How to write copy? Besides Apple, Jiang Xiaobai, and Durex, what else can we copy?

I have to let Mr. Qiao take charge of the post today, because what I am about to talk about is how to plagiarize better, and some people may be disdainful of it.

But, be good and don't make trouble.

(Why do I mention Mr. Qiao? Because he also likes to plagiarize...)

"Borrowing" is a method that is particularly frequently used.

However, as more people borrow from it, problems arise.

You will find that more and more products, activities, and designs have a strange sense of similarity.

Because everyone’s reference object is often the same:

• Anyone who makes products likes to study Apple;
• Anyone who makes liquor loves to study Jiang Xiaobai ;
• Anyone who works in new media loves to study Durex .

I remember there was an article called "Every crazy boss has forced the new media department to learn from Durex." Although I didn't read the content, the title caught my attention immediately and it really touched my heart.

Oh yes, and anyone who wants to take advantage of the trend also likes to research Durex.

In this regard, Lao Jin from Huanshi Interactive once wrote an article about how Durex took advantage of the hot topics. There is a very classic sentence in it:

"You want to take advantage of the situation, not try to make trouble."

(Don’t ask me who Lao Jin is, if you really study Durex.)

Let’s get to the point.

If you were asked to create a liquor brand that young people would like, and you were not allowed to borrow from Jiang Xiaobai's "Expression Bottle", who else could you draw on?

The essence of this problem is not to find suitable targets for plagiarism.

Rather, it is about how to broaden your horizons and not limit your thinking to a familiar small circle.

Today, I will introduce you to a good method: climbing the ladder.

1.

The higher you climb, the farther you can see.

This is what is meant by climbing the ladder.

Every time you climb up a level, you require yourself to see a larger circle.

Back to the previous question, how can we use the method of "reference" to create a liquor brand that young people like?

• Standing at the bottom of the ladder, the circle you see is "inside the company." What solutions have my colleagues and I implemented that can be used as reference?
• After climbing up one level, I saw the circle of "colleagues in the liquor industry". My fellow liquor colleagues, what products can I learn from?
• When you climb to the 3rd floor, you’ll see a circle called “All colleagues in the wine industry”. Red wine, beer, sparkling wine, Japanese wine, French wine, Russian wine... What products can we learn from?
• When I climbed to the 4th floor, I saw the circle of “all colleagues in the wine and beverage industry”. Coke, milk, coffee, juice... What products can we learn from?

By this point in your career, you’ve probably come up with some good use cases.

For example, perhaps we can learn from Coca-Cola 's nickname bottles and go the route of personalized customization.

Or you can learn from Chivas, create a special circle culture, and take a niche segmentation route.

After reading this, I seem to have some ideas, right? But I feel like there's still something missing.

Never mind, there is more to come.

2.

I need a new ladder.

Just now, we climbed up the industry ladder step by step and expanded our horizons.

Next, let’s change the ladder and look at the world from a different perspective.

Remember the question? How to create a liquor brand that young people like.

We can expand outward from the perspective of young people.

• Standing at the bottom of the ladder, I see “brands that young people like me like”;
• Climbing to the second floor, you will see "brands favored by young people who love drinking and partying";
• Climbing to the third floor, you will see "Brands favored by young people on the Internet ";
• Climbing up to the 4th floor, you will see "Brands loved by young people all over the world."

At this time, all the popular brands and niche brands, as long as they are popular among young people, come into your sight.

Maybe you will think of ZARA .

Well, actually it occurred to me, because his boss is the richest man in the world and he cannot be ignored.

What would happen if we learn from ZARA?

It is probably a liquor brand with rapid iteration and a huge variety of flavors.

"A new Moutai-flavored liquor was launched this week, with a similarity of 88%."

"There are only 1,000 bottles. Once they are sold out, they will be taken off the shelves. Don't stock up."

"Every day, more than 500 professional bartenders travel around the world to replicate the latest and most fashionable drinks for you."

Maybe that's it, it should be quite interesting.

3.

Next, let’s talk about a real case and see how others found a solution that can be learned by climbing the ladder.

In 1997, designer Fiona Fairhurst received a task in the company: to design a swimsuit that would allow swimmers to swim faster.

How to find a solution by "climbing the ladder"?

Ladder No. 1:

The design direction of swimsuits within the company → the design direction of swimsuit peers → the design direction of sportswear.

Following this line of thought, she discovered that the design trend was: smoother materials, tighter designs, and less material used.

But after experimenting, it didn't help much in improving the speed.

Then switch to ladder number two:

A swimsuit that can swim fast → a man-made object that can swim fast → all objects that can swim fast.

Following this line of thought, she thought of going to the Natural History Museum to observe biological specimens.

Fortunately, she was taken by the museum guide into a secret room that was not open to the public and saw a shark specimen.

The guide said to her,

"Fiona, you have to come over and touch its nose, its belly."

Fiona touched the shark's nose and found it very rough and even prickly. If you touch it from its nose to its tail, it will feel smooth, but a bit like fish scales; if you touch it in the opposite direction, it will feel sharp and may cut your hand.

They sent a sample of shark skin to a lab and received back images of the shark skin's rough, dense texture.

These images gave Fiona a lightbulb moment:

"For years, many people believed that smooth materials were the key to speed. But if you look at how rough shark skin is, you'll see that roughness is the key to making fast fabrics. "

(Indeed, an experiment conducted by a Harvard University scientist also showed that the rough scales of sharks reduce the resistance of movement through water and increase thrust.)

Inspired by this, Fiona and her colleagues sampled more than 1,000 types of fiber fabrics until they found a fiber that could simulate shark skin.

Not only that, they also took a close look at man-made objects - torpedoes.

Fiona designs swimsuits that cover most of the body, like a second skin. "The squeezing and collision of the various muscles of the body by the swimsuit will make the athlete's body shape more like a torpedo shuttling through the water. "

After the swimsuit was developed, in test after test, this shark skin swimsuit called Fastskin always performed better than previous swimsuits.

Sharkskin swimsuits made their official debut at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. The results were thrilling: a whopping 83% of swimming medal winners were wearing this shark skin.

This is how the ladder-climbing method helped Fiona find the perfect reference target, thus making the product a huge success.

Later, because the shark skin swimsuit was so effective, it caused huge controversy about fair competition, and the International Swimming Federation announced a ban on certain swimsuit materials and styles from 2010.

4.

To summarize today’s article: When looking for reference targets, how can we broaden our horizons and not limit our thinking to a familiar small circle?

You can try the "ladder climbing" method.

The higher you climb, the farther you can see. This is what is meant by climbing the ladder.

Every time you climb up a level, you require yourself to see a larger circle.

It is worth noting that there is not just one ladder.

You can go up the ladder of your industry, or you can go up other ladders, looking at the world from different perspectives until you find the most appropriate reference.