Editor's Introduction: "Authenticity" is the most touching. "Based on a true story," we are no strangers to these eight words. In recent years, "based on a true story" has appeared more and more frequently in brand advertising films. This article analyzes why there are more and more ads "based on true stories". Recommended for viewers interested in advertising.
This is a virtual era, but also an incomparably real era.
People always crave the truth, many movies in the promotion, will add a sentence on the movie poster "based on real people and real events", this short sentence, will always be impressive.
This is true of movies, and it is true of advertising. Whether it is at the level of communication or emotion, people can always feel the power of touching people's hearts in the advertising of "true stories".
Recently, there are the micro-movie "Time Ledger" released by Didi, the Xiaohongshu High Sweet Tear-inducing Valentine's Day short film "I Do", the user-themed micro-movie "Moon Ship" launched by Kuaishou; far away are Apple's New Year brand blockbuster "Three Minutes", "Daughter", China UnionPay's "The Last Transfer of Datang Mobei"... Without exception, these advertising films derived from "true stories" have been warmly sought after by netizens.
Why do more and more brands prefer "true stories" in advertising? What kind of communication logic and marketing ideas are behind it?
First, every story derived from the "truth" is the biggest empathy point between the brand and the user
The ultimate goal of brand communication is to establish a long-term relationship with consumers, a return to humanity, a relationship with flexible ingredients and active ingredients, and a relationship that gradually accumulates and escalates layer by layer over time and the deepening of interaction.
Among them, you have me, and I have your level of empathy, which is the highest level.
In the era of traffic, this kind of relationship with the user's "united front" through empathy is invaluable. Empathy is an important step in breaking down strange relationships for socializing. "I understand your feelings" and "We feel the same" can add a subtle change to an otherwise strange relationship.
It's like two people in the dark step by step from strangers to the temple of marriage. A wedding of the century is no longer just need, trust, dependence, or like, but it means love and loyalty.
From today on, two people have and support each other, whether good or bad, rich or poor, sick or healthy, they love and cherish each other, until death can separate each other.
And advertising that comes from "true stories" has such magic. It takes the real story as a bridge, integrates the brand's attitude into the real story, and complements the shining point of the real story, and can achieve emotional resonance with the user.
For example, Didi's micro-film "Time Ledger", adapted from real events, cuts from the perspective of a single-parent family and tells the emotional bond between Feng Xiaoqin, the captain of the Chengdu team of Li Orange, and his daughter.
As the "mother" in the film replied: "The account of time can be calculated, and the account of feelings cannot be calculated." Love, there is no way to divide equally. ”
This sentence not only shows Feng Xiaoqin's debt and helplessness for her daughter's lack of companionship, but also reflects the shadow of thousands of families who lack companionship. Under the strong emotional resonance, a song by folk singer Zhao Lei," "Mother", pushes the viewer's emotions to a climax and shoots out a super "tear gas canister".
It not only presents Didi's value concept of "choosing the good and acting" through a true story, but also amplifies this empathy point infinitely.
Another example is the "Moon Ship" based on the true story launched by Kuaishou, which tells the story of the "boat as home": the mother died because of debt collection, the heroine Ark and her father ran the boat to make a living, she and the young man Jiangsu played Kuaishou acquaintance, because Kuaishou, in an accident rescue, the young man was accepted by the father of the Ark.
For the sake of his daughter's future, the father resolutely let the ark leave his ship and find his own happiness. In the moonlight, my father saw the reunion picture sent by the Ark on Kuaishou, remembering that the family was separated from each other today, and could not help but cry bitterly, and the cabin was full of tears.
True stories have a unique emotional filter, which can make each other's emotional links more solid, so that the brand can truly enter the hearts of consumers, just like "life confidants", grow together, and accompany each other.
Second, the brand is up, the marketing is down, and "real" is the biggest link point
The era of "selling things" has passed, and now it is the era of "selling things". Young people no longer buy things, but are willing to pay money for interesting things, beautiful things, and pleasant things.
Toshiho Kobayashi, a marketing expert in Japan's distribution industry, also said: "Now, if we don't study the market without perceptual analysis, it is impossible to understand."
The Questmobile report shows that the new generation of consumers represented by Generation Z is more likely to shift from product consumption to emotional consumption. This reveals a realistic trend, that is, users are more and more pursuing the emotional experience of the product, rather than the experience of the function, not comparing the function of the two products, but comparing the emotional experience value of the product.
People from chasing affordable goods, to the pursuit of good quality brand goods, to focus on emotional experience, emotional value of goods over functional value - consumption trends have shifted from scale to personalization, from functional economy to emotional economy upgrade.
The consequence of this is that the brand is getting more and more upward, which is what Philip Kotler calls the marketing 3.0 era, that is, the era of values-oriented branding.
In this era, brands are required to stand at a higher level and use the company's business model, values, vision, mission and target consumers to form a resonance, thereby creating an incomparably strong relationship and loyalty. Guide the values and build the brand at a higher latitude.
To be sure, such a "brand up" trend towards the average consumer brings a sense of distance, because most people do not consider such a grand brand proposition in the process of purchasing goods.
