What are the most worth-watching ads this year?

This article mainly reviews the representative advertisements that have performed outstandingly in the three aspects of brand awareness, value proposition and marketing actions in the advertising industry this year, and specifically analyzes the selling points and advertising design, which is worth learning for people in the advertising industry.

The end of the year is always quite lively.

Various awards and reviews are also emerging one after another.

Looking back at the advertising industry this year, we can sum it up in two words: "The industry is difficult, but there is no lack of excitement." From consumption to physical to the Internet, most companies are in a difficult battle, fighting against one uncertainty after another from the macro-economy and social policies, walking under umbrellas in the wind and rain.

The advertising industry is a barometer of the industry, and this is especially true. With great uncertainty and drastic changes in the mood of the times, every step has been difficult, but we have indeed seen some surprising works.

It should be noted that when we look at advertising from the perspective of Party A, in addition to paying attention to the quality of the advertising itself (creativity, beauty, insight, innovation, etc.), we also pay more attention to the value of advertising to the core business:

• For cognitive advertising, is the symbol clear enough to be memorable enough to break through the terrifying "10%" effect of the memory curve, form a strong memory symbol, and effectively reduce the loss in communication?
• Value-based advertising should be part of the brand's consistent value proposition, rather than being innovative and unique. In other words, it should be a long-term layout with a single point of explosion, rather than occasional fireworks.
• Can marketing advertisements have a strong enough driving and stimulating effect to create a huge impact and attract both applause and commercial success?

Therefore, in this year's review, we selected five advertisements each in the categories of [Brand Awareness], [Value Proposition] and [Marketing Action] that we believe are the most representative.

1. Brand Awareness

Brand recognition advertising, by extracting a "minimum information unit" with a strong memory point

And repeat it continuously to transform the user's short-term memory into long-term memory

1. Meituan Waimai: Yang Mi’s World Cup advertisement

When I saw this commercial, I was very surprised: it seemed like I hadn’t seen such an efficient, brainwashing and interesting commercial for a long time. What’s more commendable is that the brand memory point was not at all swallowed up by the plot and Yang Mi’s performance. “Meituan takeout, deliver everything quickly.” Whether in the setting of the words or the scenes, costumes and props, Meituan’s core brand elements and interest points are constantly being strengthened.

It is a good advertisement that can be played repeatedly and make people smile and be willing to watch it several times.

The only opinion is that the core message of "Meituan takeaway, everything is delivered quickly" should be higher than "whether you want to watch the game or not, order Meituan takeaway", which is Meituan's consistent proposition. The hot spots of the game are enough to take advantage of through visual effects, plot design and even delivery channels.

2. NetEase Yanxuan: Luo Yonghao endorsement series

To be honest, the ad itself is not particularly outstanding.

However, NetEase Yanxuan continues to cooperate with Luo Yonghao as its spokesperson (as well as other "Luo-similar" people, such as Yi Lijing who cooperated last year). The overall strategy is very wise: continue to convey "attitude" towards product quality. The spokesperson's own experience and personality are undoubtedly a huge plus, and it is easy to create sparks with NetEase.

In addition, NetEase Yanxuan has always focused on "A good life is not that expensive" - ​​high quality and low price, but in the recent content output, the average order value of the main products is obviously higher, and the focus is on "quality". The overall business idea should be to shift towards high gross profit and high average order value. Therefore, letting people who represent "high quality, no compromise" continue to speak for the brand is undoubtedly a major strategy that should be adhered to.

3. Luckin Coffee: Gu Ailing endorses the hit large latte

Luckin’s advertising this year is as impressive as its performance.

Gu Ailing's endorsement of the Winter Olympics at the beginning of the year was the most outstanding among all the endorsed products. The extremely representative blue color and the brand concept of "Luckin Coffee for young people" (a bit like Pepsi's challenge to Coca-Cola back then). Of course, the momentum is also strong enough, with outdoor advertising, store and online platform advertising bombardment, plus the launch of co-branded products to carry on and harvest traffic.

