Why is the “Hua Xizi” IP marketing so popular?

At present, people born in the 1990s and 1995s have become the main force in the consumer market, and this new generation of young people has different interests and hobbies. In order to integrate more deeply into the young circles of Generation Z, many brands choose virtual characters to endorse their products, using virtual IP to create more marketing possibilities. Below, enjoy.

They are obsessed with various virtual two-dimensional idols, and many of them even collect two-dimensional peripheral figures and endorsement products. Their level of madness is comparable to that of fans of traditional stars.

In order to integrate more deeply into the young circles of Generation Z, many brands choose virtual characters to endorse their products, using virtual IP to create more marketing possibilities. For example, JD.com’s Joy, Zhihu’s IP Liu Kanshan, Hualing’s two-dimensional image - Linghun Girl, McDonald’s “Happy Sister” and so on.

Recently, Hua Xizi , which follows the traditional Chinese style, has also embarked on the road of exploring virtual images, and officially announced the official debut of the brand's virtual image "Hua Xizi" IP, giving it a special mission of Chinese makeup and oriental beauty.

When brands start playing with virtual IPs, they are inevitably trapped in the dilemma of homogeneity. How can brands seize the trend of virtual idols, turn virtual IPs into differentiated super symbols, and empower the brand?

1. Huaxizi's virtual IP debut

Continue to convey the "Huaxizi style"

The "Hua Xizi" virtual IP perfectly inherits the brand's unique oriental aesthetic characteristics.

Hua Xizi, a cosmetics brand focusing on "Oriental aesthetics", has created a unique brand tone by relying on this differentiated national style positioning, standing out from a host of brands and quickly becoming a new domestic Internet celebrity.

Looking back at Hua Xizi’s growth history, it is actually a process of continuous sedimentation of oriental aesthetics. Since its inception, Hua Xizi has been constantly exploring the aesthetic elements of Chinese culture, and has been continuously building its ideal brand character image - "Oriental Beauty" through co-creation with users and celebrities.

This can also be seen from the image of Hua Xizi's celebrity spokespersons. The brand's exclusive model Zhang Xujia and image spokesperson Du Juan have one thing in common: they both have highly recognizable oriental faces and temperament, and at the same time have a sense of fashion and sophistication, providing the prototype concept for Hua Xizi's "Oriental Beauty" image.

The virtual IP "Hua Xizi" has an explosive appearance, a perfect and delicate face shape, a "beauty mole" between the eyebrows, lotus leaf decorations on the ears, and a hint of dark blue on the hair. It not only integrates the brand color of Hua Xizi, but also fully displays the temperament and charm of an oriental beauty. It has a strong character memory point.

Not just a visual image, the "Hua Xizi" IP also carries the brand's value connotations. The flower held by "Hua Xizi" is "Twin Lotuses". The twin lotus, with two flowers on one stem and each flower having its own stem, is also called the twin lotus, the concentric lotus, the albizzia lotus, and the auspicious lotus. It is a treasure among lotus flowers, carrying the beautiful wishes of Hua Xizi for unity, good fortune and luck.

Huaxizi's ultimate goal is to become an excellent cultural brand in China and to create a unique "Huaxizi style". In terms of brand and products, Huaxizi incorporates the beauty of traditional Chinese culture and circulates it in modern daily life.

For example, Hua Xizi uses the traditional Chinese color Dai as its brand color and cinnabar as its lipstick color. It even took more than a year to develop a unique font called "Hua Xizi font" by integrating the delicate features of oriental women. Thus, the "Hua Xizi style" came into being. The debut of the "Hua Xizi" virtual IP is the best interpretation of the brand's unique style, and is also a good carrier for the brand to convey Chinese makeup trends to the world.

Hua Xizi’s debut is just the beginning. If they want to consolidate their brand image through this IP, they still need to discuss and co-create with users, and delve deeper into the brand, products, and services to win the favor of more users. By continuously enriching the connotation of "Hua Xizi style", we will spread the oriental beauty to a wider international stage.

2. Virtual IP is becoming popular

Brands are keen on playing "cross-dimensional"

The younger generation’s consumption preferences are more avant-garde and individual, and they pursue novelty and fashion. Virtual IP or kol not only fits young people's preferences for the second dimension, but also brings them a surreal virtual experience, and therefore is more popular among young people. According to iQiyi's "2019 Virtual Idol Observation Report", nearly 400 million people across the country are paying attention to or are on the way to paying attention to virtual idols.

From a brand perspective, with the help of technology, the boundary between reality and virtuality is becoming increasingly blurred, constantly broadening the boundaries of brand reach. Virtual characters are undoubtedly the secret weapon for penetrating Generation Z. In recent years, brands with a keen sense of trends have begun to explore and develop virtual images.

In July 2019, Watsons launched its own virtual brand spokesperson: Qu Chenxi. Both in terms of name and image, this new spokesperson has a strong idol vibe. This shows that the brand wants to continue to attract young and fashionable female consumers through virtual IP.

