Marketing Promotion: Where did the idea for NetEase’s hit H5 come from?

Being creative does not mean going viral, but content without creativity is basically impossible to go viral.

We must first understand what creativity is. What most people can think of is not "creativity", but an objective existence that is no longer a fantasy.

James Webb Young's explanation of creativity in his book "How to Generate Ideas" is widely recognized in the advertising industry, that is, " Creativity is the complete recombination of various elements . "

"Creativity in advertising is often the result of people with 'general knowledge' of life and events making new combinations of 'specific knowledge' from products."

This also applies in the advertising world.

01. Understand what creativity is

In a successful screen-sweeping case, the creativity of H5 brings readability to the work. One of the components of screen-sweeping is to have good creativity.

So what is creativity? Regarding this issue, here is an example:

How do humans move? If you have two wheels, you can ride a bicycle; with three wheels, you can ride a more stable tricycle; and with four wheels, you can upgrade to a faster and more comfortable car.

Human mobility tools are gradually added and upgraded one element at a time.

The same is true for creativity at the thinking level.

Creativity is an innovative combination of elements. This does not mean that creativity is just a simple patchwork of various elements or a simple addition. Rather, it means adding new ways of playing and making new breakthroughs on the existing plans. This is creativity.

When we break down the popular H5 cases into two aspects, content and interaction, we can find that H5 places equal emphasis on both the creativity of the visual content and the overall creativity of H5.

NetEase DaDa’s “Sliding Towards Childhood” used five classic animations to create a popular H5.

The animated characters slowly appear on the sliding screen. The exciting music and dynamic representative movements are the most eye-catching aspects of this H5.

In terms of content creativity, animation + childhood are used; in terms of overall creative combination, nostalgic childhood animation + one-shot format + cool parallax are used.

Sliding into childhood

When we describe something subjectively, we often add adjectives and adverbs. When describing it in a sentence, adverbials of time and place will be added. News is more complicated. It is made up of five elements: when, where, what, who and why. These five elements together make up a complete news release. When we make H5, we also need different elements: pictures, text, sound effects, interactive design and storyline.

These five elements can be further manipulated, and new gameplay can be added in some aspects. This is what makes your H5 different, and this is your creativity.

The elements we use to innovate must be properly selected, mutually matched, closely linked, and actively promoted. This requires us to have a wide range of interests and hobbies, and a love of observing life.

NetEase Dada’s “Sleeping Position Competition” is a new way to play. Users can drag the limbs of the little character to DIY their own sleeping position, and can also match the little character’s clothing and room style.

This H5 makes it easy for users to associate it with their own rooms, bringing a sense of intimacy.

When this H5 was released, most DIY H5 games were played in puzzle mode. This gameplay is different from previous browsing and interactive types. The gameplay is decided by the users. This is the special feature of this H5. In addition, on top of the puzzle DIY mode, skeletal animation is used to achieve DIY of character postures, which is a manifestation of creative superposition.

Sleeping position competition

02. Think about where the creative touchpoints are

From the perspective of content creativity, there are several points you can refer to.

Figurative symbols can replace objective things.

Metaphor and personification are commonly used rhetorical devices in literary works.

Map the characteristics of Party A onto Party B, cover the original individual with a new image, and give Party B a new meaning. The same is true for metaphors and personification, except that the meaning attributed to people and objects is different, and the descriptions are different.

NetEase Dada’s animal protection themed H5 “Confession” was created using anthropomorphic techniques.

The story unfolds from the first-person perspective of a little girl named "Lan". She sees her peaceful life destroyed by demons and her relatives brutally murdered. She seeks for help but no one responds. She feels helpless, desperate and sad. Until the end of the scene, we know that "Lan" is a whale, and the bloodthirsty monster in its eyes is actually a whaler.

The scenes of whaling are bloody and cruel, but by reversing the roles and anthropomorphizing them, it is easier to resonate with users emotionally, highlight the theme of animal protection, and make the H5 more profound.

Create special scenes to make users feel involved and motivate them.

If users are already accustomed to the imaginary world view, it is better to directly build a special real scene.

Confessions

NetEase Cloud Music's H5 "Your Jungian Psychological Archetype" simulates the WeChat chat interface to conduct a question-and-answer test, which creates a real scenario of chatting with a psychological counselor.

Not only does it make users feel very involved, but it also makes them feel that the test is very professional.

Your Jungian Archetype

Create contrast to magnify the characteristics of things.

Contrast is to break the existing cognition of a thing and give it an opposite title.

This mixture of seriousness and humor, and the head-on collision of classicism and modernity, allows different elements to subvert the original stereotypes.

The H5 "Travel through the Forbidden City to See You" produced by Tencent Innovation Competition uses this contrasting image to attract users' attention.

Zhu Yuanzhang posted a selfie singing rap, and the concubines in the harem commented and liked the post on their Moments, creating a contrast between ancient and modern times. The entire H5 subverts the original perception of the emperor, and the memorable point is this unusual mix-and-match style.

《Traveling Through the Forbidden City to See You》

03. What should you pay attention to when thinking of creativity?

Creativity cannot be obtained simply by thinking, it also requires a large amount of material accumulation.

The materials needed here include literature to provide text support, current hot topics of public concern, and interactive designs at the forefront of the industry.

H5 planning requires a thorough understanding of the content of the creation. If there are members with a wide range of interests in the team, their thinking will definitely be more open than that of members with fewer hobbies.

From the perspective of overall planning, content creativity and gameplay interaction creativity should be given equal importance.

A complete work should have an eye-catching beginning, rich and substantial story content, and a concise and appropriate ending.

The completeness and smoothness of H5 is one of the reasons for retaining users, so we should keep our eyes open here.

In the above, we divided the H5 creativity into two parts, content creativity and H5 overall creativity. That is to say, in terms of planning, it is necessary to reasonably match the screen content and interactive design.

Interactive narrative, fun games, one-shots, interactive videos and question-and-answer tests are some common H5 gameplay methods.

The application of these five scenarios can be divided into two development methods: lightweight and heavyweight. The complexity of H5 interactive design is related to the depth of creativity, budget range, and length of production cycle.

The creativity in interaction needs to be matched with the content presented in H5, or you can first design an interesting gameplay, and then design the story content according to the scenario and fill in the screen.

The "360° Prime Minister's Press Conference" H5 produced by NetEase is produced in this way. The meeting procedures of the annual two sessions are fixed. If the complex meeting content cannot attract users' attention, then we have to start with the gameplay.

For topics with greater content restrictions, when creating H5, it is important to pay attention to form over content.

360° Prime Minister's Press Conference

To complete a creative idea, you can have excellent content and excellent presentation.

But it must be excellent to be considered a successful idea.

If you are complacent and stuck in a circle, it is not creativity, it is just a parrot and there will be no new breakthroughs.

NetEase DaDa holds topic selection meetings every day, which are commonly known as "brainstorming". During the brainstorming meetings, friends may start quarreling at any time. The most terrifying thing about a brainstorming meeting is that people flatter each other. You compliment A's plan with 98 points, and A praises B's plan with 100 points. Then what's the point of holding the meeting? Just adjourn it and get back to work.

In the initial stage of creative output, you should also learn more, read more, expand your scope of knowledge, and develop multiple ideas in parallel. This is the second mandatory requirement for a topic brainstorming session: everyone must do their homework and come with a plan.

The planning of a screen-sweeping event starts with a good idea. Can your creativity really be called creativity?

Now, it's time for you to think.

Source: NetEase H5 (ID: wangyih5)