Ten thousand words analysis | Post-new consumption era: the emotional track that has been rolled out, the crazy dialogue value (full version)

Since dopamine wear became popular, dopamine is everywhere and everything can be dopamine. This article starts with Wu Sheng's speech and talks about the new consumption momentum compounded by "Dialogue Era x Emotional Value", or the new gameplay in the post-new consumption era.

In August 2023, Wu Sheng proposed the new concept of "Dialogue Era" in his speech at the beginning of autumn entitled "Explosion of New Species·Wu Sheng Business Method Release 2023".

In the first month, "Barbie" pink became popular, followed by HEYTEA X FENDI's "Joy Yellow", and then Luckin X Moutai's "All People Are Addicted" and Huawei's "Bentong" came out.

Two months ago, starting with "dopamine dressing", "dopamine raw coffee/tea/juice"... dopamine is everywhere, and everything can be dopamine.

Going back further, in February 2023, Wunderman Intelligence pointed out in its "2023 Global Top 100 Trends Report" that people are determined to fight the ongoing difficulties with vitality, strength and uplifting spirit: Pantone promotes "Extraordinary Magenta", Benjamin Moore has "Raspberry Red", and luxury brands also light up the catwalk with various "bold and colorful" colors.

▲Pictures from the Internet

This article starts with Wu Sheng’s speech and talks about the new consumption momentum compounded by “dialogue era x emotional value”, or the new way of playing in the post-new consumption era.

1. This is an era that requires “dialogue”

2. In the era of dialogue, the "emotional track" that running has entered, and the "emotional value" that can be expected in the future

3. Four new ways to play new emotional dialogue

3.1. Meaningful exploratory “dialogue”

3.2. Conversation with like-minded people

3.3. "Dialogue" to build consensus using scenarios

3.4. Co-creative “dialogue” that inspires belonging

4. What is “dialogue”? Why do we need “dialogue”?

1. This is an era that requires “dialogue”

We are entering an "era of dialogue" where scene brands are showing new characteristics of depth, equality, and presence. This explosion of cases on the screen, whether mumbling or clamoring, is not only the life landscape and consumption landscape of this era, but also a commercial spectacle. ——Wu Sheng

Wu Sheng believes that after connection, "dialogue" is the best choice in this era. He also gave 6 dialogue clues: new overseas expansion is a dialogue on values, new intelligence is a dialogue on scenarios, new sinking is an instant dialogue, new aesthetics is a dialogue on concepts, new communities are micro-dialogues, and new efficiency is a dialogue on creativity.

After sorting out, Brand Ape believes that the following four concepts need to be anchored in particular:

Concept 1: Build a conversational interface and invent your own era

We have entered the stage of "inventing yourself" from "discovering yourself". We should be more precise in prompting words like GPT and learn to build a "conversational interface".

Concept 2: Continuous dialogue is more important than precise connection

New businesses in recent years, membership-based warehouse supermarkets, social group buying, DTC brands, autonomous driving subscriptions, content platform subscriptions... these new models all point to one conclusion: the essence of new community business is a collection of "real relationships."

Concept 3: A conversation with AI is a conversation with the future

AI is a work partner, not a tool - Work with you, not for you. This sentence is simple but important.

Brand Ape also wants to expand the scope of "dialogue" a little bit:

Concept 4: Asking questions is more important than solving them

Business generally creates wealth by "discovering problems" and "solving problems".

In the past, there were many problems in society, which determined that the bottleneck of business scale was in the "problem solving" link; however, this bottleneck relationship is being reversed in the AI ​​era, that is, it has become "few problems" and "excessive solving capabilities."

Therefore, Yamaguchi Shu put forward three points in "The New Human Era":

• The real reason why Japan is in trouble (innovation stagnation) is the "rarefaction of problems."
• In this era, good questions are more important than innovative methods.
• We should be imagining the future rather than predicting it.

Let's zoom in a little bit. Socrates was known as the "midwife of knowledge" for his heuristic conversations; Schumpeter advocated the "open door theory" (if you ask a question, I give you an answer and put a period, which is equivalent to closing the door for you).

Elon Musk began to question the meaning of life at the age of 12, and realized from "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" that any answer is absurd, and only the question behind the answer is meaningful.

Therefore, Professor Li Shanyou concluded that the meaning of life lies in your "questions"!

The meaning of life does not lie in a specific answer, but in the depth and height of the questions you can ask, which determines the meaning of your life. - Li Shanyou

This may be the real value that "dialogue" brings to this era.

2. In the era of dialogue, the "emotional track" that running enters and the "emotional value" that can be expected in the future

Let us return to new consumption phenomena, brands and marketing innovation.

In the past, consumers flocked to a product if they had a positioning, a concept, a lifestyle, or an internet celebrity. But today, it is difficult to attract people without "emotion".

