ended. As a centralized resource that attracts the attention of the entire nation, many big brands have leveraged the European Cup to launch marketing campaigns. Next, let’s talk about Meituan Waimai European Cup, a marketing campaign based on the late-night snack scene.

Meituan Waimai started serving midnight snacks last summer, and it has been a whole year now. In addition to regular meals, new takeaway scenarios are developed to achieve overall growth. After a whole year of intensive cultivation, the mental image of the late-night snack scene has basically been formed. This European Cup campaign can serve as the final mental consolidation.

Based on the summer night snack campaign of this European Cup, let’s talk about how a takeaway scene was infiltrated and shaped step by step.

This case is discussed from three aspects: first, the scene-based and refined advertising; second, the shorter mental path and rapid conversion; third, the higher-than-expected acceptance on the product side.

This will help to streamline brand advertising effectiveness and establish new consumer scenarios.

Refined advertising

This is about refined delivery, not precision.

Precision delivery only targets the population, while precision includes more standards, such as time, scene, content, population, demand points, etc.

Meituan Takeout serves midnight snacks. First of all, this is a time-limited scenario, which is roughly from around 8 or 9 in the evening until the early morning.

When it comes to advertising time, only choose evening time. For example, it was previously bound to night theater patches, night short video information flow, etc.

The European Cup matches happen to be held at night Beijing time, which is the perfect time for a midnight snack. Staying up late to watch the games is also the peak time for demand for midnight snacks.

The late-night snack scene crosses over to the European Cup, and the next question is where to be exposed.

This advertising campaign is in-depth cooperation with iQiyi's European Cup project, with live interstitial ads and the European Cup's derivative variety shows being broadcast live at the same time, accurately reaching the European Cup audience. As the official broadcasting platform of the European Cup, iQiyi covers almost all European Cup fans. Before the live broadcast of the game, it reminds everyone whether they want to order a midnight snack while watching the game.

In addition, during the European Cup, short video information streams such as Douyin and Kuaishou were also launched, as well as fan communities such as Hupu and Dongqiudi. Targeting the European Cup and late-night snack scenarios, we conduct refined Internet advertising.

Creating Mental Paths

The conversion path of performance advertising is the jump link. What we want to talk about is the jump at the mental level.

For example, when watching the European Cup on a big screen or computer, the conversion path is to pick up the phone and open Meituan Takeout, not to jump through a link.

In the strategy of brand advertising effectiveness, mental path is more important.

The achievement of mental path requires more guidance on content. Not only the delivery should be refined, but the content should also be refined.

First, clearly position the content. This is a hard advertisement. Express the information clearly in the shortest time possible, guide the user to take the next action, and trigger the mental path. In terms of content scenes, the advertisements customized for the European Cup are integrated into the football scenes so as not to be too distracting.

In terms of information expression, from ringing the doorbell to opening the door, the scene of the delivery man delivering food triggers the desire to act. Finally, in terms of action guidance, the benefits and discounts that can be obtained by ordering “now” are reflected. This maximizes the action.

Exclusive product acceptance

Since it is a mental path, users need to be able to see information corresponding to the advertisement immediately after opening the product and obtain expected services that exceed the advertising information, so as to obtain a better experience and scene mentality.

On the product side, we customized an exclusive midnight snack venue for the European Cup, provided a variety of midnight snack products, and launched a guessing game activity to improve the efficiency of traffic within the site. At the same time, we created a reverse guessing game event "The Abandoned Son of God" outside the site: if you guessed all the knockout matches of the European Cup wrong, you would get free takeout for a year, standing out from the crowd of guessing games.

Continuing the "Kangaroo Ears" IP, following the small ear cup lid and small ear chopstick holder, we developed small ear eyelid stickers and collaborated with popular artists to create buzz during the European Cup.

All of the above actions, while expressing the late-night snack scene, are trying their best to attract traffic to the site.

For instant scenarios like midnight snacks, exposure alone is not enough. Services must be provided immediately and consumers must gain experience for this scenario to be established. Therefore, we provide services in all aspects including delivery nodes, delivery points, content guidance, and product acceptance to achieve transaction results.

The formation of scene mentality is a relatively long process. From last summer to this summer, Meituan Takeout has used a brand advertising strategy to firmly bind the late-night snack scene to Meituan Takeout, making it a new demand in addition to takeout meals.

Based on this case, the logic of brand advertising effectiveness can be summarized as follows: immediate effects serve the brand mind, and the formation of brand mind serves sustainable long-term effects.

To sum up

In many marketing campaigns, pure exposure is becoming less and less valuable, and a stronger connection with consumers is necessary to build brand awareness.

First of all, let’s talk about insights. The convenience of the Internet brings users a sense of quick satisfaction. In terms of content consumption, from long videos to short videos, and in terms of commodity consumption, from e-commerce to O2O, everything is becoming faster and faster.

In terms of consumer habits, it can be summarized as - demand at the moment, satisfaction at the moment.

Back to marketing strategies, for a long time we have been accustomed to distinguishing between brand advertising and performance advertising. We are used to believing that brand advertising is not responsible for results, while performance advertising can reduce the quality of content. Under this strategy, the memorability of brand advertising is weakening, and the bounce rate of performance advertising is also declining.

Based on this, leading brands including Meituan are testing strategic innovations, which can be simply summarized as – brand advertising effectiveness.

On the basis of shaping the brand's mental consensus, we also carry out effect conversion to further consolidate the mental consensus. The two assist and achieve each other. For consumers, a shorter consumption path is achieved: seeing the ad - activating demand - instant satisfaction.

In terms of specific methods, brands in different categories may have different methods. Based on the case of Meituan Takeout, we briefly divide it into three parts: refined media delivery - content shaping the mental path - product special event undertaking.

The first is the refined delivery based on the scene. The concept of precision is to set up precise groups and then deliver on a large scale, while the concept of refinement is more standard: European Cup nodes + midnight snack scene needs + precise content binding + customized advertising content, which constitute the refined delivery of media.

The mental path is different from the link jump of past performance advertising. Simply put, it means seeing ads anywhere and achieving conversion results on smartphones. For example, when watching the European Cup on TV or projector, the next mental path is to pick up the phone and open the corresponding APP to achieve conversion.

Of course, the content should reflect immediacy and a sense of immediacy, so that you can take action right away. There may also be content guidance on benefits and discounts, and prompts on how to get there. For example, open Meituan, search for certain keywords on certain terminal, etc.

Finally, there is product acceptance. What needs to be emphasized here is that only by providing products or services that exceed expectations or even surprises consumers and maximize their satisfaction can we gain a deeper mental memory.

Finally, in the era of mobile Internet, all boundaries of marketing are broken. The boundaries between public relations and advertising, brand and effect, online and offline are becoming increasingly blurred and integrated.

The effectiveness of brand advertising will also become a more obvious trend.

above.

Author: Yang Buhuai

Source: Yang Buhuai