Text/VR Gyro Pancake
In order to leverage the consumer side, the money-smashing war of VR manufacturers has begun.
In 2021, the outlet of the meta-universe was set off, prompting new players such as Byte, Tencent, ZTE, and Netfish Internet Cafe to enter the game, and the deserted VR market also began to be lively again from last year.
In order to seize the opportunity and compete for the market, VR headsets are purchased at half price and 0 yuan free gifts have gradually begun to become industry labels, and the marketing of domestic VR manufacturers has entered a white-hot stage.
A few days ago, Gyro Jun's article "After byte's acquisition of Pico...", triggered many people in the industry to pay positive attention to the C-end market. Today, we open the pattern to further compare and look at the market layout and strategy of the three major DOMESTIC VR manufacturers.
VR vendors spend money on "marketing" PK
First, Pico's online marketing and offline fission gameplay
Earlier, Gyro Jun has introduced Pico to everyone in "After byte's Acquisition of Pico...", which is expanding wildly from product publicity, sales layout to content ecology.
As a supplement to the previous article, Pico's online publicity is not limited to Douyin, and recently Pico's VR products have also appeared frequently on various TV variety shows, such as Ace's seventh season, Mango's Spring Festival Gala, etc., and also launched Neo 3, which is jointly branded with the "One Man" anime IP, and even in some overseas VR websites, Pico's figure can be seen, and its marketing lineup is far larger than what we see now.
Image source: Network
In addition to online marketing, VR Gyro recently found that Pico's offline points are also rapidly rolling out, and "self-service VR machines" and experience points have been invested in Sam's, Wanda, and offline supermarkets.
According to the VR gyroscope, Pico's self-service VR machine is similar to the vending machine, which is a miniature experience form that covers an area of less than one square meter. The headset uses Pico Neo3, but the offline version changes the headset's head wear, similar to the wearing method of the early "IDEALENS" device, which can completely clamp the back of the head, and will not slip under intense exercise, but the volume looks more "exaggerated".
This wearing style effectively balances the weight to the forehead and back of the head, thus reducing the pressure on the face. In order to have a long battery life, the headset and the controller are directly connected to the power supply, so the headset and the controller are wired during the experience. Although this method can ensure a long period of uninterrupted power, it also limits the user's freedom to a certain extent.
The headset is placed on the top of the self-service machine, and when the payment process is completed, the headset will automatically fall and automatically rise after the experience is completed.
At present, Pico offline can experience a variety of games, and offline experience points and Mini Programs through, on the Mini Program can view the location information of all experience points, as well as player rankings, but also in the online store to buy equipment, view the game application ranking, personal center, customer service and other modules, can be described as a one-stop marketing service.
From the perspective of small programs, the offline channels laid by Pico have covered many provincial capitals in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Xiamen, Changsha, Chengdu and Chongqing, and the channels are divided into four types: self-operated stores, self-service machines, distributors, and operators, in which VR equipment can be experienced or purchased.
According to the incomplete statistics of VR gyroscope, at present, Pico has a total of one self-operated store (Beijing), 192 offline dealers, 50 self-service machine points, and the main business hours of most channel providers are concentrated in 10:00-21:30.
In the marketing method of offline self-service machines, Pico adopts free experience + fission marketing, that is, after using the Mini Program to register a Pico member account, pay attention to the official WeChat public account of Pico through WeChat, invite friends can get free experience times, and the number of times can be stacked, that is to say, the more new users are invited, the more free experiences they have.
While cultivating new users, Pico has gained more exposure and private domain traffic conversion by inviting friends to fission gameplay. According to relevant data, the estimated number of active fans of Pico VR's current public account is 61,900 (actually more), and the follow-up VR gyroscope will continue to follow.
In addition, VR Gyro learned that Pico is widely facing the society to attract investment, expand offline franchise stores, join the meta-universe with a low threshold, vibrato traffic support, free delivery of prototypes, and the first mention of 20 units to open stores and other copywriting to attract freelancers, small and micro entrepreneurs.
Second, NOLO: B + C, two-pronged approach
While Pico has expanded vigorously, other DOMESTIC VR manufacturers have not stood idly by and allowed it to grow and monopolize the market. Last year, NOLO, a terminal manufacturer that transformed from a VR interaction suite, was also working closely to build its own business model.
