2024 Superman Returns | If you can survive the winter, you are Superman

In this fragmented era, how to leave a deep impression on consumers is a common issue for every brand. As a pharmaceutical brand, Kuake's Superman IP image is impressive. Let's take a look at what novel advertisements it has released during the New Year.

Over the past year, chronic respiratory diseases have become prevalent and have attracted more and more attention. Cold medicine has become an indispensable standing medicine for many families. When it comes to cold medicine, many people will remember a classic brand with a 30-year history - Kuaike. Many people also remember Kuaike's iconic symbol - the green Superman.

I still remember when I first entered the advertising industry, my department was responsible for the brand agency of the fast-moving consumer goods industry, and the office next door was responsible for the pharmaceutical brand. At that time, I was particularly envious of my colleagues in the pharmaceutical department, and I felt that their work was very simple and easy. At that time, pharmaceutical advertisements mostly appealed to efficacy, and the creative techniques were relatively simple. The most used word in pharmaceutical copywriting was "effective"; then pharmaceutical companies could use a TVC for two or three years without changing it, which was very convenient for advertising companies.

However, more than ten years have passed. For today's pharmaceutical marketing, simple functional promotion is difficult to be recognized by consumers, especially it cannot impress young people. Moreover, today is no longer an era where a TVC can conquer the world. It is difficult to attract consumer attention and discussion by relying solely on hard advertising, and it is difficult to attract traffic at all.

So how should the pharmaceutical industry and the entire health industry build its brand and implement marketing promotion today? Next, I will provide you with a brand strategy and case that is very worthy of reference.

01 Superman Returns, a New Paradigm for IP Marketing

When talking about Kuake, many people will immediately think of Kuake's visual symbol, the green Superman. Now, Kuake has built Superman into a brand IP, using it as the center of brand marketing and a communication platform for continuous communication with consumers. In the past, in the traditional era, companies could establish continuous communication with consumers and form long-term cognition and memory through a TVC and a series of graphic drafts that were released throughout the year.

Today, although many companies publish a large number of pictures, texts and short videos every day, and do a lot of activities, events and topics, the problem is that today is a fragmented era with diverse media and scarce consumer attention. Although companies have created a lot of content and communication, it is increasingly difficult for consumers to form a holistic impression of the brand, and their cognition is unclear and their memory is not deep.

What’s more serious is that these contents are one-time, cannot be reused, and cannot form a cumulative effect. Everything is born and died, and the content released in the morning is outdated in the afternoon. Not only can companies not continue to capture consumers and form a whole year of communication, but every time they carry out marketing promotions, they have to start from scratch, re-create content, re-establish connections with consumers, and spend a lot of budget to purchase traffic to promote these one-time content. Therefore, I have repeatedly emphasized that today's marketing must create IP, use IP to undertake traffic and fans, so that each marketing promotion has accumulation; use IP to build brand assets and form long-term user cognition.

However, many people have a misunderstanding about IP, thinking that creating IP is just about designing a mascot or virtual image, and letting it appear on product packaging, event posters, and self-media as a visual symbol. But this is not IP, but material.

My definition of IP is a branded content product that is sustainable and iterative. The essence of IP is content productization. Content is designed, promoted, iterated, and monetized like a product, and branded operations are implemented (IP must have its own name, logo, image, fixed promotion nodes, and user participation ceremonies). And continue to operate, constantly inject new connotations, interpret new forms, and derive new gameplay. When IP is formed, it can carry user cognition and memory and become the core asset of the brand. For example, Double 11 is to Tmall, "Colonel" and Crazy Thursday are to KFC, and so on.

Kuake's Superman IP is also a typical case. It is not just about designing a visual image, but more importantly, it uses this IP to generate a lot of real interactions with consumers. This approach not only effectively inherits the brand assets accumulated by Kuake over the past 20 to 30 years, but also activates and promotes them.

Kuake's specific approach is to create a year-round actor recruitment plan, inviting ordinary workers from different industries across society to play the role of Superman, show their "fast" skills, and shoot 12 "fast movies" of different types.

Of course, playing Superman is not just about putting on a Superman suit, but about seeing the bright spots in the work and life of every ordinary person, and seeing their transcendence beyond the ordinary. Everyone can be a Superman in his own life.

