Advertising is like practicing Kung Fu. If you want to be awesome, you have to learn the moves well.

As a thirty-year-old man in the advertising industry, I have found that in recent years, more and more clients and advertising companies have become obsessed with event marketing:

"Hey, Ergou, come and market the whole event for us!"

"In short, the investment should be small, the effect should be good, and we should trigger the news media to actively report on it, so that other accounts will forward our articles..."

In short, based on what I have heard and seen, I found that many of today’s Party A or Party B friends always like to talk about event marketing. It feels to me that event marketing is a universal antidote. With it, you can instantly achieve a double climax in exposure and sales. Then the brand owner lay in bed counting his money, and then laughed like a pig.

OK, the above is just an analogy and a joke. Today, let’s keep up with the trend and talk about the routines of event marketing.

Let me put it again, when we study routines, it is never to stick to them, but to break away from them after learning and delving into them, and to achieve the evolution from having routines to having no routines. Just like the swordsman in martial arts novels, he first has a sword in his hand and then evolves to have a sword in his heart, and finally develops into an outstanding swordsman who can turn everything into a sword.

What is event marketing?

Regarding the definition of event marketing, Baidu’s explanation is as follows.

Overall, I think there is nothing wrong with this description and it is quite conscientious. In this definition, there is a key word that is very important - "newsworthy", newsworthy! ! !

What we make has more or less some dissemination value for the news media, which means that media editors are willing to use it as material for their work, so they are willing to lend you a helping hand in dissemination and are willing to let you use it for free. To repeat, whether a case is newsworthy is the key to measuring whether it is event marketing.

Because of this logic, when the two heroes of event marketing, Tian Yukong and Waiwai Creative, brag about the fact that a certain case was actively reported by XX news media, so as to prove their awesomeness.

So what is news value? You and I are all ordinary people with similar hobbies. For example, the news that impressed me recently include:

In short, these stars having mistresses, the stock market soaring after taking medicine, and old men being exploited by young girls, no matter what era, these things have the ability to attract attention.

"Oh wow, this is quite interesting." Let the people who are originally eating melons stop eating melons temporarily, no matter whether it is positive energy or very weird, this is the news value, so when we start to launch event marketing, we have to think about this, brother.

OK, now that we have finished talking about the core definition, let’s start talking about routines.

7 types of event marketing

1. Performance Art

Simply put, it is to find some people to do something that looks like "performance art". What is performance art? In fact, it is something that is not like what normal people do. To give a simple and vulgar example, such as reciting poetry on the street without pants or running on the street holding an inflatable doll, this is called performance art. In short, when people see it, they will feel that this person is a bit crazy, or at least look confused, and then want to know what kind of plane he is playing with.

As long as passers-by are curious, this purpose is partially achieved. In fact, advertising is an art of seduction, and it is important to attract attention in a way that is not disgusting. For example, as we just said, we completed the pre-action of attracting people through offline performance art, and then spent some money to find some KOLs, and then we can use the topic to further expand on it.

OK, let's take a look at a typical case of this type:

• Gujia——No overtime on 816

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A typical case of the popular spicy chicken and the fighter sky and air in the hot store. On a sunny morning, find a bunch of resentful female compatriots holding signs at the entrance of the shopping mall to complain that their husbands are like Dalang selling pancakes, going out early and coming back late, and rarely going home to sleep. You know, normal lesbians wouldn't do this, so it becomes performance art. This way, it attracts attention. Find another wave of news media reports, and then the brand’s voice will transition to “No overtime on August 16”, and finally “National Family Day on August 16”, and the brand will start to sell, and that’s it.

• OKAN - Real discounts on Double 11

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Produced out of Guangzhou, in order to spread the news of OKAN's Double 11 discount, they first found a bunch of handsome men and beautiful women to pose as if they had broken bones, and then they looked at you with high spirits, not like people with broken bones at all, and then they found a bunch of kols to start hyping it up online. Art, right? Art!

