In the short video business war, you have to be able to twist

The "subject three" dance skills of the Haidilao waiter have made the deserted store crowded with customers; the fitness man of Coco Tree and the "little milk dog" live broadcast room of Vinda are both a model of "male sex marketing". This article conducts in-depth thinking on the current entertainment trends of consumers.

Hang up a few more stalls tonight so that your mother can make dumplings for you tomorrow!

I never expected that the mentality of the madam urging her girls in the 1951 film "Sisters Stand Up" would be "re-registered" on the manager of Haidilao in 2023. The unsung store with mediocre performance was actually crowded with customers because of the "Oiran" who was good at Subject 3.

According to local people, the Haidilao in Jiangyin used to have poor business, but now it is normal to have to queue up for reservations. It is really enjoyable to eat hot pot while watching the male waiter named "Buwangxing" dance Kukai, clean windows, and perform the third subject. After being ignored in front of the noodle-shaking stunt, the third subject came to save the day. It seems that the secret to the business war in the hot pot industry can be remembered in one word - twist!

For viewers who watch short videos, it is like a sister eating meat and giving soup to everyone. Although it is not as intimate as the live interaction, it also feels full of emotional value. Otherwise, what is the "electronic brothel"? I must imagine myself as a rough man with a bag of silver bills, shouting to the store manager like a lecher: "Call out the most twisting girl in your family." In Stephen Chow's movie universe, it must be a beauty like Ruyan in "Justice, My Foot".

Looking back at the short video business wars of the year, it seems that they were all "body" battles. In spring, it was the competition between the muscular man of Yeshu and the little milk dog of Vida; in summer, it was the high-end game between Wang Shanzha and Shuyi, where the handsome guy suddenly showed a bottle of drink when he was just touching the edge, which was a malicious intention; at the end of the year, Haidilao took the initiative with the subject three and created a dancing veela that was irresistible.

No wonder Baudrillard said, "In the entire consumption range, there is one object that is more beautiful, more precious, and more admirable than all other objects. What it carries is more important than any other object. It is the body." A handsome young man has entered the game with his body, so how can you not fall into the trap?

01 Subject 3 has its own "five unique features"

In the Jianghu genealogy of Haidilao's subject three, a multipolar pattern of "Looking East, Hoping West, Buddha in the South, Ming in the North, and Chunyuan in the Center" has been formed.

Dongwang, also known as Jiangyin's courtesan "Buwangxing", is tall, with a soft waist and a shy expression. He works two jobs and cannot escape the fate of skipping the third subject in the coffee shop. At first, I wondered how he could always remain shy. Later, I realized that it is hard not to be shy when facing different patrons every day! When he put his hand on the girl's hand and covered his eyes and dared not look, Mr. Hard Candy just wanted to say: "I know he is acting, as long as he is willing to spend time on me."

Among the five quatrains, only "Bu Wang Xing" has captured the essence of Haidilao work clothes, wearing the bib like a hip skirt. With the silky twist, how can people not want to kiss and make love with her? Thinking of this, it is no wonder that the evil man in the novel flirted with the common girl, it is really this little hoof that is too charming and has led a good man astray.

Xihong is the "near sea" of Haidilao in Longyan, Fujian. His strength is not in dancing skills, but in the hospitality that gives people an indescribable sense of comfort, endless tact, and endless thoughtfulness. Playing rock-paper-scissors with guests is just a side dish, and he is as skilled in holding a child and coaxing him as a maid.

Nanfo is actually a boy band from Haidilao in Foshan. Their representative works include the dances "Gentleman" and "Sleepless Night". Their movements are so uniform that they can be rated as a second-class star in "Asia Super Star Group". The signature moves such as the hand-raising in "Sleepless Night" and the neck-choking in "Gentleman" have won the hearts of countless customers.

It's not that male models are unaffordable, but Haidilao is more cost-effective. Imagine if you ordered a male model at a KTV, even if you were so conservative that you didn't touch his hands and just drank, others would probably think you were not serious. But if you watched a part of Subject 3 while eating hot pot, it would be aboveboard, and you would get cheers and envy if you posted it on your Moments. It can be seen that the key is not what we watch, but where we watch it. The same product, in a different consumption scenario, has a very different taste and meaning .