In the process, it is necessary for the brand to establish a connection point with consumers through the exploration of "marketing down", and the "real story" is undoubtedly the biggest link point, which can effectively penetrate the brand value of "high above" into the psychology of consumers in the storytelling of the story.
For example, just as Xiaohongshu adapted the sweet tear-jerking Valentine's Day short film "I Do" based on the true stories of four users. Throughout the film, by showing the way and touching sweet moments of characters at different stages of life express love and being loved, let everyone see the most real love.
Each story in the short film is adapted from the users of The Little Red Book, from the campus to the golden wedding, connecting the various life scenes to the fullest. Let everyone feel that in the Little Red Book, everyone's life is so different, so as to understand the "true, upward and pluralistic" community values that the Little Red Book has always had, and also show the vitality of the community evolution in the past period of time in the Little Red Book.
Another example is Apple's 2018 Chinese New Year advertisement "Three Minutes", with the theme of "Reunion", based on a real "three minutes" Spring Festival reunion story, telling an unusual reunion.
In this short period of three minutes, everyone's memorable multiplication table at the beginning stage, the short life on the train, and even the cold and warmth of each winter... These are really incomparable details that make this unusual reunion seem even more moving.
There is no cool technology in such a grounded story, but the Apple that "stands at the crossroads of technology and humanities" is vividly displayed.
Such brand value transmission itself, under the interpretation of the real story, of course, is obviously more emotional penetration.
Third, in the 3.0 content era, "authenticity" is the highest quality "content"
Harvard Business Review once pointed out that content has become the "third communication element" of enterprises in addition to products and services. It has become a consensus among enterprises to open up the business chain from dissemination to sales through content.
According to a survey by iResearch Consulting, more than 40% of the advertisers surveyed will increase their content marketing budget investment in 2021, and in the eyes of advertisers, content marketing is one of the most long-term marketing strategies.
Nowadays, "content first" can be called the magic weapon of the advertising and marketing industry. Especially with the gradual disappearance of the traffic dividend, marketing has gradually entered a new era: the traffic has moved from the original large traffic to a thousand faces, more and more fragmented; and good content topics are the few forces that can penetrate the circle, who can do the content better, who has the opportunity to grow.
It can be said that as long as the content is done well, the brand's advertising marketing is almost half successful. However, at present, in the process of content marketing, some brands cannot jump out of the limitations exposed by the brand and establish a strong emotional connection between the brand and the user.
The fundamental reason here is the mismatch between "brand" and "content".
At present, new content marketing has led to a big explosion - brand content marketing is no longer a marketing strategy of a single platform, but a multi-platform, full-chain marketing strategy, graphics, long and short videos, live broadcasting, music... We are entering the era of super content.
But I don't know if you have found that this itself is a methodological level, and there is no change around "content", and "true story" advertising undoubtedly lays a high foundation for the quality of "content". It embodies a point in content marketing and gives brands a highly operational approach.
It is often said that art originates from life, but it is higher than life. And the truth can not only hit people's hearts, but also the only effective marketing "shortcut". Relying on real people's stories, it is transformed into brand value impact.
At present, content marketing has entered the 3.0 era, and more and more brands continue to explore on the road of transmitting connotation.
From this point of view, the advertising presentation of "true stories" is undoubtedly the best quality "content", because "real" has the characteristics of naturally weakening the advertising implantation with obvious intentions.
The storytelling means make the brand content as rich and full as film and television works, so that the audience can treat the brand content as a work of art and get a pleasing feeling, can read the deep expression of the film, the brand connotation resonates with the user's spirit, and it is easier to deepen the user's recognition and recognition of the brand.
For example, Jingdong's mobile phone "The Longest Game of Chess" is based on the story of two staff members who take turns to stand guard at the no-man's land of Chartu Station. The small station is lonely and desolate, the wind and sand are full, 24 hours full attendance, two people, two shifts. They use 12 hours of chess moves to combat loneliness in extreme work environments. In the story, they are willing to be obscure for the reassurance of each passenger, and in reality they are like pawns in chess, doing their best in the place behind us.
This spirit emanating from the true story is also the promise of JD Mobile to every consumer, which undoubtedly has natural credibility and resonance.
IV. Conclusion
In the era of continuous development of business, technology is changing, marketing models are changing, and user needs are constantly upgrading. But many basic human natures do not change, and the more materially rich the era, the greater the emotional needs of the masses
Putting aside all appearances, returning to the most essential truth will definitely touch people's hearts. Because the more impressive it is, the more it comes from life.
The truth is unique, the story is happening all the time, the key to turning the story into an advertisement lies in whether the advertiser can find the highlights in each story, and then use creative shooting methods to present the details in the story and show the creative imagination.
Author: Li Dongyang; Public number: Chief Marketing Officer
Link to the original article: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/j1nn-nb8Kv1EBIZcnUbRAg
This article is published by @CMOs with the permission of Everyone is a Product Manager. Reproduction without permission is prohibited.
The title image is from Unsplash, based on the CC0 protocol.