Practical information: 48 enterprise IP marketing methods

A while ago, there was an article that compiled “72 existing subcultures in China” which was very informative.

I am determined to follow suit - and to fully categorize IP marketing as well. After more than two weeks of hard work, I have collected and sorted out a total of 48 IP marketing methods for enterprises. This is definitely the most complete and comprehensive one to date. I have compiled this article for everyone to review and use conveniently...

IP marketing refers to the process by which companies inject numerous IP cultural and creative methods into their marketing . It is very useful for networked, fragmented, and circle-based markets.

As shown in the figure, there are eight types in total, namely: 6 types of brand IPization, 7 types of product IPization, 7 types of channel IPization, 4 types of personal IPization, 5 types of event IPization, 10 types of content marketing, 3 types of derivative development, and 6 types of future scenarios, totaling 48 types.

01 The first category: Brand IP

This category of brand IP refers only to the small brand concept, rather than the big brand concept that covers almost all the actions of the company...

1.1 IP name

Many people think that when a company creates an IP, it is just about creating an image. In fact, the most cost-effective, efficient, and easiest way is to start with the name of the brand or core product.

Someone has done statistics and found that precisely because of its name, Three Squirrels, its traffic conversion rate was at least 30% higher than other Taobao brands with non-IP names in the early stages of its development.

If Jiang Xiaobai was not called Jiang Xiaobai, the early low-cost, non-advertising marketing would be extremely difficult and the effect of spontaneous dissemination would be very poor.

For new brands and new products, a humanized and vivid IP name can really achieve twice the result with half the effort, especially for consumer goods with high frequency of repurchase.

In short, IP names can be divided into two types:

The image-based ones are those whose names have human or animal attributes, such as Three Squirrels, Jiang Xiaobai, Zhang Junya Little Sister, Single Dog Food, Jiugui Liquor, Tmall, Maoyan, Fan Deng Reading, etc.

The scene-based group consists of those whose names carry emotional scene attributes, such as Bestore, Smell Library, Mafengwo, Qyer, Zhihu, Wanchai Wharf, MUJI, Luzhou Laoyao, Shuijingfang, etc.

It is not easy to come up with a successful IP name, because it must be highly relevant to the product and highly appealing...

1.2 Personalized image

For most companies, brand IPization means creating an image (there are actually other methods, which I will explain later), and the vast majority of images are either people or animals/pets.

Let’s talk about people first.

In fact, the most important thing for a successful human image is to have characteristics, for example, JOHNNY WALKER is a walking gentleman;

For example, Jiang Xiaobai is just an ordinary young man;

For example, KAWS is a very depressed guy;

In short, a humanized image does not have to be cute. It can be cool, arrogant, flirty, or depressed. Its identity, personality, and social attributes are what are most important.

1.3 Pets/animal images

Because companies often want their IP images to be cute, pet/animal images are very popular.

But in reality, most of the pet/animal images that are intended to be cute are not cute enough and are disappointing.

Because Chinese people are generally too obsessed with their own rational corporate values, they often require high consistency with lofty values ​​while also being cute, so they cannot do it.

In fact, cuteness conflicts with grandeur. Cuteness is often weak, incomplete, a little abnormal, and has a little personality.

Therefore, when a company makes a pet/animal image stable, it is unlikely to be cute, and the desired effect will be achieved.

1.4 Monster Image

The image of the monster is a strange image that is hard to describe, but inexplicably very touching.

The reason I singled this out is because monsters are particularly easy to make look cute. As Inuhiko Shihoda said in "On Cuteness," cuteness is often accompanied by weirdness.

Chinese companies generally do not accept making IP characters into monsters, so it is difficult to make them cute.

This is DOMO, the globally popular IP character of Japan's NHK TV station. He is a monster with an inexplicable cuteness.

This is an M&M chocolate bean doll, which is actually a little monster.

1.5 Robot Image

The robot IP image can combine technology, intelligence with humanity and cuteness, and is suitable for use by high-tech companies.

This is a little Android robot, R2D2 from Star Wars, and it is very popular.

But it’s not easy to make a good robot - it’s easy to become clichéd and requires a very unique design.

