Brainwashing advertising VS heartfelt advertising, which one is better?

Brainwashing advertisements make you remember the selling points, while heartfelt advertisements make you remember the emotions. The two types of ads are suitable for different products, and you need to make a choice based on the product type.

A few days ago, when I was browsing the official account, I accidentally saw a video called "Niu Jianding's Account Book". The video was nearly 9 minutes long. In an era of scarce attention and fragmented reading, I actually watched it from beginning to end.

Not only that, I also shared the article link to my friends circle. Of course, I didn’t do that to tell my friends circle that I wanted to go home. What if my boss saw it…

What motivated me to share this video was the touching scene in the video: "The old man didn't want to drag his son down because he had Alzheimer's disease, so he would rather live alone in his hometown than enjoy his son's blessing in a big city."

In an instant, it touched the softest nerve in my heart. I shared it on WeChat Moments, hoping that more people could feel the good intentions of their parents.

It was not until the last scene of the video that I realized that this was an advertisement for Tongcheng Elong.

In recent years, there are countless promotional videos like this that focus on emotions. Recently, I also saw the three heartwarming short films released by 999 Cold Relief on Thanksgiving Day in November last year, with the main themes of "teachers and students", "brothers", and "doctors and patients".

However, the most familiar ones are probably the "What's Peppa Pig" that went viral at the beginning of last year, "A grandfather ran around to get a Peppa Pig gift for his grandson"; and the previous China Merchants Bank's "No matter how big the world is, it's not bigger than a plate of scrambled eggs with tomatoes", "In order to teach their son who was far away abroad how to make scrambled eggs with tomatoes, parents went to the kitchen at four in the morning to demonstrate."

In sharp contrast and with a strange style is what we commonly call "brainwash advertising", and the sponsors have tried it time and time again. From the early "Looking for a job, talk directly to the boss" by Boss Direct Hire, "Go wherever you want to shoot" by Platinum Travel Photography, to the recent "Good and Expensive" by Borgward, they all seem to be trying to tell us, "Brainwash advertising is really effective."

When it comes to the two types of advertisements, "brainwashing" and "heartfelt", people tend to think that the former are vulgar, disgusting and lack creativity, while the latter are praised and shared by everyone. It is inevitable that we always seem to find points of resonance in those emotional short films.

However, as marketers, we must look at different forms of promotional methods rationally, because they are all messages sent by brand owners to the outside world and each has its own function .

There is a saying in the classic movie "The Godfather": People who can see through the essence of things in half a second and people who cannot see through the essence in half their life have completely different fates.

I hope we can all be the person who sees through the essence of things, even if it takes a little more time.

Of course, there are many articles online discussing these two forms of commercials. I hope this article can give you some different thoughts. I will interpret it for you from four perspectives.

1. Brainwashing ads are more memorable than heartfelt ads

1. Brainwashing Advertising

The biggest and most annoying feature of brainwash advertisements is that they repeat a certain selling point of the product in a shouting manner, such as “If you want to find a job, talk to the boss directly” from Boss Direct Hire and “You can go wherever you want to take photos” from Platinum Travel Photography... They are all like this.

Of course, this depends largely on its length, which can be as short as 15 seconds or as long as 30 seconds. In such a short period of time, if you want consumers to remember you for a long time, one of the effective ways is to repeat the selling points of your product that you want consumers to remember in an exaggerated form.

Let’s go back to the “TV era” when attention was relatively concentrated. There were no entertainment and social products such as WeChat and TikTok. Which advertisements do you still remember?

I'm afraid the first thing that comes to your mind is Melatonin, "If I don't give any gifts this year, I'll give Melatonin" - but it is also considered a brainwash advertisement in the eyes of many people.

What's more, in the current environment, consumers' time is divided among different products, and attention has become the most scarce resource. It is difficult to get consumers to look at you for a second.

