IP is a cognitive symbol different from a brand

Brand is the cognitive symbol of the 20th century, and IP is the cognitive symbol of the 21st century. Brand is the fruit of industrial civilization commerce, and IP is the beginning of information civilization commerce. From brand to IP, it is a leap in civilization, an evolution of the business ecology, and a change in the means of business cognition.

1. Media: The biggest variable affecting marketing

Li Jing, also known as "Li Jiaoshou", said that media is the single biggest variable affecting marketing. This is a profound insight, and we can prove this judgment in three sentences.

1. The medium is the message

The medium is the message - this is the view of the famous media expert McLuhan. His other famous view is that the media is an extension of man. People extend to the world and perceive the world through media. A few years ago, I made a judgment that the mobile phone is the "sixth organ" of the human body, which is what I meant.

However, the media that McLuhan refers to not only includes the media, but is actually the sum of human creations, such as language, writing, machines, electronic products, etc. It is through these media that people perceive the world and obtain information.

2. Information is knowledge

How is cognition formed?

The key is information, that is, the process of processing information. Cognition refers to the process by which people acquire or apply knowledge, or the process of information processing. This is the most basic human psychological process, which includes sensation, perception, memory, thinking, imagination and language.

The human brain receives information from the outside world, processes it, and converts it into internal psychological activities, which then control human behavior. This process is the process of information processing, which is also the cognitive process.

3. Awareness is marketing

Marketing is not a native Chinese word, therefore, misunderstandings often occur in marketing communications, for example, the contrast between marketing and sales and promotion.

In his monograph "Connection", strategy and management expert Shi Wei divides marketing into three functions: cognition, transaction, and relationship. This is the most concise and clear definition of marketing I have ever seen.

The core of the three major functions is cognition: transactions are the result of cognition, and relationships help reduce cognitive costs. Therefore, it can be simplified to mean that marketing is cognition, or cognition is marketing. The medium is the message, the message is the cognition, and the cognition is the marketing. Putting these three sentences together, media becomes the biggest single variable affecting marketing.

2. Changes in Media

According to McLuhan, the creations of human technological progress are all media that extend human existence.

Language, writing, roads, numbers, clothing, housing, currency, clocks, printing, transportation, photographs, telegraphs, typewriters, telephones, record players, movies, radio, television, weapons, etc. are all media. However, not all of the above media are efficient business cognition media.

From the perspective of commercial value, the evolution of mainstream media for human communication is roughly as follows: language → text → printing → electronic media (telegraph, telephone, radio, film, television) → Internet media (PC computers, mobile phones, smart terminals, self-media) → Internet of Things media.

In summary, the changes in media during the process of civilization iteration can be summarized as follows:

• Media in agricultural society: language, writing, printing;
• Media in industrial society: electronic media, including telegraph, telephone, radio, film, television, etc.;
• Media in the information society: Internet media, Internet of Things media, including PC Internet and mobile Internet. Its carriers include home terminals, mobile terminals (such as car terminals), and handheld terminals (such as smart phones). Its forms include APP, mini programs, etc.

3. Changes in cognitive patterns

In a civilized era, there will always be a medium that becomes the mainstream carrier of commercial communication.

As a result, language, mass media (national newspapers, radio, and television), and the Internet have respectively become the mainstream commercial media for agricultural civilization, industrial civilization, and information civilization, and the cognitive models formed by these media are word of mouth, brand, and IP.

1. Cognitive model of agricultural society: experience → language → word of mouth

Before the emergence of language, people's cognitive model was personal experience, and they obtained cognitive information from experience. With language, experience + word of mouth constitutes word of mouth. Word of mouth is not based on personal experience, but on language communication through interpersonal relationships, and is indirect information obtained through trust endorsement.

This is an era where “good wine needs no bush”, because word of mouth will spread the good reputation of “good wine”.

2. Industrial society cognitive model: mass media → advertising → brand

When we first started learning marketing, the textbooks told us that even good wine needs to be hidden within a remote alley. This is a denial of the mainstream cognitive model in agricultural society. Industrial society, technological progress and urbanization have brought about the prosperity of mass media. In business cognition, newspapers, radio and television represent three stages of mass media respectively.

Newspapers were widely commercialized in the late 19th century and early 20th century, but the first climax of mass media was after the invention of radio in the 1920s. Soap companies represented by Procter & Gamble rushed to place advertisements, ushering in the era of "mass media → advertising → brand". Procter & Gamble's Ivory soap became the first brand supported by mass media advertising, and electronic media prime-time programs were therefore called "soap operas."

In the 1960s, television replaced radio as the mass media with the largest audience, and the main battlefield of commercial cognition also shifted to television. Advertisers place continuous advertisements in mass media, thereby forming mass commercial awareness. This cognitive result is now widely referred to as a brand.

3. Information society cognitive model: self-media → content → IP

The popularization of mobile Internet and the emergence of self-media have caused mass media to lose their power, and the main battlefield of commercial cognition has shifted to self-media.

