Marketing promotion: The advertisement of “Tanwan Blue Moon” is very low-level, why would anyone still play it?

I believe everyone is very familiar with "Tanwan Blue Moon". Nick Cheung often pops up when you are browsing the web, wearing strange equipment and speaking simple and crude advertising slogans. Why can these advertising slogans that seem to have no technical content still bring traffic to this game? In this article, the author will analyze for you in detail: Why do people still play games with such low-level advertising?

Legend, a game that carries the youthful memories of those born in the 70s, 80s and a small number of those born in the 90s. In other words, this has gone beyond the concept of games and gives us a youthful and passionate feeling.

I was born in 1994 and came into contact with the legendary game in 2004 when I was in the fourth grade of primary school. At that time, most of my classmates went to the Internet cafe, played private servers, opened gears, bought runes to fly Bichi, alliance heavy, and brush centipede caves, with warriors using Half Moon Fire, mages using Thunder and Fire Wall, and Taoist priests using Big Dog Group Poison.

Although I wasn't very good at it at the time, that was the trend. There is a saying: "In an Internet cafe, there are 10 people, 8 of them are playing Legends, 1 is chatting, and 1 is playing CS." Maybe you are not very clear about what the concept of "Legend" games is, but I believe that the following lines and pictures are definitely familiar to everyone:

• "Hello everyone, I'm Gu Tianle, my name is Zha Zha Hui, I'm here to introduce you to a brand new version that you haven't played before. You only need to play it for three minutes, and you will love this game like me!"
• "Click once, play for a year, and the equipment doesn't cost a penny!"
• "Louis Koo is green, Louis Koo is green, constant surprises, monthly income of tens of thousands. Levels can be withdrawn, equipment can be exchanged for some money."

ps: You won’t know until you see it, now Donnie Yen has also joined... and there is also a Donnie Yen server.

That’s right, this is the leader in the web game industry, “Tanwan Blue Moon”, which is so powerful and famous that everyone can shout out its slogan whether they play the game or not.

Speaking of which, the fact that "Tanwan Blue Moon" has been able to make the advertisement so popular that everyone knows the meme is undoubtedly a huge success from a commercial promotion perspective, and every time we complain about it is an acknowledgement of it.

The ads are so low-level, why would anyone still play this game?

However, some people may laugh and ask why they keep seeing such ads on various high-traffic websites? How can you make money from this kind of game? Does anyone play this game?

Facts have proven that there are people who really play the games, and legendary games can always attract more money to buy better advertising spots and invite big-name stars like Louis Koo and Jack Ma to endorse the games.

Let me show you a set of outdated data first: (Sorry, this is all I can find)

• In December 2016, the monthly revenue of the single game "Tanwan Blue Moon" exceeded 65 million, ranking first among the joint operation platforms.
• In 2017, the daily turnover of the single product "Tanwan Blue Moon" exceeded 4 million, and the monthly turnover exceeded 60 million.
• In 2017, the total number of servers opened was 19,912, ranking first among web games of the year.
• In 2017, the online game revenue reached over 1 billion, ranking first in the year.

The above picture is just a drop in the ocean of the daily server opening table...and, Tanwan is only a more famous one among many agency platforms.

The result....it definitely made money, a commercial project is not a charity.

Making money means: ARPU (average user payment) is greater than the average CPA cost (here it means that users learn about and enter the game through various channels).

If they haven’t checked the detailed data, many people may be surprised: Is the ARPU of this game so high? Where can you make so much money?

Below I will analyze the target user screening and marketing of "Tanwan Blue Moon" based on some data to see which group is attracted to it and allow this type of product to survive in the world.

Accurately target audience and marketing

Let me first give you a very normal example: there is a big R who recharges 20,000 every day, and has been doing so for almost a year. The game user operation asks him as an in-game friend why he recharges so much?