A large part of Luckin's brand awareness advertising is also carried out with the help of [Hot-selling Latte]: Raw Coconut Latte, Coconut Cloud Latte, Velvet Latte, Raw Cheese Latte, etc., which take on the responsibility of "Luckin's brand symbol" in a relay manner.

4. McDonald’s: A global logo player

This year, McDonald's lived up to expectations and continued to make great use of the "global logo". The strategy is extremely simple, but persistence is the key. The compound interest of time continues to increase the value of the "M".

Make the logo into a big swing and put it on the beach, park, green space...who wouldn't want to let themselves go?

On Earth Day 2022, McDonald's launched "Take away your take away", using multiple M's as guides between garbage and trash cans to remind people not to forget to throw the packaging into the trash can after eating.

Persistence year after year + meaningful and rich forms of expression are enough to make an excellent advertising strategy become outstanding.

5. Mixue Ice City: The Snow King Goes Dark

Last year, the song "Mi Xue Bing Cheng Tian Mi" successfully made the image of the Snow King popular.

This year, we will also add points to the Snow King. Taking advantage of the high temperature in summer, the Snow Fatty will be turned into a Black Fatty. #蜜雪冰城黑化# not only sparked heated discussions, but also quickly topped the hot search list. As of July 1 this year, the topic reading volume quickly reached 550 million, with 76,000 discussions, dominating multiple platforms.

We have seen the tremendous energy unleashed by [core IP] + [brain-opening gameplay] - when Mixue Bingcheng launched its new product [Mulberry Tea], it did not rush to find other IPs for joint ventures like other tea drinks, but fully tapped its own brand assets to achieve another screen-sweeping effect on brand awareness.

Recently I saw that Mixue Ice City launched the "Snow King" overseas, and the design style is also very outstanding.

2. Brand Value

Brand value advertising mainly carries the company's brand proposition, brand emotion and value core

Build a brand premium that stretches upward infinitely

1. Patagonia: Give the company back to the earth

"Right now, the Earth is our only shareholder."

Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia, announced that he would donate his company to the earth.

The reason why it is so touching is the thorough, pure, and long-term adherence to the company's values. This is the so-called true long-termism.

Every year, the company's profits will be distributed as dividends to non-profit organizations, with an estimated annual dividend of up to US$100 million (approximately RMB 700 million) to support organizations and communities that protect the environment and biodiversity, and fight the climate crisis together.

In terms of brand value output, the company's attitude is firmly expressed through continuous "No", which is consistent and ruthless. Since 2019, it has rejected custom orders from some companies because these companies were identified as damaging the environment. On Black Friday in 2011, Patagonia published a full-page advertisement in the New York Times with the marketing slogan "DO NOT BUY THIS JACKET", exposing the environmental impact of its own popular products and calling on people not to buy unnecessary items.

The same is true in China, where there is no mercy on big sales.

As the saying goes, "Don't explain your values, live them."

The same goes for brands.

2. Apple: Accessibility is a human right 《Greatest》

Previously, Apple has made many attempts in terms of advertising content and value guidance for disadvantaged groups. The underlying question is: How to become a great technology brand?

Behind technology are always humanity and values. They are the skeleton and soul that support the justice of technology.

Humanistic value is not just a slogan, but should be concrete and perceptible content, products and services.

Tesla's brand value is supported by the concrete dream of "landing on Mars"; Apple, as always, is reflected in its equal gaze on disadvantaged groups and its silent help in solving their problems; Tencent's "Technology for Good" also has a series of IPs such as 99 Charity Day as a tangible image.

3. LV: Winning is a state of mind

This year's World Cup, Louis Vuitton made a big move - the LV brand, Messi and Ronaldo simultaneously posted a photo of the two on their personal social media, with the caption: "Victory is a state of mind."