This IP operation concept not only strengthens the connection between the brand and consumers, making consumers the protagonists of brand management, and Kuake is our superman; it also injects connotation into the Kuake IP, elevates the image of the entire Kuake brand, and reflects the brand's social responsibility and commitment. These 12 "fast movies" have a common name, called "12 Grams of Fast Super". It is released on a monthly basis, one per month, for 12 consecutive months. Each one chooses a solar term as the theme, combines a profession, outputs a life story, and expresses the spirit of an ordinary superman. It can be said that this is a truly national-level short film, which sees the lives of all kinds of people in the whole society through all walks of life.

"12 Grams" is actually another form of IP.

I divide brand IP into five types: character IP, event IP, work IP, cultural and creative IP, and scene IP.

Personal IP is the idolization of brand image, which is an upgrade and embodiment of brand image, making the brand worthy of being followed;

Activity IP is to promote activities as festivals, create ongoing events and user management activities, and make the brand participatory;

The IP of the work is the programmation of advertising content, turning a one-time advertisement into a sustainable and resonant work of art;

Cultural and creative IP is the productization of peripheral materials, creating peripheral cultural and creative products that reflect the brand connotation and are independently designed, making the brand become ownable;

Scene IP is to transform the store into a tourist attraction, implement tourist attraction transformation on the store, and turn the brand into an experiential theater.

Kuaike is a dual IP operation of the character IP "Superman" and the work IP "Kuaike 12 Grams". The two together become the center of the brand's marketing throughout the year and even in the next few years, thus breaking through the difficulties of fragmented and one-off communication today, helping the brand to expand its traffic and voice and accumulate brand assets.

What is particularly valuable is that this approach has brought a breath of fresh air to the stereotyped health marketing, breaking the single routine of past medical marketing and the old-fashioned image that lacks personality.

Around the recruitment of "supermen", Kuake has also created an interesting and fun online game. A few days ago, a recruitment activity #Earn 30,000 yuan a day, Kuake is looking for you to play Superman# became a hot search on Weibo, sparking the curiosity and heated discussion of many people.

Kuake has strengthened its communication with young consumers through the triple link of "registration + interaction + film list". After the launch of the activity, the total exposure of Weibo topic readings exceeded 280 million, the recruitment video playback volume exceeded 12 million, and the strong exposure on Weibo big screen reached 40 million.

02 Dual-effect integration, a new way of marketing during solar terms

Another commendable way of playing this IP project "Quick Super 12 Grams" created by Kuake is to interpret it with the solar terms as the carrier. The way of playing with solar terms marketing is amazing. I have also written articles before to emphasize the value of solar terms for marketing. The 24 solar terms are an important part of Chinese history and culture, containing a long cultural connotation and historical accumulation. For brands, especially Chinese brands, it is a very good marketing node.

The popularity of solar terms on the Internet can be traced back to a group of "24 solar terms" photographs by photographer Qing Jian in 2012, which were widely circulated on Weibo, Douban and other platforms. At the end of 2016, the 24 solar terms were successfully listed as a World Heritage Site by the United Nations, and Qing Jian's works were used in the video for the application.

At the beginning of 2022, the 24 solar terms were used for countdown at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics, which aroused praise from the whole nation.

As early as 2013, my advertising company was working on a communication project for a foreign tourism bureau in China. At that time, the concept we proposed was to use the 24 solar terms as the core communication node. At that time, we thought that communication must be centered on 15-second TVC + series of main planes + annual major events. In recent years, you can also see that many brands have created very successful solar term marketing. Recent cases include "The Waking of Insects" created by Jiaoxia in early 2023; in June 2023, Yili's college entrance examination marketing used the Grain in Ear solar term as the entry point to express the good wishes of "green seedlings grow awns, and seeds are harvested". There is also the Audi Xiaoman advertisement that once caused heated discussions on the entire network. Although this advertisement turned over due to plagiarism, the creative concept and the planning of the Xiaoman node are commendable.

Kuake chose the solar terms as the entry point and used the 12 solar terms to promote the marketing throughout the year. The strategy is not just a cultural consideration, but also a clever integration of solar terms with products, consumer needs and living habits.

Because the solar terms reflect the changes in the natural rhythm of the calendar, each solar term represents a change in climate. As we all know, when the climate changes, it is sometimes hot and sometimes cold, sometimes sunny and sometimes rainy, sometimes dry and sometimes wet, which is when it is most likely to catch a cold and get infected with respiratory diseases.

