A guide to the pain points of Spring Festival marketing!

As the Spring Festival approaches, the Spring Festival marketing case has become the last big hurdle that advertising and public relations professionals have to overcome before the holiday. For brands, this is the first budget of the new year. The money must be spent beautifully and the battle must be fought loudly.

So, how do we start with Spring Festival marketing planning? In fact, Spring Festival marketing is much easier than leveraging promotions during other festivals, because the Spring Festival is the festival that is most easily perceived by the public. No matter what user group, there are many empathy points, which provides favorable conditions for establishing marketing communication points. The first priority of Spring Festival marketing planning is to identify these pain points and achieve user resonance. Creativity is not innate, but comes from insight into life. I have listed some pain points during the Spring Festival for your use in making planning proposals. The Spring Festival marketing of many brands seems to be varied, but in fact, no matter how the form changes, most of the core still comes from these contents.

Pain point 1: Fear of returning home

Not everyone looks forward to going home for the New Year. Some people may not be able to go back because they have not achieved their annual goals, or they want to avoid the nagging of their family, or they have to work overtime to earn money, and some even develop a fear of going home. Previous SK-II anti-marriage pressure advertisement: "Why don't they go home for the New Year? 》is targeting this pain point.

In this situation, it is actually most suitable for brand owners to convey heartwarming values ​​from the perspective of family. For example, "Whether you have money or not, go home for the New Year", "I appreciate your efforts and will work harder next year", etc. My personal favorite is "Reasons for Not Going Home" by Hao Huanluo, "Thousands of reasons stopping you from going home are no match for a voice calling you home." There is also Chen Keming Noodles’ series of Lunar New Year short films called “Nothing is as good as home outside”. This highly infectious theme has also become the brand’s Spring Festival marketing IP.

Pain point 2: Difficulty in returning home

I can divide the difficulty of returning home into several levels. The first is the difficulty in getting tickets. For many people working in other places, it is difficult to get a ticket. This is when many ticket-grabbing apps come into play. For example, when a ticket-grabbing software launched the function of booking and grabbing tickets, it cooperated with self-media people in various fields to introduce product functions from various angles to target this pain point, such as the beauty and fashion blogger's "The beautiful journey home avoids panic and embarrassment, and must not fail on a ticket."

Next are the problems along the Spring Festival travel route. People carry a lot of luggage and gifts with them when they go home, which makes the journey inconvenient, or they cannot get home on time, so their gifts cannot be delivered. In this regard, brands can leverage the advantages of their products to “reduce the burden” on those returning home. For example, Tmall New Year Festival launched communication points such as "There is a kind of handsomeness on the Spring Festival travel road, which is putting your hands in your trouser pockets" and "Let your thoughts get home first! Millions of top products are all available, let us go home empty-handed this year."

In addition, because the journey is sometimes long, you may encounter problems such as boredom and hunger, which is also an opportunity. For example, Snickers teamed up with China Eastern Airlines to launch a themed flight event, and Snickers, as a major anti-hunger brand, shouted "Go home full."

Pain point 3: Reunion issues

(Can go home, can’t go home, reverse Spring Festival travel)

This pain point is actually favored by most brands and is also relatively common. After all, the anticipation of reunion among children and parents is the mainstream emotion of the Spring Festival. I will talk about this in two aspects: one is those who can eventually go home, and the other is those who cannot eventually go home.

The first type of people who “can eventually go home” will often create some obstacles to returning home, such as obstacles from objective factors such as work, emotional conflicts with family members, etc. But in the end, they were all resolved by the powerful belief of "reunion", and the most touching thing is to first suppress and then praise. PepsiCo’s annual “Bring the Joy Home” themed New Year films mostly follow this approach.

The second type of people who “cannot go home in the end” mostly occur among people in special occupations. For example, couriers, flight attendants, deliverymen, etc. cannot go home during the Spring Festival due to work. These people are closely related to our lives and are also easy to move people. By reflecting the big theme of reunion from small characters and paying tribute to them, the brand’s temperature will naturally rise.

The Apple commercial “Three Minutes” directed by Peter Chan is a typical case. This film also starts from the protagonist's pain point that he cannot reunite with his family during the Spring Festival due to work, and then depicts the true story of the brief reunion of mother and son on the platform, which swept the entire Internet. There is also UnionPay’s “City Watchmen”, which pays tribute to city watchmen such as bus drivers and sanitation workers, while promoting UnionPay’s New Year red envelopes. The slogan "There will be rewards for your efforts" is also worth learning from.

