A review of marketing cases in 2021

The meaning of advertising is publicity, but it is more than just publicity!

In the blink of an eye, there is only one month left in 2021. It is true that "life is like a flash of lightning in the sky, passing by in a flash." Whether you are ready or not, the countdown to 2021 has already started.

There are many things that can and are worth talking about this year, including the Versailles style, Lingna Belle, the Olympics, the European Cup, Liziqi, Didi, 996, and the epidemic that has continued to this day, etc.

In the last month, let’s review this year’s most impressive advertising and marketing cases. In 2021, insight remains the soul of advertising, which is an eternal truth. Good insights combined with emotional resonance have always been the main theme of each advertisement.

In terms of form, on the one hand, based on the preferences of the target audience, more fragmented content and a short and fast pace are used to create targeted content; on the other hand, with the continued popularity of Douyin and Kuaishou, short videos are used as core material and distributed to various platforms, becoming the mainstream form of advertising presentation chosen by brands.

If we were to pick out some keywords for successful marketing cases in 2021, in addition to insight and resonance, we believe that content that is sincere, interesting, and down-to-earth is more likely to become advertising content recognized by the audience. Only by not being vague or preachy, and using real content to communicate, can fans feel the brand's sincerity.

We have selected 4 cases as representative marketing cases in 2021. They all have the above labels to a greater or lesser extent, but more than that, they have also explored more possibilities on how to do advertising well.

01. Be sincere to the extreme

【TikTok x Andy Lau: This Ordinary Day】

Andy Lau's joining Douyin is obviously a big event for Douyin in 2021. When Jackie Chan and Jay Chou joined Kuaishou, they brought a lot of traffic and influence to Kuaishou, which made Kuaishou gain a lot of popularity.

Video address: https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1cq4y1f7Eb?zw

This time, TikTok has brought in Andy Lau, who is basically the ceiling of the Chinese entertainment industry, so naturally related publicity is inevitable. How to formulate a strategy? Douyin’s answer is: sincere, sincere to the core.

It coincides with the 40th anniversary of Andy Lau's debut. Hardworking and model worker have always been the images of Andy Lau that are deeply rooted in people's hearts. Andy Lau's excellent personal influence, simple and sincere content, and Douyin's classic 1-minute short video format have instantly elevated Douyin's temperament. Here, one can see not only romance, but also positive stories.

Let’s take a look at this trailer for Andy Lau’s live broadcast on TikTok:

The very plain content may seem to have no creativity, but it is actually the most brilliant technique. In this impetuous age, sincerity is the only weapon that is invincible.

This reminds me of the advertisement of Xiaohongshu x Xu Zhiyuan. In response to users' doubts about the authenticity of information on Xiaohongshu, Xiaohongshu cooperated with Xu Zhiyuan to launch the "Don't Panic Mailbox", giving Xiaohongshu's fans the opportunity to get a personal response from Xu Zhiyuan on how to get rid of anxiety, thereby achieving the goal of upgrading the brand image and allowing users to have a deeper understanding of Xiaohongshu's platform image.

02. What are we talking about when we talk about equal rights?

[PROYA x China Women’s News: Gender is not the boundary, prejudice is]

In recent years, advertising content discussing feminism is not uncommon. Discussions on feminist issues will become a hot topic every now and then, accompanied by thousands of heated comments.

In 2021, the short film "Gender is not the boundary, prejudice is" released by PROYA and China Women's News on Women's Day may be the best one in 2021.

Video address: https://v.qq.com/x/page/v3232s37j8k.html?start=118

The insight itself is not surprising, but the short film is not only discussing women's rights, but also discussing equal rights. While speaking for women, it is also giving voice to some discriminated men. And it was executed very well, with rapper Yu Zhen’s performance being very strong, the content of the copy being sincere and unpretentious, and it was heartfelt and easy to resonate with.

It does not emphasize women or men, but emphasizes human attributes and returns to the essence. It is also wise to jointly release the news with the China Women's News, as the relatively compatible fan groups and audiences can bring better results.

As a brand, in addition to this short film, PROYA also has a series of posters and peripheral products as part of its overall marketing content promotion.

On International Women's Day, many brands that involve female consumers are also creating their own content, but they all easily give people the feeling of "overdoing it" and are eager to push their brands and products to consumers.

This time, PROYA's marketing effort weakened the presence of some products, which can be described as "just the right amount of strength." It talked about women's rights and equal rights, and while winning the favor of female consumers, it was more likely to gain the favor of consumers than those brands that were eager to "penetrate" consumers, and received unanimous praise.

03. Fun is justice

[Xiaodu Smart Giant Screen TV: Attention! Don’t look at this set of “big” posters]

If your client gave you a brief and asked you to demonstrate the “big” characteristics of your product, what would you do? Xiaodu smart giant-screen TV gave a good answer.

