Behind the popularity of “temple tours”, why do young people love incense?

In the past, shopping malls, amusement parks, and cinemas were the first choice for relaxation and leisure, but now temples have become a holy place for young people to relieve stress. What is the "magic" of temples that makes this generation of young people so fascinated? Let's take a look at the author's interpretation and analysis.

Recently, the topic #Media comments on young people who don’t attend classes, don’t make progress and only want to burn incense# has become a hot search.

According to data from Ctrip, the number of ticket orders for temple-related scenic spots has increased by 310% year-on-year since the beginning of this year . Among the people who have booked tickets for temple scenic spots since February, those born in the 1990s and 2000s account for nearly 50%.

Temples, which were originally preferred places by the middle-aged and elderly, have now become popular among young people. On social platforms, you can see recommendations for major temples everywhere, and young people seem to really love burning incense. So what kind of "magic" do temples have that can fascinate this generation of young people?

1. “New Marketing” Subverts Tradition

In the past, temples often gave people a solemn and inaccessible feeling. Nowadays, more and more temples are becoming "interesting", subverting the impression of traditional temples in the minds of young people.

For example, new marketing methods such as selling coffee, peripherals, and blind boxes are common in major Internet celebrity temples.

Take the Yongfu Temple in Hangzhou as an example, the "temple coffee" there is the most popular.

Coffee is a symbol of Western culture, but Yongfu Temple started selling coffee in the temple. What’s interesting is that the coffee is named “Cibei”, which means “compassion”.

The collision of Western coffee and Eastern Zen culture, just like the electronic wooden fish and cyber worship of Buddha that are popular on the Internet today, creates a strong sense of contrast, attracting countless curious young people to check in.

Similarly, the names of the coffee products in the store also follow this style. Americano is not called Americano, but "Difan"; Latte is not called Latte, but "Tingxue"; Mocha is not called Mocha, but "Huanxi".

In short, the name of every cup of coffee is a Zen saying; every sip of coffee contains hidden Zen.

In addition to coffee, many temples are trying to further narrow the distance between themselves and young people through cultural and creative peripherals.

For example, this set of creative canvas bags from Faxi Temple combines Buddhist text with Hangzhou dialect and Internet buzzwords. The cute image of the Buddha, coupled with creative texts such as "Buddha should like you", "Salary and bonus are not fixed", and "Singling is destined", has captured the hearts of young people in minutes.

The creative ice cream of Mount Wutai interprets the IP of the temple vividly and brilliantly. The appearance is a collection of Buddhist rhymes of the temple supported by a lotus seat, which is full of charm.

What is even more surprising is that after eating the ice cream, the ice cream stick revealed is a prayer stick with beautiful blessings, which embodies the Zen value of the temple.

In addition to the product and scenario levels, new marketing is also very interesting in terms of gameplay.

Take Cibei Coffee as an example. It has launched a special drink called "Suiyuan". It costs 30 yuan per cup. You get to drink whatever you draw by random drawing. Everything depends on fate.

It cleverly combines the traditional temple "drawing lots" with the most popular "blind box".

Why are temples so aggressive in marketing?

In my opinion, this is an upgrade of consumers' "consumption concept". Users are no longer simply satisfied with the practical value of the product itself, but pay more attention to the cultural value behind it.

Take the Wutai Mountain Creative Ice Cream as an example. The first satisfaction is that the ice cream is cool and delicious, the second satisfaction is that it looks good and can be photographed, and the third satisfaction is the good wishes represented by the words signed on the ice cream.

A small ice cream can satisfy consumers' triple enjoyment, so even though its unit price is not low, it is still a hot seller and even out of stock.

This also serves as a reminder to many brands: business should keep pace with the times, enrich the core of products, and tap into the cultural value behind them to bring users a more diverse consumer experience.

2. Temples have become a new place for young people to relieve stress

Of course, new marketing methods are just one of the reasons to attract young people to visit temples. Unknowingly, temples are becoming a new place for young people to relieve stress.

In today's social environment, young people are facing a lot of pressure. Study, work, marriage, and income are like several "Five Finger Mountains" weighing on the shoulders of young people. In the past two years, people have repeatedly mentioned such states as "Buddha-like", "dejected", and "bad-like" on the Internet.