Therefore, although exaggerating and repeatedly instilling the same selling point of a product into the minds of consumers may cause consumers to be disgusted at the time, as time goes by, the disgust will gradually be forgotten, and what remains is the selling point of the product.

Do you still hate Boss Direct Hire’s ads so much?

I guess not, time makes us relatively rational.

Some people may wonder, is it possible to sell a product just by making consumers remember it? Besides, it’s the Internet age now, what you see is what you get, and products can be sold instantly through live streaming and soft articles, so remembering has become less important.

It is true that the Internet age has affected consumers’ behavior patterns to a certain extent, but the most basic things are still difficult to change.

Here let’s talk about the consumer behavior model, and I will use a picture to represent it.

Before we could shop online, we saw ads on TV, remembered the products, and bought them at the supermarket later. Therefore, the common way to build a brand at that time was "CCTV + advertising + celebrity endorsements".

Now, when you see something you like, you can just search for it on your phone and buy it, skipping the memory process.

However, past behavioral patterns have not completely disappeared. In fact, many of the products you buy now are still based on your previous memories and cognition of them, especially high-priced products that take a long time to decide . For example, if you see a promotional content about a car online, will you place an order immediately?

No, you will compare again and again, fearing that you will buy the wrong one and don’t want to take the risk. At this time, you will actually believe more in your past cognition. In other words, the advertisement you just saw is someone else's, while the existing cognition is your own thing , so you are likely to believe in yourself more.

This is why many people refuse to admit that they have made mistakes even though they have done so. Because in his heart, he believes that his past actions were right.

Selling cars through live streaming is another matter. It is just the finishing touch, using celebrities or KOLs to recommend the brand and inducing people to buy cars at prices lower than the market price, so that people who want to buy the brand can complete the purchase in advance. If we want to get people who have always wanted to buy a Geely car to buy a Borgward car after watching a live broadcast, we may still need some effort.

To summarize the above in one sentence, " brainwashing advertising can make consumers remember the selling points of a product more deeply and lastingly ."

2. Heartfelt advertising

The most significant feature of heartfelt advertisements is that the plots are very detailed and they describe many details to set the mood in order to resonate with consumers. They often move people to tears or fill them with passion after watching them.

The biggest fatal point is that the correlation between the plot and the brand is not strong enough. The plot above "Niu Jianding's Account Book" is related to the business of Tongcheng Elong, that is, "the little grandson said that he had already booked the ticket with his mobile phone", but it did not tell you which software was used in a very concealed way until the end. It was not until the end that we found out that it was Tongcheng Elong.

Let’s look at the article “No matter how big the world is, it’s not bigger than a plate of scrambled eggs with tomatoes”, “In order to teach their son who is far away abroad how to make scrambled eggs with tomatoes, parents went to the kitchen at four in the morning to demonstrate”. Does it have a lot to do with China Merchants Bank? It wasn’t until the end that I found out that the advertiser was China Merchants Bank, and they shot the video to promote the “International Student Card”.

I watched this short film a long time ago and I still remember the plot clearly, but I just can’t remember who the “financier” is. In order to write this article, I watched the short film again and found out that it was China Merchants Bank.

Aside from the plot not being relatable enough, the brand message sent by the short film was too weak. Often only a logo is left in the last frame. In a video of several minutes, there are only a few seconds left for the brand symbol, so it is inevitable that people cannot remember it.

However, emotions are perishable, and the sleeper effect tells us that emotions come and go quickly. When watching a video, we may be moved and excited, but after watching it, after a while, we will return to calmness; we remember the general plot but not the brand.

Some people may wonder why I remember Peppa Pig in What's Peppa Pig so clearly?

The title of the short film contains the word Peppa, and the plot revolves around "What is Peppa?". I don't know how many times Peppa-related things appear in the play. In addition, before the video was released, it had already become popular on the entire Internet, so it is hard for you to forget it.

