Congratulations, you won't be able to see JD Truck vs. LeEco Auto: A detailed explanation of Chinese brand addiction in Transformers 5
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From "Transformers 4", a branded "Spring Festival Gala" that everyone wanted to be on, to "Transformers 5" which failed to arouse the public's enthusiasm for complaints, Michael Bay spent three years making a "change". Although it has never been widely complained about again, the brand implantation shots in the film still make everyone smile. The characters in the film actually use Kugou Music to listen to music, and they buy used cars on Youxin Used Cars. Of course, if you don’t look carefully, it’s hard to find that the key figure Anthony Hopkins’ car is actually a LeTV super car, and if you are given the opportunity to watch it five times, you may not find the LeTV phone. More stories happened off the field. Although JD.com failed to transform into an Autobot in the film, it fulfilled its dream through WeChat Moments ads. "Transformers" is no longer a simple movie. It is more like a big party every few years. The audience needs entertainment and the brand needs a hot spot. Although any form of advertising promotion is expensive, Chinese brands are still willing to spend a lot of money to prepare a feast together.From mysterious embarrassment to a knowing smile: the more "comfortable" "Transformers 5" Uxin Used Car's appearance followed Kugou. In a shot full of used car markets, the characters turned on their computers and began to select vehicles on the Uxin Used Car website. Uxin Used Car's product placement cooperation with "Transformers 5" Although the audience still laughed when they saw this segment, in the eyes of Uxin Used Car officials, this was a product placement without any sense of disobedience. "Because Transformers are used cars, in the era of used car e-commerce, is there a faster way to find used cars than through the commodity platform of used car stores?" Uxin Used Car wrote in the press release. Compared with TV promotion, the short-term nature of movie product placement requires higher brand explosion. Industry insiders told Sansheng: "Those who only do movies and not TV, because they are all explosive, that is, they want promotion, or have a strong brand orientation." In fact, Uxin Used Car's high-profile product placement in "Transformers 5" indirectly reflects the competitive state of the used car market. At this stage, Uxin Used Car is eager to grab more market share. On June 15, Uxin held a "National Direct Purchase" business conference in Beijing. Dai Kun, chairman and CEO of Uxin Group, said at the scene, "Uxin is like Transformers, equipping itself with weapons one by one." Not only is there movie placement, but with the release of the film, Uxin has launched more marketing methods. On the first day of the release on June 23, Uxin's main cinemas in Beijing and Shanghai have been "launched". In addition, the movie ticket purchase entrances on WeChat and Gewara are also visual elements of Uxin and "Transformers 5". "When I went out this morning, the four elevators at my doorstep were replaced with posters of Uxin's "Transformers 5." Ms. Liu, who lives in Chaoyang District, Beijing, told Sansheng. Kugou Music also has a high-profile placement. In a circle of friends advertisement released today, Kugou Music stated that it had placed placements in the film. In addition to the main music player, Kugou Music's smart speakers are also a major product for this "momentum" promotion. Kugou becomes the first product placement in Transformers 5. Judging from the general reaction of the audience, the product placement of these two brands is the most impressive. In addition to the early appearance order, the close-up of the brand logo is also given for several seconds. In contrast to the clear appearance of "Uxin" and "Kugou", although LeTV cars and mobile phones are implanted, their presence is relatively weak. If you don't look closely at the car of Anthony Hopkins in the movie, it is difficult to find that this is a LeTV super car LeSEE. The greater embarrassment lies in LeTV mobile phones. Maybe you may not find LeTV mobile phones in the film even if you watch it five times. But in fact, LeTV mobile phones did appear. When John Turturro was calling in the phone booth, he held the phone in the phone booth in one hand and a LeTV mobile phone in the other hand. The much-complained product placement in Transformers 4 made Transformers 4 much-complained in terms of advertising placement. In addition to the large number, there are two brands, Zhou Hei Ya and the scenic spot Chongqing Wulong. "Zhou Hei Ya wants to improve the brand's grade in the minds of consumers, and also wants to emphasize its relevance to entertainment." This is the effect that Zhou Hei Ya expects. In the final film, Zhou Hei Ya's placement only flashed by, and there was no clear brand exposure. In terms of brand placement, "Zhou Hei Ya is sad." In order to make up for this sadness, Zhou Hei Ya can only recover the effect through more entertaining marketing, so an activity to find Zhou Hei Ya in the cinema was launched vigorously. From the perspective of marketing