In terms of the C-end direct market, NOLO Sonic, which NOLO promoted last year, is attracting users with low prices, broadband vibration motors, 4K HD and other product selling points. And in terms of marketing activities, NOLO also launched the "video punch card, half price" campaign.
According to the official introduction, after purchasing NOLO Sonic, users can return 50% of the purchase price after completing the video punch card for 9 consecutive weeks. Such subsidy activities have attracted many wool parties to a certain extent.
As of March 9, according to the data of the JD platform, NOLO Sonic sold 149 products in the past 7 days, and the cumulative number of sold units was 18,000 units.
In the B-end market, NOLO is actively leveraging its shareholder resources.
At the NIO Day 2021 event held by NIO last year, NIO announced a partnership with NOLO to bring VR to consumers in the form of "auto parts".
Although it is not clear the actual application scenarios of VR in new energy vehicles, it is clear that with the popularity of Weilai new energy vehicles, NOLO has embarked on a cross-border trend and opened a new door in sales channels.
In addition, NOLO is also cooperating with its major shareholder China Mobile, which released the cm1 6DoF VR, the first GSXR standard "cloud VR" all-in-one machine in China last year. NOLO is trying to use tens of thousands of telecom business halls in China to help NOLO open up the consumer VR market.
Third, the adventure VR, start 0 yuan sale!
You get back half price, I don't want money! In terms of marketing strategy, it can be said that one is more ruthless than the other.
Last month, Dream Bloom announced the launch of the adventure Dream Premium Edition new product, the initial price of 2699, officially launched on March 4. And synchronously launched the "300-day sports punch card return all purchases" activity. In other words, 300 days of punch card VR is free to take.
As of 22:00 on March 3, the number of appointments for the Adventure Dream Premium Edition in JD.com exceeded 75,000. However, on the day of the sale, the original gyro Jun also wanted to take a look at the wool, and the result was that the dream was directly sold out within three seconds, even if there was a stage of replenishment in the back, but many small partners in the group still said that they did not grab it.
Last year, Dream Bloom brought a VR headset equipped with an XR 2 processor to the domestic market for the first time at a price of less than 2,000 yuan. At the beginning of the product sale, the marketing campaign of "video punch card half price" was carried out, which attracted many wool parties.
Perhaps in order to care for people like Gyro Jun, who were isolated at home due to the epidemic and were inconvenient to exercise, later the dream bloomed to increase the difficulty of "punching in", from sending a video every week to evolving into a continuous exercise punch card for 90 days to return half price. According to the campaign regulations, users need to successfully punch the card for 90 consecutive days within 92 days, and the effective exercise is not less than 30 minutes per day, and the official will return the Jingdong E card (shopping card) according to 50% of the actual purchase price.
Even if the difficulty is increased, for the wool party, whether it is a 90-day video punch, a 90-day sports punch or a 300-day punch, it is worth it for free.
Admittedly, the Wool Campaign has also contributed to a surge in sales of Dream Bloom hardware. According to JD.com statistics, Adventure Dream has sold 43,000 units since its launch in mid-December last year, with an average monthly shipment of about 10,000 units.
Behind the smashing of money marketing...
After analyzing the market strategic commonalities and characteristics of the three domestic VR terminal manufacturers, VR Gyro was surprised to find that "punch card cashback" is almost the standard of every marketing.
According to relevant academic research, the "punch card cashback mechanism" is commonly used in online course teaching virtual products in recent years. The mechanism cleverly makes use of social group psychology, through the punch card activities to promote products and services, the uniqueness of its operating model not only stabilizes the user group, but also makes the product party have a large amount of liquidity during the operation time of the mechanism.
Different from the low-cost and repeatedly sold virtual courses in the education and training industry, the "punch card" of the VR industry is a real "smashing money", hardware investment, content update, operation and maintenance, advertising and marketing, each link needs heavy gold. This type of marketing is rare on PCs, smartphones, or game consoles, and even if there is a free campaign, it is only a very limited number. If the capital behind it is not strong enough, it is tantamount to "suicide" marketing behavior.