Needless to say, this poster was shot by top photographer Annie Leibovitz herself. The turbulent confrontation in the still picture is about the calm mentality of belief, and it is deep and profound, with rich meaning.

Leibovitz shot the Core Values ​​series of advertisements for Louis Vuitton, and invited many public figures to appear in the photos, including former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, boxing champion Muhammad Ali, "Flying Fish" Michael Phelps, film director Francis Ford Coppola, and astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Sally Ride.

Celebrities + impactful images + historical implications, plus the photographers with personal styles who have been working together, have created the long-lasting and continuously accumulated "big brand content", carrying the profound meaning of the brand - the power and calmness to transcend history and time cycles.

4. Xiaohongshu: Camping Series

Xiaohongshu’s series of lifestyle advertising content provides a good answer to the question “What should brands on Internet content platforms do?”

Because content platforms often face a situation: user content may be more contagious than platform content. For example, this year's popular B station "Second Uncle Cures Mental Inner Burning" or community experts become hot spots beyond the platform, such as Dongfang Zhenxuan and Liu Genghong. So, do platforms still need to advertise themselves?

Xiaohongshu’s answer is: brand advertising is the condensation and expression of native community content, which allows the [lifestyle] attributes represented by the platform to be more clearly expressed, and can also lead the content direction internally and make the native content more diversified.

The style and temperament of the brand content are also highly consistent with the core users of the site - light, smooth, and full of life. This "consistency" makes the brand expression particularly comfortable and very "Little Red Book".

5. Xiaodu: Lao Du

The last position is to put a commercial of Xiaodu, and quote blogger Chen Wuyong:

In the era of the rise of short video platforms, in an era where countless advertising noises fill cities every day, being extremely tacky is trendy, and competing in creativity is about who has the loudest voice. Many people will ask, who has the patience to spend more than ten minutes watching a "slow advertisement"?

Xiaodu, covered in moonlight, gave a gentle response with "Lao Du".

We see that the aesthetic awareness of many local brands is awakening, and the next golden age of advertisers is slowly beginning.

In the future, if Xiaodu continues to tell the story of companionship for ten years, it will be a great brand.

3. Marketing Advertisements

Marketing stimulus advertising mainly creates marketing potential to stimulate direct action by the public to the greatest extent.

1. KFC: Crazy Thursday

No one would object to giving the first place to KFC.

Crazy Four Literature has become the biggest king of memes.

Crazy Thursday can be traced back to 2018, when this event was just a promotional event. Once the enthusiasm of netizens for creation was ignited, it became unstoppable, ranging from secret gossip to adaptations of corporate celebrity deeds to current hot quotes, or netizens' own life fragments to create their own jokes.

It seems like a clever turning point. "V Me 50" dispels the negative emotions brought about by the thing itself and creates a certain meaning that implies "treating me to KFC can fight all the difficulties in life."

This wave of marketing is somewhat of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. KFC's national recognition and high frequency and low prices have given the campaign room to ferment automatically, and with the rise of various "literatures", it has become possible for everyone to build ridges and provide free tap water for everyone. The best part is that this wave of traffic is intact and belongs entirely to KFC, because it has clear directions: time, place, people, price... Finally, it took advantage of the popularity to launch the V 50 calories, which was also a natural result.

Here is an extension of the point. Although KFC has opened a golden finger-like Crazy Four, it is difficult to imitate. But to some extent, it still has some inspiration for "how to discount":

In order to get more traffic, companies use discounts + promotions + traffic tactics, which almost inevitably leads to the quagmire of "killing both quantity and price". Once consumers get used to discounts, they will mistake the special price for the regular price, and the regular price will not sell well.

KFC's Crazy Thursday turned discounts into a "game" IP, achieving a balance between traffic generation and price reduction. In the minds of users, it deliberately distinguished between "product quality" and "promotional price reduction". But don't forget, KFC has another hand. In order to increase profits, this year, it has been even more crazy to jointly promote various popular new products.