• The logic of "Zibo BBQ", "Special Forces Travel", and "Village BA Village Super" is an "emotional expedition" in the fireworks of the world;
• "Hookers", "City warks", and "dopamine" are based on the "emotional resonance" of people with the ability to accompany and have conversations;
• "APP conquers nearby", "streetside coffee/tavern" and "roasted tea around the fire" are expressed as "emotional companionship".

The starting point of all these phenomena can be attributed to "emotion", which goes beyond the class/product/circle/interest group and turns to a certain "emotion".

1. Emotional Marketing in the Past

Effective marketing always talks to your emotional brain! Because your emotions will never lie to you. -- Javier, former vice president of marketing at Coca-Cola, "Emotional Drive"

In fact, "emotional marketing" has existed for a long time and has repeatedly become a magic weapon for popular products to go viral.

McDonald's and Coca-Cola dominate the world with emotional marketing; Jiang Xiaobai Expression Bottle rises to the top with emotional expression; "Escape from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou" becomes popular with the emotion of escape; "Wolf Warrior 2" breaks the box office miracle with the confidence of a great power; Pop Mart blind box goes public by selling surprises; there are also "nostalgia" emotions, "healing" emotions, "good luck" emotions...

There is always a wave of "emotions" on the way.

It is easy to understand why "emotional marketing" can go viral: ① Emotions between people are highly contagious; ② Strong emotions can easily lead to dissemination; ③ Social networks can boost it, especially in an era when content was scarce.

Although the "emotional marketing" in the past was remarkable, most of it can be attributed to "insight into society → driving/selling → you and me", but today's "emotional track" is different - its logic is "deep into life → companionship and dialogue → us".

2. Current "Emotional Track"

Looking back at various nodes and cross-border marketing in 2023, you will find that more and more brands are "communicating" with every user with a level perspective, equal attitude and sincere emotions.

For example, using the characteristics of nodes to create emotions for new products, and "responding" to the specific emotions of each festival through node marketing; going beyond 1.0 of creating topics through joint ventures and 2.0 of producing peripheral products, and starting to explore emotional dialogues 3.0; and healing emotions 2.0, which is not simply a wave of posters, copywriting, and movies, but accompanying users to truly do something.

• In response to Mother's Day, The Beast incorporates the love from "Little Tadpole Looking for Mom" ​​into its new product design; Banana incorporates the vitality of Jingzhe into its all-terrain outdoor shoes;
• Sandunban teamed up with Chaotide to launch "Sound of Journey" to help consumers relax their body and mind through music; ubras cooperated with Creative Shelter to launch a sleep therapy experience; Lingyin Temple's prayer for children and career and Faxi Temple's prayer for marriage focused on a placebo emotion.

▲《SocialBeta 2023 Top 10 Digital Marketing Trends》

The ways of playing vary, but the similarities are: they realize that people's emotions need companionship, support, transfer, resolution and outlet, and through multi-dimensional dialogue, expression and action, they become the beneficiaries of this round of marketing innovation.

3. The “emotional value” of the future

In the second half of 2023, we will find that the "emotional value" evolved from the "emotional track" has a new life - with new values ​​and new lifestyles as the common denominator, "dialogue" as the starting point, and "companionship" as the original intention, it will continue to promote the personalized and diverse development and release of the smallest emotional units.

The simple understanding is:

• Go deep into the user's "life" and gain insight into the subtle/small emotions related to life;
• Find an emotion and respond positively;
• Equal dialogue: look at each other at eye level rather than looking down on them, guide rather than drive them, create value rather than sell emotions;
• Continuous dialogue: the main focus is companionship (long-termism).

From "Wukong" to the Populus euphratica spirit, from "Heroes have always suffered many hardships" to "The boat has passed through thousands of mountains" and "The endless power", "emotion" has become a part of the Huawei brand.

▲Pictures from the Internet

For brands that aspire to make a difference in today's unstable, uncertain and complex world, whoever can grasp the "power of emotions" will seize the initiative in the new track; whoever knows how to release the "value of emotions" through "dialogue" will be able to establish long-term connections with more users based on close dependence and mutual trust; whoever can find the "meaning" of themselves and their users in "dialogue" will be able to gain new momentum for the brand's continued growth and move towards a new starting point for the future.

In a sense, communicating with users (brand marketing) has never been so "difficult" and "simple".

3. Four ways to play new emotional dialogue: meaning, companionship, scene, and co-creation

Dialogue is the best art. ——Xu Zhiyuan, "13 Invitations"

As we all know, every era has its own questions to answer, every generation has its own feelings, every place has different sentiments, and every stage has different emotions. In other words, people's "emotions" are always changing and flowing.

If you chase after or passively respond to every emotion, it will be like a monkey trying to catch the moon, and the result will be more trouble than gain. To make good use of the "dialogue value" and become the new kinetic energy and potential of the brand, you need to inject different "emotions" and start a dialogue from the following four aspects: "meaningful", "company", "scene", and "co-creation".

