Haidilao's ads will become invisible丨6 ways to make ads invisible

I have previously written an article about how “ Starbucks rarely advertises” – “Starbucks, a very scheming content marketing company”.

It talks about how Starbucks rarely uses hard advertising, but it is not like it will not actively promote itself . It is just that it is very restrained and only asks a few KOLs to post tweets, and even its official Weibo account is silent...

However, these promotional contents are still easy to identify, and you can tell at a glance that they are soft articles from Starbucks...

I remember there is such a sentence in "From 0 to 1":

Sales capabilities cover a wide range: there are many levels between novices, experts, masters, and even super masters. If you don't know anything about the super masters, it's not because you haven't met them, but because their skills are so advanced that they are difficult to detect.

When I recently looked at the marketing content of restaurant brands on social media , I really thought:

If Starbucks is considered a master of marketing with great sophistication, then Haidilao has simply reached perfection!

The following is a list of the “reading volume” of various catering brands on WeChat that I have compiled (including non-chain “brands” such as Shaxian). It can be seen that Haidilao’s reading volume is second only to KFC , McDonald’s and Starbucks:

Maybe you think Haidilao is still far from the first place, but it should be noted that KFC has more than 5,000 stores in China, McDonald's is close to 2,800, Starbucks is around 2,300, and Haidilao has less than 200 stores.

In addition, the above three brands were already international brands long before Haidilao was founded (1994).

However, what really surprised me was not how many views and exposures Haidilao received, but that among so many contents related to it, I could hardly find an article that I could be sure was a Haidilao soft article.

In other words, although many people (including big Vs ) are speaking well of Haidilao, it is difficult to say that they say so because they received money from Haidilao.

For example, the two articles below both speak well of Haidilao and are both well-known, but can you really be sure that they are soft articles from Haidilao?

《Share the sweetest sentence you think》:

"Come with me. I will give you my anxiety, my love letters, my sleepless nights, the mornings of April, my first bite of ice cream, and my last fish ball from Haidilao. I will give you my hands, my embrace, my tickets, my journey, my waiting, my keys, my home, my courage, and the remaining sixty years of my life."

When two people are together, suitability is the most important thing:

When you meet the right person, all entanglements will be calmed down and all conditions will become simple. No matter there is a bottomless abyss ahead or a sea of ​​fire or a mountain of swords, we will move forward regardless of everything.

Someone once asked Haidilao's boss Zhang Yong why his employees rarely leave... She said that Haidilao is not only a company, but more like a big family. No one looks down on anyone because of their position. They are just like friends. Since they have met each other, it means that everyone's temperament and personality are very suitable.

Meeting the right person can add a lot of excitement to your life; meeting the right person can create a lot of success in your life; the right person is your friend, and it has nothing to do with whether he is rich or poor, or whether he is educated or not.

Of course, there are also various stories about abnormal service in Haidilao restaurants, which are widely circulated.

In fact, many people have already talked about topics related to Haidilao . The focus of this article is not to praise Haidilao’s service, management and culture, but to share with you 6 ways to make advertising “invisible” through Haidilao’s “invisible content marketing”.

This is easy to understand and has been said many times before.

The difference between advertising and word-of-mouth recommendation lies in the communicator's position and motivation for communication.

The former is obviously said by someone hired by the brand, with the motive of selling goods; while the latter is communication between friends and relatives, or between KOLs and fans, and its motives are mainly to care for each other, express oneself or share useful information.

Haidilao actually tends to follow the route of "word-of-mouth sharing". Its voice on Weibo is significantly higher than that on WeChat official accounts , which shows that a large part of the information related to "Haidilao" is shared spontaneously by people, rather than deliberately writing a tweet for it.

In contrast, McDonald’s and KFC rely more on public account tweets to convey information:

To make advertising “invisible”, you need to let other people (such as KOLs) introduce your product in a tone of sharing information. (PS, this is also the premise for the other 5 methods to be established)

For example, when introducing a functional beverage, a traditional advertisement would say:

“XX drink, a healthy energy source!”

The form of sharing information can be:

"I drank 16 kinds of energy drinks for 3 consecutive days and found that XX drink has the best refreshing effect!"

Traditional advertisements usually appear suddenly when the audience is not mentally prepared, catching them off guard. For example, you are watching a video and suddenly a 15-second advertisement is inserted...

In view of this feature of traditional advertising, if you want to make your advertising "invisible", you should first establish a scene or theme that is very suitable for the product information before introducing the product information.

Just like Haidilao, we don’t think that others share Haidilao’s stories with us because they are paid by Haidilao. This is because these stories are very suitable for appearing in these scenarios, such as:

I posted a message on Weibo saying "Haidilao doll ate with me" to share my wonderful experience. Why do you say I was advertising?

I posted an article titled "Haidilao doll accompanies me in meals" on an entertainment-oriented public account to amuse everyone. Why do you say I am advertising?

I posted an article titled "Haidilao doll accompanies me for meals" on the "Restaurant Owner Insider" public account to let other restaurant owners learn from Haidilao's business philosophy. Why do you say I'm advertising?

Of course, the story of Haidilao is so universal that it can be told anywhere and it is not specific... So let's change to an example that is not so universal.

Take Chen Keming's noodles for example, this is a kind of noodles that comes with its own seasoning packet and the portion size is predetermined for you.

If a public account focusing on "life" wants to write a tweet for "Chen Keming", it can probably write a story like this: (Simple illustration)

I get off work very late every day and don’t want to go to a restaurant or eat instant noodles. I wanted to cook noodles myself, but I couldn't make them well. It was not until I went to my friend's house later that I discovered that there are actually noodles in this world that come with their own seasoning packets and are portioned. (Then you can say the brand name, or take a "carefully" laid out photo)

In this scenario, the appearance of Chen Keming’s noodles is very reasonable and meets the readers’ expectations. For ordinary people, it is difficult to realize that this is actually an advertisement…

Of course, we can also see from here that if a product has unique features, even soft articles will be easier to write. You just need to grasp this feature and then create a scene that best matches this feature, and you can advertise legitimately and silently.

