Top 10 Marketing Keywords in 2023

2024 has arrived. The author of this article summarizes the ten annual marketing keywords for 2023. Read this article to get the changes in marketing hotspots throughout the year and prepare for the new year!

A hot topic, a new trend, or a consumer insight can all create new marketing methods.

For example, "dopamine marketing" that uses colors to stimulate consumption, "Buddhist life" that makes young people addicted, and "giant marketing" that unlocks the traffic code of Internet celebrity check-in spots...

Based on the marketing enthusiasm in the past year, the author summarized ten marketing keywords to connect the ups and downs of content dissemination throughout the year.

01 Joint Marketing

Cross-border collaboration has become the unspoken "code for brands to break out of the circle". This year's joint marketing is even more fierce, and every new one is a hit.

In addition to the usual popular film and television collaborations and category-complementary collaborations, one of the most obvious collaboration trends this year is that luxury brands are all "sinking to collaborate."

FENDI and HEYTEA jointly launched the "Joy Yellow" limited edition tea drink, which sold more than 1.5 million cups in three days after its launch. Topics such as "The first FENDI in my life was given by HEYTEA" dominated the major social platforms.

Moutai and Luckin Coffee jointly launched the "Soy Sauce Latte", one relying on Moutai's popularity among the public to open up the high-end business market, and the other relying on Luckin Coffee's strong social attributes to expand the young consumer group, achieving a win-win situation for the joint venture.

LV and Manner jointly launched a limited-time bookstore, using the gimmick of "buy a book and get a LV for free" to attract young people to line up to buy it.

With the price of a cup of milk tea, you can achieve luxury freedom, which accurately grasps the psychology of young people. When the event was launched, it was already a "hot search".

For mass brands, "following big brands" has always been a shortcut to harvest traffic.

However, against the backdrop of slowing global economic growth, "luxury goods" have lowered their status and actively embraced new consumer brands in search of a second growth curve.

It can be seen from this that "cross-border joint marketing" will only become more and more popular.

If a brand wants to stand out through collaboration, it might be helpful to think more about how to arouse the user's emotions. The more unpredictable the collaboration is, the easier it is to arouse the user's curiosity.

02 Color Marketing

In the first half of 2023, "dopamine" was extremely popular. In the second half of 2023, "Maillard" dominated the entire circle of friends.

One is a bright color series, and the other is a calm brown series, but the same thing is that they can play a positive psychological role. "Dopamine" represents happy and excited emotions, and "Maillard" represents warmth and healing.

These suggestive colors can quickly arouse the emotions of young people, and many brands have also tapped into new consumption potential from them.

For example, Starbucks launched new dopamine color products: Pink Drink (pink raw coffee) and Dragon Drink (purple raw coffee).

Luckin Coffee proposed the concept of "Dopamine Iced Coffee" and selected six fruit coffees of different colors to form the "Dopamine Iced Coffee" series.

Also, Chanel changed its classic black and white color scheme and opened a color decoding pop-up store in Shanghai, focusing on "happy dopamine".

Color marketing is essentially a kind of emotional marketing. Using popular colors as a form of expression, the brand is transformed into an "emotional body" to provide consumers with an outlet for emotional release.

From a practical application perspective, the use of large areas of bright colors can also break the conventional brand impression and make it stand out from fragmented information.

03 Buddhist Marketing

From "Buddhist youth" to "Buddha worship youth", more and more young people are entering temples to seek spiritual healing. The related "Buddhist marketing" has also blossomed everywhere this year.

In addition to the common temple coffee and temple peripherals, many brands are also looking for new ways to communicate with users from this wave of "temple fever".

For example, Ele.me and Fuquan Academy jointly launched the "First Cup of Buddhist Milk Tea in Autumn", which occupies the "afternoon tea" consumption scene by soothing emotions.

Starbucks has launched an in-car "electronic wooden fish" ornament to meet users' needs for "praying for good luck" and "releasing stress", and to further deepen the connection between coffee and users' life scenes.

Nayuki launched the "Lotus Milk Tea", which combines the fragrance of oolong tea with the fragrance of flowers to create a summer lotus fragrance atmosphere. At the same time, it also launched lotus coasters, lucky stickers and other good luck peripherals to encourage young people to "think more positively".

Buddhist marketing sells more than just products, it sells a Buddhist attitude and emotion towards life. By making products actively become the "emotional container" for young people, it can naturally give users new emotional purchasing motivations.

04 Outdoor Marketing

In 2023, the outdoor track will experience a spurt of development. More and more people are walking out of their cubicles and into nature.

Citywalk, special forces-style travel, off-road camping, road running and cycling, etc. are becoming the "social currency" of young people, and brands are also beginning to find common points between product attributes and outdoor scenes.

Jiaoxia has seen the pain point of urban youth who want to relieve stress, and launched a lightweight 48-hour escape event. Spend a weekend in nature to recharge.

Xiaohongshu has launched a series of outdoor themes such as #People should stay in a place where there is no ceiling#, #Hiking is to take a good walk with yourself#, and #The entrance to nature is the exit to life#, gradually building an outdoor life matrix.

Columbia released a set of "Go to Nature, Play with Nature" posters, telling the subtle connection between people and nature. Going outdoors is the only journey that does not require a strategy.

In addition, a billboard recently became popular in the uninhabited Gobi Desert.

People in the city, who have experienced the hustle and bustle, prefer and pay attention to quiet and free expressions. Using "outdoors" as a communication point with young people, establishing a deep connection between products and audiences can also better show the brand's people-friendly and life-oriented side.

05 Macho Marketing

Ever since Coco Tree’s marginal marketing became popular, many brands have also started to get excited, and the macho “business war” has officially begun.

