Village BA: Product Marketing Revelation Behind Billions of Traffic

Village BA, a basketball project that is not a national sport, why is it so popular this summer? This article details what Village BA is, the reasons for its popularity, and the operation behind it. It is recommended for students who want to learn about marketing.

What is the hottest thing in the basketball circle in 2023?

Undoubtedly, Village BA. Users who don’t play basketball may be unfamiliar with Village BA. It is a folk basketball league in the village.

On July 16, the WeChat index data was abnormal, with the popularity soaring to 495 million in a single day. There were three topics about Village BA on the Douyin topic list with over 100 million views, and the highest number of views was 2.87 billion.

All major new media platforms are full of jokes and topics about village BA. Why is basketball, a non-national sport, so popular this summer?

In this article, we will review the popularity of “Village BA” and the motivations behind it. What are the common methodologies for marketing communications?

1. Business operations: exponentially amplifying influence

On July 15, the WeChat index was only 69 million, but by July 16, it was close to 700 million, an abnormal increase of 6 times. It happened to be the first day of NBA superstar Butler's China tour. After arriving in Beijing, he announced his itinerary to visit the Guizhou Village BA site. This move directly took the already popular Village BA League to a higher level.

Butler is already the most talked-about hot topic in the 2023 NBA playoffs. Although he lost in the finals, his commercial value made the brand behind the scenes, Li Ning, earn a lot of money. The visit to the village BA also made the event marketing strategy of Li Ning's brand market quite successful.

In order to make up for the 3999 sales strategy marketing that was despised during Butler's China tour in Beijing, customers can get tickets to the meet-and-greet event if they spend 3999 yuan in the store, and tickets to the Wukesong HI-park competition if they spend 999 yuan.

Both methods allow you to meet Butler face to face, but 3999 is in the store and 999 is at the basketball court. Unlike 999, 3999 can participate in the lottery for the unsold version of Jimmy 1, and there may be interactions such as autographs and photos.

Only by spending money can you have the opportunity to meet the stars face to face. The Village BA is different. The Village BA is the second stop of Li Ning's event. From a commercial point of view, both the brand and the organizer of the Guizhou Village BA benefit.

For the organizers of the village BA, if they want to make the village BA break out of the circle, they must have the blessing of commercial X factors, otherwise it will be difficult to break through the inherent circle of influence.

For example, various internet celebrity players broke through the circle of competition, and Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian recommended and liked it in overseas social media. In early July, CCTV host Sa Beining participated in the competition, and official media such as People's Daily mentioned and praised it by name. Various X factors in different periods made the topic soar directly.

For the brands behind the scenes, such as Li Ning behind the Butler event, they also need different forms to allow fans, spokespersons, and brand topics to detonate the market.

The best marketing is to benefit both parties without hurting the users of party C. For the temporarily added village BA itinerary, Li Ning made up for the loss of users caused by the 3999 yuan price at Beijing Station.

2. Emotional value: overflowing dopamine is the only way to break the circle

Looking at BA and Butler, there are too many similarities. BA practices the purest basketball sport, and Butler's extreme love for basketball on the court makes fans feel no sense of disobedience. If it were any other NBA star, it would seem that they would lack the pure flavor when they arrived at the scene.

The local booming music sounded, and the down-to-earth competition format without various commercial elements made users feel more involved. Compared with the unreachable NBA and CBA, the purity of Village BA instantly made people addicted. Maybe the skills are not professional enough, but the inner love and 200% fighting spirit on the court have nothing to do with material things. While delivering basketball to users, it also conveys the attitude of love for life.

Village BA originated in Taipan Village, Guizhou Province. Originated in 1936, it is known for its warm atmosphere, open participation and ability to bring together often overlooked rural communities. There is no commercialization, it is free to participate, and the area around the court is always crowded with locals and welcomes tourists to watch.

It's just about basketball, and the players on the court have all kinds of professions, and they may go to the fields to harvest wheat the next day after the game. This down-to-earth operation makes you feel that you can do it, and your love for basketball may be activated instantly when you are high in dopamine.

Speaking of dopamine, it is an indispensable element in current event marketing, product development, and user operations. Its common feature is that it makes users feel good.

For event marketing, dopamine is the catalyst that triggers topics. From the perspective of the Village BA incident, the moment Butler announced his visit to Guizhou, the data was destined to overflow by 6 times. The fancy reward of winning a cow for winning a game increases the fun of the game, crowns the passion, and breaks the smell of commercial money.

For product development, dopamine is a functional innovation that satisfies the emotional value of users. If a micro-innovation can hit a certain emotional identity of a certain type of user, the product will naturally generate a premium. A product usually has three values: asset value, functional value and emotional value.

The first two are determined by the market and cannot be controlled.

Asset value, like the future direction of a newly purchased property, is determined by the market; functional value is the foundation for the existence of any commodity and does not have room for premium; and emotional value is what brands can do to satisfy consumers through behavioral design and product innovation.

