Seven things marketers can learn from "The Rush"

Recently, the TV series "Kuangbi" is very popular. What can we learn from it from a marketing perspective? The author of this article shares some of his own views and analyzes seven aspects, including what is a good story, the B-side of the brand, and the need for "light" communication. I hope it will be helpful to you.

The finale of "Kuang Bi" is really a phenomenal drama. Compared with previous hit dramas, its popularity transcends age, gender, profession and circle. The content and story of this drama itself, as well as the insights into the world and human heart in the plot, are all worthy of in-depth research by marketers. After watching it, Yu and Mao had a few thoughts that touched and inspired them, and shared them with everyone.

1. What is a good story?

Almost everyone who has watched "The Storm" has a deep impression of "pig's trotter noodles" . "When I was a child, my family had no money, so I bought a bowl of pig's trotter noodles. My sister ate the pig's trotter, my brother ate the noodles, and I drank the soup." Why is this so memorable?

• There is a symbol with a tangible image - pig's trotter noodles, which has a visual image and even a taste;
• It’s simple enough , and almost the entire story is told in one sentence, but it captures the difficulties of the family and the depth of the sibling love;
• Repetition , this story has been repeated many times in the conversations between Gao Qiqiang and An Xin, as well as in the communication between the Gao brothers. When we tell the brand story, we might as well think about this bowl of pig's trotter noodles - is there a memorable symbol, is it simple enough, and is it repeated constantly.

2. The B-side of the brand

The protagonist of this drama, An Xin, is an upright, persistent, and idealistic protagonist. In an environment where everyone seems to be helpless, it is even a bit unbelievable. But it does not make people feel "fake" or distant. The reason is that he is miserable. This "miserable" experience - white hair, hunched and haggard, lost his career and lover... Even though Gao Qiqiang's negative role is so charming, his success contrasts with An Xin's misery, and his radiant face contrasts with An Xin's white hair, it is still unforgivable.

When we build brands, we tend to create positive and bright images. However, many times, for the public, " You are good, but I don't feel anything." On the contrary, in this era, brands with difficult experiences and even hard struggles are more touching. Dongfangxuan, Huawei, Erke, White Elephant... We have seen the struggles, difficulties, and bleak situations of these brands, and we have been moved inadvertently.

The idea is not to make people feel miserable (many brands have been in a miserable situation in recent years), but to choose a real and honest attitude: like Dong Yuhui, who is willing to open himself up to strangers and speak frankly about his life experiences, the ups and downs and difficulties he encountered, and he tells them with a smile, and the water in the yard is clear; another example is the Huawei ballet shoe advertisement, which faces the scars and reveals the difficulties.

3. Communication should be “light”

In the drama "Kuang Bi", the sister-in-law Chen Shuting has been discussed and hotly debated on social platforms. The number of readings on Weibo related to the sister-in-law has reached over 600 million, including her clothing, conversation, outfit, hairstyle, etc.

"I don't love Brother Qiang, I love Sister-in-law" once became the main theme of Yu's circle of friends.

In such a fast-paced, black-and-white anti-gang drama, a touch of bright color and some details that have nothing to do with good and evil are more impressive.

This reminds me of a point in the book Weak Communication: " In addition to the natural world, humans live in both the real world and the public opinion world. The former is the strong world, and the latter is the weak world. The public opinion world is the reverse world of the real world. In terms of strong and weak attributes, primary and secondary relationships, judgments of importance, and rational orientation, the two are basically opposite."

In weak propagation, there are two rules.

1. Light rule: The world of public opinion is a world of communication that avoids the heavy and focuses on the light. In simple terms, light things are the easiest to spread.
2. Sub-theory: The world of public opinion is a world of communication where priorities are reversed. In simple terms, it is the most difficult to spread the main theme.

In many news events, the first lady's dress is what everyone talks about. Similarly, in the tense plot of black and white confrontation, punishing evil and promoting good, the sister-in-law's light and bright color is more likely to gain attention and topics in the public opinion field, and her every frown and smile can stir up a thousand waves.

When we are communicating, don’t forget to “ make light of heavy things” and create light topics - only light things can travel far.

4. Details touch people’s hearts

In this drama, the polishing of details and the display of strong emotions and character development in subtle places are very worthy of reference for advertisers and creative people.