Let's talk about "Beiming", which is "Yizhiming" in Dalian, Liaoning. After leaving Shanhaiguan, there is indeed a bright beauty of Dayu'er. Especially the shyness when smiling, compared with "Dongwang", it is more unfamiliar as a newcomer, which makes people laugh. Analogous to "The Legend of Zhen Huan", it may be Chun'er and Yurao, who are still young but have a stunning look. I will ask Su Peisheng to go to Dalian Bay to pick them up.

Zhong Chunyuan, the "Tomorrow I will go to dance in the West Lake" of Haidilao in Qingzhou, Shandong. He is known as the "Queen Chunyuan" of Subject 3, not only because he became famous early, but also because he doesn't have so many twists and turns, and feels like a rocker who simply likes to dance. The other four of the five unique masters all put on a coquettish look of "Sister, you make me feel embarrassed", but this Chunyuan is seriously showing off "My flower hands are amazing, right?"

In addition, there are Wang Anyu from Fuzhou and Song Weilong from Jingdezhen, who are also famous beauties in the world. However, Wang Anyu from Fuzhou is less attractive when she takes off her mask, and Song Weilong from Jingdezhen is not good at dancing, so he is not included in the list of the five most beautiful women in Hard Candy. A handsome man lacks talent and cannot win the heart of the emperor. However, those with extraordinary talent can make a breakthrough in the palace fight even if their appearance is not so outstanding.

02 Three business war models

Although they are all "gazing at men", this year's short video business war has played out in three very different modes. Coconut Tree and Vinda are doing things in their own live broadcast rooms, Wangshanzha and Shuyi are directly advertising to body bloggers, and Haidilao makes its own spectacles offline and then spreads them online through UGC.

The difference in content models is inseparable from the commercial logic of the product itself and the user's acceptance habits. In the same live broadcast, Yeshu does not promote products at all, but lets muscular men like Huanhuan wear fitness vests from the 1980s and build bicycles. There is only one purpose, to promote Yeshu's new definition of male beauty. Although it is performed in the live broadcast room, it is a brand advertisement rather than an effect advertisement.

Reviewing the long-term operation of Coco Tree Live, I have to say that this is the most successful turnaround of domestic brands in the year. Before Coco Tree started live broadcasting with macho men, users’ perception of the image of Coco Tree’s coconut juice mainly focused on Xu Dongdong’s plump figure and the imaginative phrase “I have been drinking it since I was a child”. The addition of muscular men changed the gender of the product and adapted to the current gender narrative. The indiscriminate gaze on men and women reversed the brand image of Coco Tree. When Huan Huan read out the advertisement of “Drink until you grow up”, you will feel that this is not coconut juice, but protein powder.

Coconut Tree climbed upward, breaking the muscle shame and the difficulty in saying that they like muscular men. Many female users said that they liked muscular men but were embarrassed to say it before. After watching Coconut Tree, they felt that this change in social aesthetics was good. At the same time, Vida slid downward. It did not make an effort to correct the aesthetics, but obeyed the aesthetics, and found seven or eight little milk dogs in the live broadcast room to look at the screen eagerly and said, "Sister, buy a pack!"

To be honest, apart from the annoying ones like Wu Lei selling newspapers, it is really hard to refuse the small items sold by handsome guys. A pack of paper money is not much, and you can't travel to Singapore, but it can bring a bright smile to the working boy, which is really a super value experience of "saving the prostitute" . Hard Candy loves Andy Lau's cuteness and Ajie's dancing, which can be said to be always new. I watch Vida's live broadcast twice a month, and I love it every time.

The "Rose War" between Shuyi Shaoxiancao and Wangshanzha broke out in July 2023. This control group is very similar to Coconut Tree and Vida. The bloggers who take over Wangshanzha business are generally muscular, such as "Wei Ai Pi" and "Mr. Sun". The bloggers who take over Shuyi business are mostly thin-muscled teenagers, such as "Call Me Pai Zong" and "Sanqiao Takashi".

As for why the brand has such a style division, it is also related to the product tone. Wang Shanzha is a hawthorn juice sparkling water, accompanied by Gong Linna's magical song "Gululuzi, galalazi, galalazi. Drink Wang Shanzha when you eat spicy food", which is to make you feel refreshed. Imagine Wu Song drinking, he must have a lot of muscles to match the passion of hawthorn water.

