Taking advantage of the hot spots, how does Wanglaoji use e-sports to [grasp] young people?

How did Wanglaoji gain a firm foothold in the development of the times? Let's see what the author said~

The younger generation of the main consumer force is already a commonplace issue. As true Internet "natives", young consumers have their own circles and contexts, and are also resisting blind indoctrination and OEM advertising.

This has prompted brands in traditional industries to accelerate their marketing transformation, hoping to convey a new, younger brand image to consumers. Joint ventures, cross-border, creating new products... Traditional brands have taken countless paths to rejuvenation, but in the final analysis, they all need to find the emotional connection between themselves and young people and actively establish in-depth communication and dialogue with young people.

Crawley found that in the summer that just ended, Wanglaoji successfully integrated into the young circle by capturing and leveraging the hot topics of e-sports, bringing a new image to the brand.

This summer, e-sports events have become popular frequently, and the e-sports events and Asian Games have swept the world. Every related topic has become a hot topic in the public opinion field. Wanglaoji chose to go deep into the e-sports circle, and through circle marketing, celebrity marketing, and hot marketing, it swept the screen in the dialogue scenes of young people, showing the vitality of the brand while conveying the brand value and concept to different young groups.

In this process, the accurate capture and efficient application of hot spots have become the key to Wanglaoji's success.

1. Find the connection between hot spots and brands, and use the hot spots in midsummer to enter the young circle

Today, e-sports events have become a definite hot topic. E-sports events, star players, and popular projects are all frequent guests on hot searches, and e-sports has become the focus of young people's discussion.

According to the "Game Industry Marketing Ecosystem White Paper" jointly released by Weibo and Clour, about 54.3% of young users are more accustomed to using Weibo to learn about game trends, which laid the foundation for Wanglaoji to take advantage of the e-sports hotspot on Weibo.

According to Weibo data, in the first half of 2023, the "heat value" of e-sports on Weibo has remained high, and it is not limited by the competition cycle. The holding of the KPL Summer Games has once again made people interested in e-sports active. In 2023, the KPL Summer Games topped the Weibo hot search list for several consecutive days as soon as the game started, and it continued to be hot, attracting countless users to discuss.

At the same time, this year is also the first time that e-sports events have been included in the Asian Games, which has also stimulated a large number of young users to become interested in e-sports. It is understood that the number of users interested in e-sports in the first half of 2023 has increased by nearly 900% compared to 2022. As the Asian Games approach, more and more discussions are being held about it, and the first gold medal in the Asian Games has directly ignited the e-sports crowd.

Wanglaoji has seen through this trend and, taking advantage of the continued rise in popularity of e-sports, has entered the lives of young users.

Good luck to the King, good luck to the Asian Games... Wanglaoji directly grafted the beautiful meaning of the brand into e-sports events, created the brand's exclusive "King Can", and customized the topic #Don't be afraid of getting angry, be the King of Summer#, combining the summer viewing scene with the brand and taking over the traffic of e-sports events.

At the same time, e-sports is not just about e-sports. Drinks are consumed when watching games, and games are played at gatherings. A complete scene that runs through e-sports behavior can become an anchor point to impress users. While leveraging the e-sports hotspot, Wanglaoji also formed a strong connection with summer, hot pot, and gaming scenes, effectively consolidating the user mindset of "drinking Wanglaoji if you are afraid of getting angry", allowing the brand to integrate into the daily lives of young users.

Hot topics are popular because they can trigger discussion and resonance among users. Whether it is the college entrance examination or e-sports, hidden beneath the topic is the emotional catharsis of young users. These contents can easily touch users' emotions on Weibo and cause spontaneous discussion and dissemination among users.

Combining the discourse system, behavior patterns and emotions of young people, Wanglaoji constructs a communication language based on interests, breaks the circle of the new generation in a way that young people like, and penetrates into the spiritual world of the younger generation through dialogue, allowing more young people to understand and identify with the brand values, thereby achieving a deep binding between young groups and the brand.