They launched an 86-inch super-large TV and needed to let users feel how big this TV is. Therefore, we launched a series of posters with the copy content "Attention! Don't XXX my ad" combined with different scenarios.

In terms of scene selection, Xiaodu smart giant-screen TV chose rolling doors, beds, parking spaces, ping-pong tables, billboards and other common and recognizable scenes in people's daily lives as comparisons to highlight the size of the 86-inch TV.

Not only is the scene chosen correctly, but the content of the copy is also very interesting. In addition to the main copy, some posters also have small print copy, such as "The picture is photoshopped, but the rolling door is still a rolling door", or "The picture is photoshopped, but my advertisement is just as bold", which makes people who see it smile.

The marketing of Xiaodu smart giant-screen TV this time abandoned the general promotion method of digital products that mainly promotes performance and parameters. Instead, it adopted a method that is easier for ordinary people to accept and like. Through the perception of life scenes, people who have no idea about the size of the TV can immediately get the size of this TV.

The cost of using a poster is relatively lower, but the effect is not compromised. It is a typical example of using insight and fun to achieve great results with a small investment.

04. Passion never fades

[League of Legends x Jay Chou: A magic show that has lasted for ten years]

2021 is destined to be an extraordinary year for League of Legends players. The slogan "If EDG wins the championship, I'm willing to XXXXXXX" has been shouted countless times by LOL players. When EDG really won the championship, the excitement was no less than the Chinese national football team entering the World Cup again.

For the players, EDG's championship not only means a sense of pride, but also a reason for them to love the game even more.

2021 also marks the tenth anniversary of the launch of League of Legends. This time, the official League of Legends once again invited Jay Chou, the leader of the Chinese music scene, who had collaborated with them before, to participate in the promotion.

Video address: https://v.qq.com/x/page/u3270myrlu2.html?start=178

In previous collaborations, Jay Chou, as a player, wrote theme songs for LOL and created a team. This time, to promote the tenth anniversary of League of Legends, Jay Chou performed a magic show about League of Legends with the theme of "A Magic Show That Lasted Ten Years".

In the promotional video, Jay Chou witnessed the changes of players over the past ten years as a magician and with his skills. From a young boy to a workplace elite; from giving up easily to persevering to the end; from being afraid of cosplay to attending weddings as a coser; from an unmarried young man to a super dad.

Over the past ten years, every player has changed, but the only thing that remains unchanged is their love for League of Legends.

There will also be many Easter eggs that players can discover in the film. Jay Chou's poker magic at the beginning and end of the film was about "Card Master Twisted Fate", a League of Legends poster of Frost Archer was pasted on the door of the Internet cafe, the girl on the stage at the comic convention was cosplaying as Lady Lux, and there were heroes such as Garen and Wind Blade below, and the player who went to get married at the end was cosplaying as Ezreal, and the kid who ran over was cosplaying as Teemo. Everywhere was filled with League of Legends elements, allowing players to feel the care put into the promotional video.

There are many more excellent marketing cases in 2021. We believe that the above four can, to a certain extent, represent the tone of excellent marketing cases in this year.

The significance of advertising lies in publicity, but it is more than just publicity.

05. A summary of some useful information

【Strategies regarding advertising value and sincerity】

What kind of advertising is truly valuable? There are obviously many answers to this question, and advertisements with different purposes have different evaluation criteria.

But overall, there is one commonality: using creativity or content to change the audience's perception of a brand, and then changing the audience's behavior, such advertising must be the right advertising.

In the current market environment, consumers' perception of advertising is also changing. They can more clearly distinguish which content is advertising, and instinctively reject and hate advertisements, especially those that give people the feeling of "you are teaching me how to do things." Consumers of this era are very smart, have their own ideas, and will not be easily brainwashed.

So what kind of advertising can impress today's consumers? Sincerity is the best answer. We are always easily moved by sincerity and have empathy. Even if we know it is an advertisement, we are willing to pay for it and enjoy it. This is based on the basic part of human nature. Each of us likes to be treated sincerely and feel the beauty of kindness.

Therefore, when brand marketing is also conveyed in a sincere way, it will achieve twice the result with half the effort. The project "This Ordinary Day" that we talked about above is an example of using this effect to the extreme. The result is a screen-sweeping effect, and the audience spontaneously spread it virally and praised it unanimously.

In 2021, advertisers are trying to give advertising more value and explore more possibilities. Such attempts are undoubtedly pushing advertising to a higher dimension, and we hope that we can see more such attempts in 2022.

Author: Qinggua Media

Source: Cucumber Morning News