Brand Marketing: Has Platinum Travel Photography over-marketed?

When I was taking the elevator today, the Platinum Travel Photography advertisement that was wildly complained about half a month ago was still playing in the elevator. I wonder what everyone thinks about this?

The brainwashing advertisements of Platinum Travel Photography have been making headlines recently. I wonder if anyone has been mentally attacked by Platinum Travel Photography in elevators, video apps, etc. Many people regard this incident as a step backward and a disgrace for the advertising industry, which is unforgivable.

Recently, some media invited the creative people and producers of the advertisement. Originally, everyone thought that they would come forward to apologize. On the contrary, not only did they not apologize, but they also put forward the view that we only serve the advertising effect and not other services.

If you search for "Bai Jue Travel Photography" on the Internet now, apart from the first few results which are advertisements, the rest are almost all curses, and it is even worse on Weibo. People mainly complained about the ad being silly, tacky, low-brow and noisy. If you haven't been mentally attacked yet, you can search for the video if you are still curious.

What's the problem?

Why do people hate this ad so much? Many self-media authors have analyzed it in detail:

The first is repeated brainwashing, which I particularly agree with. Previous advertisements were like sniper rifles, with one sentence directly hitting the pain point, while Platinum Travel Photography’s advertisements are like heavy machine guns, with six slogans in the first three seconds.

The second is the lack of aesthetics, crude copywriting, and repetitive expressions. How can we take beautiful and high-end wedding photos if the copywriting and design of the company advertisement are mediocre?

Repeated brainwashing advertisements are not uncommon in our life journey. 1994's Brain Gold (now Brain Platinum) and 2015's (Millennium Tiepi Fengdou), one after another, brainwashing and over-marketed corporate images appear in our field of vision.

Examples of over-marketing:

1. Giant Brain Gold (Brain Gold)

Giant Group was established in August 1989. Its main products are Chinese handwriting computers, Chinese laptops, Giant fax cards, etc. In August 1994, in order to avoid the risks of developing in a single industry, Giant Group decided to enter the health care products industry. Among them, the health product is Giant Brain Gold.

Giant Group chose a carpet-style advertising bombardment. When we were testing the product in East China, we suffered a loss in the first month, broke even in the second month, and turned a profit in the third month. Taking the Hangzhou market as an example, from October 1994 to February 1995, competitor Duolingduokou invested 500,000 yuan in advertising and recovered 3.57 million yuan in payment for goods. Giant invested 4 million yuan in advertising and recovered 4.1 million yuan in payment for goods, which shows how much importance it attaches to advertising. Its sales soon surpassed those of Duolingduo in the national market, becoming a substitute for the pioneering Brain Gold category. In January 1995, Brain Gold achieved a profit of 10 million yuan that month.

The Advertising Law was implemented on January 1, 1995. The program "Let 100 Million People Become Smart First" was identified by the State Administration for Industry and Commerce as violating the Advertising Law and was banned from broadcasting. The sluggish market prompted Giant Group to try to enter the gift market, launching the advertisement "I will not accept any gifts this year, the only gifts I will accept are Brain Gold" (later this advertisement was used for the Brain Gold product and was used for nearly 20 years). However, Brain Gold’s glory days are gone. Then, Giant encountered a financial crisis and had to reduce its advertising investment in Brain Gold. In addition, Brain Gold was not a product with obvious efficacy, so it gradually disappeared. [1]

Figure: Melatonin's Baidu Index

Melatonin's Baidu Index rises every Spring Festival, reaching its peak of negative reviews in 2015. Interestingly, in 2019, some people have begun to write about the ups and downs of Melatonin.

2. Millennium Ironbark Maple

"Strong, strong, strong, strong, strong, strong, strong, call us, 4008515151", the Qiannian brand Tiepi Fengdou Capsules produced by Changxing Biotechnology Co., Ltd. also chose a carpet-style advertising bombardment. This advertisement can be seen during the noon and evening broadcasts of several satellite TV stations.

Due to the brainwashing effect of the advertisement and the characteristics of the advertising slogan (Feng Dou is similar to a mad dog, and the repeated brainwashing reading deepens this impression), it was made into ghost videos by different up-hosts on the video website Bilibili (hereinafter referred to as b station). Among them, the original advertising video that was moved even achieved the highest ranking of 11th in the entire website. Three years after the advertising was stopped, the search volume for capsules dropped sharply and is now close to the brand's start-up period.

Image: Thousand-year Iron Maple Dou/Thousand-year Iron Mad Dog Baidu Index

Why does excessive marketing turn brands into martyrs?

1. Excessive advertising raises customer expectations

Customers have high expectations, but the gap between actual results is too large. For example, consumers who buy Brain Gold believe that they should experience the effect of nourishing the brain and achieving a younger state. However, even among the 27 health care products stipulated by the state, there is no one that nourishes the brain.

The Millennium Iron-bark Maple Tea claims to have the effects of sobering up, protecting the liver, and nourishing the skin, which is an out-of-nothing effect. Therefore, when the gap between expectations and reality is too large, consumers will not repurchase.

1. The brand is "drunk"

Brands are immersed in the temporary exposure, topic discussion, and significant increase in sales brought by advertising. In the early stages, decision makers hear the good news of rapid sales growth. On the one hand, the small base leads to a large growth multiplier. On the other hand, the customer's first purchase is directly related to the breadth of communication and the effect is obvious.

Excessive dissemination this week will cover up defects in customers, positioning, products, prices, channels, etc., and amplify market acceptance. When advertising is increased and sales decrease and costs cannot be recovered, companies will often break their capital chain and become martyrs.

Moderate marketing to avoid becoming a martyr

Brands often have the following three strategies when conducting marketing promotion. Small companies or startups often fall into low-level marketing and communication strategies due to lack of funds and become unknown brands; large companies often adopt moderate marketing and communication strategies to ensure the safety and slow growth of their own brands; and fast-growing companies are more likely to adopt excessive marketing and communication strategies. The more brainwashing their advertisements are, the more customers will feel that the brand is more well-known.

Moderate marketing communication requires that when companies conduct advertising, they should make customers feel that the positioning point does exist (because it is the reason for customers to buy), but at the same time not exaggerate and grasp an appropriate degree (control customers' pre-expectations).

On the one hand, the product must have real effects, and efforts must be made to make customers "feel the existence of the positioning point" in terms of products, prices, channels and communication.

On the other hand, we should not exaggerate the positioning points and let customers have too high expectations, otherwise they will be disappointed and give up the behavior of repeat purchases. The most core communication principle is to find a balance between customer value and customer satisfaction.

Summarize

Excessive marketing is a double-edged sword. While it can increase data indicators such as sales exposure in the short term, it can also reduce the conversion rate of other consumers and increase the conversion cost. Many consumers will not only fail to use the service but will become tired of the brand, thus turning the pioneer brand into a martyr brand.

Source: Softlipa