Show your face for five seconds and count money for two hours, 6 cases reveal how brands seize the summer season?

Co-branding is one of the most commonly used methods of brand marketing, and co-branding with movie IP is one of them. So what can brands do to avoid wasting the summer movie season? This article analyzes 6 typical cases to reveal how brands can seize the summer season and puts forward relevant suggestions and methods. Recommended for people who are interested in brand marketing.

The 2023 summer season is very lively. More than 70 movies are released, and the current box office has exceeded 10 billion yuan. Not only are there three popular movies leading the box office, such as "Gone Girl", "The Octagonal Cage", and "30,000 Miles of Chang'an", but also overseas blockbusters such as "Barbie", "Mission Impossible 7", "Spider-Man: Across the Universe", and "Transformers 7".

As cinemas became popular, brands also sensed a good opportunity for marketing. Guangliang Liquor, Dongpeng Special Drink and other brands were implanted in "The Octagonal Cage", Wallace and "30,000 Miles of Chang'an" held a joint event, and Yuanqi Forest recently announced that it would become the official strategic partner of the movie "All or Nothing" scheduled for release in August. Many Chinese brands can also be seen in Hollywood blockbusters.

Brands can not only increase their popularity by leveraging the popularity of the movie, but also use the film content and characters to create a wonderful chemical reaction, leaving a deep impression on the audience. There are also many brands that have directly opened up the market through film marketing and have seen a surge in sales and brand image.

For example, the currently popular "Barbie", while reaping high box office, also gave a shot in the arm to the sales of Mattel and the entire doll industry. Consulting firm Euromonitor predicts that by 2027, "Barbie" will bring about $14 billion in revenue to the doll industry. Prada also jumped from the middle of the luxury pyramid to the top luxury in many people's minds with the movie "The Devil Wears Prada". If movie marketing is done well, it can achieve the effect of "a little effort to get a lot of money", but if it is too much or the method is wrong, it is easy to backfire.

1. From product placement to joint branding, “respecting content” is the prerequisite for going viral

1. Barbie x Birkenstocks

The most popular TV series this summer is Barbie. Wearing pink clothes to the cinema has become a new trend on social media. In the film, Margot Robbie, who plays Barbie, perfectly reproduces the characteristics of the IP, but the real winner is the Birkenstock shoes from Germany.

Birkenstocks, which became popular on social media last year, became a piece of clothing that symbolizes women's awakening in "Barbie". In the movie, Barbie's elegant and beautiful arch of the foot disappeared, and she felt the feeling of the whole sole of the foot on the ground for the first time. This change frightened her. When she asked the weirdo Barbie for help, the other party took out a pair of stiletto high heels and a pair of flat Birkenstocks that were out of tune with Barbie's world, and asked her to make a choice.

High heels represent the beautiful but illusory life in Barbieland, while Birkenstocks represent the unknown but real human world. When faced with the choice for the first time, Barbie, who had not yet awakened, was unwilling to choose the seemingly ugly flat shoes. But when she understood the situation of women in the real world and worked together with her besties to restore order in Barbie's world, she completely awakened. At the end of the film, Barbie walked into the gynecological clinic wearing pink Birkenstocks and mustered up the courage to face her new life.

The reason why it is Birkenstocks instead of "hole shoes" or other popular flat shoes is actually related to the product characteristics of Birkenstocks themselves. The biggest difference in this pair of flat sandals is its footbed. Birkenstocks, which emphasize comfort, use natural materials such as pine wood to make footbeds. The ergonomic design allows the footbed to provide support for the arch of the foot and adapt to different foot shapes. The more you wear it, the more comfortable it is.

Although the "ugly" Birkenstocks seem to be out of place in Barbie's world, because the plot is closely integrated with the product features, the somewhat "abrupt" exposure has won the audience's attention and also increased added value for the brand.

2. Mission: Impossible x Fiat 500

The long-lasting commercial IP Mission: Impossible series also welcomed a new film "Mission: Impossible 7: Deadly Reckoning" in July this year. As a classic plot in commercial blockbusters, car chase scenes are a good scene for many car brands to appear. This time is no exception, but it is more interesting.

In the film, Tom Cruise plays the all-round agent Ethan, who runs away with the heroine who can't drive at all. After the door of the first BMW 5 Series is knocked off, they find a backup car - a petite and cute Fiat 500. Then, the hero and heroine, wearing handcuffs, swap driving positions several times, drift with one hand, and shuttle through the streets and alleys of Rome at high speed.

This unconventional car chase scene not only crowned the yellow car Fiat 500 the title of "best car match", but also fully demonstrated the high performance of this model. Afterwards, the brand immediately launched a new commercial, using movie shots to promote the electric version of the 500e model that will be launched next year. Being able to be so organically integrated into the eye-catching scenes of the film is bound to contribute to the sales of the car.

