You must have seen this emoticon! How did the "Speechless Bodhisattva" break the circle?

Exploring the collision of cultural heritage and youth trends, the creative entertainment of cultural and museum products is becoming a hot topic. In this article, we will deeply analyze the logic behind the creative entertainment of cultural and museum products and reveal the secret formula behind successful cultural and creative products.

The long holiday of the two festivals came to a successful conclusion. The holiday balance emoji package of "Silent Bodhisattva" has dominated the circle of friends in the past few days. Not only that, the prototype of "Silent Bodhisattva" - the "Meditating Arhat" statue located in the Jingdezhen China Ceramics Museum also received nearly 100,000 tourists during this short holiday. The explosion of "Silent Bodhisattva" has once again attracted attention to the secrets of cultural relics. "Cute Yongzheng", "Sanxingdui Bronze Mask Version of Zheng Yunlong", "Funny Version of Horse Stepping on Flying Swallow Cultural Creation"... Looking back at the various cases of cultural relics becoming popular, it is not difficult to find that the "out-of-circle" of cultural relics may not be accidental, but has its own set of marketing logic. Reasonable use of systematic marketing rules within the scope of law and morality may give birth to more cultural and creative symbols with the imprint of the times such as "Silent Bodhisattva".

With the end of the short holiday, has your circle of friends been dominated by the following "Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holiday mental state" emojis? Many netizens said, "On the 28th, my boat had passed through thousands of mountains, and on the 7th, my boat hit a big iceberg."

△Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holiday mental state (Silent Bodhisattva version)

The "Silent Bodhisattva" in the picture is not a "Bodhisattva". Its prototype is the "Meditating Arhat" statue, a cultural relic located in the Jingdezhen China Ceramics Museum. According to incomplete statistics, this "Silent Bodhisattva" received nearly 100,000 tourists during this short holiday. Netizens joked that "the 'Silent Bodhisattva' was forced to open for business, which made it even more speechless."

△The "Silent Bodhisattva" who was forced to open for business

It is no longer a new thing for cultural relics to "go viral". First, the Forbidden City's "cute Yongzheng" funny image filled up the collection folder; then, the Sanxingdui Museum's bronze mask looks like singer Zheng Yunlong. Are these classic cultural relics' popularity due to the "golden rules" of marketing or the "beautiful accident" of the awakening of young people's cultural genes?

△"Cute Yongzheng"

Secret to going viral: "Creative and entertaining" expression

This generation of netizens can be said to be the great contributors to the "out-of-circle" of cultural and museum activities. As the popularity of cultural and museum tours continues to rise, cultural and museum venues have welcomed a large number of young tourists. Whenever tourists see cultural relics with peculiar shapes, they open the "creative skylight". Netizens combine the characteristics of cultural relics and use humorous and interesting words to create a variety of emoticons. Cultural and museum venues took advantage of this "out-of-circle" trend of cultural and museum activities, turning netizens' entertainment needs into the pursuit of cultural and museum marketing, and continuously exerting efforts in cultural and creative design and online marketing to create one cultural relic "Internet celebrity" after another.

The deer lantern from Nanjing Museum shows a male deer holding up its head with a slender lamp post supporting a heavy lamp plate. Netizens added the words "I can handle it!" as if it was a silent cry for the hard life.

△ Deer Lantern——Nanjing Museum

Another popular cultural relic in the Nanjing Museum is the gilded bronze crouching rabbits. Although they are based on rabbits, netizens jokingly call them pigs because of their cute eyes and round bodies. Netizens commented that "their eyes are as clear as those of college students."

△Gilded Bronze Futu——Nanjing Museum

Cultural relics have a "heavy" historical attribute, which gives people a cold, obscure and solidified impression. Although the post-00s and post-90s are gradually becoming the main force of cultural and museum tourism, most of them only take a cursory tour and are unable to stop to learn. The expression method of "cultural and museum creative entertainment" is to explore the spiritual value of different cultural relics based on their morphological characteristics and the charm of historical figures, and make the cultural relics lying in the museum windows one by one shine in your and my emoticons and circle of friends through the Internet hot memes.

△ Cultural relics emoticon package in the netizens' list

These emoticons cleverly combine the solemn image of cultural relics with the "nonsense" of funny words, forming a harmonious contrast. This not only arouses the "spiritual resonance" of users, but also reflects the tastes and interests of users, effectively narrowing the distance between historical relics and young people, and guiding young people to communicate with cultural relics and touch the profound history behind the cultural relics.

Entertainment! Also! Has! Boundaries! In 2022, the Cultural and Museum Center of Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, posted a picture and text on Weibo saying that Shenyang Shengjingtong Company launched Zhang Zuolin's "Marshal Coin" transportation card, which sparked heated public discussion.

△ "Dashuai Coin" transportation card released on Weibo

Perhaps the transportation card design team originally hoped to attract attention through the homophony of "Dashuai Coin" and gain popularity for the product. However, some netizens believe that "Zhang Zuolin was an old warlord who ordered the killing of the martyr Li Dazhao. In the name of cultural creation, the 'Dashuai Coin' transportation card with his image was launched, and it can even be circulated throughout the country, elevating him to the status of 'cultural tourism ambassador'. It is inevitable that it is suspected of reversing the verdict on Zhang Zuolin, which is really inappropriate."

Subsequently, the Shenyang Municipal Bureau of Culture and Broadcasting issued an apology statement, saying that the Zhang Family Mansion Museum had improperly planned the design of the transportation card cultural and creative product, and the superior authority, the Shenyang Cultural and Museum Center, had not strictly supervised it. The relevant incident was reported and criticized by many official media, and the relevant responsible personnel were suspended.