Some people may wonder why Peppa Pig appears so many times in the short film, but I don’t hate it but like it more?

There’s nothing we can do about it, it’s an IP and it’s cute by nature.

To sum up the above in one sentence, " heartfelt advertising makes consumers' memory of the brand short-lived ."

2. Heartfelt advertising is more contagious than brainwashing advertising

1. Brainwashing Advertising

Have you ever actively shared brainwashing advertisements on WeChat Moments or other platforms? If there is, I think it would also include a complaint, of course, except for people in the marketing circle.

What impact will this have on brainwash advertising? It almost entirely depends on self-propagation and spending one's own money to spread the message. After all, for brainwashing advertising to be effective, it requires not only constant repetition but also wide coverage.

Since no one is willing to share actively, you have to achieve your goal by purchasing media yourself, otherwise it will die in the cradle. So you see during the World Cup, brainwashing advertisements appear in elevators, making your head buzz. As for how much it will cost, it will definitely be a considerable amount.

Wanglaoji's advertising slogan "If you're afraid of getting a sore throat, drink Wanglaoji" has attracted many people to imitate it, and they have come up with similar slogans such as "If you're afraid of xx, xx", but the effect is not good, because they only see the glory of Wanglaoji in front of the public, and don't know how much advertising fees it has spent behind the scenes. Blind imitation will only lead to a dead end.

To summarize the above in one sentence, " The effects of brainwashing advertisements are achieved by spending real money ."

2. Heartfelt advertising

Heartfelt advertisements are more popular with everyone. They are also self-propagated, but they are spread spontaneously. Once the sponsor releases the short film on platforms such as Weibo and WeChat, if the fans resonate with the plot, they will share it to their own circle of friends, which will eventually lead to the whole network spreading.

I believe that everyone has contributed to the screen-sweeping of those videos. I am a person who likes to share. Sometimes when I see some interesting articles or videos, I will share them on WeChat Moments to express my own opinions.

Expressing and sharing are human's instinctive desires. Look at those newborn babies who are struggling to express certain ideas even though no one can understand them.

Of course, not all information can be shared voluntarily.

Jonah Berger, a professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, wrote in his book "Contagious" that information that people actively spread follows six principles: social currency, incentives, practical value, emotions, publicity, and stories .

Most of these brand promotion videos follow the principles of emotion, story, publicity, and social currency. A few minutes of plot is like telling a story, and the plot is closely related to life. It not only makes people immersed in it, but also stimulates everyone's inner emotions and even expresses everyone's long-suppressed thoughts.

To sum up the above in one sentence, " heartfelt advertising can trigger spontaneous dissemination among consumers ."

3. Boss Zhipin is more suitable for brainwashing advertisements than Platinum Travel Photography

It can be said that any product has three kinds of value: functional value, emotional value and spiritual value . Many people keep touting the functional value of products, but consumers still don’t feel much and often ignore the emotional and spiritual value of products.

The emotional and spiritual value of a product depends to a certain extent on the category it belongs to and the value assigned to it by the brand. When other ice creams are just ice creams, Haagen-Dazs compares it to a proof of love, "If you love her, give her Haagen-Dazs."

Do you think Harley-Davidson motorcycles are just motorcycles?

No, he also symbolizes freedom, individuality, independence, progress and taste.

Different categories of products have different proportions in the three values.

For products with social attributes, consumers care more about their emotional and spiritual value. That is why many people buy clothes worth thousands or tens of thousands of yuan, and also buy garbage bags for a few dollars.

Let’s go back to Boss Direct Hire and Platinum Travel Photography. It is not difficult to see that Platinum Travel Photography has more social attributes than Boss Direct Hire. People use Boss Direct Hire just to find a job, while wedding photography is one of the most important things in life, symbolizing deep love, warmth and happiness.

Therefore, for consumers, regarding Boss Direct Recruitment, it doesn’t matter how brainwashing your promotional content is. The key is whether the function can meet my needs. Even if I am very disgusted at the time, I will slowly calm down afterwards.

