In 2024, can short dramas bring new brand marketing?

Based on the platform development and brand marketing model of short dramas in the past year, this article analyzes the characteristics of current brand short drama marketing after the Spring Festival and the brand types suitable for short drama marketing. Let’s take a look.

In the past 2023, multiple platforms such as Douyin, Kuaishou, and Baidu continued to deploy short dramas. On the one hand, the leading film and television companies and MCN agencies entered the market, and the types of themes continued to be enriched and diversified. On the other hand, multiple business models such as user payment and brand placement were opened, and the short drama industry developed rapidly.

In 2024, the popularity of short dramas continued. During the Spring Festival, various platforms launched short dramas to attract users' attention with content that fits the festive atmosphere. Many brands invested in short drama marketing. What are the characteristics of brand short drama marketing at present? Which brands are more suitable for short drama marketing?

01 Which brands are taking advantage of the short drama marketing express?

Judging from the current types of short drama content, topics such as love, family, and workplace almost occupy half of the short drama industry. In particular, the domineering plots with heavy emotions and strong reversals and the workplace heroines are very popular among female users, and this is precisely the entry point for the marketing of beauty and skin care brands.

It can be found that currently beauty and skin care brands are leading the way in short drama marketing. Many domestic brands such as PROYA, MARUMEI, HANSU, and GUYU have increased their investment in short dramas. International brands such as HR and Shiseido have also begun to enter the market, and brand marketing methods are gradually maturing.

For example, in the short drama "Big New Year" starring Xu Mengjie and Li Chuan, the Guyu Whitening Set appears in the plot as a New Year's gift, which not only fits the festive atmosphere but also plays a role in planting grass. The short drama has been updated to the 4th episode and has been played 220 million times.

Image source: Tik Tok screenshot

The short dramas released by Guyu during the Spring Festival also include "Picking Gold · Fang Yu Yining" starring @三金七七. In the drama, Wen Yining, as a white-collar worker in the workplace, implants the Guyu Light Sensitive Water product in scenes such as staying up late and working overtime, making it easier for users to understand the product's efficacy.

Hansu also knows how to market short dramas. It is understood that from February to August 2023, Hansu collaborated with Douyin's top short drama expert @姜十七 on five short dramas, namely "Dress Up to Grow Up", "Heartbeat More Than a Moment", "A Beam of Sunshine and a Beam of Love", "All Love and You", and "You Will Be Famous", each with 16 episodes.

According to public data, Hanshu's series of short dramas are expected to receive nearly 5 billion views in total. Through the method of "short drama planting + brand self-broadcasting + Dabo", the implanted product "Hanshu Red Waist Gift Box" was promoted, with sales of more than 1.5 million sets across all channels, and ranked No. 1 on multiple Douyin lists, helping the brand unlock new marketing ideas.

PROYA has successively cooperated with film and television production companies such as Hao You Neng Ling and Her World, and launched female growth-themed works such as "Behind the Resistance", "Fight Back, Wife", "Full-time Househusband Training Program", and "Awaken, Love Brain", etc., to convey the brand attitude to the outside world and continuously deepen the relationship with users.

In addition to beauty and skincare brands actively participating in skit marketing, brands in the categories of maternal and child care, food, and cleaning products have also begun to appear in skits. For example, Feihe milk powder in "Save My Family"; Hailu eye drops in "Boss, Don't Be Tricks"; Safeguard shower gel in "I Don't Call You Mom"; A1 banana bread in "Blame You for Being Too Delicious"...

In addition, e-commerce platforms are another major category in short drama marketing. At a time when traffic is scarce, especially during festival promotions, e-commerce platforms are actively exploring new traffic pools, and short dramas have become a new choice for them.

Tmall, Taobao, JD.com, and other e-commerce platforms have successively sponsored Kuaishou short dramas. For example, Tmall appeared in three Kuaishou short dramas: "I Open a Bar in the Song Dynasty", "Yuanyang Duan", and "Super Office Worker"; Meituan sponsored the Kuaishou Xingmang short drama "Wife's Character"; JD.com New Department Store appeared in a single episode of the ancient style short drama "Donglan Snow"; Taobao App appeared in "Dear Goodbye"...

02 What are the characteristics of brand skit marketing?

At present, customized short dramas are the mainstream form of brand placement. According to incomplete statistics, in the past year and a half, 12 brands, including Hansu, Proya, Chabaidao, Marubi, and Xiaodu, have customized short dramas on the Douyin platform alone, and a large number of brands have invested in short drama placement and influencer cooperation, and the forms of brand placement are constantly expanding.

For brands, custom short dramas mean deep implantation in the entire drama, with higher exposure and richer gameplay. In addition to content implantation, brands can also obtain more spillover rights, such as brand embedded scenes in the drama, off-drama topic pages, short video covers and other multiple resources on the platform.