So the question is, why do domestic VR companies spend so much money on marketing, and it is visible to the naked eye that they cannot recover their costs in the short term.
The purpose behind it speaks for itself – to compete for seed users.
Compared with the overseas VR user base of tens of millions, the content ecology has formed a positive cycle, and the domestic consumer market is obviously in its infancy. From 2016 to 2021, the topic around the VR consumer side has never stopped, but there are very few people who really practice it, almost all of them are startups in front, and now many of them have become "cannon fodder" in this bumpy road.
Quest sales stimulation + meta-universe explosion ignited the fire of the domestic VR consumer side, and now it is finally about to start burning. For these surviving VR companies and internet giants that have entered the game, since they have firmly established this direction, all that remains is to do it.
And who can grab the first wave of user dividends has become the key. TV, Douyin, platform advertising, offline channel laying... These are nothing more than the means to let users contact, experience, and recognize VR, and what really plays a decisive role in consumers' purchase decisions is still "profit", after all, the equipment of more than 2,000 and 3,000 yuan is not low for domestic consumers, and "interest-driven" is the simplest and most rude way.
And the benefits of punch card marketing are not only reflected in the level of obtaining users, continuous and uninterrupted punch cards, and the greater role is to enhance active users. It may be that most of the VR devices of many practitioners in the circle are gray in the corners of the wall after purchase, which is actually an invalid user for terminal manufacturers who need to turn the content ecology up.
With an average of 3,000 yuan per person, manufacturers can "cultivate" a loyal seed user, let TA develop the habit of playing VR, achieve high retention and high activity, and prepare for the conversion of future consumer content.
According to an 84-day study by University College in the UK, it takes at least 66 days for users to develop a habit, and as time goes on, the spontaneity grows. The researchers extrapolated the habit curve to show that it takes at least 254 days for people to develop certain habits.
Of course, the above research is based on the user's "discontinuous spontaneity" habit formation process, if the user is continuous, the speed of spontaneous habit formation will be further accelerated.
In addition, consumer punch card behavior can also produce viral transmission, whether it is in the form of video punch card, or send a circle of friends to complain, all forms can become "Amway" behavior, so that the information is continuously conveyed and feedback, and finally achieve the brand communication effect that is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
The retention of loyal fans is very necessary for manufacturers to gain a firm foothold in the VR market in the future. Under the bright data of product sales, active users, and content downloads, they can also drive the favor of enterprises in the capital market.
Of course, not all users who participate in punching can insist on 300 days a day to continue to punch, so for VR manufacturers, not all VR devices have become free.
A new starting point for VR, the drama has just begun
For VR manufacturers or for users involved in punching cards, "punch card" marketing is actually to take what they need, which can be called "win-win" in a sense, but it can also be said to be a helpless move in the current market environment.
Under the continuous investment of major VR manufacturers, VR is expected to usher in a breakthrough in the C-end this year, although it cannot be compared with the smartphone market, but it may be able to compete with the console game market.
Of course, now we are only seeing the market layout and marketing strategy of veteran VR manufacturers, as a new player YVR (play a dream), Tencent (Black Shark), ZTE Red Devils and so on have not yet joined the battle.
The drama has only just begun...
Image source: VR gyro
The scuffle of domestic VR manufacturers is not only the competition for product market share, but also the scramble for talents.
On March 4, following Ren Lifeng, the head of Watermelon Video, Song Binghua, head of Douyin Variety Show, and Wu Zuomin, director of Douyin Entertainment, will soon be transferred to VR (virtual reality) product Pico. According to the exclusive news of VR Gyro, Pico now has more than a team of more than 1,000 people.
Byte internal transfer competition is still so, external recruitment, HR is even more in the crazy digging, millions of annual salary, large factory welfare, platform development and other elements deeply attract the industry in the hands of a resume, "recruitment difficulty" has become the most heard keywords by Gyro Jun from a number of industry HR this year.
New players enter the game, old players expand, and a talent battle without smoke is quietly staged in the dark. Please pay attention to the next special article of VR Gyro, "VR Talent Fever under the "Meta universe": Salary Upside Down, Big Factory Grabs People".