Let me give you two examples:

Twenty years later, An Xin and Meng Yu met again. Meng Yu was helping to shoot the news at the set, and An Xin gave a cup of milk tea to the photographer.

Meng Yu asked: Why don’t I

An Xin said: It's cool

With just a few simple words, he had never forgotten everything about her, and the strong emotions that had been fermented over time almost came rushing towards him.

In the same episode, An Xin, Yang Jian and Meng Yu reunited and finished their meal. She was so excited that she stayed at the table for a long time without leaving until the waiter urged her to leave.

He looked at the table of untouched food and said almost subconsciously, "Pack it up."

The frugality engraved in his bones and the simple living habits cultivated over the years are conveyed through two simple words.

The thunder that comes from silence is the most touching.

5. The uncontrollability of public opinion dissemination

When investigating the Mang Village incident, Meng Yu, who was still a reporter, wrote a news report from an objective perspective. However, some people deliberately distorted the facts in the comments to the report, taking advantage of people's hidden emotions and diverting the topic to the direction of the police's protection umbrella.

I wonder if media and brand people will feel the same when they see this.

In today's more decentralized and freer public opinion field, every time a brand or organization speaks out, it cannot just focus on its own content. Instead, it should put itself in the user and public perspective before disseminating it, and consider every possible interpretation:

For parts that may be distorted or misunderstood, you need to consider them carefully and prepare contingency plans.

6. Blank Space for Communication

In the article "Don't complicate branding", we talked about the importance of "leaving blank space" .

The most advanced approach is to help and guide users to create a good story, rather than being directly driven by profit.

The most important thing to help is to "leave some space", just like preparing all the ingredients and utensils, and then letting the chef demonstrate, then the user cooks it by themselves, and automatically takes a photo and posts it to their Moments after it comes out of the pot, because they "made" it themselves.

When we tell brand stories, design products, plan events and stimulate UGC, we need to pay attention to leaving blank space - intentionally leaving blank spots for discussion or even controversy, rather than filling up the content.

There is a blank space in "Storm", which is beautifully done:

The opening uses colors to distinguish the black and white camps. The dark black camp is the villain, while the bright poster is the righteous camp. When watching the play, if you have doubts about a character, you can also refer to it for verification. Of course, most of the suspenseful characters can only be confirmed one by one in the play.

This point was not explicitly stated in the article and was left blank, which sparked a lot of discussion and speculation on social media and created a large amount of tap water.

7. The story’s light and dark lines

Students who have listened to the Yurui course "Full-link Brand Marketing Operation Method" may remember the " brand light and dark lines" we proposed. The reason why this drama is so fascinating is that the light and dark lines of the story are intertwined, which makes people unable to stop.

The obvious plot is the confrontation between good and evil, the hidden plot is the interweaving of good and evil, the obvious plot is reason, the hidden plot is emotion.

An Xin and Gao Qiqiang, the interrogation room was open, the struggle was open, the dinner was secret, and the assistance was secret.

There are also subtle hidden threads that connect the two ends of good and evil - Yang Jian's past fighting side by side, Gao Qilan's twenty years of affection, the friendship and guilt between master, apprentice and comrade-in-arms, etc.

We live in a complex, three-dimensional world, and the interweaving of light and dark is the sketch of the real world.

The same is true for brands.

• The bright line is a definition, a symbol, a vivid impression and a memory point;
• The hidden thread is the ubiquitous penetration of emotions, values, and personality, making the brand full and real.

If you are interested, you can also learn about the brand's light and dark line management and operation methods.

8. Conclusion

1. Good stories: vivid symbols, simple logic, and constant repetition
2. Brands truly reveal their B-side, including suffering, setbacks, and failures
3. Spreading should be “light”; lighter content is easier to spread
4. Simple details can express more moving things than heavy colors
5. Pay attention to the uncontrollability of communication and the complexity of public opinion
6. Leave blank space for communication and allow room for imagination
7. The brand story must have a light and dark line. The light line is the memory symbol, and the dark line is the spiritual connection.

Finally, there is another inspiration: finding colleagues in the same field is also a good choice.

Author: Lan Lan

WeChat public account: Taro and Cat Talk (ID: taro_cat)