• Tuniu——As long as there is sand in your heart, everywhere is Maldives

An early but very classic case. In broad daylight, in the vegetable market, on the main road, a typical greasy middle-aged man put a few shovels of five-dollar sand on the ground, then took a bunch of drinks and made a very exaggerated and very enjoyable expression, pretending to be at the beach. It looked a little abnormal at first glance. Take a photo, find a few KOLs on Weibo to hype it up, add some rhythm, and finally Tuniu makes a shining debut.

• Durex - "100 people try out condoms"

This is a rare failure for the social media giant Huanshi Interactive, but it is also a typical example of event marketing. The "Hundreds of People Wearing Condoms Live Broadcast" event is already very much a performance art just by looking at the name. Of course, when it came to the final operation, it took three hours of procrastination, and in the end, nothing happened, which made a lot of netizens cry out that they had been cheated. It's no wonder. The audience originally wanted to see something dirty, but not only did you serve me nothing but carrots and cabbages, you also recited the core socialist values ​​to me the whole time. Don't you deserve it?

Okay, after giving these four examples, I believe you probably have a general idea of ​​this approach. According to my personal discovery, there are actually quite a lot of cases on the market that take the route of performance art, such as the "Overtime is considered a work injury" and "Wearing Durex overshoes when it rains" in this book. I think they can all be classified into this type (the details of the cases are all on the Internet, and you can find them by searching for keywords).

2. Create suspense

What is suspense? It means to make things completely clear and deliberately leave others guessing. Specifically speaking of the routine of event marketing, it is to first publish some confusing letters/texts/patterns on some relatively influential media (common ones include outdoor LED screens and full-page newspaper ads), deliberately making people unable to understand and not knowing what happened, in order to whet everyone's appetite. When the appetite has been whetted enough, the brand will speak out and say, hey, hey, it turned out that I was the one who did it. The overall logic is similar to the performance art type discussed above. Typical examples of this style include:

• Popular Beauty - Hooking Up with Fan Bingbing

This is a relatively ancient case, and the creative director Zheng Daming was in charge of it. It was just writing a piece of Pinyin text that looked not very serious in the newspaper which usually only had various serious news, which seemed to have an affair with Fan Bingbing who was very popular at that time. After this is released first, and then with the media hype, people who read newspapers and news will think: "Oh my God, who is Fan Bingbing dating now?" This whets people's appetite, and the subsequent brand appearances have a public opinion basis.

• Happy wedding to Zhen Miao and Leung Shiya

A popular operation in the past two years was that a man, after becoming rich, contracted dozens or even hundreds of self-media accounts at the same time. At the same time, his ex-girlfriend Liang Shiya sent her wedding blessings, claiming that he spent 2.08 million. This kind of online novel about a poor boy who becomes a domineering CEO has a wide audience. With the help of some self-media, it naturally attracted a lot of attention and whetted people's appetite. Zhen Miao, who was behind the scenes, posted on WeChat Moments and said - look, these are all our official accounts, people all over the country are discussing them, dear customers, come and advertise with us.

It turned out that he was using the opportunity of his ex-girlfriend's marriage to advertise for himself. They were all his own accounts and he didn't spend a penny, but he attracted a lot of attention. This was a really smart calculation.

• Country Garden - Pan Huishan's breakup on Chinese Valentine's Day

A very memorable case happened in Changsha a few years ago. The operation method was that before the Chinese Valentine's Day, a man said on a giant LED screen in the city center that he wanted to break up with his girlfriend.

Nowadays, most men rack their brains to think of what gifts to give their partners before Chinese Valentine's Day. It's a bit strange that you break up so publicly at that time. In addition, they found some people to post on WeChat Moments and self-media, and the effect was quite good, so basically everyone in Changsha noticed this incident at that time.

As a result, the next day, the "scumbag" who had originally said he wanted to break up said that he wanted to break up not because he didn't want her to be his girlfriend, but because he wanted her to be his wife, give her a five-star home, and finally take her out of Country Garden, and that was it.

The three cases listed above generally follow this pattern. There are many similar ones, such as the ones in Southern Metropolis Daily, such as the Zhang Tai incident and so on.