effect, Zhou Hei Ya did not lose, it really became "a duck that can entertain." What really lost was the movie. The "carnival" of the brand overwhelmed the entertainment of the movie itself. In the eyes of the audience, "Transformers 4" has become an authentic advertising film. In addition to the off-site voice brought by "a duck that can entertain", the negative impact of the prosecution in Chongqing Wulong may be more serious. In the initial plan of both parties, Chongqing Wulong was the place where the climax of the Autobot War took place, but in the film, the four words "Chongqing Wulong" did not appear. "Because Wulong did not pay according to the contract, it was delayed for five months, and Paramount's production cycle was very tight, it was easy to make mistakes in a hurry." Liang Longfei, chairman of 1905 Pictures, who was responsible for the product placement at the time, told the media. In fact, this is also the root cause of the chaos in brand placement in "Transformers 4". The reason is that when all brands want to enter the movie, the non-uniqueness of the cooperation channels leads to subsequent problems. An unnamed industry insider told Sansheng: "The chaos of "Transformers 4" is because its copyright is very chaotic. The copyright of the film production is in Paramount, the copyright of the product is in Hasbro, and the director Michael Bay is also very strong. On the other hand, too many middlemen are doing the same business, which leads to too many channels intervening to talk to different objects about the product placement when the Chinese brand party finds them. In the end, the director team said that this is not what I agreed to, and there may be a problem in the middle." In fact, when it comes to brand placement in contact with the "film company", the cost is not the most difficult thing. The brand's expectations and the bottom line of the film company are the biggest difficulties. "If I were the boss, I wouldn't want to pay after watching it. There's not even a freeze frame." This is the voice of the advertiser. But the contradiction is that in recent years, the client's idea is to make the implantation into an advertisement. But the film company thinks that this is harmful to the art of film. To some extent, the particularity of " Transformers" has also led to more caution on both sides. For many years, the violent aesthetics under Michael Bay's fast editing has not allowed it to tell a "little story" for the brand alone in a fast-paced state. JD Trucks and LeTV Auto Fight? Obviously, JD's high brand appeal has not been recognized by the film company, or Michael Bay. But this is not a failed case. Compared with the rough implantation, this early breakup is perfect for both parties. Among the conventional brand implantation methods, there are hard advertising exposure, oral broadcast, props use, and plot display. In order to meet its own high-quality tone, JD chose the highest form of implantation - the appeal of "characters". In today's WeChat Moments ads, it is not difficult to find that JD's appeal is to make a JD Autobot in the movie. This is in line with JD's global strategy, but in Michael Bay's view, this is difficult to achieve. JD.com's authorized marketing of the "Transformers" series of movies, which are based on the Autobots, is the highest form of cooperation, and is often the most difficult. After all, "Transformers" will not easily customize the Autobots for the brand. It already exists there, just like Bumblebee will always be a Chevrolet car, and the cooperation with the Autobots is always considered in the long run. Based on this consideration, Michael Bay did not meet JD.com's implantation requirements. Sansheng learned that the director actually designed a clear exposure of JD.com's truck in the opening part of the movie, but this design failed to meet the needs of advertisers. After several months of in-depth communication, JD.com's Autobot brand plan was eventually "aborted". However, JD.com made up for it in WeChat Moments. At 3 a.m. on the 23rd, JD.com posted an advertisement in WeChat Moments titled "Red Mission, Coming Again". Although the Autobot transformation in the film failed, JD.com's truck successfully transformed in WeChat Moments. According to industry insiders, TVC video production is usually divided into three levels. "The highest level is the director's customized version, which is shot and produced by the director team for the brand. The second level is to use the film company's materials and the brand to make a mixed cut of the advertisement. The last level is that the film company only provides a channel video file." Compared with JD.com, which failed to cooperate successfully, successful implantation may not be a good thing for some brands. LeTV Auto is very likely a negative example. LeEco Car Appearing in Transformers 5 As early as October 2016, Jia Yueting revealed at LeEco's "BigBang" press conference in the United States that LeEco Car was participating in the filming of Transformers 5 in the UK. A video was also played on the scene: LeEco Car was waiting on the set to save the world with Optimus Prime and Bumblebee. LeEco Car is indeed responsible for saving the