Damn! I was seduced by these 6 brands | Monthly Case

In an era of increasingly fierce business competition, brand marketing plays a vital role. In this article, we will take you to explore six eye-catching brand cases and see how these brands stand out in the fiercely competitive market.

Earlier this month, Oxford University Press selected the word of the year for 2023 – Rizz.

The word is derived from "charisma," which refers to a person's ability to attract an emotional partner through "style, charm, or attractiveness."

Derived from the word “charisma”, “rizz” refers to a person's ability to attract a romantic partner through “style, charm or attractiveness”, dictionary publisher Oxford University Press (OUP) said in its announcement Monday. The word received more than 32,000 votes from the public, OUP added.

For a brand to be able to "rizz up" users, the premise is that the brand itself has empathy and compassion. Only when rational empathy and emotional empathy are projected into the brand's products and services can a "user-oriented brand" be created.

Whether it is a product or a service, it now faces consumers directly through "content", and only content can shape the consensus on products and brands. Therefore, whether it can create provocative content has become a key factor in whether a brand can build Rizz.

There are many ways to be "attracted", and some basic examples include: meaningful individual stories, people in the same circle, dialogues based on equality and respect, co-creation of results, etc.

In the last month of 2023, the Knife Skills Research Institute selected 6 brand marketing cases that "attracted" us and conducted detailed analysis to see how they output emotional value in terms of emotions, content, expression and perspective.

1. PROYA: The stray cat downstairs in your building has a nest

As we all know, pets are the favorite of young people today. However, in this two-way relationship between people and pets, it is a difficult problem for brands, as the "third party", to naturally participate in it.

Giving away cat beds is a common practice for brands, but the keywords for cat beds are often concentrated on "cute, interesting, and luxurious", targeting pet cats and pet owners. On December 19, "PROYA" jointly launched the "Wintering Plan for Stray Animals" with It Fund and Nailon, changing the perspective and focusing on stray cats.

The entire plan consists of three parts. The first is a stray cat bed co-branded gift box, which contains a courier box that can be transformed into a cat bed, a warming pad, a thank you card holder, a science hand card and a co-branded mask. Second, PROYA will donate 5% of the sales of this gift box to local rescue bases. Third, PROYA and IT Foundation have compiled a "Scientific Rescue Manual".

In order to adapt to the living environment of stray cats, PROYA has also optimized the material details. For example, the cat bed is made of PP plastic, which is not easily soaked by water. It is printed with the slogan "Collecting waste is only worth 3 cents" to reduce the risk of being taken away. The green color is also used, which is more concealed and easier for cats to notice.

These details have been recognized by some users. One Xiaohongshu user said that he specially used tape to stick the included science cards on the box, hoping to encourage more people to feed their animals to join TNR.

"Provocative power" is the new driving force of the brand, which comes from meaningful, empathetic, authentic, and co-creative dialogues, such as brands and consumers working together to create actionable things. For things between adults, attraction is always more effective than coercion, and giving love is no exception. For consumers, the design of changing the express box into a cat bed is simpler and gives a sense of hands-on participation, especially for users who plan to stock up on facial masks. There is no sense of extra effort, which reduces the resistance to giving love.

The three-party collaboration also introduced the IP Milk Dragon, adding a layer of cuteness, which is conducive to stimulating users' enthusiasm for participation. Currently, there are nearly 500 comments under the official announcement of PROYA's official account on Xiaohongshu, most of which are users sharing photos and feelings of rescuing stray cats.

Kindness is not meant to be silent, but can be stimulated and demonstrated, and brands can act as a booster and expression platform.

2. pidan: sorry dog

On December 10, a "cat-friendly" cafe "Sorry Dog" was opened under "pidan" and is now officially open for business.

"Cats first, public welfare program" are the keywords engraved in the brand genes of pidan. This "Cat-Friendly" cafe is named after the brand proposition and a play on dogs. In essence, it still adheres to the brand tone in terms of design aesthetics, focusing on pet owners and magnifying the sense of the cafe being more friendly to cat owners. The interesting name "sorry dog" is used as a guide to attract the attention of pet owners, but it does not mean that dog owners are not allowed to enter. On the contrary, cat owners and dog owners can experience a more comfortable environment here.

The brand tells users that the nature and habits of different pets will lead to inherent differences in their needs for "friendliness". Cats prefer to stay at home, while dogs are more adapted to the external environment. Therefore, pidan decided to distinguish between indoor and outdoor spaces in the design of the cafe, splitting up the theme of "pet-friendliness" to allow cats to be cats with peace of mind, and dogs to be dogs with ease.

Among them, sorry dog ​​also hopes to make it truly "cat-friendly" with the help of infrastructure and comprehensive services, including private cat boxes installed at indoor seats to provide temporary homes for nervous cats; cat bowl racks and leash rings are installed at lamp posts and friendly items are provided for cats/dogs to deal with unexpected situations that may arise when going out, etc.

