How can brands "adapt" to the communication context of the new era?

In a rapidly changing communication context, how can brands establish emotional connections with consumers and meet their needs for self-expression? This article explores brands’ strategies for adapting to the new era through brand cases such as BMW and Starbucks. It is recommended for marketing professionals and brand managers to read.

Faced with the superposition and changes of the communication environment, market consumer groups and new technologies, new consumer demands are constantly being unearthed, from wearing cheongsams for the college entrance examinations, drinking Wanglaoji at auspicious moments, to girls giving flowers to boys on 520, to products becoming a vehicle for consumers to express their emotions... It is not difficult to find that users' consumer demands are beginning to show a diversified trend.

Consumers not only pay for the functions of products, but are also more willing to pay for the emotional value that products can provide. In the context of emotional economy, how can brands "create" and "dig deep" into consumer demand? After sorting out several popular cases recently, Mr. Bingfa found that brands can "adapt" to the communication context of the new era from these four directions.

1. Emotional connection: BMW uses Calabash Brothers to evoke childhood memories of several generations

When consumers are shopping for a product, they tend to choose products that they are familiar with, such as Bull for safety plug boards, Xiaomi for economical and affordable products, Wahaha for childhood memories, and Safeguard for health and cleanliness... These products are more popular because of their reliable quality.

Faced with the diversified and fragmented characteristics of communication methods, if a brand wants to conquer consumers, it cannot rely on a few tear-jerking TVCs alone. It also needs to touch the hearts of consumers through unique design, story-telling content, cultural connotations, etc., and implant the brand and its symbols into the minds of consumers. How can a deeper emotional connection be achieved?

For example, recently BMW teamed up with Shanghai Animation Film Studio to take adults and children back to Hulu Mountain in their dreams. Based on the cartoon "Calabash Brothers", the BMW mascot BAVA was renamed "Bawa" and integrated into the plot, reconstructing the beautiful memories of Hulu Mountain.

BMW’s Children’s Day marketing successfully brought back the childhood memories of those born in the 1980s and 1990s, provided adults with an opportunity to release stress and regain their childlike innocence, awakened the pure and nostalgic feelings deep in the hearts of consumers, deepened users’ memories of the BMW mascot, and formed a touchpoint for the brand that is more influential and memorable.

In this case, it is "collective memory" that can leverage the consumer market, and collective memory is not limited to a cartoon, but can also be a song, a movie, a product of a certain era, etc. Appropriate selection of elements that are consistent with the brand culture, tone, and temperament may make consumers feel close to and a sense of belonging to the brand, making marketing more effective.

2. Self-expression: Starbucks’ “weird” cups become a new form of expression for consumers

If BMW is using "old" elements to create new touchpoints, then Starbucks has seized on the social anxiety of consumers who are unwilling to express "too much" and launched the "Yin Yang Wei" cup to help consumers express, vent and entertain their emotions. The yellow face expression cup jointly launched by Starbucks and QQ wants to highlight the concept of a summer smiley face, with 5 different styles of expressions, which makes some workers "smell" the sense of being ridiculed. Because in the workplace, the emotions of some workers have long been understood. From Monday to Friday, they always feel that work is redundant and being a waste is a good choice. On weekends, they look forward to being isolated from the world and being well.

The appearance of the Starbucks emoji cup was called a "weird" cup by netizens. Some people thought that these expressions were their common expressions of "feeling depressed" and "daily slacking", while others thought that Starbucks was using a new way to help workers express their emotions during work, which was both real and funny. As soon as the Starbucks emoji cup was launched, it caused a heated discussion on social media and became another carrier for people to express their emotions.

Five emojis commonly used by workers have made Starbucks' emoji cups active on social media, generating a high level of attention and discussion, and making Starbucks' marketing a model for social communication. On the surface, it is a way for workers to express their emotions, a way for workplace users to encourage themselves and find small happiness in the context of internal circulation, and the brand has insight into the workers' need to express their emotions.

In fact, the brand has found an opportunity to communicate with its audience, using the communication context of the new consumer era to give the brand a younger and more fashionable expression, which is essentially an update of the brand's marketing language.

3. Product experience: Yuanqi Forest alcohol-flavored sparkling water provides a new beverage experience

Triggering collective memories is one way to create emotional connections, and those meaningful emotional expressions are a new way for brands to communicate with consumers. Product experience that is different from competing products is often the key to a brand standing out. When consumers can experience the uniqueness of a brand's products, they will naturally become curious and interested in the brand, which also forms new brand communication material.

For example, Yuanqi Forest, which has recently revolutionized the beverage market, has launched its own innovative product, Apple Whiskey Sparkling Water. The product has an apple whiskey flavor, an alcohol content of less than 0.5%vol, and is still marked with 0 sugar, 0 fat, and 0 calories. It not only conforms to the mainstream health trend, but also brings fresh and layered products to consumers, making many people eager to try it.

Yuanqi Forest insists on the characteristics of taste and health attributes, and also brings a sense of relief, decompression and unique brand experience to people in the workplace. Yuanqi Forest Apple Whiskey Sparkling Water can meet the healthy and delicious needs of contemporary consumers, and is also a new way for people in the workplace to relieve stress. Compared with the spiciness of white wine, Yuanqi Forest alcohol-flavored sparkling water has become one of the best companions for people to have a small gathering on weekends and to relieve the work.

The rich taste and light alcohol flavor leave a delicious and refreshing impression; the ultra-low content of whiskey is not easy to get drunk, and can avoid the embarrassment of social death after drinking, which can be said to be a good experience

4. Social attributes: Meituan flash-buys flowers and gives "Jasmine" to boys

Finally, I want to talk about the social attribute. All marketing is social. When "social" is ruined, what else can touch consumers' sharing? On the occasion of 520, Meituan's flash flower purchase saw that in the Hupu community where men gather, there was a demand for "women to send flowers to men" in the site data. Therefore, "sending flowers" has two major "changes". One is the change in the object of buying flowers, from the public's habit of "men sending flowers to women" to "women sending flowers to men"; the second is to change the rose and lily that express love to "jasmine", which means "send you jasmine, and advise you not to leave."

This Chinese romantic expression has attracted many netizens and made the brand's 520 flower-showing love event gain extremely high exposure.

Whether it is consumer segmentation, diversification of consumer demand, or changes in the communication context in the new era, emotional value has become an invisible hand in communication, guiding the brand's marketing direction and accurately teasing users' excitement points. It is a "regular" on the hot search list and the object of consumer attention and consumption. It is also the key to a brand standing out from its competitors.

Author: Mr. Bingfa; Source public account: Marketing Bingfa (ID: 1075056)