The other party's answer basically meant: I don't have to take care of the factory at home, it has an annual output value of several hundred million, it is in a third-tier city, and there are no entertainment activities. I’m 35 years old now. I can’t learn new games, and my reactions and gameplay can’t keep up with the times. My previous entertainment was going out singing and drinking, spending tens of thousands of dollars a day. My family was also worried about problems caused by drinking. This time I spent very little money to play games and had a lot of fun. Hundreds of people asked my brother to play with them. My family doesn’t worry about me coming home late in the middle of the night, and my wife doesn’t worry about whether there are other people outside when I play games at home. It’s so great to play web games, it’s the best value for money!

Don’t think the above is made up. There are many big guys who switch to new areas every few days and continue to recharge for the sake of novelty. Keep real

No matter what product you create, you need to determine who your target users are .

Tanwan Blue Moon’s target audience is: middle-aged and elderly people born in the 1970s and 1980s, aged 27 and above (my college roommate also played it for quite a while). Because Tanwan Blue Moon is a legendary web game, "Legend" first appeared in 2001 or 2002. It can be called the first game in the history of Chinese game development to achieve unprecedented success.

Tanwan Blue Moon has very accurately grasped the nostalgia of middle-aged people over 27 years old for "Legend" and their youthful years.

What about those born in the 90s and 00s?

They have extremely high requirements for game quality and gameplay, and it is difficult for them to accept the graphics and gameplay of web games. And if you despise the legend class, then you are no longer his target user.

Let’s first take a look at the user age and gender distribution chart of Baidu Index from January 2017 to December 2018 (the data is not yet available as of press time 19):

This type of game is not for new players, but more for players who have experienced legendary games to get a second experience in a relatively cheap and fool-proof way - which is what we commonly call "reheating old food".

Why are Hong Kong film stars, led by the "Young and Dangerous" series, chosen as the core of marketing?

Because there is a very obvious overlap between the two: they were both popular all over the country at the same time in the early 2000s.

This intersection reflects the core service that marketing and even the project itself need to provide, which can be summed up in two words: memories .

After the abstract summary, break down these keywords into some concrete words. First of all, the age group is basically locked in on those who are born in the 1990s or later. The target group should be those who spent their youth around 2000 (because reminiscing about youth is what humans always love to do most). This age group is basically locked in on the two age groups of those born in the 1970s and 1980s ( Feature 1 ).

gender?

——Male-dominated ( Feature 2 ), because there are very few female players who play this category. You have to believe that even women who have played Legends before will basically focus on their children at this point in their life cycle. Moreover, most women will not use this as the main theme of their memories. Most girls’ dreams are filled with pink bubbles. This can be seen from the currently popular otome games.

The literacy and appreciation ability at the gaming level are low ( Characteristic 3 ): It’s very simple, people with normal appreciation ability basically can’t play it. Moreover, game-related literacy and knowledge levels are basically in direct proportion, because the smarter people are, the more they can link these cultural and creative products with art.

Of course, this is also why games are called the ninth art. And this is related to the city, because modern society is dominated by brain-intensive industries, and the proportion of people with high levels of knowledge in first-tier cities is basically higher than in other cities. Therefore, cities can also be targeted here: third-tier and below cities are the key targets of care ( Feature 4 ).

Ability to pay? ( Characteristic 5 ) There is definitely no good expectation at the beginning, all we can say is the higher the better. From the perspective of results, it is undoubtedly very successful. Moreover, there is a certain relationship between the expectation of payment and the cost planning of advertising.

Free time? More ( Feature 6 ). Because people who have free time and are sitting next to the computer will click on channel ads to enter the web game out of boredom.

Just an example: How can a travel-seeking entrepreneur born in the 1970s have the time to play like this? Basically none. Therefore, users need to have a certain amount of free time to sit in front of the computer and reminisce about their youth in their minds.

American politician and scientist Benjamin Franklin once said: "Many people die at the age of 25 and are not buried until they are 75."

This has actually been fully reflected here. For many people, the years after the age of 25 are actually used to reminisce about their youth at the age of 25. The great Chairman Mao wrote the famous poem "沁园春·长沙" when he left his hometown Shaoshan for Guangzhou in 1926. There is also a line in his poem: "Recalling the glorious years of the past."