From a product perspective, Village BA, a folk league, awakens the passion of hundreds of millions of grassroots basketball fans in China. When users see various Village BAs being seen, they feel an inexplicable sense of substitution and identification, and it adds a human touch.

For user operations, dopamine is the expression of empathy converted into user communication. When users feel that the brand understands them and has their own flesh and blood soul, they will be more inclined to choose you for products of the same price.

Let’s take the Village BA Li Ning incident as an example. The price of 3,999 yuan in Beijing is understandable from the brand’s perspective. Through the operating mechanism, high-quality fans with purchasing power are selected to provide benefits.

However, users don’t think this way. They will compare and label brands. For example, why does Anta set such a high bar for its star players’ tours to China? Why is your brand so snobbish? This is also an expression of user emotions, a dopamine that makes users unhappy in the opposite way.

Making users feel "happy" is a science. How to satisfy users' emotional values ​​is a topic worth considering for a long time by product developers, marketers, and operators. The logic behind why people are obsessed with TikTok is that it satisfies users' emotional values ​​such as boredom, curiosity, greed, and fear.

3. Communication inspiration: How to create new ideas for old programs

According to data released by the Chinese Basketball Association in 2021, China's basketball population census is approximately 125 million people, ranking first among ball sports. Why is it that for a national sport with such a high penetration rate, the popularity of domestic basketball leagues has always been difficult to match that of foreign leagues?

Judging from the popularity, the popularity of Village BA is twice that of CBA. One is a regular army, and the other is a guerrilla war, but the market popularity is completely different. For the popularity of basketball, it is not one or two activities a day to increase the volume. Now we have seen mechanism innovation.

For example, the CBA draft that has recently become a hot topic, the first grassroots player of older age, "Yunnan Glider" Yi Jinhong, is also an innovation in promoting CBA. Through the topic of grassroots dream-making, it attracts users' attention with a small cut into a big one. Compared with the official "News Broadcast"-style announcement, the communication efficiency and popularity in new media channels will definitely be higher.

Why is the NBA so successful in terms of promotion and operation of basketball events? The NBA has a long life cycle. From the past 75 years, the annual business, character building, dream story creation, topic creation, etc. have formed a unique operating methodology of the league.

There is no single operational strategy to ignite and promote a project. It needs to be combined with event releases, player commercialization, pre-match warm-up, various on-site behavior designs, etc. Only through long-term operations with a rhythm and timeline can the overall positive cycle be achieved.

Putting aside basketball, the recent popular "The Voice of China" eliminated the short video traffic blogger @李炮儿, who has tens of millions of traffic, and also felt sorry for the marketing planning of the Voice of China. With the phrase "I play the real life" to record various strange challenges in life, his fans increased by more than 10 million in half a year.

Among them, the video recording the progress of the Voice of China attracted a lot of fans. Finally, after stopping the top 30 in the national competition @李炮儿好聲之路 off the air for less than a week, he appeared in the live broadcast room of Crazy Brother Yang.

This wave of operations shows the difference between the behind-the-scenes of The Voice and Crazy Little Yang. One is a representative of traditional TV variety music programs, and the other is a representative of traffic masters in the new media era. The former is still following the process of empiricism, while the latter has long smelled the code of traffic and has taken over the live broadcast room to amplify the heat of public opinion.

Let's compare some data. The most recent Douyin video of The Voice of China has around 1,000 likes, while @李炮儿's has around 3 million likes, which are completely not on the same level.

If good voices can make users happier and extend the journey of @李炮儿好声音 through new interactive methods while @李炮儿 is recording, it can be a win-win event marketing for both parties. From PGC to UGC, real users can become product disseminators.

How can old programs be played with new tricks? Only by changing and keeping pace with current users and embracing the operating rules of new media and new traffic, can even the best products not withstand the impact of time cycles.

Final words: The popularity of Village BA has satisfied grassroots basketball fans across the country and has also played a positive role in promoting Chinese basketball.

The beneficiaries behind the 500 million hits are far more than just Butler and Li Ning. It is important for product people and marketers to see the motivation behind the explosion. Making users happy is a lifelong task. Whether it is the process of event marketing, micro-innovation in product development, or the strategy of user communication behavior design, making users overflow with "dopamine" is a principle worth following for a long time.

CBA and China's Voice, compared with Village BA and short video blogger @李炮儿, are like the comparison of products of two different eras. Users have long been tired of the top-down indoctrination-style communication.

Compared with the effect of the program itself, it is fun, interesting and refreshing, and can better attract contemporary young people.

Take The Voice of China as an example. An interesting aside or a singer's off-tune during the broadcast may be more topical and fun than watching a mediocre competition.

Take CBA as an example. Honor grassroots basketball is more down-to-earth with users. Maybe the users who love you and your commercial value will be greater. Don't just have PGC content. Add more colorful UGC, and your product form and life cycle will be longer.

In order for old products to break through users’ perception of you and their original influence, they must adapt to new rules, enter the hearts of young people, and embrace new users.

Author: zhrayan, WeChat public account: 炏's Black Box