1. Meaningful exploratory "dialogue"

“The challenge we face today is to find meaning in the daily lives of each individual.” — Jill Troy, professor of history

Xu Zhiyuan made a brilliant statement, "Our society today is not actually short of material things, but short of meaning. The vast majority of consumption is actually consumption of meaning and identity"; from this, Luo Zhenyu proposed a definition of "new consumerism" - using consumption to solve the problem of lack of meaning.

In other words, we live in an era of great leap forward from consumer sovereignty to life sovereignty, and the "individual" is obviously more important; this is also an era of saturated material and exhausted meaning, and "motivation" is the greatest energy in modern society.

At this time, "meaningfulness" will be the antidote for individual and social consumption emotions.

New consumer brands can find "meaning" in conversations through three levels of exploration.

Exploration 1——Dialogue with individual life and find new meaning

When an upward life is interrupted by external forces, many people turn to inner spiritual exploration. People no longer expect a common life, but instead desire to see other individual stories and draw new life inspiration and experience from them.

The following should be compulsory courses for future brands:

1. First, communicate with individuals, explore the inner spiritual and emotional resonance, and use each individual's small narrative to help the group discover new meaning in daily life.
2. Second, while communicating with individuals, brands need to reach out to the group, observe and listen to the common needs of the group, and look for common values ​​to improve the efficiency of the dialogue.
3. Third, this dialogue process is a two-way process. It is not only to help users grow, but also to learn new things from them.

In addition, brands can explore more valuable meanings by talking to real public intellectuals and scholars. Beichen Youth, Youth Magazine, Youth Center, 13 Invitations, and I Study on the Island are all outstanding in this exploration.

▲Pictures from the Internet

Compared with the past, these conversations are equal and calm, with no finger-pointing but sharing.

Exploration 2 - Talk to yourself, explore the meaning of entrepreneurship and "meaningful innovation"

There is a kind of innovation and entrepreneurship that starts from one's own passion and desire. This model has become a key factor for many DTC brands and new consumer brands to stand out. This kind of innovation is also called "meaningful innovation."

What is “meaningful innovation”? — A new vision for a problem that is worth solving, not just in a new way, but for a new reason.

If we regard “meaningfulness” as a “gift” to the world and entrepreneurs, everything will be easy to understand:

• It is an act of responsibility, and through "gifts" we have the opportunity to create a more meaningful world, and it is our way of contributing to human life.
• This is a pleasurable behavior because if we enjoy the "gift", we will also feel pleasure in the process of performing the action.

Of course, you will also be pleasantly surprised to find that business success comes naturally because: ① People love things that are "meaningful"; ② "Meaningful innovation" is the real value innovation; ③ "Meaning" cannot be copied!

Exploration 3——Dialogue with the times/society/nature, there is always a meaning for your existence

In today’s and future marketing, the brand mission is not only to “create customers (Drucker)”, but also to solve or influence some social problems by creating value through creating customers.

This will be the inevitable transition for every new consumer brand.

Unlike the past, the new dialogue does not need to participate in grand topics such as public welfare, charity, business for good, environmental protection, etc., but to find specific "small things" that suit you, produce effective results, and act together.

• "Common benefit": Such as a more in-depth discussion of the balance between business and public welfare and the implementation of "common benefit".
• "Micro": For example, we can break down "common benefit" from a micro perspective, breaking it down into each link in the production chain and each role in the ecological environment, and converging from daily details towards a good or sustainable future.
• "Find your own unique "partner"": Telunsu's desert management; Xiaohongshu's ocean protection; The Beast Party's focus on wild Asian elephants; Babycare's focus on painless childbirth; Shulai helps girls in remote mountainous areas break the "menstrual dilemma"...

The essence of the new dialogue "era" is to build a bridge between business, life and meaning to save and revive something that exists in everyone's heart.

What emotion to inject: "Love"

The illusory "love" is actually extremely powerful in business. As Starbucks founder Schultz said, "No matter how big the business empire is, it will eventually be defeated by love and kindness."

Because we love meaningful things and all beautiful things; we get pleasure from caring for others and get a sense of accomplishment from caring for society; we love what we create and what we love.

When a brand takes "love" as its origin, engages in dialogue with individuals, itself, and the times, and strives to become the backbone of promoting various "meaningful" issues, it will also have a closer connection with the society as a whole and the times, and gain more lasting love from people.

2. Companionship "dialogue" with like-minded people

Psychologically, humans are social animals. We need to establish connections with others and share life experiences. This is an emotional necessity. In sociology, people want to maintain their individual independence, but also want to find a common ground and gain emotional value from like-minded people.

In addition, in this age of material saturation, real connections between people are precious, and people who can listen, have patience and positive energy are even more scarce.