In general, I think the suspenseful hype route is easier to operate because the resources used are generally common and do not require particularly complicated landing devices. Although the approach is not new at all, it still has certain reference value.

3. Novelty advertising

Compared to the previous two ways which are a bit weird, this one is more straightforward and more straight. Don’t everyday advertisements often make people look sexually apathetic? Then let me give you a sexy one. As long as the advertising work itself is awesome enough, novel enough, and can attract the attention of passers-by, then it has news value, and it has the potential to become event marketing. Regarding this, Uncle Gou will also give you a few examples.

• Random Notes - Spending Money on University Bus Advertisements

In order to promote its own app, Suishuiji made a test paper of "Spending University" during the college entrance examination and put it on the advertisements at the bus stops. The innovative form and the fresh name of "Spending University" attracted many office workers who were waiting for the bus on their way to and from work. Then some users write their handwritten answers on it (maybe they are hired by others), and the format becomes more lively, so there is a topic and volume.

• Nanning Circle - I don't know why, but I want to advertise

This kind of copywriting and creativity does not seem to have much technical content, the design is not beautiful, and the copywriting is all plain language, but it is very real and not pretentious at all. Advertising is an attention-grabbing competition, so you often need to differentiate yourself from your competitors. So, when others are putting a lot of stuff in their trouser pockets, if you wear trousers without pockets, you may win.

• Ant Credit - Long, long, long copywriting on the subway

A case that was particularly popular in the past two years. Usually we pay attention to conciseness in our copywriting. We don't use three words if something can be expressed in two words. However, this subway advertisement goes against the trend and uses a stuttering style, which is different from the usual slutty and bitchy style. It immediately attracted a lot of attention.

OK, generally speaking, this type of event marketing does not require complicated preparations, it is straightforward right from the start, and I really like and advocate it. However, the requirements for creativity itself are particularly high. The form must be very innovative or the viewpoints must be very shocking in order to trigger topic discussion, such as the recent "Houlang".

Honestly speaking, although it is very simple in theory, I think there are only a few people who can perform such a case. Obviously, I claim to have studied various routines, but I don’t have my own cases to brag about here. I just hope that you who have the chance to read this article will be that one in a million genius.

4. Novel installation or exhibition type

As the name suggests, it makes full use of the city dwellers' love of showing off by posting on WeChat Moments, organizes art exhibitions or interesting installations in shopping malls and subways, and then integrates the brand's message into them. Of this type, the first recommendation is naturally "Sky and Sky" led by Teacher Yang Yexin.

• UnionPay - Poetry POS Machine

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This is a case that both the Party and the people think is "particularly good". It is so famous that I will not elaborate on it. If you haven't heard of it, perhaps you are not in the advertising circle.

• Vipshop - the most different twins in history

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In order to highlight Vipshop's selling point of super cheap big brands, they also organized an event called "The Most Different Twins in History". They found dozens of twins, put on exactly the same clothes and stood in a display cabinet together. The only difference was the price of the clothes they wore was different. This silently but powerfully demonstrated the selling point of buying clothes on Vipshop is cheap. Because this exhibition, in addition to the display of objects, has human participation at its core, a careful study should lead to its classification as "performance art". But because this event, apart from the twins themselves, looks particularly like an exhibition, we will classify it as an exhibition.

• Tmall——#Come on white shirt#

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My favorite and purest case this year is also produced by Sky and Air Force. Under the epidemic in 2020, it is particularly difficult for graduates to find jobs. In order to cheer up the graduates, Tmall held an exhibition of white shirts, displaying the white shirts worn by celebrities such as Liu Qing and Xu Zhiyuan, with the theme copy #Come on, white shirt#, which is a very high-level way to cheer up young people in the graduation season, and use the common experiences of celebrities to tell young guys - although you are newcomers in the workplace, don't panic or be afraid, who hasn't been stupid? Come on, work hard, and you will have a bright future.

OK, after giving three examples, I believe everyone has basically understood what event marketing of the "novel exhibition or installation" type is all about. In recent years, NetEase's Sangcha, Tianyukong's 1.2 Art Exhibition, Samsung's Burying Wallets, and Yang Yeqin's early famous works It's Hard for Farmers to Study and Tencent Video's Hens Pecking Rice are all of this type.

