Graduation season is here, how can brands appeal to emotions and attract attention?

The annual graduation season is here again, and platforms and brands are also taking advantage of the marketing opportunity to convey preferential activities, platform ecology or brand propositions to consumers while bringing blessings to graduates. Next, let's follow the author to see how these brand marketing during the graduation season is played.

The annual graduation season has arrived again. College students step out of the campus with full of hope for the future, and also say goodbye to their alma mater with sadness of parting.

Brands and platforms also take advantage of the graduation season for marketing, sending blessings to graduates while delivering promotions, platform ecosystems or brand propositions to consumers.

Today, TOP has counted down 6 graduation season advertisements. Let’s see how brands are doing graduation season marketing this year.

1. Using graduation as a pretext to promote sales

1. Tmall: Strong integration with 618 event

The graduation season coincides with the 618 promotion. Tmall combines these two marketing nodes to bid farewell to the university campus with "the last express delivery of youth".

Tmall's "The Last Express of Youth", what will be the last express of youth?

It is the inflatable butterfly wings that are "a bit childish for primary school students, but just right for college students", it is the colorful outfit for taking funny graduation photos in the dormitory, it is the snacks shared by the teacher in the last class, and it is the admission notice for postgraduate entrance examination that is obtained after a year of hard work.

The delivery address that has been used for four years will eventually change, but the memories of helping roommates pick up express deliveries will not be erased by the passage of time, and the good times in college will always shine in the years to come.

Tmall teamed up with more than 50 universities to collect graduates' stories about the "last express delivery" and edited them into this short film. It is like a daily vlog of college students, recording the joy of college students before graduation and the sadness of parting.

Tmall also placed oversized cat-head delivery boxes in several colleges and universities, "packing" all the campus scenery that could not be taken away into the Tmall delivery boxes. Students also left their expectations and wishes on the delivery boxes and took photos to commemorate the occasion.

Tmall extra large cat head express box

Tmall not only mobilized the emotions of college students with the "last express delivery", but also combined the graduation season with the 618 promotion to increase the popularity of the 618 event. The last express delivery of youth may also be the first express delivery for college students entering the society. It does not mean the end, but a new beginning.

2. Xianyu: Re-emphasis on user ecology

Also based on the platform's own ecology, Xianyu has insight into the needs of graduates to sell things. They often look for opportunities to sell second-hand items because they cannot take all their belongings with them. At these moments, Xianyu becomes an excellent helper.

Xianyu "Baby has a play, hang it on Xianyu"

"Otaku" made many good friends during his four years in college, including Lego, Gundam and record player, but when he graduated, he had to hand over these old friends to new friends.

The "King of Curls" are all masters of time planning. Not only can they study while doing yoga, but they can also curl their hair. Before graduation, the King of Curls who has been curling for four years also wants to let go and leave these secrets and good things to others.

There were many people and things to pursue during college, whether it was transportation, event support peripherals, or sports equipment, all the good things that couldn't be taken away were put on Xianyu.

Xianyu has been focusing on user ecology and building a strong mindset for a long time. The biggest highlight of this video is the visual presentation of "hanging": the anti-gravity layout makes "Baby has a chance to hang on Xianyu" more vivid and intuitive.

2. Use music to express the sadness of parting

1. Huawei: Sing an old song again and say goodbye

The song "Goodbye" was written in 2005. It is a love song, but its bright tune and slightly sad lyrics always resonate with graduates during graduation season. Huawei teamed up with the youthful band Travel Band to adapt and cover the song, bringing the slowest version of "Goodbye".

When it’s time to say goodbye, people will find that time flows so fast. But the band Travel Band said that if you fill time with memories, time will really slow down.

In this slow goodbye song, we can get a glimpse of the college days that have passed. The funny group photos at the graduation ceremony, the sweat on the court, the joy when small animals ran into the classroom, the comfort of friends at the roadside stall when we were heartbroken... Maybe time will slip away from our fingers, but youth can be remembered through images.

The memories that sparkled in the short film were recorded by Huawei nova 11. With images as memories, it won’t be too difficult to say goodbye. Huawei did not emphasize the characteristics of the product’s photography function, but used graduation memories to give the phone emotional connotations.