First, Shuyi Shaoxiancao and "Fengshen" launched a joint packaging. At first glance, it looks like a normal cartoon character, but when you tear it open, you see a big-chested muscular man, which makes netizens blush.

Soon after, Wang Shanzha also used the same trick and invited a beauty blogger to shoot a cross-dressing video. The combination of handsome but not greasy and the magical melody of "Gong Lin La" made the brand popular overnight.

Jie Rou created an image of a "boss" for herself and took advantage of the #Zibo188SuitManDistributesTen ThousandTissues# event marketing to become an instant hit on the Internet.

The popularity of macho marketing is inseparable from the rise of the "she economy". As the status of women in the new era improves, this trend will only intensify.

In addition to traffic and exposure, brands should also take a long-term view and think about how to take advantage of this wave of popularity and turn it into brand assets.

06 City Marketing

In the first half of this year, Zibo barbecue became very popular, allowing people to see more possibilities for urban marketing.

For example, Guizhou's spontaneously organized basketball tournaments "Village Super" and "Village BA" are now a distinctive city label for Guizhou. For this reason, Xianyu moved "idle chairs" to the competition site, using this heartwarming little thing to make idle chairs realize their own value and also make Xianyu's brand image more realistic.

Who would have thought that "Tianjin grandpa diving" and "post-00s opening nursing homes" would become a tourist attraction? Insighting into the anxious life of young people, Kuaishou teamed up with nursing homes to shoot a localized advertisement, which made many young people want to visit Xuchang.

Xiaohongshu@Shock Copywriter

The Weifang Kite Festival, which dominated the entire internet this year, has become an advertising space that brands are scrambling for. Brands such as Mixue Bingcheng, Tmall, Jiaduobao, and Master Kong have all released their own mascots to attract large amounts of advertising with little cost.

There are also Quanzhou Hairpin Flower Festival, Yunnan Water Splashing Festival, Liuzhou Marathon...

It is easier to establish a differentiated marketing image by combining different regional cultures in brand marketing or product research and development.

In addition, the connection between the brand and city marketing is also a precise communication aimed at common users, which will more easily resonate with the audience.

07 Giant Marketing

One of the simplest creative principles is to enlarge or reduce the size of the original object, which can easily catch the attention of young people.

This year, there have also been a lot of eye-catching "giant marketing":

Bilibili built a giant book of 80 square meters on University Road, attracting many curious passers-by to take photos and check in.

LV built a giant handbag on the Huangpu River in Shanghai to warm up for its upcoming fashion show.

The low-cost supermarket Aldi has placed giant vegetables, milk and carrots in the Jing'an Temple subway station in Shanghai.

Through "giant marketing", it can not only firmly occupy the minds of users with the "visual hammer", but also transform into an Internet celebrity check-in point to attract new traffic.

08 Relaxation Marketing

Young people who are caught up in involution and anxiety begin to pursue a sense of relaxation.

Before selling products, brands may wish to first understand user emotions and establish emotional product communication.

For example, my best friend Tiantianji shot an advertisement to tell you: When working hard in a big city, the most important ability is to make yourself happy at any time.

By listing the little things that make you happy in life, the product selling points are naturally presented. Compared with the serious and rational product function evaluation, this kind of output of the emotional value of "accompanying" is more likely to touch the hearts of female users. There is also Meituan Youxuan's annual blockbuster "Eating Well, a Big Event in Life", which gently tells the small and big matter of eating from the topic of family affection. There is no preaching in the whole process, which is full of human touch.

As the economy goes down, consumers will only become more cautious and need emotional comfort more than ever. Instead of creating tension to stimulate consumption, it is better to extend the brand's soft tentacles. Try to be gentle in communication and focus on the real needs of consumers. Products appear more in the daily lives of young people as a solution, providing people with intrinsic emotional value.

09. Save Money Marketing

With the rise of the reverse consumption craze, a money-saving trend has also swept the marketing industry. Kuaishou x JD.com, in order to teach people how to save money, specially organized a "Super Money-Saving Conference";

Ele.me has taken a more down-to-earth approach, focusing on the "18 Red Envelope Festival" to explore money-saving scenarios in life and discover small surprises from the daily lives of young people. A series of money-saving literature content is co-created to jointly build a money-saving mentality. RT-Mart's fireworks literature is also about discovering the fun of careful budgeting. With one dollar, you can enjoy a day of happiness.

Of course, money-saving marketing is not just about price wars, but about making users feel understood and accepted.

10. Hot Meme Marketing

Traditional marketing is becoming less and less effective. Brands that don’t know how to play with memes are unlikely to be able to keep up with young people. Previously, Kindle’s self-deprecation of “cover Kindle, noodles are more fragrant”; now “have a cup of 1982 Sprite” will come true in 2023. Sprite launched a new product this summer, “A Tribute to the 1982 Limited Lemon Flavored Soda”, and held a high-end new product launch conference, which set off a wave of nostalgia among young people.

In addition, "jump to Taobao anytime, anywhere" was originally used by netizens to complain about "Taobao ads everywhere". Unexpectedly, Taobao turned it into a marketing campaign. Taobao jump gates were set up in five art colleges.

In a joking way, we continue the popularity of this hot topic and deliver the sense of surprise that Taobao’s Double 12 Year-End Good Price Festival wants to create.

Similarly, if brands want to get close to young people, they might as well take a look at what they are paying attention to. —The above are the ten keywords we summarized. They are anchor points one by one. Connecting them horizontally can depict the general communication image in 2023. You will find that some marketing methods have not changed, but there are always brands that can make a big splash. Therefore, it is recommended that we dig deeper to find the connection points with our own brands, so as to generate our own cases. In 2024, I hope we can find a hot spot.

Author:Aye

WeChat public account: Shock Copywriter