At this time, new consumer brands and new communities that are willing to listen, accompany and grow together have emerged. They accompany in three aspects: common growth, new communities and active response.

Companionship 1: Long-term companionship - growing together with users

Early emotional marketing was driven by emotions; past emotional conversations were based on hot topics; later community operations were based on interests; today, brand communities are looking towards long-term and tribal construction, shifting from interest-oriented to a group of like-minded people exploring new lifestyles together.

Tianzhen Juice's "Little Hat Plan" has been with users for 7 years; Sandunban's "Return Plan" has gone through 7 seasons with users; Lululemon's hot sweat activities have been running through the brand's establishment from Europe and the United States to China; Anaya has been building a life community since 2013, and in 10 years, it has evolved into nearly 100 owner-managed communities.

▲Pictures from the Internet

When brands lead users to delve deeper into a certain field and continuously enhance their emotions in activities, a long-term, deterministic companionship centered on common beliefs and growing together, and a unique IP with a sense of belonging is established.

It cannot be said to be unbreakable, but at least they empower each other. It should be noted that in this process, if consensus or resonance cannot be reached, the activity will naturally be abandoned halfway.

Companion 2: From conversation circles to new communities - accompanying users with super partners

In the new consumption era, consumer stratification has become increasingly obvious. Some brands have grasped the trend, started "dialogues" with highly compatible interest circles, and reaped waves of dividends.

However, in the post-new consumption era, "dialogue" alone is not enough. It is also necessary to build circles and create "new communities" that can grow on their own: ① Satisfy users' needs for social relationships and become their partners and supporters in the pursuit of "interests"; ② It also gives them a support in their interests, stimulates their enthusiasm and motivation to delve into their interests and hobbies and explore new things; ③ Encourage them to define themselves and develop their potential more deeply.

As far as the brand is concerned, building new connections between community members and making the "new community" a small community that permeates daily life and even becomes a public IP is something that requires little investment and has unlimited imagination.

This requires brands to find super partners to co-build a "new community" and help them become the core, opinion leaders, managers, and even shareholders of the new community.

• It can be wild and recruited. LEGO has created independent and influential certified player groups by supporting various super players around the world, such as 360 "LEGO Certified Player Communities" and 21 "LEGO Certified Professionals" (LCPs).
• Some are deliberately selected, such as Lululemon's store educators and 1,533 ambassadors around the world; and Starbucks' coffee masters.
• There are also those who have made others successful: the managers of various life communities in Aranya; Weilai’s Golanpai and MonclerCLUB; and the fitness coaches of Super Monkey.

Two new understandings are needed about the “new community”:

• Super partners are not the members who contribute the most to the brand/community, nor are they the ones who consume the most. Rather, they are the small number of members who highly identify with the values ​​of the brand community, are most active in activities, and are willing to pay for what they love. Of course, they must also be members with certain organizational and management capabilities.
• The new community must be a combination of online and offline. The offline significance lies in "spiritual landmarks, experience venues and bases".

Because of this, Luo Zhenyu's "Friends of Time", Liu Run's "The Power of Evolution", Wu Sheng's "Explosion of New Species", and Chaos Academy's annual lectures, in addition to selling courses and marketing, are more importantly about creating a "field" as Professor Li Shanyou said, a "field" for members to learn.

In the new business ecology, re-understanding and re-building the "new community" will enable dialogues with users at a higher level, which also means more professional user connections and more expanded participatory co-construction.

Companionship 3: Active response companionship - empathy

When talk shows become popular, go and join in on the talk shows; when dopamine becomes hot, launch new color combinations; when Barbie becomes popular, collaborate with Barbie... Why is it that many brands have tried their best but still find it difficult to stand out?

This is the difference between "passive" and "active": are you passively following the trend, or are you actively creating?

How to proactively create? Just three steps.

• First, we need to understand the emotional elements with high empathy value behind the hot spots. For example, behind the high saturation color matching of dopamine, there is individual expression, a sense of relaxation for a niche group, hope and longing, self-reconstruction, and simple happiness.
• Second, find the emotional elements that are highly relevant to the brand, that resonate with the brand, or that you want to communicate.
• Third, based on this emotional element, create exclusive emotional power and build a comprehensive communication field: experience, products, services, not just posters, content and events.

MINISO’s performance with “Barbie Doll” is remarkable: from the same frequency emotional value (simple happiness) to the exclusive emotional power (pink and pink matching), from special products and event experiences to all-round communication venues, and more importantly, it directly drives sales.

▲Pictures from the Internet

After all, the public's attention and purchasing power are limited. In addition, social hot spots are constantly changing, and without proactive creation and empathetic companionship, your "response" is often drowned out by many events.

