5 major trends in brand marketing in 2021

Among the top ten popular slogans, Yuanfudao (A total of 400 million users across the country have chosen Yuanfudao, and to take online courses, they use Yuanfudao) ranked first, and Zuoyebang (Good grades, someone to help), another online education brand, also ranked among the top. In the list of mental slogans in 2020, Yuanqi Forest (0 sugar, 0 fat, 0 calories), Zebra (2-8 years old go to Zebra to learn thinking and English), and Feihe (more suitable for the physique of Chinese babies) ranked in the top three respectively. In terms of the recognition channels of popular advertising slogans in China in 2020, 83% of consumers' recognition channels came from elevator media , 56% from Internet media, and 47% from TV advertising.

It can be seen from the report that in the past year, many brands have fallen into a growth dilemma, while at the same time, there are also brands that have ushered in good development opportunities. In the post-epidemic era, the media integration trend and consumers' media activation habits have undergone major changes, and brand marketing ideas need to change accordingly.

The growth path of brands that successfully broke through the circle in 2020 provides us with a reference template for this year's brand marketing trends.

01. Marketing channels: Online content and offline segmented linkage model become standard

Online education brands won two spots among the top ten popular slogans in 2020, with Yuanfudao ranking first.

The report analyzes that in 2020, a year when dangers and opportunities coexist, emerging brands are good at making arrangements against the trend and have achieved outstanding results. The online education industry experienced counter-cyclical growth in 2020, developing into a trillion-level market that maintained high growth. The epidemic has enabled more families to accept online education, making this track unprecedentedly hot and attracting the attention of many giant capitals. As a leading player in the online education industry, Yuanfudao received four rounds of financing within one year, with a total financing amount exceeding US$3.5 billion.

With the development of 5G communication technology, the user experience of online education live courses will be further improved, and the industry will accelerate into the next stage of development. At the same time, the industry's head effect has emerged, and the decisive battle is imminent. Various online education brands have launched marketing offensives.

Taking the summer of 2020 as an example, Yuanfudao adopted a combination of online channels such as Douyin and WeChat and offline targeted elevator media to launch a staggering marketing bombardment, costing more than 10 billion yuan. At the same time, Xueersi Online School, Zuoyebang, and GSX have all invested higher budgets than in previous years to compete for customer acquisition resources during the summer of 2020.

According to the data analysis of consumers' cognitive channels of popular slogans in the "2020 China Popular Slogan Inventory Report", elevator advertisements represented by Focus Media have become the main media for consumers to be exposed to these brand advertisements, followed by the Internet and television. Targeted elevator media, which features high-frequency contact and mandatory viewing, makes it easier for people to remember advertising slogans. As a daily must-go for mainstream consumer groups, it continues to be a focus of attention for many brands.

However, as consumers' attention is fragmented and pulverized today, the effectiveness of mobile Internet advertising is becoming increasingly diluted. Most users choose to block ads when using such products. Therefore, online content marketing should be the main focus for a soft landing, while offline elevator and cinema advertising represented by Focus Media can reach the mainstream population more effectively.

The successful model of linking online content with offline audiences will surely continue to be the standard for brand marketing in the new economic era.

02. Players in the subdivided tracks will adopt more saturation attack strategies

As for the reason why people subconsciously choose a brand among many similar products when consuming, there is a scene in Pixar's classic animated film "Inside Out" that makes people smile and can explain this thought process. In the movie, there is a staff member in the protagonist's brain who is responsible for forcing her to play a chewing gum advertisement from time to time. This is why the protagonist often sings the brainwashing advertising song unconsciously. It can be imagined that when the protagonist buys chewing gum, this high frequency of memory flashbacks will have a significant impact on her consumption decision.

I believe every audience member will resonate with this scene. Being brainwashed by advertisements is an experience that most people will have. The staff in our brain who is responsible for playing brainwashing advertisements does exist, and that is our mind.

In the book 22 Business Rules co-authored by Jack Trout, the "Father of Positioning", and Al Ries, there is a "Law of Perception" - "There is no objective reality in the market, let alone better products. What exists is only the cognition in the minds of customers or potential customers. Only this cognition is the fact, and everything else is an illusion."

Just like the goal of corporate competition, the goal of brand marketing and advertising must be to occupy the minds of users, make the brand the default option for consumers, and form long-term brand relationships.

According to Ipsos' "2020 China Popular Slogan Inventory Report", Yuanqi Forest, which ranked first in the list of mental slogans in 2020, is an excellent dark horse in brand marketing in 2020.