In addition, reverse Spring Festival travel has gradually become a new trend during the Spring Festival, providing a new way for family reunions. I believe this will also become a new entry point for many brands to explore new marketing paths during the Spring Festival. For example, slogans such as "No matter where you are, as long as you are reunited with your family, it is like going home for the New Year."

Pain point 4: busy shopping for New Year’s goods

Buying New Year’s goods during the Chinese New Year is also a very common scene. Some brands will also focus on the necessity of New Year's goods, and convey information such as "express your care through actions, and express your feelings through New Year's goods" and "those loving thoughts will definitely be seen."

In the actual purchasing process, there are often problems such as purchasing too much New Year goods and being inconvenient to carry, rising prices, too many people buying New Year goods and being unable to queue up, and vegetable stores closing during the New Year. In response to this, online fresh fruit apps such as MissFresh, HEMA Fresh, and Meituan Grocery will take the opportunity to promote communication points such as "open during the Chinese New Year" and "waiting for New Year's goods at home" based on their product advantages to solve the pain points of the public in purchasing New Year's goods.

Pain point 5: Conflicts caused by generational differences

The popularity of using the pain points caused by conflicts between generations for marketing is second only to reunion. Here I also divide the generational differences into three aspects.

01 The impatience caused by relatives and friends urging you to get married and asking about your salary and grades.

"Why haven't you found a partner yet at this age?"

"What kind of job do you do and how much do you earn?"

"Have you bought a house? Where do you plan to develop your business?"

What seem like trivial family issues become a series of life-threatening attacks once they are put into a tape recorder. In this regard, I believe everyone is accustomed to hearing terms such as "Spring Festival Self-Rescue Operation" and "Operation to Save the Spring Festival". The most representative one is the Rainbow Chamber Choir’s new work “Spring Festival Self-Help Guide”. Another creative one is the poster by Taiwan's Eslite Bookstore and literary masters that teaches you how to respond to your relatives' repeated questions. The poster copy uses famous quotes from literary masters to answer the questions that elders must ask during the Chinese New Year.

For example

– Why don’t you dress up properly for Chinese New Year?

– If you knew me from the past,

Then you will forgive me now.

——Zhang Ailing, Love in a Fallen City

02 Misunderstanding caused by cognitive differences between two generations.

Because both parties live in different contexts, many things that are familiar to us are relatively unfamiliar to our parents or other people in the family. This has led many people to feel that they have no common language when they return home. The previous screen-sweeping case "What's Peppa Pig?" was also developed from this pain point. It tells the story of a grandfather who asks the whole village what Peppa Pig is in order to prepare a New Year's gift for his grandson in the city.

03 The conflicts, rebellion, struggles and mutual dislike caused by parents’ constant nagging at their children.

I believe many people have had this feeling: on the first day back home, they feel that their parents are very friendly, caring about them and preparing sumptuous meals for them. But by the third day this attitude began to turn into disgust and nagging. For example, "You are so old, don't you know how to do housework at home?", "You have damaged your eyes by holding your mobile phone all day long", "When are you going to find a partner? The son of the aunt next door already has a child."

In this regard, young people are used to leaving patience to their friends, but giving impatience to their parents. Before the New Year Festival, Xin Shixiang and JD Supermarket launched a tear-jerking commercial titled "Listen to me, this is all for your own good," which also stems from this pain point. But the line in the film, "The moment you feel they are like children, that's when you grow up," is really touching, so you might as well go and watch it.

Pain point 6: Inadaptability caused by urban-rural differences

There are differences in infrastructure, living environment, eating habits, and interpersonal relationships between first- and second-tier cities and county towns and villages. When people return to the countryside from first-tier cities, they will inevitably experience a series of discomforts. I would like to focus on two pain points here.

01 After returning home from a big city, there is a lack of communication with peers and friends in the hometown, and the relationship becomes estranged due to long-term non-contact. This just reflects the importance of products that perform well in the sinking market. Or you can introduce a series of behavioral attitudes derived from brand attributes, such as "breaking awkward conversations" and "taking the initiative".

What impressed me most was the "Reunion in the New Canyon" from the national game Honor of Kings, which is part of the "Only when there is a team, there is a gathering". The story tells about cousins ​​who used to be good friends but became strangers after not seeing each other for many years. Fortunately, the brothers were all playing Honor of Kings, so they had common topics and their relationship warmed up again.

02 The younger generation is accustomed to urban living environment and finds it difficult to adapt to the rural environment. There was a joke that was widely circulated before, which said "Visit the house of whichever relative has WIFI to wish you a happy New Year." At this time, WIFI is the element that builds a bridge for "reunion" during the Spring Festival and solves different pain points.

