A guide to marketing using the college entrance examination opportunity, please save it!

The annual college entrance examination is coming in a few days, and some dead memories of youth suddenly begin to attack me.

For many people, the college entrance examination is a special experience. In that passionate time of overcoming difficulties, the desks piled with books, the nights of studying hard, and the test papers circled with red marks are all full of traces of the hard work of youth.

For brands, the college entrance examination is also a popular marketing node, and various marketing ideas emerge in an endless stream. So, how should we take advantage of the college entrance examination season? Without further ado, let me share a few ideas with you.

The first thing is to find the right fit.

As the saying goes, taking advantage of the situation requires not only speed but also accuracy. The college entrance examination is a hot event that attracts national attention, and any topic related to it will bring its own traffic. But not everyone can take advantage of the popularity of the college entrance examination. Therefore, for a brand, only by discovering the intrinsic connection between the brand and the college entrance examination can it truly touch people's hearts.

In the past two years, Mengniu has focused on its brand proposition of "being strong", effectively combining the product's "nutritional" characteristics with college entrance examination hot topics, printing college entrance examination questions and blessings on the bottle, and launching college entrance examination prediction milk, accurately grasping the examinees' pre-exam psychology and gaining the favor of a large number of examinees for Mengniu.

Mengniu's success has opened a new door to leverage the college entrance examination, and many brands have also begun to explore the points of convergence between their own products and the college entrance examination.

Not long ago, the national herbal tea brand Wanglaoji integrated the unique "Ji culture" with the hot topics of the college entrance examination from the perspective of product culture, and also launched three customized cans in the college entrance examination series to cheer for the candidates and increase the sense of ceremony of the college entrance examination.

The best advertisement is the product itself. Creative products can have a "spontaneous spread" effect. As long as consumers are in a specific time scenario, they will naturally think of this product, thereby continuously bringing new traffic and value to the brand.

Nowadays, whether it is Mengniu’s “College Entrance Examination Topic Predicted Milk” or Wanglaoji’s College Entrance Examination customized cans, they have been strongly tied to the college entrance examination.

The second thing is to find the right topic.

As mentioned earlier, there are thousands of topics surrounding the college entrance examination, but it is not easy to choose a topic that suits you and is innovative. Here are some thematic perspectives for your reference:

1. Relieve the nervousness of candidates before the exam and cheer them up for the college entrance examination

Some people say that the college entrance examination is like thousands of troops crossing a single-plank bridge. Before the college entrance examination, many candidates will feel a little nervous, fearing that they will perform poorly in the exam. When you are under high pressure, you need to seek psychological relief from the outside world.

On the eve of the college entrance examination last year, Six Walnuts invited parents of students to go to the Confucius Temple in Qufu, Shandong to hold a prayer ceremony, wishing all candidates across the country to achieve satisfactory results.

In addition, we have collaborated with the Qufu Confucius Temple IP to launch the Confucius Temple prayer jar, hoping to give candidates more positive psychological hints, allowing them to let go of their tension and pressure and take the exam calmly.

In addition to praying, KFC also carried out offline fun interactions, inviting candidates to go to KFC restaurants and check in with "Coconut" products, to cheer for the college entrance examination students.

2. Combine elements with the memory of the "College Entrance Examination " to arouse resonance

For many people, the college entrance examination is a very unforgettable experience. Last year, Starbucks launched a “buy one, get one free” promotion with any admission ticket.

This means that Starbucks not only accepts college entrance examination admission tickets, but also allows customers to participate in the event with other types of admission tickets or even "self-made" admission tickets.

Starbucks deliberately lowered the threshold for the event, bringing about a wave of "nostalgia" and allowing many non-freshmen to participate, giving consumers a unique emotional experience.

In addition to admission tickets, there are also many brands that make use of test questions, answer sheets, and admission letters. This year, Nayuki's Tea took advantage of the college entrance examination and launched the new "All Lychee, Going for Sweetness" series of domineering lychee and lychee coconut latte.

There are some college entrance examination challenge questions printed on the cups of these two beverages. As long as you answer the questions correctly, you will get an "admission notice". Consumers can use this to redeem the benefit of "ordering another cup" from the store. It is novel and interesting.

3. As a person who has experienced this, I would like to give some life advice to the candidates

Regarding the relationship between the college entrance examination and the future, in our traditional educational concept, it is probably "the college entrance examination changes your destiny", but there will definitely be people who refute that "the college entrance examination is not the only way out", and it seems that no one can give an accurate answer.

It is precisely because of this uncertainty that young people who are about to go to the examination hall are even more anxious.

Last year, Zhihu invited Li Xueqin to give "All Xueqin's Answers", hoping to solve some of the life confusions for the candidates who were about to go to the examination room, and help them face the college entrance examination with a more peaceful attitude.

The advertisement does not use dogmatic chicken soup for the soul. Instead, it lets Li Xueqin speak from her life experience as a "veteran", making the brand's point of view that "no decision can change your life" more convincing.

4. Accompany candidates to face the college entrance examination

The college entrance examination is never a one-person exam. In addition to the candidates who are the protagonists, those who silently accompany them cannot be ignored. In recent years, M&G Stationery has appeared in college entrance examination marketing as a companion.

Due to the pandemic in 2020, the college entrance examination was postponed. Against this backdrop, M&G Stationery launched the heartwarming advertisement “It’s our honor to fight with you” to convey the brand’s care to the candidates. In the short film, the story of senior high school students' preparation for the exam is told in an anthropomorphic tone, including endless papers to do, endless questions to write, sweat and tears in preparation... familiar and similar scenes one after another slowly outline a picture of the struggle for the college entrance examination.

5. Uncover the stories after the college entrance examination

The end of the exam does not mean the end of college entrance examination season marketing. After the college entrance examination, candidates will face further studies. Compared with the college entrance examination, filling out the application form is no less important and difficult.

Quark saw through the anxiety and hesitation of candidates when filling out their applications and launched the attitude advertising film "Become". The short film revolves around the theme of filling out college entrance examination applications, takes "what kind of people do we want to be" as the starting point, and tells the "becoming" stories of 10 young people from different fields, encouraging today's young candidates to carefully examine themselves and bravely choose their own future.

 Finally, don't force it.

The core and key of any kind of marketing is to find the connection points between the key elements of the brand and the key elements of the hot spots. If you just try to follow the trend, it will often backfire. Compared with other marketing nodes, it is indeed less likely to make mistakes when taking advantage of the college entrance examination. However, if a brand's imagination is too big, it will also have side effects.

During the college entrance examination season, Honor Mobile launched a "Five Years of College Entrance Examination and Three Years of Simulation" co-branded mobile phone case, which gained a lot of attention. Although the effect of going out of the circle was achieved, it did not have a good effect on brand building. On the one hand, there is not a strong correlation between mobile phones and the college entrance examination; on the other hand, most people have experienced the fear of being dominated by the "five years of college entrance examination and three years of simulation". Printing it on the mobile phone case is to disgust people or to remind everyone not to play with mobile phones, which is really confusing.

In comparison, OPPO, also a mobile phone brand, is more sophisticated in its approach to leveraging momentum. Whether it is the "Noise Reduction Plan" launched during the college entrance examination season, or the "Video Alumni Directory" plan initiated during the graduation season, all of them are based on user insights and are more deeply rooted in people's hearts.

In a word, it is good to take advantage of the situation, but the posture must be correct. What other ideas and thoughts do you have about taking advantage of the college entrance examination?