After establishing a differentiated positioning by replacing traditional sugar ingredients with erythritol through a large number of experiments, Yuanqi Forest first formed brand awareness within a certain range by laying out a large number of performance advertisements. The next step was to complete the leap from "Internet celebrity" to the first in the category, with large-scale investment in Focus Elevator Media, and a saturation attack among the 300 million mainstream population, detonating the brand, occupying the minds, and taking the lead in locking in the top position in the sugar-free sparkling water segment, allowing "0 sugar, 0 fat, 0 calories" to break the circle.

So today, when people mention "sugar-free sparkling water", they will subconsciously equate it with Yuanqi Forest.

On Double Eleven 2020, Yuanqi Forest sold more than 20 million bottles, ranking first in the water beverage category on Tmall and JD.com. Founder Tang Binsen also announced that Yuanqi Forest’s offline sales target for 2021 is 7.5 billion yuan, which is three times last year’s sales target of 2.1 billion yuan.

In the new year, more segmented tracks will emerge. The successful breakthrough of Yuanqi Forest will inspire more innovative brands in subdivided categories to adopt a saturation attack strategy in marketing, lock in the leading position in the category, and make the brand and category equal.

03. The era of short videos continues, and live streaming begins to transform

In the field of digital marketing, despite the changes in platforms, communication forms, etc., video is still the most popular form of content. The increase in middle-aged and elderly users and the attention of more brand owners to the sinking market have brought new changes to the digital marketing of brands compared with the past.

According to statistics, short video applications such as Douyin and Kuaishou are one of the main entry points for the growth of the middle-aged and elderly population. It is estimated that by 2021, the scale of industries related to the silver economy will reach 5.7 trillion. Short videos, such a short and fast way, allow them to understand the outside world more quickly and conveniently. The middle-aged and elderly consumer groups have stronger purchasing power and can make consumption decisions more freely and with greater determination.

On the other hand, for the sinking market, the Fastdata report shows that as early as 2019, users in third-tier and lower cities accounted for nearly 70% of short video users. The rapid development of urbanization has enabled the lower-tier markets to join the main consumer army, and the rise of new trends and the attention of giant capital have also made the lower-tier markets an incremental market that most brands need to strive for.

From the media consumption habits of these two consumer groups that brands must pay attention to in 2021, it can be seen that content investment in short video platforms is still a direction that brands must consider in digital marketing in 2021.

In addition, the e-commerce live streaming that emerged in 2020 has supported an entire industry chain including anchors, MCN agencies, etc. It is undeniable that e-commerce live streaming has increased the purchase rate of goods by stimulating users' emotional consumption. However, more and more false orders, poor after-sales service, Matthew effect and other phenomena have made people realize that there are serious problems in the e-commerce live streaming industry. A series of negative events in 2020 pushed the entire industry to the forefront and also quickly cooled down the overheated track of e-commerce live streaming.

Under this circumstance, more and more brands choose to broadcast their own content. Hao Jianbin, director of the Industry Research Center of Alibaba Research Institute, said: In the first half of 2020, the number of merchants broadcasting their own content on Taobao Live accounted for 70% of the total. Taobao data for "Double Eleven" showed that the GMV of live broadcasts by merchants broadcasting their own content accounted for more than 60%.

In 2021, brands’ live streaming on e-commerce platforms will undergo an overall transformation, from a channel for quickly bringing goods to a tool for brands to communicate with consumers online, as well as a new entry point for building brand power and enhancing user stickiness.

04. Celebrity endorsement issues frequently arise, and virtual IPs are on the rise

Celebrity endorsements are an important form of brand marketing. However, celebrity endorsements, which have been successful for brands for a long time, have begun to fail frequently. There was even a negative case at the beginning of 2021 in which Zheng Shuang received a seven-day trial package as a PRADA spokesperson.

The year 2020 that has just passed can be called the first year of "collapse" in the mainland entertainment industry. Not only have traffic stars frequently become the hardest hit areas, even the "Asian Dance King" with excellent business ability and reputation can no longer take off the hat of time management master.

Brands that are busy with crisis public relations have finally realized that traffic superstition is likely to have a negative impact on the brand. The gap between marketing costs and the conversion brought by the actual consumption capacity of fans has also made brands rethink how to choose suitable spokespersons for the brand, rather than blindly chasing the traffic brought by celebrities. Before signing a spokesperson, brands will try to avoid risks through more detailed background checks, more specific titles, more binding contracts and shorter cooperation periods.

At the same time, some brands have noticed that with such a large number of KOLs to choose from in the market, promoting content on social platforms such as Xiaohongshu is obviously a more cost-friendly and lower-risk option for brands. Some newly popular brands have shown their uniqueness. For example, Pop Mart does not need a spokesperson. Molly, the most successful case of its IP incubation, is the best spokesperson for the brand. Even in the future when brands pay more and more attention to IP cooperation, Molly is likely to become the spokesperson for other brands to give back to the brands.