1.6 Contextualization Scenarios

As mentioned before, turning a brand into an IP does not necessarily require an image; creating a situational scenario is also a good method.

Coca-Cola does not have a fixed IP image, but it has done a good job in brand context, so the brand’s cultural appeal is very strong, and cultural appeal is IP.

The aforementioned MUJI, Smell Library, Wanchai Pier, and Ryokan, etc., are all famous for their contexts.

There are actually IP characters in situational scenarios. These IP characters are the consumers themselves, and they allow consumers to immerse themselves in the brand context.

I will continue to mention and deepen the situational scenarios later.

02 The second category: Product IP

This category is product IPization, which is actually very easy to be confused with the previous category of brand IPization.

The reason I single this out is to emphasize the importance of product strength. This is how I make the distinction: anything that pays more attention to integrating with product value should be placed in this category, that is, the virtual must be fully combined with the real.

2.1 Product Contentization

That is, the product is not just a single package, but a carrier of content that can be continuously updated. This is especially common in fast-moving consumer goods.

The advantage of product contentization is that the product, that is, the IP content, constantly brings new surprises. This not only saves a lot of promotion costs, but also enables continuous and fresh interactions with consumers during the purchasing process.

The contentization of products requires the brand behind it to have a very strong emotional core, otherwise it will fall apart, so not every brand can do a good job of contentization.

The most representative example is Jiang Xiaobai's expression bottle, where new quotations constantly appear, making the bottle a series of contents.

So I have always believed that the essence of Jiang Xiaobai is product IP.

Single dog food also often achieves product content through constant changes in packaging.

2.2 Product Propification

Products are not just products, but interesting props.

Props are different from pure commodities. Props often have a certain creativity and cultural connotations that make people resonate and empathize.

The most classic product prop is the Drunkard Bottle designed by Master Huang Yongyu, which is just a sack.

Nongfu Spring’s large water cans are made to look like oil barrels, which has a hidden meaning.

2.3 Product Contextualization

It is natural for products to focus on context and highlight it through packaging and storefronts.

But IP has higher requirements, requiring a strong sense of story, character and world view.

I recently discovered an extreme case of product contextualization, which is "Super Wenheyou", a company that originated in Changsha and started out selling crayfish.

This is already a super situational creation. It was just opened in Shenzhen and covers an area of ​​30,000 square meters. It completely surpasses the single sales scene. It has multiple scenes and situations such as video game rooms, marriage agencies, mahjong activity centers, dance halls, hardware stores, community committees, etc. Being in it is like being in a theme park of urban culture.

Super Wenheyou caused a huge sensation, and there were even 12-hour queues.

Recently, an entrepreneur friend of mine went to Shenzhen to see a new store, but he couldn’t get in. This is a rare opportunity in the post-epidemic recession...

2.4 IP co-branded products

This kind of IP joint marketing has been very popular in recent years, and various cross-border collaborations have emerged one after another.

Representative cases include various collaborations between RIO cocktails and Hero ink, the launch of White Rabbit-flavored perfume by the Smell Library, various national trend collaborations by Li Ning, various themed hotels by Atour, etc. There are also many new brands that are famous for their collaborations, such as Hua Xizi, Weilong Spicy Strips, etc.

However, as more and more companies follow suit, IP co-branded products have been overused and the topic effect is declining. I believe that it will not be long before many brands that have only tried it briefly will no longer try.

In fact, for IP co-branded products to be truly successful, it needs to be a strategic behavior of an enterprise and requires continuous persistence, such as UNIQLO's UT, ZIPPO lighters, MOLSKINE notebooks, etc., to become classics.

2.5 Make your own products IP-based

This is a very interesting approach, in which they even stop designing the image and directly turn their own classic products into IPs, not only for advertising but also for licensing.

To be able to turn one’s own product into an IP, the product must be extremely representative, which is not something that ordinary products can achieve.

The most famous recent case is that Oreo cookies turned their black and white sandwich cookies into IP elements, and used them in the title pages of the Forbidden City, Game of Thrones, etc.