BMW is a successful example. After the release of Mission: Impossible 4: Ghost Protocol in 2011, BMW, as the protagonist's exclusive car, replaced Mercedes-Benz for the first time to become the largest luxury car brand in the United States. Although there was no obvious hint that "this is a BMW" in the whole film, the audience recognized it by its unique design style.

Perhaps, a successful product placement does not require explicit spoken lines or LOGO close-ups. The real skill is to be able to blend into the exciting plot without making any noise.

3. "30,000 Miles in Chang'an" x Panda Craft Beer/Wallace/Meituan Waimai

What is it like to see the poems and books you read in your youth being adapted for the big screen? This summer, a film called "Chang'an: 30,000 Miles" was released, allowing children and adults to immerse themselves in the heyday of the Tang Dynasty and drink and recite poems with famous poets such as Li Bai and Gao Shi. So far, the film has a Douban score of 8.2 points, and the market has a relatively positive overall evaluation of the content, and the film has also become a "hot commodity" for brand co-branding.

On June 25, the craft beer brand "Panda Craft Beer" took the lead in announcing its collaboration with "Chang'an 30,000 Miles", and the new product "Drinking and Talking·Lychee Rose Beer" was pre-sold on the same day. Starting from July 2, the brand has participated in the premieres of the film in Xi'an, Beijing and other places, and new products can be tasted on site. Users who place an order to purchase the co-branded beer will have the opportunity to receive co-branded peripherals, including exclusive customized wine box packaging, Li Bai & Gao Shi interactive paper bags, co-branded stickers, customized wine information cards and exclusive customized round fans. Whether it is the outer packaging of the new beer cans or the peripherals, they fully reflect the elements of the film.

On July 11, "Wallace" and Meituan Waimai officially announced the collaboration with "Chang'an 30,000 Miles" and launched a limited set meal. Users search "Wallace Super Release" or "Chang'an 30,000 Miles" on Meituan Waimai, place an order for a designated set meal, and have a chance to get the same limited edition co-branded fan bookmark. On July 25, "Chang'an 30,000 Miles" officially announced the cooperation with Time.com "Hao Ji Le", jointly launching a series of books, rice wine gift boxes, and poetic fragrances.

It is worth noting that every time a new collaboration is announced, the official film will also add appropriate poems to the promotional language, such as "Let's drink, don't stop" with Panda Craft Beer, and "Call my son to go out and exchange for good wine, so that we can share the eternal sorrow together" with Wallace. In and out of the play, the brand inspires users' yearning with delicious food, fine wine and exquisite peripherals, echoing the romance of the great writers of the heyday of the Tang Dynasty.

4. "In the Octagonal Cage" x Dongpeng Special Drink/Guangliang Wine

In July, Wang Baoqiang's film "In the Octagon" earned more than 300 million yuan at the box office before its official release. The cumulative box office has exceeded 1.7 billion yuan, and the number of viewers has exceeded 200 million. It is undoubtedly one of the winners of the summer season. While the film is a hit, it also brought a lot of exposure to the brands that cooperated with it. Some netizens even said that Chen Sicheng should learn from Wang Baoqiang's advertising placement.

Based on the real-life theme, "In the Octagon" recreates the real event of fighting orphans in 2017, showing the ups and downs of the protagonist Xiang Tenghui's life experience - training a group of helpless children to help them get out of the mountains, but falling into the mud due to public doubts. In such a crisis, Xiang Tenghui is determined to continue fighting and lead the children to fight back.

The ups and downs of the main theme of struggle provide an excellent placement scene for different types of products. The most eye-catching ones are Guangliang Liquor and Dongpeng Special Drink. In the fighting field, Dongpeng Special Drink appears as an energy drink and a sponsor of the event; Guangliang Liquor is integrated into scenes such as Xiang Tenghui drinking alone and the club's "farewell dinner". It fits the plot of the film naturally and harmoniously.

In addition to product placement, Dongpeng Special Drink also launched the "Dongpeng Special Drink Energy Cinema" topic activity to take advantage of the popularity of "In the Octagonal Cage", and used the film to deepen the brand image of "Don't accept fate, stay awake and fight". Guangliang Liquor took advantage of the opportunity to launch a special live broadcast of "In the Octagonal Cage", and launched co-branded products with the slogan "Drink Guangliang, support Baoqiang" to expand the communication effect. In the atomic age, if you want to grab time and traffic, you can't do without good topics and good ideas. Movies that match the brand's temperament are a good choice.

2. Movie screens are not billboards, and don’t treat the audience as fools

1. "She Vanished": IP derivatives gain fans

Being criticized while making money, this is probably the true portrayal of "Gone Girl". In terms of box office, "Gone Girl" ranked first in the summer season, with a cumulative box office of over 3 billion in 18 days, becoming the 18th movie in Chinese film history to have a box office of over 3 billion.