2. To take advantage of the popularity of celebrities, you need to find the right people and play the right jokes.

For die-hard fans of e-sports, every move of the teams and players attracts their attention. For general users of e-sports, the participation of celebrities can also drive them to pay more attention to e-sports, and thus pay attention to the cooperating brands.

Choosing the right celebrities, e-sports players, and teams to cooperate with will become an "amplifier" of hot emotions.

Just like its collaboration with top student Zhang Jingyi during the college entrance examination, Wanglaoji specially chose a star with an "e-sports label" - Zhang Binbin to amplify its influence and affect the general e-sports population.

Zhang Binbin is an e-sports expert who often participates in exhibition matches in popular competitions. He has a high degree of recognition among e-sports users. Wanglaoji and Zhang Binbin created the topic #张彬彬的王者时刻#, which promoted the popularity of the summer king can and made Wanglaoji a must-have for e-sports viewers.

In the KPL event, Wang Laoji teamed up with the star team @Wolf Team King of Glory Division to introduce the brand to the younger e-sports fan group through product placement and sponsorship. The buff superposition of "Wang Laoji + e-sports hot spots + star teams" brought e-sports users an opportunity to experience the brand concept, while mobilizing the enthusiasm of users and narrowing the distance between the brand and e-sports interested users.

Before the Asian Games, Wanglaoji placed its bet on Yinuo, a star player of King of Glory. Yinuo was subsequently selected for the national team of the King of Glory event at the Asian Games and won the championship. The combination of e-sports and the Asian Games has accelerated the expansion of Wanglaoji's interest groups and achieved the accumulation of user assets.

Clour believes that the cooperation between brands and hot spots is no longer a simple "1+1 model" or pure exposure. It is more about brands digging deep into the interests and habits of young people in hot spots. The strategy of using hot spots as a guide and the star effect as a spearhead can quickly allow brands to reach young circles and expand the target population.

3. Magnify hot spots, make full use of resource combinations, and stabilize output

Based on the highly anticipated events, stars, and players, appropriately using media to reach more users can achieve more eye-catching results.

For example, hot topics of e-sports events will appear at any time with the game situation and results. Faced with such sudden hot topics, Wanglaoji chose to take over the hot topics and deeply bound the brand with 37 hot searches related to KPL events such as #Fly说再开始过#, #否则泣了#, #狼队接接比分#, etc., and added the superposition of multiple rounds of materials such as fan headlines, startup, and hot spot windows to achieve a comprehensive explosion of brand popularity.

It is worth noting that e-sports was included in the Asian Games for the first time and was very popular. Although Wanglaoji did not have any rights to the Asian Games, it successfully reached the Asian Games audience by accompanying Yinuo's related hot topics. Under topics such as #Xu Bicheng Gold Medal Shooter# and #Chinese Team Won the First Gold in the Asian Games E-sports Event#, there were not only discussions among people interested in e-sports, but also cheers from Asian Games spectators. Wanglaoji cleverly radiated the e-sports hot spots to the Asian Games hot spots, and through discussions where users cheered for Chinese athletes, the brand was efficiently and seamlessly integrated into the Asian Games hot spots.

Data shows that after taking advantage of the e-sports trend, Wanglaoji’s number of interested people increased by 348.28%, celebrity topics brought 30.09% of interested people to the brand, and the brand’s interested people brought a 19.56% increase in fans to the official Weibo account, effectively expanding the brand’s crowd assets.

IV. Conclusion

Whether it is the college entrance examination at the beginning of summer or the continued popularity of e-sports, this summer, Wanglaoji and young users have formed common experiences and common topics, integrated into the culture and behavior of young people, and further accelerated the process of brand rejuvenation. In this process, the hot spot effect of Weibo has become an amplifier for the brand to receive traffic.

The purpose of communication is to create channels for communication and interaction with the audience, and thereby influence their perception of the brand. Celebrities and hot topics are the most direct and effective ways to create communication. Discovering hot topics, applying hot topics, and building hot topics are the "first shot" for brands to integrate with young users.

Author: TopKlout WeChat Official Account: TopKlout