In mass media, the same advertising content is broadcast continuously, thereby strengthening the brand image. However, on self-media, advertising content from mass media is difficult to be widely disseminated. Because of the dissemination of self-media, the recipients are also the disseminators, so the content of the dissemination is very different.

The commercial awareness formed by autonomously disseminated content is now called IP.

4. Word of Mouth, Brand and IP

Word of mouth is spread based on interpersonal relationships, brand is spread based on mass media, and IP is word of mouth with the help of Internet self-media, based on interpersonal relationships. This seems to be a cycle, an upward spiral, a negation of negation. The three types of communication media were the most efficient media in the environment at that time, namely language, mass media and self-media.

Regardless of the cognitive model, to realize commercial value, one condition must be met: the communication reaches a sufficient density. For word of mouth, the density of communication is "the power of popular opinion"; for advertising, the density of communication is "carpet bombing"; for content fission, the density of communication is "collective attention, instant penetration".

Where does the transmission density come from? Word of mouth is the satisfaction of consumer experience; brand is the communication coverage accumulated by advertising fees; IP is the fission ability of personality and content.

What density of communication is required to have commercial value? It's a bit like the lotus law. On the 29th day, only half of the flowers were in bloom, but by the 30th day, the pond was full of lotus flowers. As long as the transmission density exceeds a certain critical point, it will change from quantitative change to qualitative change. Before reaching the critical point, it is net input, and after reaching the critical point, it is net output.

Where is the critical point? You can try it out or refer to samples from other companies. But it is important to note that the critical point is constantly changing.

5. Cognitive Intensity and Cognitive Efficiency

Cognitive intensity and cognitive efficiency are a contradiction. The cognitive intensity of experience is high, but the cognitive efficiency is low. The cognitive intensity of advertising is low, but the cognitive efficiency is high.

There are four cognitive modes: experience, word of mouth, advertising, and content dissemination. The order of cognitive intensity and cognitive efficiency is as follows: cognitive intensity: experience>word of mouth>content>advertising; cognitive efficiency: experience<word of mouth<content<advertising.

Brand communication gives priority to cognitive efficiency, and cognitive intensity is reinforced through continuous repetition, which is efficiency first. Once content is disseminated, the cognitive efficiency is very high and the cognitive intensity is better than advertising. Moreover, as long as the content has a certain tone, the cost of delivery is relatively low, so it has become the first choice now.

6. Media Combination

After the emergence of mass media, although advertising has become the main commercial medium, experience and word of mouth still exist.

After the emergence of Internet self-media, although self-media has become the main commercial medium, advertising still exists. What’s even more interesting is that media that had very low communication efficiency in the past, such as experience and word of mouth, have been combined with Internet media to form media combinations, such as experience + self-media, which not only have high cognitive intensity but also high cognitive efficiency.

In terms of media mix, in addition to experience, word of mouth, mass media, and self-media (social media), I also regard modern organizations (such as channels), e-commerce platforms (such as Alibaba and JD.com), and virtual organizations as commercial communication media. The combination of these media forms a variety of combined cognitive patterns.

The list is as follows:

Among the above media combinations, I would like to introduce three in particular:

1. Planting grass, also known as Amway, means sharing and recommending.

How to understand the cognitive behavior of planting grass?

I think it’s word of mouth online. In the past, word of mouth was spread through interpersonal relationship chains. Although the cognitive intensity was high, the cognitive efficiency was low. Therefore, it did not become the mainstream cognitive model in industrial society. However, when word of mouth meets self-media and when word of mouth meets virtual organizations, the cognitive efficiency of word of mouth is greatly improved.

I have always believed that community is the online amplification and extension of offline relationships. Personal consumption preferences are displayed and recommended on social media, which has both cognitive intensity and cognitive efficiency.

2. KOC experience + self-media

Experience is the strongest cognitive model, but it is also the least efficient and has a very high unit cost. However, for high-value or high value-added products, it is difficult for both advertising and content to convey the richer connotations of high-end products, but experience can do it, not to mention that the current experience has evolved into an immersive experience.

When the strong cognition of experience meets the strong relationship of KOC and the strong dissemination of self-media, the combination of the three forms a combined cognitive model of "KOC + experience + self-media". If the above combination is matched with a cloud store, transactions will be facilitated. Then, it becomes the perfect cognitive, transactional and relationship model for high-end products.

3. Channel organization + live broadcast

For a long time, offline (channels) have been standing in opposition to online (Internet). However, relying on the live broadcast system of Renlian, the entire channel system can be mobilized and gathered on the live broadcast screen through live broadcast.

The channel traffic generated in this way is far more valuable than the traffic purchased by e-commerce.

The first live broadcast of De Rucci mattress in March, Dong Mingzhu's "6.18" live broadcast performance of 10.2 billion, Wu Xiaobo's second live broadcast and TATA wooden door's "channel training" all demonstrated the power of the cognitive model of scene live broadcast + channel diversion + boss (Internet celebrity) monetization combination.

Author: Liu Chunxiong

Source: Liu's New Marketing (ID: liuchunxiong1964)