For example, OPPEIN’s tear-jerking advertisement “The Disappearing Home” addresses this pain point. Oppein Home Furnishings played the role of "solving the problem" by renovating the rural home, making it more pleasing to the whole family. There are some very touching lines in the film, "While we are still here, come back as often as possible. No matter how far you go in the future, this is your root after all." "When parents are alive, life has a destination. When parents are gone, life only has a way back."

Pain point 7: Conflicts between the man and woman’s families

This pain point exists mostly among married people. The conflicts in family relationships between men and women are particularly obvious during the Chinese New Year, such as whose house should they go to for the New Year? Which gift is more expensive? If we bring both parents together, will there be conflicts between them since they have different personalities and habits?

In the past one or two years, among the Spring Festival advertisements made based on this pain point, ROBAM Electric Appliances’ “Mother-in-law’s Year” is a typical case. The two elders had a dispute over the issue of "who will cook during the Chinese New Year". On one side was the mother-in-law who advocated steaming, while on the other side was the mother who insisted on stir-frying. The mother-in-law felt that stir-frying produced a lot of smoke, while the mother felt that steaming was full of water and had no taste. In the end, it was the range hood and the Chinese steamer that turned the kitchen into a new one. The concept of "new kitchen = new relationship" was deeply rooted in people's hearts.

Pain point 8: Communication problems caused by technology

The Spring Festival is a day for reunion and a time for family members to chat and share their hearts. But many people still rely on electronic products such as mobile phones. They seem to be sitting at a table, but they are only immersed in their own online world. For example, a heartwarming public welfare film before King of Glory suggested going home for the New Year and listening to your mother. Sometimes, when you put down the game, you can discover the hidden teammates around you. The best teammate is the one who truly loves you.

Pain point 9: Celebrate the New Year in a different way

Traveling during the Spring Festival holiday has gradually become a new trend, but you may travel to many countries while your parents can only see the world through your circle of friends. The new way of celebrating the New Year has become a new option to resolve conflicts with parents and elders and enhance the close relationship between two generations. For example, as mentioned in China Mobile's "From Parents to Friends, Only One Trip Away", "I always thought that the generation gap had distanced us so far, but when we let go of our prejudices, we found that they were not far away from us." "I used to only want to travel with friends, but this Spring Festival, I'll give myself a chance to become friends with my parents."

Pain point 10: Young people’s self-image drops after returning home for the Spring Festival

I believe everyone knows the story of Lily turning into Cuihua. Going home for the Spring Festival can indeed change people’s perception of a person’s image. "Before I go home, I am a cool and beautiful girl. After I go home, I am my baby's second aunt." "Before I go home, I worry most about what to wear. After I go home, I wear the same pajamas until I leave." Many people let themselves go after returning home for the New Year, without caring about what others think. This pain point can generate a lot of interesting jokes. I have a feeling that one of the hot searches during the Spring Festival will be #Comparison before and after going home for the New Year#.

McDonald’s “Spring Festival Metamorphosis” is a reference case, and it goes a step further, expressing that in fact our parents have also quietly "changed" the moment you get home. For example, "from finishing only a few bites to not finishing a whole table", "from not being willing to give up anything to being willing to give up everything". Starting with the words "Spring Festival changes", it is introduced that McDonald's has also changed its packaging during the Spring Festival and launched new products suitable for the whole family.

Pain point 11: New Year’s Eve “New Year’s Flavor” Competition

The scene of the New Year’s Eve family dinner is also the highlight of the Chinese New Year. Many people will post photos of their New Year’s Eve dinner and hometown dishes, which can easily lead to interesting differences and competition between regions. For example, people in the north eat dumplings, while people in the south eat glutinous rice balls. Each dish also represents different meanings. Eating fish represents abundance every year, while eating chicken represents good luck. Based on this, food-related products such as Dianping will launch maps of the New Year atmosphere in various places. Previously, some brands have launched similar H5s such as "My Lucky New Year's Eve Dinner";

Pain point 12: Gift-giving “blind spot”

Gift giving during the Spring Festival is also a scene that cannot be ignored. However, you may encounter problems such as not knowing what to give, being afraid of giving the wrong gift, and not being able to say polite words when giving a gift. Fresh food and fast-moving consumer goods brands can use this opportunity to introduce their own interest points to solve these problems. For example, to address the problem of fear of giving the wrong gift, you can plan a gift-giving avoidance guide. If you give a gift to a client, you're afraid the gift won't be high enough; if you give a gift to a superior, you're afraid your intentions will be misunderstood; if you give a gift to a relative, you're afraid the gift won't suit your taste...choosing gifts can be a headache. Go to XXAPP to get popular gift recommendations for all scenarios and choose quality products with your eyes closed.