A more classic example is Coca-Cola turning its curved bottle into an IP. This was actually achieved with the initiative of artists, and it has been exhibited around the world and even has an IP product theme store.

Another interesting case is that Haidilao made its own ingredients into jewelry.

The next one that is eligible to do this is Lao Gan Ma’s hot sauce bottle (which has actually already been IP-ed by someone else).

2.6 Turning core technology into IP

Enterprises can turn their core technologies into IP images and add content, but not necessarily brand IP images, which is a good supplement to the brand IP system.

Recently, Mercedes-Benz turned its smart technology into a cute white bear.

2.7 IP-based after-sales service

Enterprises make after-sales services more friendly and humane through figurative and scenario-based designs.

This is valuable for some companies that need long-term after-sales service, especially technology companies, real estate companies, etc.

03 The third category: Channel IP

This will definitely be a very important scenario in the future. This is because purchasing and distribution channels are the most direct to consumers, and any place that comes into direct contact with consumers is worthy of IPization.

3.1 Live streaming and selling products

Live streaming is the most popular scenario nowadays and it is also the key scenario for achieving the integration of people and goods and the integration of products and sales. It will play a significant role at least in the next 10 years.

Therefore, companies really need to pay attention to the IPization of live streaming sales, otherwise most of the profits will always be taken away by external influencers, or they will simply lose money to gain publicity.

The IPization of live streaming sales can be achieved by companies cultivating real-life sales experts or by creating a virtual IP to conduct live streaming sales.

There will be a problem with real people selling products, which is that these real people cannot be trained and are prone to go solo, unless the company leaders themselves sell the products, but this cannot be done every day and can only be done occasionally.

Therefore, cultivating virtual IPs for live streaming and selling goods will gradually become popular, because the anchors will not run away, they are controllable, and it is easy to generate IP additional effects.

The price of virtual live streaming has been falling and is now completely within the spending capacity of medium-sized enterprises, so cost is not a problem.

The problem is that the image and character design of virtual live broadcasts will be very different from the IP design of past brand images.

Because of virtual live streaming, companies need a salesperson-type virtual image, but the company’s past IP design was based on the brand image, so it would be very unsuitable. The best way is to redevelop it.

Now, this new trend is booming, new services and new designs have emerged, and there are already specialized new startups selling virtual IPs.

3.2 IP-based social marketing

In fact, social marketing is also worthy of virtual IP. Some companies have already used virtual IP as the protagonist of social marketing and achieved good results.

The benefit of virtual IP to the community is similar to live streaming, which is that it is no longer dependent solely on purely personal community operations, because real people are prone to leave. Using virtual IP can form a long-term relationship with the community, which will be more stable.

3.3 IP-based User Relationships

Along with the IPization of the community, there will also be changes in the identity of users (consumers) - that is, users can become part of the IPization of the enterprise, become characters, upgrade, earn points, and obtain the qualification to change IP costumes.

In this way, the relationship between brands and consumers is no longer just that of supplier and buyer, but a deeper relationship designed under the same IP worldview, where users can become characters and players.

Of course, this requires platform support and upgrades by the enterprise itself.

3.4 Online Store Context

One of the enterprise upgrades mentioned above is the need to upgrade online stores to IP.

Online stores need to provide better IP scenarios so that consumers can have a greater sense of involvement and immersion.

Wahaha’s latest creation, Habao Amusement Park, transforms its online store into an amusement park, which is a new beginning for the future.

3.5 Offline Store Context

Corresponding to the online store is the IP-based contextual upgrade of the offline store.

Pop Mart has been upgrading its own stores and continuously strengthening the context. At the same time, the number of unmanned robot stores has just grown to more than 1,000.

3.6 Posters and POP

Posters and POPs are very traditional marketing methods, and they can also become important carriers of IP situations.

3.7 IP-based marketing

Field promotion will always be a powerful ground marketing force. Through the overall design of IP scenarios, making field promotion personnel also become characters in the IP worldview is a very simple and effective method.

04 The fourth category: personal IP

From the perspective of personal attributes, personal IP is more suitable for describing the role of an individual than a personal brand, because the individual is truly personalized, image-based, and story-based, and these are all IP attributes.