In 2020, Tmall officially announced a new brand spokesperson, the first virtual image of the four-character brother - Qian Miao, and launched Tmall's LXSH (Ideal Life) parallel world 7-day exploration plan. Borrowing the creativity of the parallel world, "Red and White Qian Xi" immediately pulls users into the interaction of the other world, winning the favor of the audience with its novelty and fun.

Earlier this year, McDonald’s launched the two-dimensional image “Happy Sister”. One of the character settings is a singing and dancing idol, and she is also a master storyteller. In addition, there are a variety of personalized labels such as the pink all-round idol and the energetic kid king. These features make it easier for brands to interact with young consumers and children online, allowing the brand's influence to penetrate into people's hearts.

This time, Hua Xizi officially announced the virtual IP "Hua Xizi", whose character is a fresh, refined, gentle and elegant classical girl, as well as a confident and elegant fashion lady. The fashionable and classic image and temperament break the dimensional wall between virtuality and reality, and easily attract fans of the discerning new generation.

By building or crossing borders virtual IPs and using virtual characters and two-dimensional characters, brands can create a perfect world for young people, allowing the brand and its users to interact more closely. At the same time, it also makes the brand image more three-dimensional and vivid, and increases its youthful tone, which can be said to kill two birds with one stone.

3. How to play the virtual IP card well?

With the continuous development of the two-dimensional market and the continuous penetration of two-dimensional culture, virtual idols are becoming popular and are deeply sought after by consumers and brands. The marketing value and commercial value behind them are undoubtedly immeasurable.

Through the planning and operation of virtual IP content, the IP value can be fully released and increased in value, and the brand can be empowered. This is an issue that many brands, including Tmall, need to think about together when choosing to create virtual spokespersons.

1. Long-term content accumulates fans and releases IP influence

With the frequent appearance of virtual idols, if the IP personality is too thin, it will be difficult to establish a deep emotional connection with users, which will also make it difficult to break through the existing circle to a certain extent. Therefore, brands need to continuously enrich IP personalities and accumulate fans through long-term high-quality content in order to form super symbolic recognition and unleash the influence of IP.

In the creation of long-term content, we can start from the creation of major events and daily communication. Major events can create high momentum, while daily communication can be a long-term process, constantly extending the IP tentacles into popular cultural forms among young people such as animation and songs, effectively maintaining deep fan loyalty and building an IP moat.

Hualing has set a good example by jointly launching the Linghun Girl Image Design Competition with the design platform ZCOOL, exporting the Linghun Girl IP and building a unique memory symbol for the IP. At the same time, it is also very good at telling stories for IPs. It collaborated with Luo Tianyi to customize an MV for the IP Linghun Girl to create Hualing's brand music assets; and launched the comic series "The Future I Want Is Not Ashes", telling the story of two sisters exploring the relationship between humans and AI . Hualing continues to tell good IP stories to users and use high-quality original content to strengthen Hualing's brand image awareness.

At the daily communication level, with the help of Linghun Girl’s Douyin account Linghun Planet, Hualing has interesting conversations with users through the brand personas “Nuanqin” and “Liangran”. By filming the daily fun of Linghun girl into short videos, soft-implanting brand information into native content that is close to user needs, and playing with story marketing that is advertising as content.

2. Leverage IP to empower products and realize commercial realization

The value of virtual IP is not only to consolidate the brand image, but also to enable commercial monetization.

On the one hand, empower products through cross-border and other marketing methods.

When the fifth year of the classic return of the Domineering Red Pomegranate series, Naixue teamed up with the popular virtual KOL Ling to create the most cutting-edge cross-dimensional content marketing. In Ling's phoenix eyes, the new version of Domineering Red Pomegranate "Ling Tea Research Room" was magically staged, implanting more intrinsic attachment value into the product and enhancing fans' love and loyalty to the product.

On the other hand, the current two-dimensional idols have exploded in their ability to sell goods. Through the popularity and energy of IP, they have embarked on the content-oriented live streaming sales path, which is a way to commercialize IP.

In May 2020, virtual idol Luo Tianyi embarked on an unconventional sales journey, live-streaming sales for brands such as Bausch and Lomb, Midea, and L'Occitane. After Luo Tianyi came online, she attracted widespread attention. The number of people watching the live broadcast online once reached nearly 3 million, and nearly 2 million people gave rewards and interacted.

In addition to Luo Tianyi, more virtual idols such as "I Don't Eat for Free", "Little Monk Yichan", "Ye Xiu" and so on have joined in, opening up a new track for the market. Indeed, this will bring new opportunities for brand live streaming marketing.

IV. Conclusion

As a product of the two-dimensional world and fan culture, virtual idols are being loved and sought after by more and more young consumers. With the addition of live streaming, short videos, and AI technology, the new generation of virtual idols will have greater room for imagination, which is a potential new brand marketing opportunity.

In the environment where virtual idols are popular, brands need to use the personalized image of IP to infiltrate brand culture into the social circles of young people, continuously increase the touch points between the brand and young people, interact with users, promote youthful values, and strengthen the impression of young people in the minds of consumers.

Author: Xu Li

Source: Marketing Front Page (ID: MKT2000)