Daolang’s video live broadcast taught an important lesson to brand marketing

Daolang's video live broadcast was a hit on the Internet, with over 52 million viewers and over 700 million likes. It not only broke the record for live concert broadcasts, but also taught a vivid lesson in brand marketing. As the exclusive title sponsor, Guizhou Xijiu Zhijiao Liquor has achieved a surge in brand awareness with the help of the WeChat ecological marketing combination. Xiaohongshu challenges the traditional thick-cut model with the "thin-slice business" model, injecting a new business soul into merchants. This article will explore the business logic and marketing strategies behind these successful cases.

"Daolang is still Daolang. He makes people cry when he opens his mouth."

With over 52 million viewers and over 700 million likes, Daolang set a new record for live concerts. In addition, apart from the exclusive title sponsorship, there were no other advertisements during the intermission. The exclusive title sponsor Guizhou Xijiu·Zhijiaojiu became a household name overnight and its popularity soared.

The most successful aspect of this live broadcast is not only that it provides a successful exploration for the liquor industry to get rid of the dilemma of internal circulation, but more importantly, it once again verifies the value of the live broadcast marketing of the video account concert, and also proves that the WeChat ecological marketing combination is an amplifier of brand volume. And "content social commercialization" as the underlying logic of WeChat ecological operation has also been specifically reflected in this live broadcast. Why do we say that? Next, we will answer your questions from the following aspects:

1. What made Daolang’s concert a hit?
2. What insights does this concert bring to brand marketing?
3. Why did Daolang choose to live broadcast on Video Account?

1. What made Daolang’s singing set a new record?

1. Storage of short videos

On August 25, 2023, Daolang released his first short video on WeChat Video Account. Before he started singing, he made a special opening statement: "Friends of WeChat Video Account, hello, I am Daolang, I have joined WeChat Video Account, and in the future, I will share my music content with you here, I hope you like it."

Starting with this official short video, as of September 4, 2024, his video account has released a total of 69 short videos. The video content is rich and varied. Some are moments of him concentrating on working in the recording studio, some are him sharing the sources of inspiration for his music creation, and some are cordial interactions with fans.

Among them, many short videos have received more than 100,000 likes and recommendations, and the lowest number of recommendations is tens of thousands, which can be said to be quite good. The impressive data is undoubtedly one of the reasons why it launched the live broadcast of the concert on the video account.

In other words, before the live broadcast, Daolang had established a close connection with his fans through short videos. After he officially announced that he would hold his first online concert on the evening of August 30, the number of people who had made reservations for the live broadcast exceeded 3.8 million.

2. Support from multi-channel brand promotion

Before the event started, the brand sponsor - Zhijiao Liquor also released various forms of preview content on official accounts, video accounts, mini programs and other channels to build momentum for the concert.

Taking the official account as an example, since August 16, it has released a number of warm-up articles, including official announcements, performance guides, countdowns and other content; and Zhijiao’s video account has also released a number of short video content about Daolang’s concert; in the mini program mall, related products have already been labeled [Daolang’s same style].

2. What insights does it bring to brand marketing?

1. Combination of celebrity concert live broadcast and brand store live broadcast

How could the exclusive title sponsor of the concert, Guizhou Xijiu·Zhijiao Liquor, handle this overwhelming wealth? In fact, at the same time as Daolang's concert was broadcast, the Zhijiao video account was also live-streaming the sale of liquor, which can be said to have "seamlessly" received the fans who came from the concert.

According to a report by Jianshi, by the end of the concert, the live broadcast room had been watched by more than 390,000 people. The anchor also expressed surprise at the middle of the concert that his live broadcast room had never been so popular before, and kindly reminded the users of the live broadcast room to consume rationally.

Of course, the live broadcast room has also become an "interactive special" outside the concert venue for netizens. The host will also frequently cue information about the concert in the live broadcast room, creating a two-way interactive atmosphere.

(Screenshot source: Jianshi)

2. New ways to connect brands with live concerts

Video accounts have always been good at live concert marketing, which is related to its historical genes. This live broadcast also released some innovative functions and gameplay. In the public report of Tencent Advertising, four new gameplays were specifically mentioned:

1. Full exposure of the brand in the live broadcast room

According to statistics, in the live broadcast room, brand exposure and exposure include at least 12 places: on-site exposure, entrance ceremony advertisements, artist oral broadcast, brand TVC & push link, live broadcast room brand unique corner mark, live broadcast room countdown, brand customized big gifts, brand customized small gifts, popularity list banner, song name bar, live broadcast room cheering icon, live broadcast room sharing cover...