What emotions to inject: Like-minded

The first step of emotional marketing is to find the right people. -- Ramiras, former vice president of marketing at Coca-Cola, "Emotional Drive"

I prefer what Liu Xiaolu, founder of NEIWAI, said: "A truly good consumer brand is defined together with a group of like-minded users."

Aranya founder Ma Yin had a similar expression:

I use my understanding of life to run Aranya, which happens to attract a large number of like-minded people. I find that the lifestyle I love is also loved by many people. Everyone is unwilling to be more than just a bustling life, eating, drinking and having fun. After the prosperity is over and the lead and lead are washed away, everyone hopes that life will be brilliant again.

In short, the premise of companionship-style "dialogue" is: find the right person, find like-minded people, find super partners.

3. "Dialogue" to build consensus through scenarios

Mobile Internet provides us with an unprecedented opportunity to connect people and all supply and demand through "scenarios". Such scenarios respond in real time, can be activated at any time, connect efficiently, and create continuously.

Just like a simple cup of coffee, with a "scene", it shows different attitudes, derives multiple new products, presents different expectations and completely different experiences. So there is the magical performance of the Chinese coffee market.

At present, digital intelligence (AI) + mobile, + home, + travel, + health... these verb "scenarios" that are closely related to everyone's life have emerged. They not only expand the boundaries of life, but also deeply affect our thinking paradigms, behavior patterns and lifestyles.

Regardless of the type of scene, it all starts with people’s “emotional consensus”. To put it more bluntly, the dialogue “scene” is to build a “consensus” with users and interpret new emotions and values ​​based on it. This is the real scene play method.

In the post-new consumption era, we start the conversation from 5 new "scenarios".

Scene 1 - Dialogue life scene: Focus on a real

Creating scenarios to influence purchases through positioning/slogans, advertising/spokespersons, technology/traffic is becoming history; using the intelligence of "I understand you" and digital enhancement of "real" scenarios to bring progress to users will become an emerging opportunity in the era of dialogue.

For example, the series "She Changes" by Quanmianshidai explores the "changers" in the female world, and the summer market of Xiaohongshu "Friendship and Delivery" tells a humane trading story; Taobao's "One Thousand and One Stores" project brings to the forefront the 1001 kinds of life behind the featured stores.

There are two "truths" that need to be noted:

• "Authenticity" does not mean converting "emotional value" into a conquering story to impress users, but rather it means adding humanization to numbers to create new trust and reliance value.
• "Truth" is not "sympathy". Sympathy is a condescending perspective that produces care and pity; while truth is an equal perspective that makes people feel the joy and pleasure of "you understand me".

Scene 2——Dialogue with the “Art Museum” scene: From the palace to the daily life

Art is about experience rather than understanding. ——Art Museum Times

Countless brand experience centers, commercial spaces, community blocks, art festivals, life festivals, and music festivals, along with the upgrading of lifestyles and aesthetic needs, have begun to eliminate the boundaries between commerce and art, time and space, consumption and experience, and have prospered and evolved in a hybrid way, forming one of the mainstream logics of today's new consumption.

This logic can be found in the methodology of "Art Museum" proposed by Wu Sheng.

• "Beauty" refers to aesthetic value, representing the unique artistic IP and experience of the art museum.
• "Skill" refers to the museum's content refresh mechanism, unique "spatial algorithm" and ability to lead topics.
• "Museum" refers to user relationships, referring to managers, curators and member communities.

When "art museums" are successfully integrated into everyone's life, art sinks from the palace into daily life.

• There are some companies that have become the bottom layer of space business, such as Aranya Real Estate, Tianmuli Commercial, and Huamei Laboratory.
• Some use the community as the smallest unit of vitality, such as Chaozong Street in Changsha, Shuangta Market in Suzhou, Wuzhong Road Subway Station, and the "Alley" community art gallery in Chengdu.
• There are connections and proposals with daily life, such as: Palace Museum/Dunhuang Cultural Creativity, Here Comes Shenma, "Only Green", "Wing Chun".

When more people use their true feelings to supplement and confirm art and complete the co-construction of concepts, art will have new vitality, and "artifying daily life", "art serving the people" and "people's artist" will no longer be empty slogans.

Scene 3 - Dialogue with "Critical Enclave": Romantic Redemption

Virtual venues and physical spaces merge together, becoming new activity and social spaces with the most familiar strangeness. This is the "critical enclave": an experimental and challenging space that "gives unlimited virtual meanings to limited real space" and a scene that can project complex emotional critical experiences for the current group.

For example, Omega Mart, which was created with the participation of more than 300 artists from the United States; Ikehei Aquarium, which was transformed from an abandoned elementary school in Japan; and "Only Henan·Drama Fantasy City" in Henan, China.

In fact, brands can do more. In product development, content creation, and marketing innovation, they can build scenes at the "intersection of reality and virtuality" to create a romantic experience of "critical enclaves" for users. For example, Coca-Cola's Creations platform; Airbnb's 2022 "OMG! Odd House Fund" plan; and the "Story Store" on Yuyuan Road in Shanghai.