What's special is that there is another way to listen to Huawei's "Goodbye". Put your finger on the double-speed playback area or manually adjust it to double speed, and you can hear a normal-speed, cheerful "Goodbye". At the same time, the shots of those beautiful memories in the video are also accelerated, and you can feel the passing of time.

2. Bilibili: New graduation song

Another platform that sent graduation wishes through songs was Bilibili.

Like previous years, Bilibili also released a graduation song this year, inviting singer Wu Qingfeng to perform the song "We All Own the Ocean".

Although Wu Qingfeng is no longer young, the youthful quality in his voice still touches people's hearts.

This graduation song MV on Bilibili features a hand-painted man as the protagonist. From the doodles on the desk to the big question mark about the future on the test paper, this hand-painted man is a student who has not graduated yet, and also an adult who is struggling in society after graduation.

Facing the doubts of others, the demands of our elders, and our own exploration, "we" will constantly cross the mountains of knowledge, break through our own boundaries, and ride the wind and waves to every corner of the world, because "we" all have the ocean.

This short film from Bilibili uses a combination of stop-motion animation and AIGC technology to tell the story of an ordinary person's "life", and also creates many bizarre but very real scenes. From Mao Buyi's "Into the Sea" to the adaptation of "The Story of Time", this is not the first year that Bilibili has launched a graduation song. What is different from previous years is the innovation of technical means, but the same is the blessing to the graduates.

3. Express the warmth of the brand in the name of confession

1. INTO YOU: Graduation confession for girls only

The graduation season TVC of beauty brand INTO YOU is its first brand film and the only one among all graduation season advertisements that focuses on women. In this short film, the brand chooses to sincerely confess to the girls who are about to graduate: "Hey, dear girl, I like you a little bit."

If I see an unbroken bicycle, I am sure that today is my lucky day; I have not adapted to the identity of an adult, but I will try my best to be a child who does not make adults worry; I can avoid physical tests, but I will also run to the beach at the speed of a 100-meter sprint.

So when should we say "I like you" to girls? The answer is, when they search "how to be more confident", when they want to emphasize that their Mandarin is not standard before speaking, when they dye their hair a striking color but receive strange looks.

"I am a little bit INTO TOU" is a sincere confession from the brand. In its first brand film, INTO YOU focuses on young girls in their 20s. They are not only at a confused moment in their lives as they are about to graduate, but are also the core consumers of the brand.

The brand has insight into the current situation that society's discipline of women easily makes girls doubt themselves, and through delicate pictures and gentle copywriting, it encourages girls to discover, know and love their true selves. By leveraging marketing during the graduation season, INTO YOU cleverly combines marketing nodes and brand appeals to establish an emotional connection with young women and gain more user groups.

2. Hope Water: Hope you will make progress every year

The singer You Changjing's name sounds like "progress", so Hao Wang Shui took this as an opportunity to launch a graduation short film "I hope you will make progress every year after graduation".

During the graduation defense at Hopewater, some students worked hard for their dream job and finally got a satisfactory offer before graduation; some students spent a year preparing for the postgraduate entrance examination and were waiting for the admission letter. However, the examiner also asked them two questions: "Are you satisfied with this kind of life? Do you have any regrets?"

These two questions seem to be worth pondering for every graduate. Standing at the crossroads of life, each choice also means missing out on another potentially better path. But this graduation at the age of 22 is not the only graduation in life.

Haowangshui also uses You Changjing's life experience to tell all graduates: every graduation heralds a better beginning.

"Hope" is a word with beautiful meaning. It is the core emotional expression of the brand and also the blessing sent by the brand during the graduation season ; "Progress" is the brand's encouragement to the graduates. In the film, the products of Hope Water, Wangmeihao, Wangxingfu and Wangtaohua, also serve as the examiners' recognition of the graduates, and are stamped with the "Progress" seal.

After watching the graduation season ads of brands, graduation doesn’t seem to be such a sad thing. Whether it is a big promotion on the delivery platform or emotional resonance through music, brands not only send blessings to graduates, but also spare no effort to build minds for consumers.

Although we are separated today, we will meet again in the future. TOP also wishes all the graduates: happy graduation and a bright future!

Author: TOP Jun

Source: WeChat public account "TopMarketing"