(Screenshot source: Tencent Advertising)

We also designed a very smooth link from Daolang’s account to the brand account:

2. New social gameplay of live broadcast sharing

This time Daolang’s live broadcast room can be shared through posters, and the official also provides poster templates to choose from. From the template design point of view, they are all very sophisticated, and are also accompanied by Daolang’s lyrics, which maximizes the social value.

(Screenshot source: Tencent Advertising)

The conversion rate of sharing exquisite posters will definitely be higher than that of directly sharing live broadcast rooms. However, this function has not yet been fully popularized. We hope that it will be popularized among ordinary businesses in the future.

3. Live broadcast, full brand exposure

I believe that many people who have come across Daolang’s live broadcast room may have seen it on WeChat Moments, but in fact, in addition to WeChat Moments ads, there are many other entrances to watch live broadcasts, including live broadcast square hotspots, search, and video number red dots, etc. It can be said that the brand has achieved full exposure throughout the process.

(Screenshot source: Tencent Advertising)

4. Video accounts use multiple links to divert traffic to mini programs to accumulate user assets

Multiple locations in the live broadcast room can be directly linked to the official e-commerce mini program of Guizhou Xijiu. The interconnection of components within the ecosystem is fully utilized to achieve unimpeded connection between the video account and the mini program, solving the problem of the separation between the mini program and the video account that merchants have always felt.

(Screenshot source: Tencent Advertising)

Perhaps next, we can also look forward to the new actions of the WeChat team in connecting the video account and mini program.

3. What did Zhijiao, who repeatedly created phenomenal events, do right?

In this concert, it was not only Daolang who became popular, but also Zhijiao Liquor. Moreover, this marketing event also made Zhijiao a benchmark for all-scenario traffic conversion in video accounts and WeChat stores.

In fact, this is not the first time that Zhijiao has created such a grand marketing event for brand breakthrough marketing .

In December last year, Zhijiao teamed up with Cui Jian, the godfather of domestic rock music, to launch the "Rolling Power - Snow Mountain Zhijiao Concert" on Video Account, which attracted 36 million people to watch online, accumulated over 1.4 billion brand exposures, and the WeChat index popularity soared to 148 million.

By sponsoring the "Snow Mountain Zhijiao Concert", Zhijiao Wine took the lead in increasing its popularity among people in the music circle, triggering resonance among people in interest circles, effectively enhancing the target consumer group's identification with the Zhijiao Wine brand, and achieving the brand's mental position.

In addition, Zhijiao Liquor also teamed up with the Waina Band to perform the theme film "Zhijiao on the Road", cooperated with "Joy of Life Season 2" to develop high-quality creative content that fits the theme, and deployed a series of innovative marketing actions on e-commerce channels.

Looking at the various marketing actions of Zhijiao Liquor, they are actually inseparable from two key words: content ignition and social explosion.

Through content-based marketing , Zhijiao Liquor has achieved efficient integration of Xijiu's online and offline communication resources, fully activating its inherent communication potential, enabling it to leverage heavyweight communication with lightweight investment, and providing a useful reference for industry brand building and content output.

Through various joint actions and leveraging the potential of celebrities, Zhijiao Liquor has, on the one hand, increased its brand awareness in a very short period of time, effectively conveyed the brand's cultural connotations, and successfully triggered emotional resonance with the target population . On the other hand, it has also achieved accurate positioning of young people in different interest circles through various social gameplays , strengthening the degree of connection between the two.

In the liquor industry where "involution" is becoming increasingly severe, Zhijiao Liquor provides more new possibilities for exploring ways to solve the "survival anxiety" that is prevalent in the industry.

3. Why did Daolang choose to live broadcast on Video Account?

After analyzing Daolang's live broadcast of the concert, we also found that Daolang has 17 million fans on Douyin, so why did he choose to live broadcast on Video Account? Through analysis, we believe that there may be three reasons:

1. Video accounts have had multiple successful marketing cases in live concert broadcasts

In the past, Video Account has made great progress in the field of short videos and live broadcasts, and the online concerts of celebrities have contributed greatly to this. In the past, there were Westland Boys, Cui Jian, and later Luo Dayou, all of whom have shined in the live broadcasts of Video Account concerts. And Video Account is not the first time to try the "sweetness" of holding online concerts.

