"Boss" came out to make a living, "short drama live broadcast" raked in 5 million GMV

Jieliya's "Towel Master" has become popular. He combined the "Towel Empire" series of short plays with live streaming to create his own corporate IP. This new brand marketing idea has brought new inspiration to entrepreneurs. Recommended to Internet friends to read.

There is a new way to sell goods through live streaming, and this time it is a CP with the short drama crew.

Recently, Jieliya's "Towel Master", who became popular because of the "Towel Empire" series of short dramas, started his first live broadcast on Douyin to sell goods, with the GMV of a single show exceeding 5 million.

From the explosive popularity of short dramas to the impressive performance of live broadcast rooms, what is reflected behind this is not only that "short dramas + live broadcasts" bring new content solutions to live streaming e-commerce, but also changes in brand marketing ideas: instead of spending money on investment, it is better to create your own IP.

1. Short drama and live broadcast "CP"

In the last second, the "actors" were still hurling harsh words at each other and contributing hilarious jokes from the domineering CEO skit; in the next second, the "actors" became anchors and directly connected to the product explanation...

It’s hard to imagine that this happened in a live streaming room where goods are sold, and the “actor” is the president and successor of the company.

Netizens exclaimed "so crazy" and "so funny" and placed orders to buy it while being addicted...

On the evening of June 5, Shi Zhancheng, the third generation of the Jieliya Group, started his first live broadcast on his Douyin account "Towel Master", innovatively combining the two forms of short play and live broadcast. This debut was named "The Towel Master's Rise to Power", and the publicity poster clearly read "Short play + live broadcast debut".

That night, "Towel Master" directly ranked first on Douyin's list of influencers in selling goods and second on the list of grass-planting products. In the end, the number of online viewers exceeded 50,000, the total number of viewers exceeded 1.5 million, and the GMV of a single game exceeded 5 million.

Can short plays and live broadcasts be played like this?

In fact, "Master Towel" became famous before the live broadcast for his short play "The Towel Empire". This short play combines the history of the rise of the Jieliya Group and borrows the plots of many "dominant CEO short plays": family property disputes, the protagonist being excluded, a three-year period...

Data shows that the "Towel Empire" series of short dramas has been updated for 7 episodes, with a total of 100 million views. With the popularity of the short dramas, "Towel Master" has also ushered in huge traffic, and the number of fans on Douyin has now reached nearly one million.

In the short drama "Towel Empire", the most popular person is not the protagonist "Towel Master" Shi Zhancheng, but the so-called "Second Uncle" who is competing with him for the family property, and is now the president and CEO of Jieliya Group - Shi Jing.

With the foreshadowing of the short play content, the audience has a very clear perception of the protagonist's personality and relationship network. Therefore, when "Master Towel" and "Second Uncle" continued to perform such a plot in the live broadcast room, the audience not only did not feel embarrassed, but because of the migration of scenes and the interaction in the live broadcast room, they had a special viewing experience.

The popularity of the short drama also feeds back to the brand.

Regarding his son's meteoric rise to fame after filming a skit, Shi Lei, chairman of Jieliya, affirmed in an interview with the media: "Professionals say that in terms of value conversion, even if we invested tens of millions in the past, we could not achieve this effect."

2. New Solution to Short Drama Marketing

The explosive popularity of "Towel Empire" and the great success of selling goods in live broadcasts actually illustrate two things: first, the value of short dramas is no longer limited to gaining traffic and achieving popularity, but also has richer application scenarios; second, brand marketing has entered a new stage of IPization.

Regarding the first point, first of all, the popularity of brand-customized short dramas has been verified. The growth of the short drama market, the surge in the number of users, and the natural plot scenes are undoubtedly suitable for brands to do implantation, seize the user's mind, and ultimately achieve customer conversion.

In February last year, Hansu cooperated with Jiang Shiqi to launch "Dress Up to Grow Up" to test the short drama track. Soon after it was broadcast, the short drama gained huge traffic and attention. Hansu also took advantage of the opportunity to launch a combination of "short drama + live broadcast" and launched the "Hansu Red Waist Suit", a hit product.