In addition, in the outdoor environment, sorry dog ​​uses a naturalistic gardening method, taking the seasonal cycles of plants into consideration and selecting plants that are ornamental in any season, including fine-leaved silvergrass, pink muhly grass, etc., all of which are pet-friendly plants.

For pet owners, the charm of sorry dog ​​is that it takes all aspects of the daily life of pets into consideration, which makes people more relaxed. If you want to go out and enjoy a leisurely time with your pet, it is almost hard to refuse such a tailor-made place.

During the research, Daofa found that on some mainstream social media, users of pidan commented that it is "the brand most like Apple in China."

To be the "Apple" in a certain category is the wish of many brands. Many brands try to get close to the Apple style by renovating their official websites, changing fonts, and holding new product launches, but most of them only stay at "similar in appearance".

Pidan's appeal to brand fans (mainly cat owners) does not involve high-frequency, high-stimulation marketing activities. Instead, it respects the habits of different groups of cats and dogs, and further develops products and expands life scenarios from the perspective of cats/dogs. With the company of the brand, pet owners can feel more at ease and relaxed, while allowing the brand's proposition, culture and values ​​to flow naturally.

3. Disney: Crazy homophones in Zootopia

Another major event in December this year was the official opening of Zootopia. In addition to the new attraction Heat Tracking, the most popular topic on Xiaohongshu was the ubiquitous puns in the park.

The brand took the lead, Skechers transformed into "Skechers". PepsiCo specially customized special packaging drinks such as "Pepsi Deer", "Meinenda" and "Seven Rhinos" for the park. The special edition packaging limited to the park made the originally unfriendly price of 15 yuan per bottle seem much more worthwhile.

Various puns related to the appearance and names of animal citizens have also become the subject of dissemination, such as "Take a taxi with Milu, and you won't get lost when traveling", "Quick Spot Removal Laundry Detergent" endorsed by Leopard, Lizhua Nail Salon, Howling KTV, zebra pattern zebra crossing, etc.

Since everything from manhole covers to signposts to road signs is full of details, the fun of many movie and park fans has changed from playing rides and interacting with Disney friends to looking for memes with a magnifying glass. Xiaohongshu user Janice Xiaojing has visited the new park many times, and every time she finds new details, she will post a Xiaohongshu note. So far, she has posted five notes. Another user commented: "There are too many memes in the city! It's like building a city on Easter eggs!"

The Daofa Research Institute mentioned in the "2023 Business Content White Paper" that changes in the media environment have greatly increased consumers' requirements for content quality and quantity. Director Guo Fan once mentioned when sharing the creative inspiration of "The Wandering Earth 2" that today's audiences have a huge demand for information. Streaming media allows viewers to watch the same movie repeatedly and communicate all the details about the movie through bullet screens and comment areas.

The method Disney uses to "teasing" users is also its signature skill - content. The overwhelming and localized homophonic puns can not only make visitors smile, take photos and check in, but also meet the needs of Generation Z consumers for information, making users unable to help but raise their phones to record and share these small details they discovered, forming an interactive experience.

4. NetEase Cloud: Press Enter and good things will happen

Brands need to use "provoking power" to establish a deep, warm connection with users. One way to do this is to allow users to find people with the same interests and have empathetic conversations.

On December 8, NetEase Cloud Music launched its first music review calendar.

NetEase Cloud Music was once known as "Net Depression Cloud". Many users left messages in the song comment area, and the keywords were usually "broken love, breakup, postgraduate entrance examination", etc. Some people interpreted this as a manifestation of mourning culture. But in fact, speaking out is to be seen. Users write their stories in the comment area, hoping to get comfort and healing from afar.

There are two clever ideas hidden in the design of NetEase Cloud’s calendar:

First, the calendar is designed to look like a giant enter key. “Enter” means starting a new line, and the idea is to tell everyone that every day is new.

Second, in terms of content, the calendar has changed the popular "Net Depression Music" feature and selected the healing music reviews from the past comment section of Yuncun, becoming an antidote to the user's emo mood; at the same time, the back of the calendar card can also be freely written and recorded, allowing users to create secondary works.

Back to the calendar itself, it is a high-frequency use, low-frequency consumption product, bought once a year, but can interact with users for 365 days. For such a product, matching it with sufficiently interesting content can subtly deepen its brand mindset for a long time.

These healing music reviews have become more heartwarming and connected content. When users are reminded of a song in a review, they may open the app and talk to the creator. After all, truth is the most touching and the most seductive.

5. LV: The giant bag jumped into the river

A two-story-high giant LV Speedy slowly swam across the Huangpu River in Shanghai. This rare scene was quickly captured by a passerby and quickly spread on social platforms such as Xiaohongshu, Douyin, and Weibo.

"The most expensive and eye-catching bag" "Shanghai is so rich and dazzling!" "Look! LV jumped into the river!"

As the internet went viral, the giant bag quickly became a tourist attraction, with many netizens coming to take photos with it. Even at night, you don't have to worry about not being able to see it clearly because it has its own luminous properties.