On December 17, 2021, Westlife's WeChat live concert was watched by more than 27 million people, with a maximum of 1.5 million people online at the same time, and received a total of 5.12 million likes.
On December 31, 2021, Mayday's New Year's Eve concert attracted over 14 million viewers.
In April 2022, an ultra-clear restored version of Leslie Cheung's 2000 "Passion" concert was broadcast, and the number of viewers once exceeded 17 million.
On April 15, 2022, Cui Jian's first online concert "Go Wild" was viewed by 46.08 million people and received 120 million likes.
On the evening of May 27, 2022, Luo Dayou held his first online concert, where more than 40 million people recalled the story of time together.
On May 20, 2022, Jay Chou's concert was re-screened. According to Youwang data, the total number of live viewers in the two live broadcast rooms of QQ Music and TEMlive that broadcast the re-screening concert on the video account reached 30.318 million and 15.6308 million respectively; on May 21, the numbers were 20.1858 million and 4.6253 million respectively.
On September 2, 2023, Li Jian and FAW-Volkswagen Lanxun's video concert swept the WeChat Moments, with more than 930,000 people making reservations before the live broadcast and more than 45.9 million people watching online during the live broadcast. The total exposure in the WeChat ecosystem exceeded 1.2 billion.
On October 20, 2023, Li Jian's "Like the Sea" video concert returned, with 36 million people resonating on the same screen, and Yunnan Baiyao was the exclusive sponsor.

2. Video accounts have successfully implemented the model of live broadcasting of brand-exclusive titled concerts

As the title brand of the first commercial concert on Video Account, Polar Fox Auto sponsored the live broadcast of the concert twice, one for Cui Jian and one for Luo Dayou. According to relevant sources, the exclusive title sponsorship fee for such a concert reached tens of millions. Such a high fee and Polar Fox Auto sponsored the concert twice in a short period of time are enough to prove the value of Video Account and the value it brings to the brand.

In the subsequent live broadcasts of celebrity concerts on Video Accounts, the model of exclusive sponsorship has been used. For example, Li Jian’s two live concerts, one was jointly hosted by FAW-Volkswagen Lanxun, and the other was exclusively sponsored by Yunnan Baiyao. It can be said that Video Account has successfully implemented the model of exclusive brand sponsorship of concert live broadcasts.

3. Unique ecological value of video accounts

The fact that many concerts have been screen-swiped proves that the popularity of video account concerts is not accidental. In addition to the influence of celebrities, the platform's continuously innovative concert ecosystem has helped a lot, which can bring brand awareness, emotional communication and other brand value enhancement, as well as the shaping of brand awareness.

In addition to the platform's continuous innovation in marketing content promotion, the attractiveness of Video Accounts to brands also lies in the WeChat ecosystem behind Video Accounts, which can connect various resources, break through the conversion barriers between traffic, make communication between brands and users more direct and smooth, and achieve marketing goals more effectively.

This brings us to the social value of the WeChat ecosystem. Almost every concert will be screened in the circle of friends or even in the group. This is the breaking circle effect brought by the social attribute of the WeChat ecosystem. As mentioned by industry insiders, for brands that want to build brand image and recognition through integrated marketing, and want to quickly break through the circle and become the center of attention, video account concerts are undoubtedly the best solution at the moment.

4. Write at the end

A successful concert marketing can achieve a win-win situation for the brand, the star and the audience: Daolang fits in with the brand culture, which not only maintains a good star image, but also achieves mind penetration for the brand's traffic conversion; the audience has a good experience and gets an audio-visual enjoyment of the music; Daolang also lays a solid foundation for his offline concert tour.

If music itself is good content that can convey brand value and achieve emotional resonance, then the blessing of celebrities gives music more social value (identification and resonance). Coupled with the brand's innovative marketing methods on social media, the commercial value is delivered and the deal will naturally be made.

When brands conduct concert marketing on video accounts, they must start from the entire ecosystem and use a combination of WeChat ecosystem methods. This will allow traffic to flow throughout the entire ecosystem and bring about a steady stream of growth potential for the brand.