With one hit drama a year, has Liu Yifei become the favorite of advertisers?

Successful drama marketing is inseparable from the excellence of the drama itself, the support of the platform and the good vision of the brand. The popularity of Liu Yifei's role has brought opportunities to advertisers and brands. Drama marketing will become the next marketing hotspot. Recommended for friends in brand marketing.

In 2024, New Classics Media became the big winner in the drama market in the first half of the year with "Journey to the West", "Joy of Life 2" and the currently popular drama "The Story of Rose".

"The Story of Rose", starring Liu Yifei and Tong Dawei, was launched on CCTV-8 and Tencent Video on June 8. It has topped the Lighthouse Professional Edition drama list, Maoyan's full-network popularity list, Yunhe's full-network public opinion popularity list, and many other lists for many consecutive days, and it has also set the highest record in the history of Tencent Video's urban drama popularity on the site.

The character "Huang Yimei" played by Liu Yifei in the drama even became the champion of Maoyan's weekly character popularity list one week after the series was launched.

Xinli's bet was successful, not only because of the high popularity of the script itself, but also because of the commercial value of the actors. Today, TOP will count the dramas starring Liu Yifei in the past two years and review the brand harvest results of "Sister Fairy".

1. Product placement in the drama is well received, and investment promotion is becoming more and more popular

Liu Yifei has a total of three TV dramas from 2022 to 2024, namely "Dream of Splendor", "Go Where the Wind Is" and the currently airing drama "The Story of Rose". The online broadcast platforms include Tencent Video and Mango TV.

In terms of subject matter, the three dramas are different. Judging from the popularity of the dramas and audience reviews, they all have good results: "Dream of Red Mansions" is a costume drama with a score of 7.9; "Go Where the Wind Is" is a pastoral healing drama with a score of 8.7, both of which are at the upper-middle level; "The Story of Roses" is an urban emotional drama and has no score yet.

Although the subject matter is very different, judging from the number of views and ratings, Liu Yifei still has a certain appeal as an actress, and this also provides brands with an opportunity to bet on her .

According to statistics from Douban's "Carrot Go Away Group" @来看月, there are 26 advertisers in the entire series of "Dream of Hualu", and 22 advertisers in "Where the Wind Leads". Before the broadcast of "Rose Story", as many as 34 brands were officially announced, with Jindian as the title sponsor. After the broadcast, five brands including Honor, Dongpeng and Huawei also added investment, which also confirmed the investment strength of this drama.

Advertising statistics for Liu Yifei's three dramas

Data source: Douban "Carrot Go Away Group" @来看月

It is worth noting that "Go Where the Wind Is" is the drama with the most brand cooperation among the top dramas in 2023. Even in the later period of its popularity, brands continued to promote it , forming a long-tail effect of drama implantation , and this situation may be repeated in "The Story of the Rose".

Different themes and different broadcasting platforms often have a great impact on the investment in dramas. However, the investment in these three dramas and the broadcasting effects have confirmed the influence of the actors' reputation on the reputation of the drama and even its investment ability.

From costume dramas to urban dramas, actors are trying different themes, and brands are also looking for the soil that suits them . It is worth noting that as a Tencent drama, "Rose Story" does not seem to be as unaccustomed to the local environment as the advertisement of "Joy of Life 2", but has received some good reviews.

For example, the atmosphere frames of Jindian and Liziyuan made the audience sigh, "I actually prefer this kind of placement, which is more comfortable than suddenly interrupting the middle of the show and letting the actors play a segment." Brands add starry or blooming flower frames to the film, and float over the brand's plot comment barrage, which fits the ambiguous atmosphere in the play and the connotation of the protagonist's name, greatly reducing the audience's resistance to advertising.

Golden atmosphere frame

The Durex Band-Aid advertisement also appeared at the perfect time during the protagonist's sweet moment, making the audience marvel at the clever timing of brand placement.

Durex Band-Aid

Of course, the drama's mid-roll ads are also more naturally integrated into the drama's content. For example, RIO's mid-roll ad invited actor Peng Guanying, who plays one of the female lead's CPs. In the ad, the female lead is linked to RIO's Tipsy Rose Wine product to create a romantic atmosphere.

2. The collaboration outside the drama breaks the circle and finds a new anchor point based on the content

Even though the "Fairy" Sister is important to many brands, TV series placement may mean relatively large advertising expenditures and risks. After all, entrusting the brand reputation entirely to the popularity of the actors has not been reliable based on past experience.

Thus, a method suitable for collaboration outside the drama came into being - drama series co-branding .

In fact, joint activities are nothing new, but for brands that are unable to be implanted in the drama or are not suitable for placement in the drama, it is an excellent exposure opportunity.