At that time, Shuyi was promoting a grape-flavored drink, and the fresh style was best suited to Baipi Naigou. Of course, many bloggers at that time accepted the invitations from both parties. The merchants fought, the bloggers benefited, and the passers-by who watched also made money. Unfortunately, Wang Churan's Miss Baizhou incident fermented, causing Shuyi to retreat quickly in this wave of business wars.

At present, Haidilao's model is the most cost-effective. Online traffic is so expensive nowadays, and Haidilao can win a lot by relying on the spontaneous filming and dissemination of content by the masses by simply transforming the noodle-shaking skill into a dance. It is the short video that has increased its own turnover. Hard Candy saw a netizen filming on Xiaohongshu, and Haidilao in Hong Kong is urgently training for Subject 3. Very good, it's time to debut at Haidilao to replace Jiang Tao.

03 The Consumed Body

Some netizens lamented, "Fortunately, it was a boy who acted so awkwardly. If a group of men surrounded the waitress like this, they would definitely be hooligans." The short video business war in 2023 not only allows us to see all kinds of male beauty, but also obscures the "bodies being consumed."

"The body is no longer seen as flesh from a religious perspective or as labor under industrial logic, but is instead used as an object of narcissistic worship or as a strategy and element of social rituals because of its materiality. In this long process, beauty and eroticism are the two dominant themes."

When I entered Haidilao, I saw a clear process of internal symbolic meaning transformation. Before entering Haidilao, it was a new genre of social shaking, which was popular but not elegant, and the attributes of funny and playing with memes accounted for the absolute majority.

After entering Haidilao, it was still a noodle-like skill in the early stage, and Chunyuan in Subject 3 was like this. He was very particular about the details of the dance, and the slow motion rhythm was in place, which was technical. Later, when it came to Jiangyin Hua Kui and Fuzhou Wang Anyu, Subject 3 had another meaning besides skill - catering in a shy atmosphere. At this time, it was not enough to dance Subject 3, everyone wanted to watch Kukai, Cleaning the Glass, and Gentleman.

In the past, they attracted customers, but now they seduce them. Haidilao has not only learned all the codes of male sex in short videos, but also put them into practice. When a customer asked to hold hands, "Buwangxing" satisfied him directly, but he said timidly, "I will definitely be beaten by my wife when I go back, my friends!" Whether the wife exists or not is not important, what is important is the power to tease a married man and the slight sense of bullying.

What makes netizens happy is no longer the dance moves, but the twisting waists, blushing ears, and gestures of refusal and acceptance. Nightclubs and KTVs never thought that their rival would be Haidilao . Hard Candy suggests that they immediately start the hot pot business and have a hearty business war with Haidilao.

Someone claiming to be a Haidilao employee revealed, "Only pretty ones can serve customers in the front, otherwise they can only wash dishes in the kitchen." Isn't this nonsense? If Hard Candy were the store manager, he would also divide the employees into different levels. The handsome ones clean the windows, the ugly ones clean the tables. The courtesans danced wildly in the front, while the other employees washed dishes in the kitchen.

It's not that they don't want to work hard, but that there is not enough body to consume. It should be pointed out that male beauties are not consumed as a gender group at Haidilao, but a small number of men with outstanding appearance have gained extra benefits due to their innate conditions.

When we cheer for "liberation", let's not forget that the right to gaze is granted by business. Once the business war begins, it is indeed a feast for the eyes to look around, but the joy of the virtual world is, in a sense, just a pile of landscapes. When you withdraw from short videos, it is inevitable that you will feel that the people around you are not pleasing to the eye because of withdrawal reaction.

Huanhuan did not dance the Jinghong dance but the Yangge dance. Although the etiquette and music were broken, everyone was happy. From another perspective, the subject three has changed from a social dance to an entertainment project, which can be regarded as another strong transformation of subculture by business. While cheering for male beauty, Mr. Hard Candy also mourned for subculture.

Author: Xie Minghong; Editor: Li Chunhui

Source: WeChat public account "Entertainment Hard Candy (ID: yuleyingtang)"