Boss IP, big dramas, events, spokespersons... Four major marketing trends in the first half of 2024

Technology giants personally get involved in creating IP, and spokespersons focus on core rather than appearance, emphasizing brand values ​​and long-term values.

Nowadays, changes in the marketing industry are measured in seconds. The strategies used today may be abandoned tomorrow. The technologies that are considered new today may be completely replaced tomorrow. What strategies are popular today may be followed by the entire network tomorrow. 2024 is already halfway through. What major events have occurred in the marketing industry in the first half of this year? What trends have emerged?

1. When tech giants develop IP, some are happy while others are sad

In the first half of 2024, the bigwigs in the technology circle began to adopt the strategy of "I speak for myself". No matter what their personality was, they had to show their faces on public platforms. For a time, personally creating an IP became the password to traffic.

Before Xiaomi started making cars, Lei Jun was Mi fans' idol. After Xiaomi started making cars, Lei Jun became the protagonist of a cool novel, who was 181cm tall, married his first love, and whose lowest point in life was the cold 4 billion yuan (although the rumor has been debunked).

Lei Jun's image has always been very friendly, but when it comes to promoting the Xiaomi SU7, Lei Jun has brought his personal charm to the extreme. He showed the factory online before the launch and personally opened the door for the car owners after the launch. In just 40 days, his personal account on Douyin gained 6.56 million followers. Later, he successfully led the "Xiaomi Tiantuan" corporate IP matrix, and the topic #Xiaomi Tiantuan collectively settled in Douyin# achieved an excellent result of more than 64 million views.

It can be said that the success of Xiaomi Motors is tied to the success of Lei Jun's IP. So Zhou Hongyi saw that he was familiar with this and quickly got involved. The "big gun in red" took a gentle approach and transformed himself into a "big uncle in red". He first sold his Maybach and then climbed on the roof of the car at the auto show. This operation attracted a lot of traffic. Zhou Hongyi said directly: "The essence of entrepreneurs opening their own accounts and creating IPs is to communicate with users and make friends with users. This is not only the entrepreneur's 'top project', but also a compulsory course. The ultimate goal is to endorse the company."

Later comers include Li Bin, founder of NIO, He Xiaopeng, founder of Xpeng Motors, Zhang Yong, CEO of Nezha Auto, and many other bosses who have transformed into KOLs.

But of course, it is not so easy to save on advertising fees. The former vice president of Baidu, Qu Jing, had a well-known scandal. If you haven't figured out how to make a living as an internet celebrity, don't do it rashly. Because unlike other influencers who can quickly distance themselves from the brand when something goes wrong, the founders and senior management are already deeply tied to the brand. If they use this identity to do marketing, it will be easy to ruin the company's reputation if they fail.

Therefore, not all companies have to blindly try all trends. Generally speaking, it is enough to keep the boss’s IP activity and product launch activity consistent. There is not much point in doing it just for the sake of doing it.

2. Spokesperson logic renovation, the core is more important than the appearance

From Mengniu to Prada to Lululemon, Jia Ling won three heavyweight brands in 36 days. The most watched spokesperson in the first half of the year is none other than Jia Ling. In particular, the favor of Prada and Lululemon has given us a new story in international brand endorsements.

At the beginning of this year, Jia Ling completed two transformations. The hit of "Hot and Spicy" transformed Jia Ling's title from a comedian to a female director, and losing 100 pounds changed her image. It is these two changes that gave Jia Ling a sense of story, an inspirational, female story.

Therefore, compared with the more popular young actresses with outstanding appearance, Prada and Lululemon both chose Jia Ling to present the core of their brands. The sense of power and unlimited life script embodied by Jia Ling are exactly the values ​​that most female brands want to convey. This is actually a trend in recent years. When choosing spokespersons, brands pay more and more attention to the fit of values ​​and the embodiment of long-term values.

This is also reflected in Zhou Guanyu. Zhou Guanyu's story is a typical heroic narrative. He went to the UK for further studies and became China's first F1 driver. With so many titles stacked together, he won the favor of Hennessy, Dior, lululemon, McDonald's, Amul...

The story he tells is the story of the first person in China. After all, F1's current CEO Stefano Domenica described him as a promoter, "For Chinese fans, especially the younger generation, Zhou Guanyu is a huge inspiration. Not only can he become a driver, but he can also be an engineer, mechanic or other professions needed in F1. I think Zhou Guanyu will be a promoter."

3. Brands chase after hit dramas, and entertainment marketing is making waves again

According to Jirang Technology data, in the first half of 2024, the number of programs in the drama and variety show market decreased year-on-year, with variety shows decreasing by 13.7% and dramas decreasing by 12.3%. However, the number of variety show investment clients increased by 17.5%, and the number of drama investment clients increased by 57.3%. The effect of reducing quantity and improving quality was obvious, driving the investment environment to further warm up.

In the first half of this year, Mengniu's brands alone have sponsored more than 10 TV series. Among them, Chunzhen sponsored "Joy of Life 2", and sponsored "A Journey of Flower", "Little Days", and "Coming from South to North". Zhenguoli has invested in "Fox Spirit Matchmaker: Moon Red Chapter", "Love Forever", and "Yan Xin Ji".