4.1 Entrepreneur’s Personal IP

In the new media era, individual entrepreneurs can often play a better role in communication than corporate advertising, such as Lei Jun, Dong Mingzhu, and Luo Yonghao, who has both good and bad reputations. Therefore, the creation of entrepreneurs’ personal IP is now given great attention.

Some people say that the key to building an entrepreneur’s personal IP is personality. In fact, personality cannot be deliberately shaped. The entrepreneur himself is what he is. What is fake cannot be made real, and what is real cannot be covered up.

I think the creation of an entrepreneur’s personal IP is more about stories, because entrepreneurs must be people with stories.

Through the refined shaping of nine archetypal stories, entrepreneurs’ personal stories can better resonate with consumers.

4.2 Personal IP of Technical Experts

The technical experts here generally refer to technicians, engineers or developers in the enterprise. In short, they are key personnel in product development.

Personal development of technical experts will help enhance the technological appeal of the product.

4.3 Partner Personal IP

Do partners also need to be IP-based? This may be unfamiliar to many people.

In fact, the popularity of Viya and Li Jiaqi is what Alibaba did to support the personal IP of its partners.

Making partners into IPs as well is the most likely approach to turning a company into a platform. Therefore, any platform-based enterprise often has star-level partners, and behind this is a win-win and ecological relationship.

4.4 Personal IP with special origin

It is not necessary to create an entrepreneur to build a personal IP, you can also find people with special connections.

A designer friend of mine told me:

A man selling roasted sweet potatoes wanted him to design his grandfather into an image and put it on his stall, because his grandfather had been selling roasted sweet potatoes since the beginning.

This vendor is very IP-conscious, and the image he requested to be designed is actually to use his special personal IP to build a brand.

05 The fifth category: IP-based activities

Not only brand image and product channels, activities are also an important part of building a corporate IP system.

5.1 Festivalization of long-term activities

Companies should create some long-term activities. If they want to make these activities more attractive and sticky, they need IP-based incubation methods.

The most representative example of the IPization of a long-term event is, of course, Alibaba’s Double Eleven Shopping Festival, which has become Alibaba’s most important IP.

The earliest Double Eleven rose to prominence based on Singles’ Day, a cultural matrix that was circulated online.

Another classic example is that more than a hundred years ago, Michelin accidentally created the world's most famous Michelin food guide by providing food guidance to drivers.

There are also various other well-known commercial festivals initiated by enterprises and cultural and tourism areas, which are not described here one by one.

5.2 IP-based promotional activities

What was mentioned above are long-term activities, but short-term activities can also help IP.

This can be achieved through IP gifts, live performances of virtual images, and user points.

5.3 IP-based sponsorship activities

Companies often sponsor outside events, firstly to increase brand awareness and secondly to boost sales.

However, from the perspective of truly establishing an emotional connection with consumers, companies sponsoring external events need to be able to continuously strengthen their own IP.

Why do we say IP here instead of just brand? Because when we talk about brand, we often only focus on values ​​and tone, while when we talk about IP, we can include broader cultural and story attributes.

For example, Jiang Xiaobai has been supporting hip-hop music activities since a very early stage, which has allowed hip-hop music culture to provide a continuous source of energy for its own youth culture. ,

In sponsorship activities, there needs to be very clear value guidance and emotional accumulation in order to support one's own IP attributes.

5.4 IP-based Exhibition

With the help of new technologies and the Internet, companies can now make exhibitions very IP-contextualized.

5.5 IP Conference

Recently, there have been a number of corporate press conferences in which virtual IP images participated and interacted with real people in live broadcasts. This is because with the support of technology, companies can now achieve a new experience from the three-dimensional to the two-dimensional, and then from the two-dimensional to the three-dimensional, and this is exactly what can make IPization a reality in activities.

This is the press conference held by KFC to revitalize its own IP Uncle.

06 The sixth category: content marketing

At this point, I mentioned how to use content for marketing because I think -

If you rashly carry out pure content marketing without fully integrating it with products, channels, and activities, it will easily be too abstract and fail to achieve actual marketing results.