In 2022, the popularity of "Dream of Red Mansions" attracted a number of brands to join in the joint activities. The joint activities included 14 brands including Shisanyu, Heytea, Nayuki's Tea, Meitu Xiuxiu, Joy City Joint Ancient Style Exhibition, Baidu Input, etc., covering almost all aspects of food, clothing, housing and transportation, and using the drama as a base point to bring great exposure to the brand in a short period of time .

The most popular one among them is the joint event of Heytea.

HEYTEA×Dream of the Red Chamber Products

The launch of Heytea’s co-branded products, firstly, seized the timing, as it was launched before the finale of Dream of China, which directly raised the audience’s expectations; secondly, it seized the opportunity, as the fit between the tea and the stories of the characters in the play attracted fans’ attention, and the brand thus started the “second creation” style of co-branding.

Collaboration methods such as co-branded tea drinks and pop-up stores have also created considerable popularity for the brand by playing with hot drama memes and penetrating online and offline .

HEYTEA×Dream of Red Mansions Pop-up Store

Although there are not many co-branded brands in "Where the Wind Goes", they are very compatible with the series. For example, the Yunnan region restaurants in Yunhaixiang's work attract customers with the help of the series, and Fliggy has launched the same routes as the series, providing travel ideas for viewers who yearn for Yunnan.

Yunhai Cuisine×"Go Where the Wind is"

According to statistics from fans, "The Story of Rose" had revealed eight joint ventures long before the show was broadcast. Among them, the joint products of Jindian, Shiseido, Ushiyan, Jinhui Smell Aesthetics, and THE FUTURE ROCKS were non-peripheral products, while Lu Tingyan, Sanzhan, and Guquan launched joint peripheral products.

"Rose Story" Joint Summary

Among them, Shiseido is not only the official sponsor of the series, but also launched a co-branded gift box, which can be said to have gained both short-term exposure and expanded product sales.

Shiseido×"The Story of Rose"

The co-branded peripherals launched by brands such as Lu Tingyan and Sanzhan match the character of Huang Yimei in the play, using exquisite peripherals to attract fans' purchasing power.

Lutingyansanlan×"The Story of Rose"

In addition, Luckin Coffee, which seldom collaborates with TV series, has also joined the hot market of TV series collaborations. Although it only includes peripherals such as cup sleeves and pendants, it has already made fans look forward to it.

Luckin Coffee x "The Story of Rose"

The linkage with adapted dramas is often a good thing that achieves twice the result with half the effort for brands that want to increase their popularity and strengthen public awareness. Riding on the momentum of hit dramas and following the calls of fans of top actors, they may be able to get a chance to rise to the top.

Therefore, whether inside or outside the drama, brands always have the opportunity to break boundaries and find a drama marketing method that suits them.

3. Does TV series marketing rely on the star effect?

The "2024 China Advertiser Marketing Trends Survey Report" released by CTR Insight mentioned that 84% of advertisers agree that "content marketing is the best way to achieve brand differentiation and deepen consumer relationships."

Drama marketing is an extremely important type of content marketing. As a form of entertainment for the public, dramas build a bridge for brands to communicate with consumers through the superb performances of actors, the development of gripping plots, and background settings that reflect the times.

In terms of content, drama marketing itself is a social activity based on emotional resonance .

An excellent drama often generates a lot of discussion. "The Story of Rose" focuses on the heroine's growth and her mental journey in marriage and love. Combined with the social context, it is an excellent communication field for the brand.

From a strategic perspective, the platform also provides various novel marketing methods for series marketing .

The atmosphere frame and interesting barrage mentioned above are unique marketing gestures created by long video platforms for advertisers in recent years. Brands can strengthen their brand impression in consumers' minds through interaction in the drama.

Moreover, TOP believes that the popularity of the three dramas "Dream of Red Mansions", "Where the Wind Runs" and "The Story of Rose" is inseparable from the popularity and reputation of the actors themselves .

An actor's popularity means a larger number of fans and better reputation among passers-by, which is conducive to brand promotion and consumer conversion ; an actor's reputation means a more reliable ability to select scripts and a stronger appeal to viewers .

Take Liu Yifei as an example. Although she produces one drama a year, each of her works has a very good reputation and is very popular with the audience, which also means that the drama has the possibility of long-tail broadcast. As mentioned above, the later promotion of "Where the Wind Goes" can also bring a certain long-tail effect to the brand .

In addition, judging from the dramas selected by Liu Yifei, although the historical background of each drama is different, they all have a common expression of new-age female discourse, which is also a good opportunity for brands that target female consumers.

In general, successful drama marketing is inseparable from the excellence of the drama itself, the support of the platform and the good vision of the brand. The star effect may not be as effective as before, but it can still be used as one of the reference standards for brand placement today.

Author: TOP Jun

Source: WeChat official account: "TopMarketing (ID: TMarketing)"