According to the "2022 bilibili Youth Mental Health Report", the number of views of mental health-related videos on Bilibili exceeded 7.6 billion times, an increase of 83% year-on-year, and the search volume for psychological-related words such as "anxiety", "depression", and "stress" reached 99.3 million.

Faced with the dilemma in life, young people are unable to solve it, but they are unwilling to lie down. Faced with the anxiety that pours in like a tide in real life, the breathless young people want to "save themselves".

Young people need a way to escape from their anxiety and pressure. Whoever can provide this way and help them temporarily escape from the anxiety of reality is most likely to win the hearts of young people.

Temples are precisely what capture the immediate emotions of consumers. The Zen spirit of temples provides a gentle haven for people's wandering souls. Young people can also escape from real life for a short time and relieve the long-accumulated pressure by entering temples.

So, after frisbee, picnics, and camping, in 2023, "temple tours" became the latest way for young people to relieve stress.

3. The “grain planting economy” has a profound impact on contemporary young people

In addition to relieving stress, going to temples to check in is also a new way for young people to socialize. Compared with the monotonous shopping and eating, going to temples to pray, eat vegetarian food, listen to Buddhist music, and buy vegetarian cakes is more attractive to young people.

As one of the carriers of Chinese traditional culture, temples themselves have extremely strong cultural appeal. At the same time, the temples' red walls, yellow tiles, green trees and ancient temples and other unique scenes meet the personalized needs of young people for "taking photos" when they travel.

In addition, the temple’s up-to-date marketing strategies and creative and high-value cultural and creative products have increased young people’s desire to share on social media.

On Xiaohongshu, there is an endless stream of content about temple travel guides, photo-taking check-ins, and cultural and creative products, and many posts have a high number of likes and interactions.

There is no doubt that temple tours are becoming a new kind of "social currency".

Users were initially "planted" with the idea by big-name bloggers on social media. After visiting the temples in depth, they recorded what they saw and heard and shared them on mainstream social media platforms such as Xiaohongshu and WeChat Moments, thus forming secondary dissemination and obtaining a "traffic cycle" for the temples.

Nowadays, the "grass-planting economy" has become a phenomenon, which is widely present on various social media. In the "Grass-planting Generation: Fashion Consumption Report of Post-95s" released by AIRUN Consulting, the "post-95s" are called the "grass-planting generation".

Statistics show that the average daily number of notes published on Xiaohongshu platform exceeds 3 million, and the types of notes include but are not limited to food, photography, sports, beauty, mother and baby. It can be said that "everything can be promoted".

On the other hand, Xiaohongshu COO Conan revealed that 60% of users conduct high-frequency searches on Xiaohongshu every day, with an average daily search query volume of nearly 300 million times, which means that "Xiaohongshu has become the life search portal for ordinary people."

In many cases, "planting grass" between friends is a way of socializing. For example, through labels such as "same style as idol" and "same color", you can quickly find a group of people with similar interests and gain a sense of identity and belonging.

At this time, the content of "planting grass" has become a topic of conversation and a unique way of communication for young people today.

Therefore, for businesses, the "grass-planting economy" is both an opportunity and a challenge. If used properly, it will greatly expand the brand's communication influence, attract more potential users to place orders, and create huge marketing benefits for the company.

Of course, planting grass is just a new way of playing, and products are still the core of business operations.

The reason why cultural and creative products of temples such as Faxi Temple are so popular is not only because of their novel marketing ideas, but also because the products themselves are excellent. If the product quality is very poor, then no matter how much "planting grass" is done, it will only shoot itself in the foot and have a counterproductive effect.

4. Final Thoughts

The essence of marketing is a kind of "value transfer" .

What brands can learn from temples is a deep consumer insight: strip off the flashy outer shell, return to the true nature of life, and focus more on how product value can promote a better life for users.

Again, whoever can capture users' emotions and solve their needs is most likely to win their hearts.

Author: Yan Tao; Editor: Chief

Source: WeChat public account "Yan Tao Sanshou (ID: yantao-219)"