Only when an enterprise fully combines its daily business operations with its IP image and content can external content marketing truly play its actual value.

6.1 Small pictures and text

The small picture and text format represented by Weibo was the first IP content scenario in the mobile Internet era, and it has produced classic cases including Durex.

Although Weibo is not as popular nowadays, its small pictures and texts are still playing an important role. They are involved in almost all major marketing cases, so they cannot be ignored.

Because small pictures and texts on Weibo are still the most powerful topic.

Xiaohongshu and other platforms are new battlefields for small pictures and texts, with good marketing conversion effects.

6.2 Long Text and Picture

It started on forums and blogs, and is now represented by WeChat public accounts.

The long text and pictures on WeChat public accounts have been the trend for several years after Weibo, and now they still have a bulldozer-like powerful effect that is unmatched by other content formats.

6.3 Mini Programs and H5

Mini Programs and H5 are a general term that includes various Q&A, small games, interactive displays, etc. Thanks to WeChat Mini Programs and quick applications on various APPs, with the help of H5, content-based marketing can be presented in various innovative ways.

The core of this type of content is actually high interactivity and innovation. Only the content that is most interactive and has the most innovative experience can succeed.

6.4 Short Video

This is the most popular form of content right now, with low production costs, high frequency, and easy to explode.

On platforms such as Tik Tok, Bilibili, and Kuaishou, the power of short videos has been greatly exerted, far exceeding the past.

Short videos require extreme focus, extreme emotional characteristics, extremely vertical content, and extremely fast production methods, all of which are what past marketing content production was not good at.

The most intriguing point is that the core value of short videos is not the number of fans, because under the machine algorithm, the number of fans is not the center of traffic, but the labeled characteristics of the content itself, so it must have extremely labeled characteristics.

6.5 Live Broadcast

The next step for short videos is live streaming.

The live streaming mentioned here is not just the live streaming sales mentioned earlier, but also includes talk shows, live tour guides, live teaching, etc.

It also includes producing short videos through live broadcast, thereby further reducing output, frequency and cost.

On TikTok, some animated short videos produced using pure live streaming technology have become popular, such as the little fox NINICO.

Behind the NINICO animation is a brand-new way of animation production, which will break the traditional method of charging by length of time. Some even say that it will replace traditional animation in the future because it saves a lot of time and effort.

6.6 Comics/Animation

The comics/animation mentioned here does not just refer to pure content, but the basic production method of content marketing.

As the production of comics and animations becomes more and more convenient and technology develops at a rapid pace, comics and animations have become and will become more and more the standard for content-based marketing.

6.7 Voice actors and songs

I want to specifically mention the term voice actor because IP is not just an image and a story, it is also a specialized voice, which is what the two-dimensional circle calls a voice actor.

In the future, every brand’s IP character can create its own unique voice actor, not just dubbing.

Hatsune Miku and Luo Tianyi have actually used special technology to create voice actors, and also combined them with real voice actors.

The song will also break through the traditional corporate theme song concept and become an important rendering element of the IP context.

6.8 Long Video

Although long videos and short videos appear to be both videos on the surface, they are actually two completely different IP species.

Short videos are the "points" that are short, flat and fast, while long videos are the "body" that carries the thickness of the content.

Long videos include animation series, TV series, movies, etc. They are the most extreme and high-end content and are only suitable for a few brands. For example, Three Squirrels and Jiang Xiaobai both have their own animated series, which are of course produced by professional animation companies.

6.9 Books and documentaries

Both of these are IP content that have existed since ancient times. Books have existed since the pre-publishing era, and corporate documentaries also have a long history, appearing when movies were just beginning and television was not yet available.

Both book publishing and documentary film making have historical value, which cannot be replaced by other forms of content.

6.10 Performances and other cultural activities

Including drama, song and dance, situation comedy and other methods.

Especially for cultural and tourism companies, heavy-duty IP content is very necessary. It is not just a marketing promotion, but a very important profitable product in itself.

In some cultural and tourism projects, the entire performance culture is completely integrated with the scene, and even gamified.