But it's easy to brag and talk about the world, but it's exhausting. The key here is how to do this exhibition or this installation in detail, which most people can't figure out. I suggest you focus on the works of Tian Yukong and make some changes to them, maybe they can be even better than the original works. I think that if you can carry forward this trick well, what Teacher Yang and others have been doing will have successors. If you don't, he will burst into an overwhelming laugh in his Dabie Mountains.

5. Shocking Promise/Fatal Temptation

As the name suggests, it is a temptation or a big prize that is so shocking that you can't resist it at all. It is best if it is a bit counterintuitive and does not follow the rules, like the stupid son of a landlord squandering his family property. Here are a few examples.

• Vatti - After winning the World Cup, Vatti refunded the full amount

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The content is just like the name, if France wins the World Cup, Vatti will refund the full amount. You can understand it as a gambling-style game, or you can understand it as a very shocking temptation, that is, "Vatti will refund the full amount", but they added a prerequisite - the French team wins the championship.

• GXG——Free of charge if it rains on Double 11

The logic of this case is the same as that of Vatti, both of which are "As long as XX, I will XXX", and this XXX is set to be relatively large, which may be a very attractive temptation for consumers. Then, with the addition of preconditions, the way of playing has a certain degree of randomness, and some people are willing to play.

• Wang Sicong - 144 red packets worth 10,000 yuan

Why do we talk about the principal sending out red envelopes as an event marketing case? Because it was so popular at that time. The principal's father was the richest man and the nation's husband, so it seemed to have broken the record on Weibo. When I think about it, the logic is the same: "As long as you forward it, you will have a chance to XXX."

Typical examples of this type include Alipay's Global Koi and the Great Barrier Reef Island Protector Recruitment Campaign, which I think belong to this genre. I'm giving you a super big reward. As the saying goes, people die for money and birds die for food. It's easy for consumers to become crazy about free deals. If you don't believe me, why not give every advertiser a ton of anti-hair loss and hair growth products, or give every science and engineering geek a 3D real-life version of Big Sister Zhiling and try that?

6. National sports type

The usual approach is to launch an activity challenge event on the Internet that everyone can participate in. It is best if it is not too troublesome to participate, and you can also post it on your Moments to show off your feelings. Typical cases include:

• New World——Book Throwing Campaign

There is no need to explain this case in detail, let’s just look at the pictures. What kind of psychology are they taking advantage of? Nowadays, everyone is looking at their mobile phones every day, and few of them read books. So, throwing some books on the subway makes people appear studious and cultured. What's more, the books are from abroad and sound good. In addition, Xin Shi Xiang has awesome resources in all aspects, and they can get some celebrities involved, and it will all become a success in a short time.

• New World——Escape from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou

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Life is like a bastard, working us to death, especially the office workers in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. They are brainwashed every day with the idea that 996 is a blessing. They appear to be living a decent life on the surface, but may be a mess behind the scenes. Taking full note of everyone's mentality, Xin Shi Xiang has come up with this again. Although there are only 40 tickets available, everyone can participate in spirit.

• Changsha Vanke - Selection of the Most Beautiful Campus Girls

If the above two activities are organized based on a full insight into the psychology of the public at a certain moment, then Vanke's school beauty contest is not new at all in terms of its approach. However, during the process, a very dramatic scene occurred. A chubby girl participated in the competition and got a super high number of votes. Later, this matter became popular and achieved the effect of event marketing.

Have you noticed that this category is supported by a sport or event? If we ignore the commercial elements, the previously popular ice bucket challenge, kicking the bottle cap on Douyin, and touching the belly button with the back of the hand can all be classified into this type. Compared with the previous ones, this type of case is relatively rare. I personally think that the case of Vanke deserves special study. It was originally a serious beauty pageant program, but a Cheng Yaojin suddenly appeared halfway through, making the whole process full of ups and downs and attracting a lot of attention.