"Critical Enclave" has in fact become a romantic redemption for some young people's current spiritual crisis; a journey of emotional healing and consolation, but also a living community and spiritual home for a group of people.

Scene 4 - Localizing the dialogue: sincerity and respect

No matter how exciting and fun digital and virtual life may be, people will always need real face-to-face contact to build more stable and lasting relationships.

At this time, the physical "store" becomes the core force of scene dialogue and an important space for reaching consensus.

• Some have become experience centers—places for creative gatherings between users and brands, spaces for acquiring knowledge and advice. This is the foundation of Apple and Starbucks, the innovation of Weilai, and the key to Hema’s resurgence.
• Some have abandoned the "copy and paste" expansion - they have combined urban elements to create "non-standard" stores, deeply embedding local culture into architectural vocabulary and the temperament of the place. From Tsutaya Bookstore to Heytea, from M Stand to Cha Yan Yue Se.
• Some have played with the aesthetics of fireworks - from dedicated spaces to open and flexible public areas, inserting a sense of ritual into everyday fireworks, or entering shopping malls, hotels, or vegetable markets and stations, growing organically with urban communities.
• Some have found addresses that fit their own attributes and settled down - they choose the best place to reflect the local temperament in each city, embedding the city's characteristics into the brand expression. Huaxizi's "West Lake Hidden Garden"; FREITAG opened a new store in Shanghai in a small alley.

Whether it is "experience center", "non-standard store", "fireworks aesthetics" or "urban temperament", these creative spatial expressions help brands get closer to the people in the city in a physical sense; and localized brand expression allows the brand to fully integrate into the local cultural context and resonate with local consumers on a spiritual level; more fundamentally, "localization" is respect for the place and the local lifestyle.

Scene 5 - Dialogue "New Sinking": Immediate Emotional Value

If you do everything based on the underlying assumption that "Chinese people will eat and drink well", then don't sell your products to lower-tier markets. The essence of selling products to lower-tier markets is that many people didn't enjoy many good things before, but now they do, so this is not selling products to lower-tier markets, but rather an upward movement.

——Tang Binsen from Yuanqi Forest

Wu Sheng's "new sinking" is more open: the "new sinking" is not really sinking, but a deeper, equal and present "dialogue"; it is the creation of an "instant emotion".

For example, are Luckin Coffee, Miniso, and Mixue Ice City just extremely cheap? Another factor that cannot be ignored is the "freedom of freshly made products" behind them. Even if it is only 9.9 yuan or 5 yuan, every time you go to the store to buy something, you are giving it due meaning. The new sinking must be "presence" and must be "immediate emotion."

Looking at Zibo BBQ, Cunchaocun BA, etc. from the perspective of "new sinking", you will find that behind these popular products there is a kind of "instant emotion" catharsis, a dialogue of equal rights on the spot, and the achievement of a daily consensus: whoever gives me equality, I will be equal to him; whoever lets me choose, I will choose him.

What emotion to inject: "Surprise"

The expression of ideas should not be hasty, and building consensus in scenarios requires patience, but if there is a "surprise", it will definitely achieve twice the result with half the effort.

What is "surprise"? Borrowing the word "surprise" from philosophy, we set the key emotion of the dialogue scene as "surprise" - a scene experience that the group cannot imagine and far exceeds expectations.

Whether it is the "real" life scene, from the palace to the daily "art gallery", the "critical enclave" of romantic salvation, or the sincere "localization", the "new sinking" of immediate emotional value, only in the user's expectation of "surprise" can the transformation from self-entertainment to other-entertainment be completed, and the future will win over the past.

Only with the "surprise" can we enter the door to "dialogue" that truly uses scenarios to build consensus.

4. Co-creative “dialogue” that inspires belonging

Xiaomi has created an extraordinary business miracle with its cost-effectiveness and sense of participation; and its perseverance is a fusion of Lei Jun's emotions: dreams, growth, yearning, and respect and sincerity for users.

▲Pictures from the Internet

In fact, Xiaomi's "sense of participation" has only opened a "door" to the future. The real new forces are those brands that inspire co-creation "dialogues" of belonging.

For them, co-creative "dialogue" is not a means, but a new force, new ideas and a new world.

(1) The new force of brand innovation: dialogue "co-creation"

The laboratory is our world, or the world is our laboratory. - NASA

When individuals change from passive consumers to active people, and when "everyone is a creator"; when brands emerge that recognize that "it is no longer the companies but the users who create brands, and it is not the companies but the users who gain meaning who own brands", co-creation "dialogue" begins.

When society moves from a single economy to sustainable "shared value"; when the "sharing" fourth consumer era grows in Japan and even the world; when web3.0 and AI become the most mysterious and powerful forces for change in life, "co-creation" dialogues begin to grow wildly.