Of course, you can also think in reverse, for example, what should you do if you want to fire an employee? Send squid. What should I do if I want to ask my boss for a promotion and a raise? Send toilet paper (for a promotion). Another example is “If you tell the truth when giving gifts during the Chinese New Year”, Suning Supermarket previously implanted the idea of ​​“Save money on good New Year’s goods” through three interesting stories: best friends paying New Year’s greetings, son-in-law visiting and relatives dropping by.

Pain point 13: New Year greetings, Spring Festival couplets, red envelopes, family portraits, lucky money, and other new things

Every year, many brands use Spring Festival elements such as Spring Festival couplets and red envelopes to carry out innovative marketing. For example, Coca-Cola uses AR technology to create a New Year event where you can scan the Fuwa to win a surprise. The Fuwa will transform and appear in front of you to wish you a happy new year. NetEase Youdao Dictionary launched English Spring Festival couplets, Alipay collected the five blessings, and Douyin launched the "Beautiful Notes Year" and other marketing campaigns.

There are actually many pain points that can be explored regarding family portraits. For example, Huawei’s mobile phone’s selling point is the Leica ultra-wide-angle lens, with the advertising slogan “No matter how big the home is, we can capture it”, which has been deeply rooted in people’s hearts.

Pain point 14: Parents always ask us to take more things away than they bring back.

Friends who work or study in other places may have a deep feeling that every time they leave home, their parents bring them far more things than they bring back, including local specialties, snacks on the road, etc. What is heavy is the love of parents. A typical case is the short film "A Bucket" directed by Jia Zhangke. It tells the story of a son who leaves home after the Chinese New Year, carrying a heavy bucket packed by his mother. He goes through many twists and turns on the way, and he is even a little angry as to why his mother has to carry a bucket herself. But when he opened the bucket, he found eggs inside that had been marked by his mother.

Pain point 15: The decision of “staying or leaving” in the new year

After being "baptized" by their parents during the holidays, many wanderers will choose to give up working hard in big cities and return to their hometowns. Some people stick to their dreams and go to big cities alone. The "stay or leave issue" will reach its peak during the Spring Festival. Young people are confused about their future choices, and there are conflicts in values ​​between parents and children. Of course, in essence, parents want to keep their children around because they are worried about them and it is for their own good. And one's own efforts outside are also for the good of oneself and one's parents, just in different ways. Brands can leverage this opportunity to promote their own attitudes or product benefits. For example, marketing campaigns such as "Be your own koi" and "Where does your story begin" not only reassure parents but also inspire young people.

In fact, there are more pain points for the crowd during the Spring Festival. The most important thing is that the brand can cleverly integrate the pain points that have been discovered with the core information points to be output. You must be clear about what attitude your brand wants to convey and what the selling points of your products are? Then observe which scenario you act in and which pain point matches the message you want to convey, and finally express them creatively.

As for how to express it specifically, there are many forms, whether it is video or audio, or H5 posters, these are all carriers. If you take the emotional route, you will dig deep into the details of the story; if you take the viral route, you will exaggerate and brainwash endlessly. But the essence is to interpret the pain points vividly, that is, to find the various problem points distributed in the problem space and creatively display them so that people can empathize with them. Then implant our information points to solve this problem. Then the entire marketing is memorable and resonates with people, and can be called a successful case.

Many people would say, I understand the principles and I know the routines, but it seems that the cases they come up with are not that good. I can only say that there is no methodology to follow when it comes to creative marketing . When you complain that your case has not gone viral, you might as well think about whether the pain points you have discovered are not common enough? Isn't it painful enough? Is it not new enough? Is the story scene you chose to express your pain points not interesting enough? Isn’t it touching enough? Is there no memory point? Is it not innovative enough in terms of expression? Is it showing weaker performance? Isn’t it touching enough?

I remember there is a book called "Who made the questions so difficult? "The correct answers are everywhere". In fact, the same applies to marketing. This creativity is very difficult and there are pain points everywhere. What we need to do is not to randomly choose a trend to follow, but to explore the pain points that match the brand and conduct trial and error. Whether it is reverse thinking or cross-border integration, try to explore and display from a new angle. Only with choices can there be feedback, and only with feedback can there be understanding, and only with understanding can there be improvement, which will eventually be internalized into the brand's own marketing assets.

Finally, I wish you all a happy Chinese New Year.

Author: PR Home

Source: PR Home