Entertainment marketing is indispensable for a good lifestyle brand

"The essence of a company is a stage, where you have to show off what you want to sell to your customers and employees!" The end point of all consumer industries will be those products and brands that can improve the happiness index of consumers. Under this premise, the so-called cost-effectiveness refers to whether consumers can feel fun, happiness and surprise in addition to purchasing products and brands.

01

The Harvard Business Review once said: "The essence of a company is a stage, on which you have to show your customers and employees what you want to sell!" Whether it is consumption stratification, consumption upgrading, or the new consumption that is popular now, to run a good business, we must get on the train to happiness. Although many people around us have tested positive after the epidemic was released, during the New Year's Day holiday, we saw Nanjing Road in Shanghai, Hanzheng Street in Wuhan, Jiefangbei in Chongqing... and major tourist attractions have regained their former vitality (there are indeed many more people seeing doctors in hospitals than before), which fully demonstrates that "the people's yearning for a better life is the goal of the enterprise." How can we do without entertainment marketing to let people have a better life?

02

The end point of all consumer industries will be those products and brands that can improve the happiness index of consumers. Under this premise, the so-called cost-effectiveness refers to whether consumers can feel fun, happiness and surprise in addition to purchasing products and brands . With the advent of the new consumer era, people's production and consumption behaviors have undergone great changes, from focusing on the practicality and price of products to starting from the situation and emotions, and paying more attention to sensory experience and psychological identification. If consumers can feel the temptation of the product and the charm of the brand in advance, then marketing can win without fighting and resolve the conflict of communication.

03

We should change our view that business is heavy and full of hatred, and turn business into a "show". Whether selling products or services, we should use performance to dramatically display products and spread brands, so that the company is like being on a stage under the spotlight, and the products and brands are like stars under the spotlight, forcing consumers to stop and pay attention to you, buy you, and own you.

04

Based on the development characteristics of modern business, American business thinker McCain summarized a truth: all industries are entertainment industries, so no matter what industry it is, entertainment marketing must be done. McCain linked business with entertainment industries such as film, television and music, and extended what has been applied to the entertainment industry for many years to the business world, and asserted: To be successful, you must establish an emotional connection with your audience.

Only in this way can you create an emotional experience that customers cannot refuse. The reason they buy your products and services is that they can enjoy this emotional experience over and over again. Li Jiaqi and Wei Ya (although they have been punished for tax issues) make full use of live broadcast technology to turn business into a show. Li Jiaqi personally tries various lipsticks, and Wei Ya has "Weiya's woman". In the future, with the deepening of AR, MR, and VR, the entertainment of business will be further highlighted.

05

But it should be noted that entertainment marketing is not about vulgar pandering, but first of all, it is necessary to have personalized character charm and use emotional factors to the extreme. For example, Spider-Man is like the big brother next door, a friendly and popular hero who makes you feel that the hero is right next to you; Iron Man loves to show off, Leo heroism, and is also the dream hero of thousands of girls; The Hulk: a genius who suppresses emotions, a brave hero who dares to challenge anyone. In the Marvel hero world, there are personalized heroes everywhere, with clear love and hate, and each has its own fan support group. Wu Jing's Wolf Warrior also created a Wolf Warrior hero, which is deeply sought after by young people in small towns.

06

Brand truth is a specific communication solution to resolve consumer conflicts, not just the output of brand image. Brand truth must be a fatal move. To fully adopt entertainment marketing to resolve conflicts, we must first establish the emotional personality of the right brain: such as Harley's tough guy, Apple's genius, Disney's never growing up, Marlboro's cowboy. The purpose of entertainment marketing is to establish an emotional connection with consumers. The more distinctive the personality, the more loyal fans will be attracted; the more persistent the personality, the more it can help companies not lose their original intentions under the various entertainment trends.

07

Once we have found the channel to establish emotional connection with consumers, what we need to do is to persist, persist, and persist again, repeat, repeat, and repeat again. Don’t change yourself in the face of various temptations, otherwise it will only lead to consumers being unable to recognize you, unable to follow you, and losing their direction. There is a classic scene in "Forrest Gump". Forrest Gump couldn't figure out some problems, so he started running. Later, he was reported by the TV station, and then many followers followed him and became a celebrity. Suddenly one day, Forrest Gump said he ran, and then his followers immediately lost their direction and Forrest Gump, what should they do?

This episode fully illustrates the importance of persistence and repetition, otherwise your consumers will easily lose their way. In the face of today's youth trend, many old brands are desperate to cater to young people and change their brand personality, but the final result is the most typical failure case. Around 2010, Li Ning shouted: "Change for the post-90s", but the post-90s did not buy it, and now it has returned to the successful path of "China Li Ning" and has become the pride of domestic products.

08

Entertainment marketing is not about joining in the fun, nor is it about following the trend. Entertainment must be based on resolving consumers’ pain points and conflicts in order to build its own unique personality and make consumers fall in love with you, support you, and buy from you.

09

At the same time, when doing entertainment marketing, you must remember that what you want is growth, not so-called face. Once you have clarified your own value attributes and brand personality, in the world of entertainment marketing, you must not have "idol baggage" and "celebrity personality". In today's traffic world, the strong will always be strong, and the weak will be eliminated. Take Li Jiaqi as an example, why do new products like to find Li Jiaqi to promote them?