Here we have Lego, the king of "co-creation" players; Procter & Gamble, a giant that has already formed a "co-creation" system; there are also various European and American DTC brands such as Everlane and Glossier; MOOC education and Khan Academy for public co-creation; "B Corp" and the great "1% Earth Tax" movement.

Small can help individuals realize their own self, form emotional belonging, and settle their hearts; medium can build brands and trigger innovation; large can participate in grand narratives and do meaningful things. Therefore, "co-creation" dialogue is becoming a key force for comprehensive marketing transformation.

(2) The essence of co-creative “dialogue”: from “I” to “we”

The essence of co-creation dialogue is to establish a "new relationship" with users, employees, and ecological partners - co-building and even sharing brands.

So, here we are!

• It’s not “my” marketing or “my” brand, it’s “our” marketing or our brand
• It is not "I" who creates it, but "we" who create it together.
• It is not about creating profits for "me" (shareholder companies), but about creating value for "our" society.
• It is not "I" who leads life, but "we" who are the co-builders of lifestyle.

The "I" here refers to the brand entity, including the company, organization, and shareholders; the "we" refers to all participants who are connected by common ideas, including the company, employees, users, partners, and stakeholders.

In September 2022, Starbucks did something tough with "us" - the "Starbucks Odyssey" plan.

The plan changes the traditional brand-centric membership system into a decentralized republic system/ecosystem shared by multiple parties: brands + members + employees + partners, etc. Its essence is to create a new relationship around people who love coffee: "We, all participate, own, co-create and share the relationship".

(3) The concept of co-creative “dialogue” - a completely different way of thinking

In the eyes of Brand Ape, co-creation “dialogue” is not a technical issue, but a conceptual issue:

• "Co-creation" should be able to promote "mutually equal" connections between you and "people you care about" or "people who share the same values."
• The core principle of "co-creation" is that your conversation partners cannot simply consume or agree, but should be able to do more. Not only appreciate, remember and consume, but also create something actionable.
• In terms of structure, “co-creation” should have a common backbone, but at the same time, it should also encourage all kinds of people to change and expand it. In short, participants can customize, reprocess and shape it.
• In terms of organization, "co-creation" requires thinking about the establishment of a decentralized organization, how a group of people can work together around a mission, through transparent coordination, to jointly determine the charter, break down goals, and complete tasks.
• When it comes to attitude toward employees, employee engagement is paramount. If they’re not engaged—or don’t feel engaged—then you’ve lost the game.

With the above concept, the questions of those tactical manuals: how to participate? How to build trust? Where does stickiness come from? Who gets rewards, who pays, who decides? Who gets commended, who has status? They can be effectively created, thus forming a positive cycle and feedback.

(4) The key to co-creational "dialogue" - belonging, respect and self-realization

People are born to pursue "origination", whether it is a tribe, nation, religion, country, party, community, or family.

To play the co-creational "dialogue", you need to climb the ladder of the "Maslow's Hierarchy of Human Needs Model":

• Get "safe" - meet certain needs and empower feelings
• Create "origination" - find similarities and build a community with consistent and clear values ​​and love!
• Obtain "respect" - share power, re-call value, and re-determine identity!
• Realize "self" - do something meaningful!

A person's willingness to buy products may be a need: psychology and physiology, spirit and material things; perhaps products and services can empower him (pleasant) and gain a sense of security. A person's loyalty to a certain brand must be because he defines his identity, finds his kind, and has a sense of belonging.

However, only when they act together to do something meaningful, create value, assume responsibility, gain respect, and realize themselves can they go further and longer together.

Mendeleev's periodic table, Wikipedia and the ever-lasting TED are the best displays of co-creational "dialogue".

Therefore, the key to co-creational "dialogue" is not to encourage and motivate users to participate - but whether it can form a sense of belonging, win respect, and realize oneself.

A larger perspective and perspective is that co-creational "dialogue" is a methodology for realizing "Maslow's needs"; even, co-creational "dialogue" itself is a great and noble cause, which gives everyone a fair participation and opportunity to create the future.

What emotions are injected: "Sincerity"

The co-creational "dialogue" is the most intense form of expression in the digital era, and it is also the most difficult to control gameplay. It is also the basis of all advanced level marketing activities in the future and the basic composition of the entire brand activities. If you want to subdue or play with it, you need to inject "sincerity".

• Mission and dreams want to have "sincerity". If your beliefs are illusory and difficult to achieve, how to attract the crowd to fight with you.
• Values ​​must have "sincerity". Sincerity, equality, respect, transparency, and attitude.
• The model must have "sincerity". Open rules, fair incentives, and fair rewards.
• Actions must be "sincerity". Don't be afraid of small things, but do things; don't be afraid of greatness, but do actions; don't be afraid of mistakes, but continue to iterate.
• Communication should be "sincere". Tell us about our true self and our users, express our sincerely, monetize and interact sincerely.