Investing in high-quality hit dramas has become a consensus among brands. In the first half of the year, it was not only these TV dramas and variety shows that were popular. A number of brands such as Amul, Dong-E E-Jiao, and Alien Electrolyte Water also successfully stood out with their diverse gameplay.

On the one hand, through the plot design of the insert, the secondary empowerment of the characters and the clever integration of the scenes, the brand is integrated into the main story line, so that the audience can naturally perceive the presence of the brand while enjoying the plot. This not only increases the exposure of the brand, but also helps to establish long-term memory in the minds of the audience.

On the other hand, outside the drama, the brands that were not originally implanted also benefited through joint ventures and offline activities. For example, Luckin Coffee, which co-branded "The Story of Rose", saw a huge increase in orders as soon as it went online.

What this actually reflects is the importance that brands place on content. As a brand marketing tool, TV and film product placement can only maximize its effectiveness if the content is high-quality and the plot is natural. High-quality TV and film content can not only attract more audiences and enhance brand exposure, but more importantly, it is conducive to shaping the core of the brand. The values ​​conveyed by the TV series are similar to those of the brand, which means that the entire TV series is helping the brand strengthen the user's mind.

4. Olympics, European Cup…Sports Value Explodes

When it comes to marketing keywords in 2024, sports marketing is undoubtedly on the list.

Sponsoring events, celebrity endorsements... major fast-moving consumer goods brands will inevitably take advantage of various means to get a share of the pie at major events. P&G has not only been the global partner of the Olympics for 12 consecutive years, but P&G China has also invited Liu Guoliang, Xu Xin, Sun Yingsha, and Wang Chuqin to become P&G Olympic ambassadors, and jointly filmed "Champions Are Decided in Everyday Life" to create an Olympic blockbuster. Starting with table tennis, the national sport that consumers trust and pay attention to, consumers can more directly perceive the high-standard P&G products of the same style as the Olympic partner champions.

This year, the dairy industry is still in full swing in the competition for the Olympics. Mengniu has invested heavily in the Olympics and has now become an Olympic Global Partner (TOP), with cooperation areas covering the Olympic Games, Winter Olympics, Paralympics, Winter Paralympics, Youth Olympic Games, Winter Youth Olympic Games and many other Olympic events; Yili has won the status of official dairy partner of the Chinese sports delegation; Junlebao has officially announced that it has become the official partner of China's top ten national teams.

Many tea brands are not far behind. Bawang Tea first officially announced that it had signed seven athletes including Liu Xiang, Wang Shun, Chen Qingchen, and Jia Yifan as brand health ambassadors, and filmed a commercial with Liu Xiang. It then launched a number of Olympic peripherals and the "Tea Friends Community CHAGEE CLUB"; Heytea opened a store directly in Paris. Its pop-up store "Heytea Paris Game Viewing Tea Room" was officially unveiled on July 5. In addition to drinks, there are also Olympic joy-themed packaging and peripherals designed by Heytea.

Not only are brands playing around, but major Internet platforms are also leveraging the IPs of major sporting events such as the Olympics and the European Cup to enhance their own influence and user stickiness, while creating a sports marketing field for brands.

As a long video platform, Migu has the right to provide the 2024 Paris Olympic Games event programs in the form of real-time broadcast, delayed broadcast, on-demand (including playback), and short video; Tencent has reached a cooperation with CCTV on the 2024 Paris Olympic Games video on demand and short video copyright.

In terms of short videos, Kuaishou and Douyin also got tickets to the Olympics. Kuaishou obtained the on-demand and short video rights for the Paris Olympics, with the copyright content of top events as the core and the UGC content extended outward; it is worth noting that the top events are parallel to the mass sports route. Kuaishou held special events such as Village BA, Village Super, and Village Olympics, which also attracted the attention and interaction of many ordinary users;

Douyin focuses on replays, and users can watch Olympic Games on-demand and full-match replays on Douyin, Toutiao and other platforms. At the same time, Douyin will also launch on-site and off-site information, multiple exclusive sports programs and other content. Douyin's strategy is to use copyright to make a high-profile move and to continuously extend its content creativity to an all-dimensional layout.

"The Tokyo Olympics is the first Olympics to be 'short video-based,'" said Zeng Qiao, founder and CEO of Morketing. "There are still infinite variables as to who will come out on top in the 2024 Paris Olympics communication war."

V. Conclusion

In the field of marketing, trends are tempting, but accurate positioning and alignment with values ​​are the key.

Whether it is Lei Jun and other bigwigs who personally create their personal IP, or Jia Ling and Zhou Guanyu who become new brand favorites with their inspirational stories, or brands investing in hit dramas and large-scale events, it proves that the power of content and core far exceeds external packaging. Brands should dig deep into the spiritual core of themselves, spokespersons, TV dramas and sports events, and achieve emotional resonance with consumers with a long-term value orientation.

Author: Tiana

Source: WeChat public account: "Morketing (ID: Morketing)"