Among the above 10 types, I did not mention emoticons, because emoticons are already a basic IP standard, but they may not necessarily have a breakthrough marketing effect.

07 The seventh category: development of derivatives

For most commercial enterprises, this is more cross-border IP marketing, while for cultural and creative enterprises, it is a basic business model.

7.1 IP Gifts

Turning one’s own IP image into IP gifts is the basic work for a company after creating an IP.

However, most IP gifts fail to achieve a good enough effect, which is a problem with the early IP design. Different from general gift design, if you want to make your own IP gifts stand out, you still need strong enough early incubation.

7.2 IP-based trendy toys

This is both similar to and different from the previous gifts. The difference is that the IP is turned into high-quality trendy toys such as blind boxes, figures, and works of art.

This requires a company's IP design capabilities and special designs to achieve.

It is difficult to make a truly trendy and cool toy by simply using your own IP.

The most representative one recently is the Ali Zoo series of trendy toys, which brings together all Ali-related IP images and has been specially redesigned.

7.3 IP Licensing

Enterprises put their own IP into the big cultural IP market for licensing.

Only a very small number of commercial enterprise IPs can achieve this, such as M&M's chocolate dolls, Coca-Cola bottles, etc.

08 The eighth category: future scenarios

Finally, let’s talk about future trends and their impact on IP.

Because enterprises need application scenarios to realize IPization, so the IPization of enterprises should focus more on market operations rather than brand design.

And every new development trend will bring new scenarios to IPization and unleash greater power, such as small pictures and texts, short videos, and live broadcasts. In the future, there will definitely be more.

8.1 VR

Every VR virtual reality world can be seen as an IP scenario. Therefore, the development and application of VR will definitely bring a steady stream of new impetus to IPization.

When shopping, dressing, and traveling can all be presented through VR, more virtual characters and new situations will surely appear.

8.2 AR

AR augmented reality can be completely regarded as using virtual IP to guide real scenes.

The most famous AR game, POKEMON GO, can be completely seen as a process of people searching for IP characters and props in reality.

Moreover, AR is likely to develop faster than VR because it will not cause dizziness and does not require overly complicated animations. Therefore, when AR becomes more and more popular, it will be the time for IP characters to show their talents.

8.3 AI

Now, some major e-commerce platforms are studying ways to combine AI with live streaming. In the near future, live streaming will become an AI-style interaction between virtual IPs and consumers, and there will be no need for real people to spend hours explaining. This will be a major scenario after AI is combined with IP.

The biggest change brought by AI is that it can give virtual IP a way of thinking. In fact, SIRI contains virtual IP.

Therefore, with the continuous evolution of AI technology, virtual IP will be able to do more and more things.

8.4 New Virtual World Community

The virtual world has been experimenting, from the original Second Life on the computer to Minecraft, and soon the next wave will emerge, which is to connect the virtual IP images on various platforms to form a virtual world where people can interact and live with the help of virtual images.

Many of the virtual characters on the short video platforms today are actually developed by start-up companies that are preparing to create a virtual world. They have a lot of money and technology behind them and are preparing to develop them into a bigger world.

8.5 Disneyfication of shopping platforms

Don't think this is just fantasy. This is what Pinduoduo founder Huang Zheng said in his recent resignation letter. According to his original words, the future shopping platform will be COSTCO + Disney. He didn't say how to do it specifically, but it's terrifying to think about it carefully.

To put it in the simplest way, we can understand what Pinduoduo’s Huang Zheng said about COSTCO + Disney. The latter must refer to the contextualization, storytelling and characterization of IP. Let’s wait and see how it is done.

8.6 Super Scenario of Enterprise

Under such future trends, companies will sooner or later have to find ways to transform their brands, products, channels, activities, etc. into super situations. Only in this way can they occupy the future.

So what is a super situation? It is an IP world with a worldview, characters, scenes, props, and stories.

Of course, all imaginations about the future are conjectures, but in most cases, the future is not more realistic, but rather exceeds original expectations.

Finally, here is a complete picture of 48 types of corporate IP marketing.

Author: Chen Gray

Source: Chen Gelei