In terms of marketing, it made a fortune by relying on IP derivatives. On the Zaodianxinhuo crowdfunding platform, the total crowdfunding amount of official derivatives and peripherals of "She Vanished" has exceeded 300,000, covering a wide range of categories. Including commemorative tickets, T-shirts, starry sky phantom quicksand ornaments related to the content of the movie, as well as canvas bags, refrigerator magnets, mouse pads, power banks, umbrellas, bracelets, rings and other daily necessities and jewelry. Among them, the jewelry brand FEO and the movie IP jointly released bracelets, jewelry boxes, pillows, folding fans, rings and other products.

In addition, some products are sold in the form of character card draws to attract fans of the leading actors to buy, which is a bit like harvesting fans. It is not difficult to see that the sales of derivatives of "Her" rely more on the star effect of the leading actors. Many derivatives are just shells of the movie concept and are separated from the content itself. As the reputation of the movie declines, the sales and image of the co-branded brand may also be damaged. The so-called derivative business has also become a one-time deal.

2. Transformers: An IP ruined by excessive implantation

In June, the seventh Transformers movie, Transformers: Rise of the Power Warriors, was released in China. Although its reputation was good in the series, it hardly made any splashes. Correspondingly, the brand did not reap much of the benefits. The official exclusive e-sports partner brand "Thunder Technology" launched a full range of new co-branded products including notebooks, desktops, monitors, etc. The official designated partner PC product "ThinkPad" used the character traits in the movie to re-explain the performance of its products. In addition, some joint private events have been launched in various parts of the country.

You know, the former "Transformers" series was famous for its crazy brand placement:

In "Transformers 3" released in 2011, the informant character played by a Chinese actor said while drinking milk in the elevator: "Can I finish the Shuhua milk first?" This famous scene abruptly kicked off the journey of Hollywood blockbusters to make money in China; "Transformers 4" released three years later, for the first time, inserted 25 brand advertisements, and the audience complained that they were not watching advertisements in the movie, but watching movies in advertisements; in 2017, "Transformers 5" simply made a China-specific version, which was two minutes longer than the overseas version and was full of advertisements.

This year's quiet "Transformers 7" may be a proof of the series's reputation collapse. Although the product placement this time has been quite restrained, the story of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" has been heard by Chinese audiences since childhood.

3. Some practical methodologies and pitfall avoidance guides

Movie marketing can be roughly divided into two types: product placement and IP collaboration.

From many cases, we can also summarize some reference methodologies and pitfall avoidance guidelines.

1. Brand placement: no tricks are better than tricks

The highest level of brand placement is to make it invisible. Good brand placement is organically integrated with the content of the film, and is even an important element in promoting the development of the plot. However, hard placement will only make people feel so embarrassed that they dig their toes into the ground.

The BOBO canned spinach in "Popeye" is one of the earliest brands to be embedded in film and television works. The film cleverly set the action of eating canned spinach as Popeye's trigger mechanism, which seemed to be seamless, and made many viewers associate eating spinach with getting stronger. The sales of BOBO canned spinach also increased significantly because of this work.

There are also Nike shoes in "Forrest Gump" and Tiffany dresses in "Breakfast at Tiffany's", which have become classic movie marketing cases because they fit the characters' personalities and plot development very well. Official memes create memorable moments. If there is no budget for the title, it can only appear in the movie for a few seconds. Creating memorable points through official memes is a good way to make the audience remember in a short time.

In "The Wandering Earth 2", after seeing the Lianjia advertisement, Andy Lau sighed, "House prices are finally cheaper", which made many viewers smile. Huang Bo's "Brand, Baleno" in "Crazy Stone" not only made the audience laugh, but also made the Baleno brand quickly popular. The impressive official memes have several common features: the sentences are short and concise, closely integrated with the plot, and hit the audience's pain points. Only when people can learn and apply them in life can they be vital memes.

2. IP co-branding: similar in appearance but not in spirit

Cooperating with movie IPs to launch co-branded products and activities is one of the marketing methods to maximize the value of IPs. However, the effects of co-branding vary. The key to co-branding movie IPs is the understanding and application of the core of IPs.

For example, among Barbie's more than 100 co-branded brands, some simply incorporate Barbie pink into product design, while others express the spiritual core of the "Barbie" movie through brand content. When put together, the difference is obvious.

Movie IPs naturally have rich content attributes, and for brands, they are treasures waiting to be mined. Joint products and activities can fit the characters and plot extensions, bringing an immersive experience to the audience. On the contrary, if you sell feelings just to harvest traffic, you may break the filter yourself and bring negative comments to the brand.

Author: Dao Fa Xing Yan, WeChat public account: "Dao Fa Research Institute"