Text/Li Guangdou
The Year of the Tiger has great benefits. How to do brand marketing in the Year of the Tiger? How to play iP in the Year of the Tiger?
2022 is the Year of the Tiger, and the zodiac culture has become an important part of Chinese folklore, known as the "living cultural relics" of history; major brands have hit the tiger on the mountain, and iP marketing has taken advantage of various ways to play in an endless stream.
On the eve of the Year of the Tiger, global luxury brand Gucci released the "Gucci Tiger" series of New Year promotional videos and advertising photos, featuring tiger images and various natural patterns. Gucci's New Year advertisement takes advantage of the Chinese Year of the Tiger, and Gucci has previously launched a tiger series of clothing designs. So this year of the tiger collection includes a wide range of accessories, not only ready-to-wear but also a variety of accessories, from the late 1960s artist and illustrator Vittorio Accornero, who created the brand's iconic Flora print pattern, and the beautiful tiger image is ready to come out against the backdrop of colorful greenery and flowers.
The biggest highlight of the "Gucci Tiger" advertisement is that people are in the same frame as tigers, and the real tigers that appear in the camera are real. In the main visual video ad of the "Gucci Tiger" series, models of all colors enjoy afternoon tea in a palatial luxury villa, and an adult tiger leisurely shuttles through it, occasionally interacting with guests with warm eye contact. Although each ad was marked with a statement that "Gucci cares about nature and wildlife" and said that the tigers were filmed in a separate, safe environment, Gucci's Year of the Tiger advertisement caused a lot of controversy, with critics arguing that "tigers are not pets" and should not be used as "props". The World Society for the Protection of Animals, an international nonprofit animal protection organization, posted on social media criticizing Gucci's Ad for the Year of the Tiger, saying the Year of the Tiger should make people aware of the need to respect and protect these animals, not to "commercialize" them. The group urged Gucci to stop "glorifying captive wildlife" in advertisements, and the ad gucci shot sent the wrong message, portraying wildlife that was supposed to belong to nature as "pets" and "luxuries."
Chinese consumers also do not buy the "Gucci Tiger" advertisement, they believe that the tiger is the king of the hundred beasts, the tiger in China's traditional culture has the style of the king, implying majesty and glory, how to make the tiger into a cat-like pet? The tiger descends the mountain, the tiger roars, and the mighty and awe-inspiring xuan is the tone that the IP marketing of the Year of the Tiger should have. At this point, China Post's Tiger Year zodiac stamps have been similarly questioned. The 2022 "Year of Nongyin" zodiac tiger stamp set of two stamps, the first stamp is called "National Fortune Changlong", depicting the image of a majestic mountain tiger, standing in the distance, lofty ambitions, conveying the meaning of prosperity and ambition; the second stamp is called "Tiger Yun auspicious", depicting the warm scene of the gentle face of the tiger mother with two small tigers, implying the prosperity of children and grandchildren and the happiness of the family. However, some netizens complained that the tiger on the stamp was "slightly sad", with his eyebrows locked, and he did not have the might of the mountain tiger at all. "The tiger in the first picture looks very worried; in the second picture, the mother tiger with two tiger cubs looks like a mountain of pressure. The big tiger has no tiger power, and the little tiger is not agile. In fact, this set of stamps is the seventh set in the fourth round of Chinese zodiac stamps, the designer is the famous Chinese painter Feng Dazhong, known as the first person to paint the tiger, this is the first time to cooperate with the postal service, its artwork is especially famous for painting tigers, creating a new technique of Gongbi Tiger.
For the netizens' complaints, Feng Dazhong responded: Animals also have moods and sorrows, so the tiger should crack this code, break through its animal attributes to paint, make it anthropomorphic, and strive to convey a spiritual emotion. Feng Dazhong said that the tiger figures he usually creates adopt anthropomorphic artistic language and pay attention to portraying the spirit of the tiger, which coincides with the cultural connotation of the zodiac tiger.
Times are different, and today, the most powerful weapon for tigers is not to be angry, because everyone knows that tigers are powerful. What is tiger's most powerful weapon? Both men and women should remember this sentence, that is, the gentle, gentle tiger is invincible in the world. Younger consumers prefer to sell cute tiger images rather than solipsistic overlords.
The form of Spring Festival marketing should also keep pace with the times, the motif of brand appeal in addition to reunion, New Year blessings, social appeal is also increasing, is used by more and more brands in order to narrow the distance between consumers, strengthen the affinity between brands and consumers. WeChat red envelopes and set five blessings are centered around social networking. The reason why the Spring Festival red envelope can be so hot is that it steps on the custom of sending red envelopes during the Spring Festival, and the second is that it increases the sense of participation through the way of "grabbing" and connects the strong and weak relationships. The essence of the mobile Internet is social, and the key to social marketing is interaction. Haier's holiday marketing is becoming more and more focused on social networking. In view of the Spring Festival of the Year of the Tiger, Haier launched the emoji "2022 Spring Festival Doutu Encyclopedia" and specially designed a set of cute tiger emojis to deal with the "torture" of parents and friends, to respond to the questions of relatives and friends, to pinch the auspicious words of the New Year, to provide urban white-collar workers with Spring Festival social self-help tools, and to cope with various classic Spring Festival scenes.
In fact, whether it is the Year of the Tiger cultural creation or IP marketing, do not be limited to the inherent image of the tiger that "the tiger's ass cannot be touched", nor do you rush to follow the trend of "tiger ass casually touching" and riding the tiger is difficult.
The essence of playing with the IP of the Year of the Tiger lies in the unity of products and effects, taking advantage of the situation to make money, boosting morale in a festive atmosphere and strengthening emotional communication, so that consumers love house and Wu to become the "iron powder" of the brand.