In addition, some brands that do not have their own IP images will choose to use virtual human IPs as spokespersons in order to enhance their influence among Generation Z consumers and avoid the risks of real-person endorsements.

Luo Tianyi, a virtual idol whose popularity in China remains high, has endorsed Pechoin, KFC, Mirinda, Pudong Development Bank, Pizza Hut, etc. She also completed her Taobao live broadcast debut in 2020. The number of online viewers once reached 2.7 million, and nearly 2 million people gave rewards and interacted, which is an impressive figure. Ye Xiu, the male protagonist of the well-known domestic two-dimensional IP "The King's Avatar", has also endorsed brands such as Pond's, Clear, Yili, and McDonald's.

In 2020, Tmall made an attempt at a virtual spokesperson and launched the virtual spokesperson "Qian Miao" based on its spokesperson Yi Yang Qianxi, which caused heated discussion. L'Oréal also launched the world's first virtual brand spokesperson "Ms. M" at the third China International Import Expo.

According to the research data of iMedia Consulting, the scale of China's two-dimensional users is expected to exceed 400 million in 2021. Although virtual idols’ performance in brand marketing activities is not perfect due to current technical limitations, with the continuous development of technologies such as artificial intelligence and 5G transmission, virtual idols may become a new option for celebrity endorsements in the future, and a good choice for brands to reduce the cost of communicating with the Generation Z consumer group.

05. The concept of long-termism is more recognized by decision makers

In the report, Ipsos analyzed that in addition to being simple, memorable and catchy, long-term persistence is the only way for brand slogans to be remembered by consumers. For example, Feihe in the dairy industry (which is more suitable for the physique of Chinese babies) has shown coherence and consistency through years of accumulation and advertising activities throughout the process, thus creating a long-term and stable brand image.

Under the influence of the melamine incident, domestic milk powder brands were labeled as "unsafe" for a long time. The high-end market was almost completely divided up by foreign milk powder brands. Domestic brands had no choice but to retreat to the sinking market and win a little living space through price wars. This was tantamount to drinking poison to quench thirst for the long-term development of domestic milk powder brands.

Amid the difficulties, Feihe Dairy readjusted its competitive strategy and established the brand positioning of "more suitable for the physique of Chinese babies". It then focused on high-end product lines, devoted itself to Focus Media elevator media offline, made investments worth hundreds of millions of yuan, and directly built its brand for consumers in first- and second-tier cities, breaking the price war of domestic milk powder.

During the period of Focus Media’s advertising campaign, Feihe Dairy’s Baidu Index more than doubled. In 2017, Feihe Dairy’s overall sales increased by more than 60%, with high-end sales increasing by more than 200%. In 2018, Feihe Dairy’s sales exceeded 10 billion yuan, making it the first company in China’s infant formula industry to achieve revenue exceeding 10 billion yuan. Leng Youbin, Chairman of Feihe Dairy, said: "Focus Media's powerful brand detonation power can more accurately convey Feihe's ingenuity to the target audience, making 'more suitable' the choice criterion for consumers."

Not being blinded by short-term interests, but instead being committed to formulating better strategies, insisting on independent innovation, and investing more budget in accumulating brand potential and building brand power. This is the key to Feihe Dairy's ability to regain a piece of the pie from foreign brands with milk powder that is "more suitable for the physique of Chinese babies." In 2020, Feihe Dairy, as the industry leader, also achieved counter-cyclical growth during the epidemic, demonstrating the resilience accumulated from long-term brand operation.

In the post-epidemic era, it will take a long period of post-disaster reconstruction for consumers to regain confidence in the market, and the available funds in people’s hands will only be left for the most trusted brands. Establishing a long-term emotional connection with consumers is a long-term undertaking that cannot be stagnant. Especially in 2021 when the traffic dividend has peaked, people began to repeatedly mention "long-termism." This is not just empty talk to cover up short-term growth bottlenecks, but the main reason why many century-old companies remain vibrant today.

In the past brand marketing, many companies pursued temporary traffic dividends and relied too much on performance advertising in budget allocation. In fact, paying attention to long-term brand advertising is the key to improving user stickiness. Only by achieving product and effect synergy can we avoid the false prosperity caused by traffic.

In the new year, brand owners need to spend their budgets more carefully and balance their marketing budgets to achieve synergy between brand and effect.

Daring to make choices and striking a balance is the best way to ensure sustainable brand development in the future.

There is no doubt that whether it is a strong big brand or a unicorn in the innovation track, they will face intensified consumption upgrades in 2021. Standing at a new starting point, how to provide more unique value and more innovative cognition to occupy the minds of consumers is still a topic that all brands must face and tackle.

After the leading players have tested out verifiable successful marketing models, it will be even more exciting to see how the latecomers will create new marketing trends in the new year.

Author: Brand New Insider

Source: Brand New Insider