Post-new consumption era: the emotional track that has been rolled out, the crazy value of dialogue (Part 1)

In the era of dialogue, the emotional track is going crazy. Based on Wu Sheng's speech, the author talked about the new gameplay in the post-new consumption era.

On August 7, 2023, Wu Sheng proposed the new concept of "Dialogue Era" in his speech at the beginning of autumn, "New Species Explosion·Wu Sheng Business Method Release 2023".

A week ago, "Barbie" was all the rage; a month ago, starting with "dopamine dressing", "dopamine coffee/tea/juice"... dopamine is everywhere, and everything can be dopamine; Liu Run also wrote a good article about this, "Emotions are the next track."

Going further back, in February 2023, Wunderman Research 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 , bringing hope to 2023.

• Pantone has chosen Viva Magenta as its 2023 Color of the Year, “an extraordinary color that responds to extraordinary times;
• US paint company Benjamin Moore echoed the sentiment, naming raspberry red its colour of the year for 2023: “It also has a very cheerful quality. I think we do need to add a little bit of fun to our lives.”
• Luxury brands also lit up their runways with bold colors. Women's Wear Daily reported that at Paris Fashion Week, "bright and bold colors were everywhere, conveying a sense of optimism."

Today, based on the content of Wu Sheng’s speech, let’s talk 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 a great era that requires "dialogue".
2. In the era of dialogue, running enters the "emotional track" and the "emotional value" can be expected in the future.
3. Four new ways to play "New Emotional Dialogue": meaningful, with companionship, with scenarios, and co-creation.
4. Why "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 proposed six 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 deeply understood:

1. Build conversational interfaces and invent your own era

From "discovering yourself" to "inventing yourself", we should be more precise in prompting words like GPT and learn to build a "conversational interface" : understand what kind of brand, what kind of innovator, and what kind of user we are facing.

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."

In addition, the authoritative output of 20 years ago has long since disappeared, the traffic dominance of 10 years ago has begun to decline, and the private domain of 5 years ago is also unable to cope with the situation. The current mainstream is not only the whole domain or the mixture of public and private domains , but also needs to redefine the private domain - the window for continuous dialogue between brands and users.

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.

Indeed, replacing "connection" with " dialogue " seems to be more accurately in line with the times: dialogue with oneself, dialogue with partners, dialogue with life, dialogue with meaning, dialogue with work, dialogue with business, dialogue with the future...

In such a world, the purpose and meaning of " dialogue " are self-evident - equality, normality and fun.

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

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 meant that the bottleneck that determined the scale of business was 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 further. Let's not talk about Socrates' "knowledge midwifery" which is famous for his heuristic conversation; Schumpeter's "open door theory": if you ask me a question, I give you an answer and put a period, which is equivalent to closing the door for you.

Take Elon Musk, for example. He started questioning the meaning of life at the age of 12, until he realized from "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" that any answer is absurd, and only the question behind the answer is meaningful.

Li Shanyou further explained 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 has entered, 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 you created 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;
• "Friends", "City wark", 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 becomes 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.

——"Emotional Drive: People are willing to pay extra for emotions" Javier, former vice president of marketing at Coca-Cola

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 "release" emotions, "nostalgia" emotions, "healing" emotions, "good luck" emotions, "Buddha" emotions...

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

It is easy to understand why these "emotional marketing" messages are so popular: emotions between people are highly contagious; strong emotions can easily lead to dissemination; and social networks provide a boost, 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 → drive/drive/sell → you and me" , but today's "emotional track" is very different - its logic is "deep into life → companionship and dialogue → us".

2. Current "Emotional Track"

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

The following content is by "SocialBeta 2023 Top 10 Trends in Digital Marketing":

Node marketing: either use the characteristics of the node to create new product emotions, or inject emotional connotations into new products, "responding" to the specific emotions of each festival.

• The Fauves echoed the warm atmosphere of Mother's Day and incorporated the love contained in "the tadpole looking for its mother" into the design of its new products; Jiaoxia incorporated the vitality of Jingzhe into its all-terrain outdoor shoes, and through the advertising film, it conveyed the spirit that there is no road that cannot be traveled ;

Cross-border collaboration: Go beyond the early stage of creating topics through collaboration and start exploring empathetic dialogue . For example, through complaints and self-mockery, we can communicate with young people's irritability in a more relaxed way.

• Heytea collaborated with WPS and used puns on its product packaging to interpret the literature of wanting to be "happy" on Monday; Luckin Coffee teamed up with Sad Frog on the Chinese Valentine's Day and used self-deprecating words such as "Gugua (lonely)" and "Mudan (single mother)" to mock the Chinese Valentine's Day.

For example, healing emotions: it is not simply a wave of posters, copywriting, and movies and TV shows, but it is about accompanying users and actually doing something.

• 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》

These brands have various ways of playing, but what they have in common is that they understand that people’s emotions need companionship, support, transfer, resolution and outlet, and through multi-dimensional dialogue , expression and action , they have become the beneficiaries of this round of marketing innovation.

3. The “emotional value” of the future

In the second half of 2023, in the post-new consumption era, 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, we will continue to promote the personalized and diverse development and release of the smallest emotional unit .

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) .

For brands that are determined to make a difference in today's unstable, uncertain and complex world, whoever can grasp the "emotional power" will have the initiative in the new track; whoever knows how to release the "emotional value" 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" may 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 " .

[To be continued in the future]

References: "Wu Sheng▏New Species Explosion·Wu Sheng Business Method 2023", "Emotion is the Next Track", "Global Top 100 Trends Report in 2023", "New Human Era", and "SocialBeta 2023 Digital Marketing Top 10 Trends".

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