world. In the movie that has been released, LeEco Car has become the car of the character Anthony Hopkins. An insider revealed to Sansheng that LeEco's implantation fee was as high as 4 million US dollars, and it will be jointly promoted with Paramount in the mainland for 15 million yuan. But more news shows that LeEco's implantation "did not cost much money". In the eyes of industry insiders, the global cooperation between LeEco concept car and Transformers 5 was very visionary at the time. "LeEco concept car is LeEco's strategic product and it was a good cooperation at the time." But the "accident" occurred after the signing. During the film production cycle, LeTV Auto was still in the concept stage and had not been listed. On the other hand, after LeTV as a whole fell into financial difficulties, the 15 million joint promotion fee might be difficult to carry out. From inside the film to outside the film, why is it "Transformers"? The implantation of the movie itself is only a part of the current brand marketing. More stories happen outside the film: through official authorization, the brand can combine various elements of the film with its own products. This is a win-win cooperation model. The brand uses the popularity of the movie to market its own products or brands, and the movie itself also benefits from the brand's channels and gets free publicity. At the forum of the "Three Voices" Shanghai Film Festival, Oriental DreamWorks CEO Zhu Chenghua expressed the same view. Those brands that cooperated with "Kung Fu Panda" appeared in people's lives, which is also a promotion for the movie. In fact, for the brand, it is a big gamble. They have to spend money to buy authorization on one hand, and spend money to buy channels on the other. Subways, buses, airports, print advertising spaces, and video advertising spaces all cost money. For the film party, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. "If the threshold for joint promotion is 10 million US dollars, it is close to 100 million. With more than a dozen brands, the minimum standard is more than 2 billion." Industry insiders analyzed to Sansheng: "This means that Transformers 5 has saved 2 billion in publicity costs just through authorized full-scene marketing." As for why the Transformers series attracts so many brands? The answer may not be complicated. First, the global popularity of Transformers guarantees its appeal to brands. When Transformers 4 was released in 2014, Peter Travers, a film critic for Rolling Stone magazine, commented bitterly on its huge success in the mainland: "Chinese people will flock to everything from Hollywood." Another reason is that both Paramount, the film company, and director Michael Bay are open to brand placement. If "popcorn director" Michael Bay does not resist product placement, then for Paramount, welcoming mainland investors is a "natural" thing, because the mainland film market is becoming more and more important. Since the first Transformers was released in 2007, the box office of the four films in the mainland has been 281 million, 428 million, 1.071 billion and 1.977 billion (RMB), respectively. In terms of the share of the mainland box office, the box office of Transformers 4 of 168 million US dollars accounted for nearly 40% of the global box office of 412 million, while the box office of the third film in the mainland was only 174 million US dollars, and the global box office was 1.123 billion, accounting for only 0.15%. From 1.5% to 40% of the share, there is no reason for Transformers not to spend more time on this market. More importantly, since the 1980s, the cartoon Transformers has been popular in the mainland, and Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, and Megatron have become the favorites of the children at that time. When this group of people grew up and became the mainstream cultural consumer group, the charm and emotional foundation of Transformers were magnified in this era. So, when Transformers became everyone's favorite and the work itself had a wide range of fans, it was naturally the object pursued by advertisers. For this super popcorn movie, box office and reputation are no longer positively correlated. The freshness of "Transformers 5" on Rotten Tomatoes is only 13%, and the Douban score on the first day of its release is only 5.1 points, but it still cannot stop enthusiastic audiences from going to the theater. "Some people think that there are too many product placements and the product placements are particularly bad. I think the box office will speak for itself in the end. The film must be good, and the product placements will only be meaningful." Liu Siru, CEO of Yinggongchang, who once participated in the product placement work of "Transformers 4", told the media. On the first day of its release, the box office of "Transformers 5" has exceeded 280 million. The box office of "Transformers 5" is predicted by the industry to exceed 2.6 billion. Facts have proved that this series still has strong market capabilities, so brand owners' "obsession" with this series will continue. As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity. |
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