Therefore, a very clear core purpose has actually been established at this point: "Tanwan Blue Moon" hopes to create an imaginative space of memories for male private business owners or relatively idle civil servants who have extra money, are bored in middle age and want to reminisce about their youth, have an average to low level of appreciation, live in third- and fourth-tier cities, have watched "Young and Dangerous" and played "Legend", and make money from it.

ps: I feel like I’m really old, and there’s not much time left for the Chinese team…

Pain Point Marketing

Identify pain points and develop marketing strategies.

Determine marketing goals and then conduct marketing targeting the interests or needs of target users.

The demand and interest of those born in the 1970s and 1980s who are over 25 years old for playing web games lies in "sentiment" and "brotherhood", just like the classmates who play League of Legends now will make plans to "play five-man team" together on weekends after graduating from college. Therefore, "Tanwan Blue Moon" focuses its marketing and promotion strategy on promoting " nostalgia " and " brotherhood ". This point has indeed been implemented in the advertising slogan of "Tanwan Blue Moon".

Omni-channel promotion + "magic advertising" dissemination, the purpose of low-level advertising is to filter users.

The strategy adopted by "Tanwan Blue Moon" is to buy as much volume as possible and place advertisements on as many platforms and channels as possible, which can be said to be overwhelming! Later, a Cantonese advertisement starring Nick Cheung made the game even more popular.

Whether it was intentional or not, this tells us that advertising slogans need to be made easier for young people to spread! (Highlight the key points, required for the final exam)

Low advertising attracts users who are willing to pay for the game. Even if the highly educated group with high aesthetic requirements play this game, they will not recharge it!

What we think is low is not low, it’s just that we are not the target group. We can make fun of this game, laugh at and spoof its brainwashing advertisements, but in fact, what we do is just helping others with free publicity.

Track the development of marketing situations, add measures and amplify the impact.

"Legend of Blue Moon" came into the public eye because of its advertising. The current popularity and becoming a national meme is due to both accidental factors and the promotion of post-marketing. Funny videos are extremely easy to cause secondary dissemination, triggering big Vs on large video platforms to imitate and spread them, thereby expanding their influence.

The original video content exploded -> big Vs imitated and created secondary works -> emoticons, cartoons, and jokes expanded the influence -> self-media articles interpreted and commented on -> serious media comments were exposed -> known to the public.

The result is that "Tanwan Blue Moon" has been further spread to a wider range.

Inspiration and summary

1. Identify target users and position them more accurately

Understanding your users is the most critical step before creating content. Once you have identified your target users, your content can hit the audience's pain points and resonate with them.

From the user portrait, we can clearly see: the gender, age, and geographical distribution of the audience, understand their zodiac signs and interests and hobbies. After a deep understanding of the target users, we will have direction for content production. Only by starting from their pain points and needs can your content hit users.

1. Marketing based on deeper interest pain points

After fully understanding the target users, how can we further hit their pain points?

We need to directly state the further benefits - that is, to upgrade the benefits.

The advertisement of "Tianwan Blue Moon" can also bring us a lot of inspiration. "The brothers of the past are still legendary", "As long as you have played Legend, I am your brother". The brotherhood repeated in these slogans is a kind of interest upgrade. It tells you that this game is not just fun, it can evoke users' youthful memories of playing games with their good brothers when they were young.

Here is another easy-to-understand example. There is a paragraph like this:

What users want is not a drill, but a hole; what users want is not a hole, but a nail inserted in the hole; what users want is not a nail, but a photo frame hung on the wall with a nail; what users want is not a photo frame, but a happy and complete family.

This example is the best explanation of interest escalation.

For content creators, we all know that only by causing resonance can we impress users and cause them to spread further, but the points of resonance in most programs are only superficial. If we do not dig deep into the real needs of the audience, that is, do not upgrade their interests, then this resonance point will not be attractive enough to the audience and will be easily imitated.

Creating content is a science that requires meticulous research. Any changes in any link will affect the final communication effect. Only by paying attention to user portraits and user resonance can we create more accurate content and further impress users (I hope I can accumulate more and write better copy).

Source: The Nutcracker