2. Ele.me: Free meal in one minute

The approach is similar to that of KFC, both of which stimulate marketing activities through the "national carnival" method.

The way to play is, you can search for "free bill" on the Ele.me app to view and participate, and guess the free bill time by guessing the topic announced one day in advance. There will be multiple time periods every day, and you will have a chance to get a free bill if you place an order of less than 200 yuan within one minute.

Guessing the question is a very clever hook. By giving users space to participate, it stimulates communication and discussion, and the one-minute free meal offer is strong enough. At the same time, as a platform, it can also maximize the use of gameplay IP to leverage merchant resources horizontally.

It is worth mentioning that this wave of promotion was also done very well, whether it was the participation of celebrities such as Zhou Shen, or the joining of various influencers and brands across the entire network, many sub-topics and new ideas were extended in the entire chain, driving the craze continuously.

3. Tmall: Good things always happen at 8pm

Tmall’s Double 11 advertising this time is undoubtedly very smart.

First, the main idea of ​​the "20 points" opening is clear in its core direction;

Second, the style is gentle, without too much promotional feeling, which is more likely to be favored in the current market environment and mood of the times;

Third, to borrow Ermao’s words, the creative copy of this advertising campaign “equates people’s ideal life with the fulfillment of small wishes one by one,” implying the meaning of “ideal life on Tmall.”

4. Li Jiaqi: Bilibili "All Girls' Offers"

How to attract traffic during Double Eleven? "All Girls' Offers" is a perfect example.

That is, what kind of content has both ornamental value and functional value.

The viewing value lies in creating a sense of freshness: What are the bosses of various brands like? How do they work? What are their amazing skills or cute points? How do business negotiations hide hidden meanings between conversations and jokes? How do business masters compete with each other? After watching this micro variety show, you will understand.

The functional value lies in the real product + price combination. The brand that has been "defeated" by the machete represents the best price offer and gifts, plus Jiaqi's "guaranteed" display and praise of the product functions and effects have become a powerful hook to attract customers.

For brands, the logic is somewhat similar to that of KFC's Crazy 4 - giving rationality to "discounts" and trying to eliminate the damage to the brand and product quality.

Of course, choosing Bilibili as a platform is also smart, making barrage a part of the content and increasing the chances of going viral.

5. IKEA: Double Word Poster

The store is like a battlefield.

Buying or not buying is just a matter of seconds or at most a minute.

IKEA uses cute "repetition of words" to not only attract users' attention in an instant, but also to immediately close the distance, so that the warmth and even coquettishness of the repetition of words can quickly capture people's hearts - "hug" a pillow, find a big mattress to appreciate "flowers" and "tiredness", and find "cups" when you go home to drink.

Whether you are shopping for something for your home or just wandering around aimlessly, seeing such a slogan will make you feel itchy.

That’s all about this year’s ads. All reviews are inevitably subjective, with different industries and tracks, parties A and B, different aesthetic dimensions and evaluation perspectives, and this review is of course no exception. If you disagree, that’s perfectly natural and reasonable.

I would like to add two points:

First, the selected advertisements include posters, TVCs, outdoor installations, micro variety shows, micro movies, store slogans, event marketing, game interactions, etc. Because everything is advertising , it is almost 2023, and we should not use traditional media to divide advertising types.

Second, in our selection, in addition to "making people want to watch it again", there are some more important dimensions:

• Brand recognition: Strong – unforgettable at first sight, takes over the mind
• Brand value category: long-term operation, single point of excellence
• Marketing stimulation category looks fierce - rapid momentum, effective stimulation

I hope to give you some inspiration~

Let’s go back to the question at the beginning. How to plan advertising?

• How to make a full-year advertising budget and allocate resources to different types of advertising
• How to plan time and nodes reasonably
• How to make advertising truly achieve business goals
• How to establish a scientific evaluation system for advertising, including short-, medium- and long-term allocation

Author: Lan Lan

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