As for Platinum Travel Photography, consumers are relatively more concerned about its overall brand image and brand culture. They want to find a brand that is more in line with their own emotions and spirit. Even if the disgust will subside over time, every time they think of it, they will still feel more or less psychologically resistant.

Similarly, heartfelt advertising is more suitable for brands with stronger social attributes. No matter how touching the advertisements of 999 Cold Relief and Tongcheng Elong are, will you buy 999 Cold Relief without hesitation next time you go to buy cold medicine? Probably not, you may care more about the effect of the medicine.

Will you choose to use eLong next time you buy train tickets? Probably not, you may pay more attention to the ticket purchasing experience, platform discounts and personal habits.

Of course, nothing is absolute and we cannot deny everything. We are just trying to find the best results and make the information we send have the greatest effect.

To summarize the above in one sentence , "brainwashing advertising is more suitable for functional products, and heartfelt advertising is more suitable for products with social attributes."

4. Using the brand syllogism to look at brainwashing advertising and heartfelt advertising

At the beginning, there is no connection between consumers and brands. It is not easy to get a stranger to pay for your products. What should you do?

First let him know you, then let him understand you, then let him identify with you, and then it will not be difficult to get him to buy things.

From a brand perspective, consumers go from unfamiliarity to purchase through three processes: awareness, cognition, and identification . To achieve these three effects, brands need to send different messages to consumers.

A brand is first introduced to consumers through symbolic information such as brand name, logo, and product packaging; it is then recognized by consumers through benefit information such as category attributes and functional benefits; and finally it is identified by consumers through meaningful information such as brand image and brand story.

Recognition, cognition and identification are closely linked. From recognition to identification, we must proceed step by step, with each link sending corresponding information. When consumers don’t know who you are, they will most likely ignore you if you talk to them about benefits or brand stories.

In fact, we can see the changes in the three links from the slogans of many brands today. Red Bull’s previous slogan was " When you are tired and sleepy, drink Red Bull ", and later it was changed to " Your energy is beyond your imagination "; Tmall’s slogan was changed from " Go to Tmall and buy " to " Go to Tmall for an ideal life "; Toutiao’s slogan was also changed from " What you care about is the headlines " to " Information creates value ."

It is not difficult to find that the previous advertising slogans were all telling consumers, "What problems can I help you solve" to enhance consumers' awareness of the brand; at a certain stage, the brand's advertising slogans tend to express emotions and spirit, trying to enhance consumers' identification with the brand and create a premium.

Let’s go back to the two types of advertising: “brainwashing” and “heartfelt”. The content of the former mainly repeats the benefits of the product to consumers, and only completes the stage of consumers’ awareness and cognition of the brand; the content of the latter mainly focuses on the emotions and spirit that the brand gives to consumers, and only completes the stage of consumers’ identification with the brand.

When consumers do not have a clear understanding of the brand, heartfelt advertising will be useless, tasteless and a pity to throw away; even if brainwashing advertising is used to complete consumers' understanding of the brand, there is still a long way to go, and only by getting consumers to agree with the brand can it become a solid competitive barrier for the brand.

To summarize the above in one sentence, " brainwashing advertising and heartfelt advertising solve problems faced by brands at different stages ."

Brainwash advertising and heartfelt advertising are both messages sent by brands, and each has its own unique effect. However, it can only play the greatest role if it is in line with the brand style and the brand's current development stage.

Summarize

• Brainwashing ads are more memorable than heartfelt ads, and heartfelt ads are more spreadable than brainwashing ads.
• Functional products are more suitable for brainwash advertising than products with social attributes.
• Brainwash advertising helps consumers recognize a brand, while heartfelt advertising helps consumers identify with a brand. Only by recognizing first and then identifying can the information exert its greatest power.

Author: Shao Wentao

Public account: Qishao