Traditional advertisements are all about praising one’s own strengths, but so-called “reverse marketing” is about proactively pointing out one’s own shortcomings, which is also known as “self-deprecation.”

Haidilao is famous for its self-deprecation. For example, you don’t even need to click on the following article, just read the title :

Chairman of Haidilao: I did so many affectionate things, but I was "defeated" by a girl at the bar

Of course, as a big brand or big person, this kind of "self-blackening" is more like a joke, just like Jack Ma said that the thing he regretted most was creating Alibaba ...

As for product information, proactively exposing one's minor shortcomings can indeed make people think that it does not look like an advertisement, thereby generating trust.

For example, when introducing a certain weight loss drug, a traditional advertisement would say:

"XX diet pills will help you get a perfect body shape!"

If we adopt the “reverse marketing” approach, we can say: (simple illustration)

"I've taken this before, and it worked well. I lost 6 pounds in a week. But now I don't take it much. One reason is that I don't want to be too thin, and the other is that every time I take it, I want to go to the bathroom. I'm a receptionist, and if I keep doing this, my leader will be angry with me..."

Information written in this way is much more credible because people are more willing to believe what those whose interests have been harmed say.

Of course, you have to make sure that the shortcomings you mention do not affect the main selling points of the product.

Traditional advertising, including most content marketing, introduces one product. If products from multiple brands appear in your content at the same time, it is difficult for people to tell that it is an advertisement.

For example, the following sentence is what I saw when I was looking for Haidilao marketing content:

Just as, there are thousands of restaurants, but there is only one Haidilao. There are thousands of couriers, but there is only one SF Express .

Who dares to say that this is a soft article deliberately praising Haidilao? Even if it really strengthens Haidilao's position in the readers' minds...

Therefore, you can appropriately add information about other brands or products in the soft article. In fact, it is just like a military aircraft releasing heat decoy bombs, creating multiple targets to make others unsure...

Of course, doing so will not only make the advertisement softer, it may also save advertising costs and even achieve the effect of 1+1>2.

Yes, I am talking about "group marketing".

In fact, this concept is not new, and many brands are now doing it, such as ofo×McDonald's.

Of course, this marketing is not "invisible" at all. First, it is not necessary. Second, the two brands have nothing to do with each other except for their similar colors. They are basically forced together.

In order to achieve the effect of 1+1>2, the "joint value" of these two (or even more) brands must be reflected.

For example, telling a story about Haidilao and Wanglaoji together has such value. The former provides Sichuan spicy delicacies, while the latter is responsible for clearing away heat and reducing internal heat.

You can even add a Didi special car to provide after-meal service.

There is no competitive relationship between the three, and the story chain formed is more complete. They can also complement each other's strengths and weaknesses and share the advertising costs. People can't easily say whose advertisement it is. How great!

Of course, this kind of cooperation is very difficult. Everyone wants to spend the least money and achieve the greatest publicity effect, which makes it difficult to coordinate.

So if you are a small brand, you might as well advertise for other big brands for free, borrow their fame and reduce the "hardness" of your own advertising.

Traditional advertising will try every means to focus the audience's attention on the product. Sometimes, we can quietly implant product information while they are paying attention to other information.

Just like the article mentioned above, "Haidilao Chairman: I did so many family-oriented actions, but "lost" to a bar girl", when we were still wondering "how did a bar girl defeat the chairman", in fact, Zhang Yong (Haidilao Chairman) had already instilled a lot of information related to "Haidilao brand culture" in us.

Another example...

Oh, forget it. I’m too lazy to give other examples. Anyway, all the brands introduced in this article can be counted, just to different degrees…

People generally think that only the presence of a brand name or logo counts as advertising. However, if your brand is an absolute leader in the field, you can just promote the category instead of the brand, which can make the advertising more "invisible".

For example, De Beers almost controlled the diamond business all over the world back then. However, when it was doing movie product placement, it did not say "De Beers diamonds represent love", but directly said "diamonds represent love".

Look at people nowadays, they all believe in this slogan...

Of course, the threshold for “only talking about categories but not brands” is very high. After all, only one company in each industry is qualified to do so.

However, it does not mean that small brands have no solution:

1) You can create a new category, which can also make your ad look less like a sales ad and more like encyclopedia knowledge or truth...

2) Alternatively, you can also play "edge ball" with the Industrial and Commercial Bureau and change the brand name into a name that looks like a category.

I think that’s what Little Sheep Hotpot is all about. I used to think that “Little Sheep” and “Crayfish” were both in the same category, but later I discovered that it was actually a chain brand…

"I love eating Little Sheep" and "I love eating Zhang's Lamb Hotpot", which advertisement do you think has a stronger flavor?

In fact, the basic principle followed by the above-mentioned six ways to make advertisements "invisible" can be summed up in six words: concealing one's stance and motives.

In addition, some highly contagious, credible, and brand-friendly information is actually created inadvertently. On the one hand, we should take the initiative to explore the creative content of these UGCs ; on the other hand, we can completely follow the characteristics of these "unexpected" features and create our own "invisible" advertisements.

Of course, this article only discusses "how to make advertising softer" rather than "how to make soft advertising more effective."

Finally, you may think this is a very "sinister" article, which only teaches people how to disguise themselves...

But I think: ignorance does not mean kindness. This world has both strategic philanthropists and simple-minded villains.

Knowledge and skills themselves are just tools and have nothing to do with morality.