Because Li Jiaqi's recommendation can quickly increase the sales of new products. New products have the opportunity to be at the top of the search rankings, allowing consumers to find and buy you more quickly. In the world of traffic, only by quickly leveraging and expanding can the source of long-term traffic be maintained. Brands such as Huaxizi, Perfect Diary, and Zhong Xuegao have tasted the sweetness of entertainment marketing.

10

The purpose of entertainment is to quickly attract traffic and rush towards consumers with a surging momentum; to make them lower their defenses before they buy; while adhering to the brand personality and values, we must seize every opportunity to make our stage shine, and even make loud laughter, singing, and applause, so as to attract the attention and footsteps of consumers.

11

When doing entertainment marketing, we must remember that even if we stand in the center of the stage, we must not think in a self-centered way, imagining that we are artists who can slowly cultivate consumers' artistic interests; instead, we must constantly take consumers as the core of our thinking and gain insight into those entertainment elements that consumers like, are obsessed with, and cannot resist.

12

For enterprises, if they can lower their status and entertain the public, they can undoubtedly save "hundreds of millions of advertising fees". Jack Ma once said that when you have no money and no ability, face is the most useless thing. In the road of entertaining the public, Jack Ma is far ahead of others. He never cares about his identity as an entrepreneur or school principal; his changing image can always win a lot of free publicity for Alibaba.

Do you know how Alibaba became a nationally known company in its early days? It all started when Jack Ma invited Jin Yong to a "Swordsmanship Contest at West Lake". Through this entertainment marketing, Jack Ma invited Internet giants and the then popular entrepreneur Niu Gensheng to discuss swordsmanship together. This entertainment marketing made Alibaba known to the whole nation. In this era, entertainment must have a sense of the world and be able to have fun with consumers, so that there is a chance to further deepen mutual feelings and build a good relationship.

13

When doing entertainment marketing, never look down on "vulgarity". Vulgarity is the soul of all entertainment spirits. What is vulgarity? Vulgarity is "custom". Why is Valentine's Day popular all over the world? Because it is "vulgar". Everyone celebrates it. It is vulgar to the extreme. Christmas is also "vulgar" without any hesitation. Customs precede all laws and naturally surpass all arts. Customs are a kind of nature, so the source of vulgarity is based on human nature. Therefore, tracing back to the source, the interpretation of vulgarity cannot be generalized. It is unfair to let vulgarity become the representative of vulgarity. We should make full use of customs for entertainment marketing, not vulgarity.

14

Take Melatonin as an example. Melatonin has a very vulgar advertisement, but it is definitely not a vulgar advertisement. Melatonin represents a deep insight into the gift-giving market, otherwise it would not have brought Shi Yuzhu the opportunity to rise as a giant for the second time. Behind the vulgarity, there is actually a cultural conflict: the conflict between vulgarity and elegance has a long history, such as the highbrow and the lowbrow.

But, in fact, everyone has a vulgarity in their heart. According to the polls of the Spring Festival Gala every year, Zhao Benshan always has the highest voice. Zhao Benshan's vulgarity is life, and it is real life, so Zhao Benshan's "Rural Love" and "Liu Laogen" can always become the most played programs on CCTV or video websites. Therefore, Zhao Benshan's vulgarity can arouse the resonance of consumers, and Zhao Benshan's vulgarity can make the people laugh out loud. Guo Degang summed it up very well. Let's make people happy first! In this world full of wars, epidemics, and business closures, happiness is the most important thing.

15

In 1986, Postman published the book Amusing Ourselves to Death. In the preface of the book, he compared Orwell's 1984 with Huxley's Brave New World. He said: "Orwell was afraid of those who forcibly banned books, while Huxley was worried about losing any reason to ban books because no one would be willing to read anymore.

Orwell was afraid of those who deprive us of information, while Huxley was worried that people would become increasingly impulsive and selfish in the vast ocean of information; Orwell was afraid of the concealment of the truth, while Huxley was worried that the truth would be drowned in the boring and tedious world... In short, Orwell was worried that what we hate would destroy us, while Huxley was worried that we would be destroyed by what we love. This book wants to tell you that what may become a reality is Huxley's prediction, not Orwell's prediction.

16

Postman also believes that in the existing television culture, politics, business and spiritual consciousness have undergone a childish degeneration and degradation, becoming entertainment, a childish and superficial "retarded culture", which poses a fatal threat to the high-level thinking and personality characteristics of the print age. However, to this day, the situation has not developed so seriously.

17

The prevalence of entertainment culture is not so much a sign of self-abandonment under the pressure of reality as it is a unique spirit of optimism. This non-violent, playful interpretation is precisely the ordinary people's clear understanding of their attitude towards life. Life is already too tiring, why can't you make yourself comfortable? The string has already broken, why not let go of the shackles and sing a song loudly and selflessly?

18

Entertainment is not a crime, and entertainment marketing is more reasonable. We need entertainment more than ever before. Entertainment is a valve, an outlet. We have the right to be a temporary fool in our lives outside of eight hours. Whether it is a person's self-mockery or a collective carnival, as long as entertainment can resolve conflicts in business, it is fine. It is always more peaceful and harmonious than epidemics, wars, and trade wars.

Author: Liu Yichun

Source: WeChat public account "Liu Yichun's Brand Business Innovation (ID: shangyeyiguohui)"