△Beijing Daily comments on the issuance of the "Dashuaibi" transportation card

It can be seen that the innovation and entertainment of cultural and museum products does not mean a departure from history without any bottom line. The secret of cultural and creative products being both popular and well-received can be summed up in four words: "upholding the truth and innovating". Cultural and museum units should not only take the needs of the public for spiritual entertainment as their starting point, but also grasp the "historical dimension" of marketing ideas and pay attention to social benefits. Only by grasping the scale of "cultural and museum creative entertainment" can we create more "excellent works" of cultural and museum products.

Secret to going viral: The traffic formula of “familiarity + surprise = popularity”

In addition to the cultural relics emoticons, there is another shortcut for cultural relics to go from mysterious to popular, and that is to have a look-alike with celebrities.

Unpopular cultural relics may be overshadowed by many other collections, or they may be plain and unadorned, but they have successfully entered the public eye through this magical face-to-face effect and become a popular check-in spot. The underlying logic behind this "out-of-the-box" is the traffic formula of "unexpected + familiar = popular".

Like the "Silent Bodhisattva", these "similar artifacts" were originally unpopular artifacts that no one cared about. When the "Silent Bodhisattva" was still the "Meditating Arhat", it was inconspicuous against the backdrop of many colorful ceramic collections, and even made Chinese tourists who had seen all the ceramic works feel monotonous and stereotyped.

However, the dignified expression of the "Meditating Arhat" and the unique style of the series of works unexpectedly made the tourists who viewed the sculptures feel a "soul resonance" in the familiar cultural atmosphere. The accompanying text of the word "speechless" not only portrayed its charm vividly, but also unexpectedly matched the "mental state" of contemporary office workers. This "beautiful accident" in a familiar atmosphere created the legendary "speechless Bodhisattva" as the center of the emoji pack.

△Collection of "Silent Bodhisattva" emoticons

The core of the popularity of unpopular cultural relics comes from the critical tension between "novelty addiction" and "novelty phobia" proposed by American writer Derek Thompson: the trick to making new things desirable is to find the sweet spot - both surprising content and enough traditional customs to attract core audiences. The formula to summarize this "aesthetic inspiration" is "surprise + familiarity = popularity".

Secret to success 3: “Super-realistic” narrative mode

In addition to the netizens providing "god assists" for the cultural relics to go viral, the cultural and museum venues themselves have also made great efforts in cultural and creative design. The rapid rise of cultural and creative IPs has brought "traffic" to the offline cultural relic prototypes.

The cultural and creative doll designed by Gansu Museum based on the museum's treasure, Horse Stepping on Flying Swallow, has become popular due to its "ugly and cute" image. Netizens are overwhelmed with their love for this funny doll.

△ Netizens’ comments on the “Horse Stepping on Flying Swallow” cultural and creative doll

Only one month after the cultural and creative product was launched, the monthly sales on the e-commerce platform exceeded 1,000, and offline sales outlets were also sold out. At the same time, the popularity of the cultural and creative IP also attracted a large number of tourists to visit offline museums to see the "real appearance" of "Horse Stepping on Flying Swallow".

△ "Horse Stepping on Flying Swallow" cultural and creative doll. Photo by Ma Xiping, Xinhua News Agency

The sudden popularity of "Horse Stepping on Flying Swallow" caught netizens off guard. The cultural and creative doll physically deconstructs the original bronze horse galloping in the air and the elegant and stretched flying swallow statue. Taking the characteristics of the prototype such as the galloping horse, flying swallow, cyan color, and soaring into the air as the starting point, modern elements such as bared teeth, white eyes, and stupid cuteness are incorporated, and the four flying horse hooves are transformed into hands and legs through anthropomorphic techniques, and the "Golden Rooster Standing on One Leg" shape is used to reconnect the "divine horse" and the "sand sculpture". This unique cultural and creative design not only "restored" the prototype of the cultural relic, but also unexpectedly amused many netizens.

Coincidentally, the Sanxingdui Museum's cultural creation - little bronze figures playing mahjong - has also attracted countless fans and was sold out as soon as it was released. Four little bronze figures wearing bronze masks "traveled through time and space" to the modern era, strategizing in the traditional "quintessence of Chinese culture" - the world of mahjong, looking naive, funny and cute.

△ Sanxingdui Cultural Creation——Bronze figurines playing mahjong

Whether it is the "deconstructed and reconstructed" "Horse Stepping on Flying Swallow" cultural and creative doll or the "Little Bronze Man Playing Mahjong" that "travels through time and space", they are all creative products under the "surreal" cultural and museum narrative mode. The cultural relics displayed in the museum, as a static narrative method, restore the true historical appearance, while the cultural and creative products under the "surreal" cultural and museum narrative break the conservative presentation form in the static narrative mode, and accurately fit the surrealist aesthetics of young people today through physical reorganization and element fusion. Using this as a bridge, the prototype of the cultural relics has entered the public's field of vision, achieving the dual popularity of cultural and creative IP and the prototype of the cultural relics.

summary

In summary, the popularity of "Silent Bodhisattva" is not accidental, but an inevitable product of marketing rules. In the hot cultural and museum market, the public is both a consumer and a producer of cultural and museum topics; while catering to the public's aesthetic taste, cultural and museum venues can only make more classic hits like "Silent Bodhisattva" emerge in the cultural and museum market within the bottom line of rules, deeply explore the current value of cultural relics, play with these cultural and museum marketing strategies, and innovate publicity ideas.

Author: Huacaicai WeChat Official Account: Cultural Industry Review