This is actually a warm-up activity for LV's Speedy series, the representative item of the 2024 Spring and Summer series. In addition to the one in the upper reaches of the Huangpu River, two more giant Speedy shoes of the same model were placed in Taikoo Li, Chengdu and Zhang Yuan, Shanghai, but in blue.

This wave of LV marketing has attracted a lot of attention. The giant bag with the logo painted all over it has nakedly shown the audience the wealth that comes from luxury goods. If the essence of luxury goods is to create dreams, then this time, LV has successfully made people who saw this bag on the Huangpu River and on the Internet enter a dream together.

It is said that the brands that can connect with users in the future must be "brands that can seduce". Being seduce means being able to provide emotional value and "seduce" users to have conversations.

The premise of this is to empathize with users and understand their most essential psychological needs. This may be what luxury goods are best at. After all, dream-making is to inspire people's yearning for a refined life. Even if you can't participate, it's good to discuss it.

6. Huawei's World: Making Middle-Aged People "Attract Girls' Hearts"

"After going out for a drink, I can let the car drive me home automatically, without having to call a designated driver."

This joke comes from a middle-aged man who recently bought a new M7. Jokes aside, it reflects one thing: in addition to the three-piece set of "fishing, Maotai, and Arc'teryx", what makes middle-aged men spend money now is new energy vehicles with Huawei's intelligent driving system.

According to data provided by vertical media car FANS, 80% of the users who purchased the new M7 within 72 hours of its launch were men, most of whom were between 30 and 50 years old and worked in public institutions, proving the great appeal of the Huawei label to this group of people.

New energy vehicles, which were once favored by young people, have now become a brand that is mainly used by middle-aged male users. This is a bit unexpected, but also reasonable. After all, they are the main group that needs to change cars.

But what is the decisive motivation for middle-aged male consumers to abandon traditional luxury brands and turn to new energy? If they are simply attracted by technology, they should have bought other brands long ago, such as Tesla, Wei, Xiaoli, or Arcfox and Avita, which also have Huawei background.

From the appearance point of view, whether it is the new M7 or the M9 just released last night, their appearance can only be considered average. It is a bit of a stretch to say that they have a futuristic feel. They are more like a traditional luxury fuel car. There is no overly radical design language, but it is very much in line with the psychology of middle-aged men who pursue low-key luxury.

In terms of product form, the main product of Wenjie is still the extended-range electric vehicle, which directly impacts the ideal market share of "daddy cars". There is no need to worry too much about the trouble of charging, and it is still refueling, but the fuel consumption is lower. It will not be a sudden transition and is easy to be accepted by relatively more conservative groups.

Another important reason that has been overlooked is that smart driving is blessed by the "Huawei" brand. It not only allows users to consume "Chinese-style" technological leadership, but also allows middle-aged male users to get in touch with new technologies in a more stable and natural way, thereby gaining a sense of satisfaction of "staying young".

In the second half of this year, AEB (Automatic Emergency Braking System) and NOA (Navigation Assisted Driving System) are two technologies that car companies must compete for, and Huawei is the loudest among them. For example, the HUAWEI ADS 2.0 equipped in the new M7 does not rely on high-precision maps. It can achieve high-level intelligent driving on highways and in urban areas through ordinary map navigation. On November 24, the "Unmanned Valet Parking" video of the Zhijie S7, a collaboration between Huawei and Chery, was screened on major social media platforms, pushing Huawei to the top of the hot search again.

At the right time, Wenjie benefited from the traffic dividend of Mate 60. At the end of August this year, Huawei's new Mate 60 was successfully promoted by "selling before release", and the phrase "far ahead" was spread virally. Wenjie's new M7, which was released shortly afterwards, firmly caught this wave of emotional assets and its sales soared. After all, the worship of Chinese-style technological leadership is the cultural gene in the bones of the older generation.

Compared with Huawei's other cooperative automobile brands, Wenjie is undoubtedly more "Chinese". Offline, Huawei has arranged new M7 exhibition cars in major stores early on, allowing Mate 60 mobile phones, MatePad Pro tablets and cars to attract traffic and generate joint sales. These three core products are named Huawei's "three-piece set" to make people forget that Wenjie is already an independent new brand. At the press conference, Huawei Consumer BG CEO and Intelligent Automotive Solutions BU CEO Yu Chengdong was no longer responsible for explaining new products such as mobile phones, but focused on introducing Wenjie's new cars at length. This middle-aged executive with a burst of temperament is the only spokesperson for Wenjie.

Yu Chengdong is the only spokesperson for the industry

If "teasing" means letting consumers discover preferences that they were not aware of, then Wenjie (or Huawei) has been successful in this regard. M7 has been on the market for two and a half months, and the pre-order volume has exceeded 100,000 units in two and a half months, rushing straight into the first echelon. The M9 released last night is priced at 500,000 yuan, and the orders in two hours exceeded 10,000. Old-school people who once expressed their incomprehension of new energy vehicles now also enjoy using MatePad Pro in the M7. It turns out that they don't dislike new things, but they just need to accept them in a way that they agree with.

Author: Knife Skills Content Team Editor: Siete WeChat Official Account: Knife Skills Research Institute