From the perspective of content, from script creation to character setting and even scene arrangement, brand elements are closely linked to the storyline, thereby conveying the core value of the brand and resonating with the target audience. Therefore, the customized short drama has a high degree of fit with the brand. For example, the customized short drama "Double A Couple is Beautiful and Cool" by Marubi sets the heroine as the daughter of Marubi Group, who pretends to be stupid and "outsmarts" the hero. This setting not only ensures the fun of the plot, but also subtly strengthens the user's awareness of the brand.

From the perspective of marketing effect, customized skits not only play a role in product promotion, but also promote brand conversion. For example, in the skit "Big New Year", users click on the topic #谷雨 below the video to jump directly to the brand's official live broadcast room to make a purchase, while the official account in the comment area shortens the search path, and users can click to enter the official flagship store to place an order.

Image source: Tik Tok screenshot

In addition to directing users to official platforms, short drama influencers with e-commerce attributes can further unlock new ways of brand marketing. @壹璐 is both a short drama actor and a top e-commerce anchor on Kuaishou. In the special live broadcast of the short drama "Ruhua Rutu", sales exceeded 10.8 million. Short dramas and influencers' live broadcast rooms attract each other, and this new linkage model is an incremental space for brands.

It is worth mentioning that currently customized short dramas are quite popular among beauty and skincare brands, and Douyin is the main platform for them to be released. Whether it is a number of domestic brands such as PROYA, MARUMEI, HANSU, and GUYU, or international brands such as HR and SHISEIDO, they all choose to customize short dramas on Douyin, which may be related to the relatively mature conversion path of Douyin e-commerce.

For brands, although customized short dramas have impressive marketing effects, the production costs are also high and are not suitable for all brands. The form of single-episode delivery meets the marketing needs of many brands. For example, the Douyin video "If You Don't Get Fired, Do It To The End!", which has broken 2.09 billion views, has attracted Boben Lotion, Kotex Sanitary Napkins, and Amul Yogurt to deliver single episodes.

Compared with customized short dramas, the cost of a single episode is lower, so the risk is relatively smaller. When choosing short dramas for product placement, brands should pay attention to the content quality, audience matching, and the influence of the broadcasting platform. For example, in the third episode "Working with a Frugal Family", the heroine received Boben Water Lotion from her boss. This plot not only fits the theme of the short drama, but also strengthens the target audience's awareness of the brand.

In addition, cooperation with influencers is also a way for brands to conduct short drama marketing. Last year, "Escape from the British Museum" became a hit on the Internet and received rave reviews. In order to take advantage of the popularity of this short drama, OLAY cooperated with the male and female protagonists of the drama @煎饼果仔 and @夏妹妹 to shoot a spin-off related to the plot of the short drama, thereby implanting the brand.

03 Where is brand skit marketing heading?

At present, the subject matter of short plays is becoming richer and more diverse, with suspense, science fiction, healing, comedy and other categories beginning to appear, but the mainstream content is still the plot of domineering CEOs and strong female protagonists' counterattacks in the workplace. For some brands, it is not easy to select suitable short plays for cooperation. The emergence of a large number of short plays with domineering CEOs and strong female protagonists will inevitably cause users to become aesthetically fatigued, and the brand marketing effect will also be affected.

In addition, the way brands are placed in skits will also affect marketing effectiveness. If the brand is naturally exposed in the skit scene, it will not disturb the user's viewing experience. However, if the brand is placed in a product explanation style, it will not only have a strong sense of advertising, but it will also easily distract users from the show.

For example, in the third episode of "Big New Year", after the heroine gave out the Guyu New Year gift box, she also introduced the product's efficacy in detail, which made users disconnected from the plot. Some netizens said, "It feels like watching an advertisement," "It doesn't feel like watching a TV series," "The pace is too fast, and the frequency of advertisements is faster than the drama." Therefore, in content co-creation, brands should pay attention to the ratio of plot to brand placement.

Image source: Tik Tok screenshot

Although short dramas are very popular at present, the marketing cost of short dramas is not low, and the production cycle is long. Currently, it is basically only the leading brands in the industry that are investing in them, which is not very friendly to many small and medium-sized brands. Therefore, not all brands can target short drama marketing and are willing to invest in customized short dramas. Many brands are still in a wait-and-see state.

In general, short plays are a hot trend and are attracting much attention. The participation of actors such as Xu Mengjie and He Landou and the participation of director Stephen Chow are constantly pushing short plays towards high-quality development. As the short play industry continues to mature and improve, there will be more room for imagination in brand short play marketing.

Author: Aries

Source: WeChat public account: TopKlout (ID: TopKlout)