As "transparency" becomes the underlying cognition of the new business civilization, only "sincerity" can inspire co-creational "dialogue" to continuously generate these scarce emotional values ​​of belonging, respect and self-realization.

4. What is the essence of "dialogue" and why "dialogue" is needed?

From Socrates's Dialogue Dialectics, Plato's "Ideal Country" to Confucius' Analects of Confucius, the thinking structure of "dialogue" answers the logic and truth of things in its unique way of operation, and shows the rhythm of cognition in tension, thereby triggering new problems, new thinking and new concepts, and becoming a magical "force" that breaks the boundary between "possible" and "impossible".

Today, the "dialogue" we are discussing is not a dazzling ChatGPT question game, nor is it a process of transitioning from a certain answer to an uncertain question, but a cognition and attitude at the level of value.

1. So, what is the essence of this round of "dialogue"?

In the first half of 2023, when we stand at the beginning of the creation of AI, "human-computer intelligence" becomes the real engine of this wave of technology; in the second half of 2023, when the human-computer interaction scenario becomes a normal state, AI natives begin to rise, and a large number of new emotions and new desires grow in the soil of AGI, you first need to understand the essence of this feast.

The essence of human-computer intelligence = "Creative dialogue".

This "creative dialogue" is not to instantly find a relatively perfect solution from the human knowledge base through its own keywords and questioning abilities; not only to treat human-machine intelligence as a tool to improve efficiency and create new tools in the tools; we should also regard human-machine intelligence as a "creative tool" and the "creative emergence" of human-machine collaboration.

Insight into the essence of "dialogue", understanding the meaning of "dialogue", and mastering the method of "dialogue" will become the decisive factor for individuals, companies and organizations to occupy the new business civilization and ecology in the future.

2. Why "dialogue"?

Let’s sort out the logic of new consumption.

We stand at the gate of a new world where risks are exacerbated and opportunities are raised: new consumption is no longer "problem consumption" or "scenario consumption", but "meaning consumption"; new people are no longer "consumers", no longer value possession, but advocate mobility, sharing and co-creation; new brands not only need to provide better products, but also continue to create new "value". Where should we go?

Only "dialogue".

Only "dialogue" can penetrate and integrate into the discourse system/circle/life of the new consumer group, and condense the emotional value from consensus to resonance; it is possible to break out of the rule positioning/super symbols/hot products/traffic pools set by super manufacturers, and open up your own "new continent".

Take Luckin X Moutai’s cross-border marketing, which is "leading the whole nation" as an example.

• First of all, it is attitude, "dialogue" with users from an equal perspective; it integrates into life scenes with their discourse system, from consensus to resonance.
• Secondly, inject the current "emotional value" (the "collapse" of the new middle class and the anxiety under the gap between the rich and the poor), and complete the "emotional release" through repeated displays and expressions.
• Finally, the sense of participation of "our" is indispensable, and the sense of belonging is established unknowingly.

Comparing the Joy Yellow of Heytea XFENDI not long ago, if Luckin does not have an "equal" attitude, no "emotional injection", no "consensus" scene, and no "co-creation" that inspires belonging, can it surpass him?

3. Marketing in the post-new consumer era begins with "dialogue"

At this time, let’s appreciate what Wu Sheng said in "New Species Explosion·Wu Sheng’s Business Methods 2023" - "Dialogue" is more important than "connection".

• Consumers are not a port, but a real person with diverse needs. Real consumption is not created by "connection", but the growth and beauty generated by the "emotional value" brought by the companionship of "dialogue".
• "Dialogue" and "connection" are not an opposing relationship. Dialogue is a deep connection. The "careless" connection is far less "solid as rock" than the "rock-solid" of dialogue.
• The purpose of "connection" is to obtain a user ID/information/using tags to define interests and preferences/consumption capacity, which is essentially business; the purpose of "dialogue" is to jointly build meaning and share beauty, which is essentially to create a future together.

"Dialogue" is a "ordinary" word, a word that is familiar to almost unfamiliar, and a word that can describe the sustainability and creativity of new consumption afterwards.

When we inject "love" into meaningful exploratory "dialogues", find "like-minded people" in companionship "dialogues", create "surprises" in consensus scenario "dialogues", and use "sincerity" to deepen the sense of belonging for co-creation "dialogues", "new consumption" will be completely different - "dialogues" will have a new mentality: equality, level eyes and parallel; and also new values: co-construction, co-creation and co-existence.

Under dialogue, the problem begins; during dialogue, ideas surge; after dialogue, future imagination.

This is the beginning. We are standing at the beginning.

Author: Brand Yuan, WeChat public account: Brand Yuan (ID: brand-yuan)