7. Enemies fighting

As the name suggests, it usually involves two mortal enemies tearing each other apart, sometimes gracefully, sometimes rudely, as follows:

• China Auto & Uber——Beat U

This is a very classic case, I will just post the picture directly. In order to highlight its safety features, Shenzhou Special Car found a bunch of celebrities and released a bunch of posters. Although it didn't say it so directly, anyone with a discerning eye can tell what's going on. After this incident, some people on the Internet expressed their opinions, saying that Shenzhou Special Car was shameless (mostly the employees were hired), and then it became a hot topic.

• Jiaduobao & Wanglaoji——Sorry

After a fierce dispute between Jiaduobao and Wanglaoji in court and losing the case, Jiaduobao issued a series of posters with the theme of "I'm Sorry", openly saying that they were sorry to the consumers, but secretly cursing their opponent's mother. Because everyone had already paid a certain amount of attention to the matter between Jiaduobao and Wanglaoji, this made it an instant hit.

In addition to the above two cases, other typical cases include Mercedes-Benz and BMW, Pepsi and Coca-Cola. They always quarrel with each other for no reason, as if the two parties have reached a tacit understanding. However, they are generally elegant and humorous, and the audience is willing to watch them after dinner.

You may have noticed that this type of brand normally requires the brand itself to have a certain scale. If you are not even a small onion yourself and you want to play with garlic, then you'd better take a break.

OK, I have written more than 5,000 words, and I think I have roughly summarized the event marketing cases that I have seen. I hope it can be of some help to friends who are also worried about event marketing.

Here are 2 free suggestions:

(1) Try not to engage in event marketing

That’s right, as someone who has summarized event marketing routines, I suggest that you don’t do it until it’s necessary. Why? Because this is too difficult, count on your fingers, how many event marketing cases do you remember in the past one or two years? How many advertising companies in the country produce how many cases every year? If you weigh the ratio, you will know how low it is. Do you, your mother, your CD, your ECD, and your boss have the ability to do this?

In addition to having a good brain, this also requires the right time, place and people, such as whether the client's brief is suitable for event marketing. So, event marketing for many people is like a dream. Just think about it yourself, but don’t take it too seriously. Not all milk is good. Sometimes it is more reliable to write a traditional plan in a solid way, such as writing a soft article or a viral video. These are more practical.

If you just want to do it, must do it, must do it, and must do it no matter what, then please see Article 2.

(2) It is better to decide on a style first and then make it

According to the classic creative thinking model, most advertising bosses will teach you to find something called insight first, but UNCLE LEE stubbornly thinks that when it comes to event marketing, it is better to decide on the style first, and then the rest will be much easier.

Why?

First, the style determines the budget. Different styles mean different amounts of money. We should do things that are based on our assets. If the clients you serve are not short of money, then you might try to set up a fancy offline interactive device in the subway, or simply have everyone have a Daniel Wu. But if your clients don’t have such a big budget, you have to learn to be thrifty and forget about those ways of playing that burn too much money.

Second, style guides the direction of creation. If you study carefully, you can see that the logic of the 6 types of event marketing compiled by Uncle Gou above is very different. Some of them are directly shown to you naked, while others keep you in suspense by keeping it vague. So I would suggest you to study various cases first, and then choose the type you are relatively good at to start with. For example, when I write various aircraft manuscripts, I prefer novel advertising and performance art types.

Although creativity is not something that can be copied mechanically, by choosing a type, you will have previous cases to refer to. Some of them can be adapted, and some can be referenced, so you don't have to mess around in the dark. But as for what you come up with, no one knows.

As for what to do after the design is decided, I think everyone can read the commercial boasting articles by teachers Zheng Daming and Yang Yeqin, and find some traces that can be learned from their bragging process.

OK, I've talked so much nonsense and done a lot of sorting but I haven't cracked any secrets, plus I don't have many works published, so I still feel a little regretful. However, when I thought that even if it was just a summary and organization, maybe it could give some inspiration and help to some friends, I suddenly felt that what I was doing was also very meaningful.

Author: Uncle Li Ergou

Source: Uncle Li Ergou (ID: DearUncleLee)