The short drama marketing of most brands is actually the same as Hansu’s, with the main idea being “customizing short dramas - embedding products in the plot - directing traffic to the live broadcast room for purchase.”

This year, many brands have also invested a large amount of marketing budget in short dramas. It is reported that during the 2023 Tmall Double 11 period, the commercial conversion rate of 12 customized brand short dramas after viewing can reach up to 30%. The number of views of L'Oreal's customized boutique short dramas exceeded 100 million, and the proportion of new customers of Samsung's Spring Festival short dramas also exceeded 90%.

However, Lv Yixiong, Chairman and CEO of Shangmei Co., Ltd. and founder of Hanshu brand, once said in his circle of friends:

"The supply of short dramas has increased 20 times, the price has doubled, and the audience is measured, that is, the effect of short dramas has declined 40 times. After November 2023, Hansu will basically stop making short dramas."

It is foreseeable that when all brands enter the market to shoot short dramas and use the same approach, it will affect the user's viewing experience, and it will become increasingly difficult for brands to obtain traffic, achieve seeding, and feed back sales. In other words, it is time for brands to innovate their short drama marketing.

Therefore, Jieliya’s “Towel Master” represents a new short drama marketing idea: instead of spending money on product placement, it is better to create the company’s own IP.

3. The leader becomes the "spokesperson"

Since the beginning of this year, many business entrepreneurs have flocked to the live streaming short video track, competing to build personal IP for internet celebrities, and the "second generation" and "third generation" of entrepreneurs represented by "Towel Master" have set up accounts. The leaders and successors have become brand spokespersons.

This year, "bosses" are competing to become Internet celebrities. Lei Jun, the founder of Xiaomi, frequently appears in short videos and live broadcasts. Zhou Hongyi, the "red-robed leader", announced at the beginning of the year that he wanted to become an Internet celebrity and called on entrepreneurs to learn how to become Internet celebrities...

Platforms have also set their sights on entrepreneurial IPs, and Taobao has tried to bring more entrepreneurs into Taobao's live broadcast rooms.

In early June, Taobao launched a fully managed live streaming service for entrepreneurs. Taobao said that any CEO who intends to represent his own company, regardless of whether he has live streaming experience, can start live streaming on Taobao without any threshold. Taobao Live will provide a one-stop "nanny" service from pallets to live streaming room operations.

JD.com is also increasing its investment in the live streaming track for entrepreneurs. During this year’s 618, many brand presidents and “CEO AI digital people” delivered benefits to consumers through live streaming. Among them, the CEO “Price” series of live streaming invited hundreds of brand presidents to bring consumers hot-selling products starting at 1 yuan and other benefits.

However, perhaps not all founders and CEOs are willing to step forward. At this time, the younger "second-generation" and "third-generation" entrepreneurs who are more knowledgeable about traffic have taken over and embarked on a fancy marketing path: creating likable personalities, making short plays, and live broadcasting... In fact, they have brought traffic to their own companies.

In addition to Jieliya's "Towel Master", there are also people like Holiland's successor, "Boss Luo Cheng", who quickly became popular in 2021 with a short video of a "socially anxious rich second generation". Since then, he has attracted a large number of fans with labels such as silly, sweet, domineering boss, craftsman, and contrasting cuteness. Now he has more than 3 million fans on Douyin.

According to incomplete statistics from Xinbochang, behind the currently active "second-generation/third-generation corporate" accounts are brands such as Xtep, Jingrun Pearl, Karayang, and Mala Prince.

Especially after "The Towel Master" became a huge hit, many brands have also imitated it to shoot similar short dramas.

Behind this is the brand's desire for traffic. Previously, a number of domestic brands such as Hongxing Erke, White Elephant, and Fenghua, with the help of hot events, once received overwhelming traffic. But facts have proved that the traffic brought by hot events is not long-lasting. After all, brands need a channel that can operate stably and continuously be exposed.

Therefore, more and more brands are paying attention to store broadcasts and setting up accounts; they are paying attention to content operations and building their own IP. Who will be the next brand to go viral with content IP? We look forward to more new ways of playing.

Author: Field sister

Source: WeChat official account: "New Broadcasting Field (ID: New_bc)"