Kuake's choice of solar terms is extremely effective in demonstrating the functional value of the product and influencing consumers' living habits. In fact, since 2020, Kuake has launched marketing promotions around solar terms, launched topics such as #Kuakesolarterms.com, and cooperated with China Weather to create the "Joint Research Institute of Solar Terms Changes and Cold Trends", deeply exploring the relationship between solar terms, climate change, and colds, and using public welfare science reports to allow everyone to take precautions in time and use more scientific and effective methods to prevent and treat colds.

For example, in November 2020, when winter came, Kuaike and China Weather jointly launched the “National Cold Index Map”; in January 2021, when the weather was slightly cold, the “National Freezing Warning Map” was launched;

In October 2021, during the Cold Dew season, the “Autumn Johns Warning Map” was launched; in March 2022, during the Spring Equinox, the “National Spring Coverage Index Map” was launched, and so on.

It can be said that Kuake has truly integrated the brand into consumers' lives through solar term marketing, strengthening the brand's chances of appearing in users' lives and being chosen. So it is natural that Kuake has integrated the Superman IP with the solar terms this time, using the 12 solar terms to interpret the Superman IP. Yesterday, February 4th, was the beginning of spring, the first of the 24 solar terms. So what kind of surprise did Kuake give us at the beginning of spring?

03 Beginning of Spring blockbuster, new ideas for Spring Festival marketing

As the Spring Festival approaches, major brands are competing to launch Spring Festival marketing. I believe everyone has seen a lot of New Year advertisements recently. But needless to say, most of these advertisements are the same red and festive atmosphere, and dragon elements can be seen everywhere, which makes people dazzled and it is impossible to tell who made it. Speaking of the zodiac, in fact, in the real traditional customs, the new zodiac does not start from the first day of the Lunar New Year, but from the beginning of spring. After the beginning of spring, the new zodiac will take office.

Therefore, during this period of transition between the Dragon and the Rabbit, Kuaike combined the Spring Festival with the solar term to create a blockbuster about the change of the zodiac. The Rabbit, who has been with us for a whole year, has finished its last shift and is giving way to the new Dragon.

The dragon and the rabbit are a sharp contrast. The dragon is loved by people and represents strength, prosperity and respect; while the rabbit is a symbol of weakness, flexibility and tenacious vitality in people's minds.

By the way, the brand strategy of Coca-Cola Company is called "Dragon and Rabbit". Coca-Cola divides its brands into two types: dragon brands and rabbit brands. The dragon is the core brand that undertakes the main sales volume, and the rabbit is a niche innovative brand that fills the market space.

The contrast between these two zodiac signs is actually a vivid portrayal of people's mentality in the past two years. 2023 is not easy. Many people are busy at work and in life, and influenza A and B and mycoplasma have come one after another. We are like weak rabbits, tenaciously surviving, looking for hiding places everywhere, and holding a small hope that next year will be better, and that we can soar to the sky and turn our luck in the new Year of the Dragon.

So in this short film about good luck at the beginning of spring, Kuake brings us a warm and beautiful blessing: "It's the beginning of spring, everything will be fine. Year of the Dragon, we are optimistic about you". In the past hard year, the rabbit, as the "guardian of the zodiac", has protected us for the whole year. In the Year of the Dragon, Kuake tells us that as long as we survive this difficult year, the next year will be better; as long as we have experienced the test of winter, spring is not far away, because " if you can survive the winter, you are a superman ".

This is the theme of Kuake's Beginning of Spring campaign, which not only brings hope and blessings to everyone, but also injects soul into the "Superman" IP, which is highly consistent with the beginning of spring, the New Year, a universal social sentiment at the moment. The above is the complete strategy of Kuake's brand, which focuses on brand IP management, uses solar terms and seasons as carriers, integrates marketing communications through high-quality content + user participation, and occupies the minds of users.

As a project that will last throughout 2024, this Spring Festival blockbuster has made a good start for the new year. Now I can’t wait to see Kuake’s remaining 11 movies, 11 solar terms, and 11 superheroes’ wonderful performances.

Author: Empty-handed

WeChat public account: Empty Hands (ID: firesteal13)