Written by Xiao Mingchao
Editor / Niu Yilong
Design / Division
At present, the concentration of traffic platforms is getting higher and higher, and brands are flocking to centralized traffic platforms, so consumers see more and more content, and the satisfaction threshold of emotions and emotions will also increase. When the traffic stratified the users, "the aroma of wine is not afraid of the depth of the alley" has ceased to exist, today to talk about the aroma of wine, we must first accurately find the alley, or to study which alley the consumer is in.
In the face of the new situation, how can the automotive industry find the "traffic password"? If there is no such thing as a "traffic password", can we find some trending ways to power digital marketing?
In April this year, the 10th Jinxuan Award Ceremony was held, and through the combing of this year's Jinxuan Award cases, we found that the automotive industry can start from these five trend methods to improve the ability to control digital marketing.
Trend Method 1: Shift to "User Storytelling"
Recently, we have frequently mentioned that the car industry bigwigs will participate in marketing, which is not to hope that the CEOs of all car companies will go down in person, but to pay attention to the trend change behind it, that is, the change of brand role. In the past, brand marketing was often a tall "master narrative", backstage screenwriter, front desk starring, carefully carved, but now marketing needs to turn to a heads-up "user narrative" change, to empathize with consumers.
In the 2024 10th Jinxuan Award for the Annual Brand Creative Film Gold Award, we saw the short film "Give Persistence and Support" cooperated by FAW Audi and Andy Lau in 2023, in which the interviewer played by Andy Lau is willing to give the actor who makes a mistake one more chance and encourages him to "It's okay, take your time". In a highly competitive society, young people are under pressure, and Audi calls for more support for young people and speaks for them.
The reason why the short film was well received and achieved the desired marketing effect was due to Audi's insight into the real situation of the user and empathy from the user's point of view. When brands do marketing, they should think about how to truly find the needs of users and be user-centric, and only by being user-centered can we write the future of the brand with users.
Trend method 2: Cross-border to achieve a breakthrough
Nowadays, many brands like to do cross-border marketing, because cross-border can give consumers unexpected results, not only enrich the connotation of the brand, but also break the boundaries of traffic and open up a broader market. In the 10th Jinxuan Awards in 2024, the gold award case of IP marketing FAW-Volkswagen Lancun X "Summer of the Band 3" went out of the circle through IP marketing and played new cross-border content.
In the more than two-month "Summer of the Band 3" program, FAW-Volkswagen Range Patrol as a designated car to accompany musicians and music fans, witness the music dream, because of the sponsorship of FAW-Volkswagen Range Tour, the musicians not only got transportation but also gained musical support, so FAW-Volkswagen Range Tour with "Summer of the Band 3" frequently appeared on the hot search, was hotly discussed by the audience, in this process, FAW-Volkswagen Range Patrol has also been passing on the charm of luxury cars to the crowd radiated by "Summer of the Band 3", achieving a breakthrough.
Trend Method 3: AI Accelerates Marketing
In the past two years, the AI industry has been surging, from OpenAI and ChatGPT on the hot topic list to various large manufacturers launching their own large models one after another, there has never been a moment like now, which has brought us so close to AI. The use of AI is already a common phenomenon in the marketing industry, not to replace any part of the work, but as a tool to improve efficiency and drive creativity.
For example, the gold award case of AIGC marketing in the 10th Jinxuan Award in 2024 - smart business card opens up a new pattern of automotive private domain marketing, which is the smart business card of Zhongji Automobile Group and Juesheng Technology, which is not only a contact exchange tool, but also integrates the content creation and communication function of AIGC, and gives full play to the advantages of the group in geographical coverage and personnel scale through the perception feedback function combined with the management background.
Trend Method 4: Make an emotional connection
"Accidentally opened a 4S store in the vegetable market Geely Geometric Panda Marketing" is the gold award case of the 10th Jinxuan Award event marketing in 2024, in the context of intensified competition in micro electric vehicles, Geely Geometric Panda has shifted its marketing focus from "function" to "emotion". After seeing the social hot words mentioned by C-end young netizens on multiple platforms such as "tired", "hollowed out" and "crispy youth", Geely Panda has insight into the increasingly tired physical and mental conditions of contemporary young people and the social mood of "depression", so it hopes to give consumers a healing feeling by integrating into the scene of the vegetable market with fireworks, and guide young people through the spiritual "big supplement" of young people.
This year's 510 China Brand Day, Zhimeng released a "Chinese Brand Consumption Trend Report", the survey shows that 50.6% of consumers choose "emotional link" as the reason for continuing to pay attention to the brand, 46% of consumers think that the brand needs to pay attention to the "emotional value output", which is what we have been saying, today's marketing is more important is not the pursuit of surface traffic, but the real "heart domain traffic", "heart domain" traffic source, is emotional value and emotional link. There are all kinds of emotions flowing on the Internet, and these flowing emotions are the basis and origin of digital marketing creativity.
Trend 5: Public welfare empowers brands
Among the 2024 10th Jinxuan Award Gold Award Cases for Public Welfare and Social Responsibility, the 2nd Mercedes-Benz Star Wish Fund Safe Children's Travel Project "Children Speak Effectively" focuses on traffic safety, the 2023 ORA "Genius Mother Blooming Program" public welfare marketing case organically combines the two social themes of women's development and traditional culture protection, and the 6th "Dongfeng Dream Car" China Youth Automobile Creative Design Competition focuses on the potential of young students and the possibility of the automobile industry. The Ford Environmental Award has played an important role in promoting environmental practices and innovation, Dongfeng Nissan's "Create NI Love" campus tour has been carried out on university campuses, and Jaguar Land Rover China's "Dream Fund" has been dedicated to rural education in China for the 10th anniversary.
These brands pay attention to social issues, fulfill social responsibilities, and adhere to the pursuit of public welfare, because they have the heart of public welfare, they can better communicate with users and consumers, and resonate.
An excellent brand has to go through three stages: product-driven to emotional-driven and then to culture-driven, in the product-driven stage is to meet the needs of consumers with good products, in the emotional-driven stage is to form an emotional link with consumers so that consumers feel that the brand is designed for me, and in the culture-driven stage, the brand is needed to create value. Therefore, today's brand is not only doing a marketing campaign, but also thinking about how to become a respected enterprise.
Through these five trend methods, car brands can be more clear about the path of digital marketing, and behind these five trend methods, in fact, there is a point that needs to be paid attention to, that is, in the current era of digital marketing, although hot spots appear frequently, but brands can not chase hot spots for the sake of chasing hot spots, but need to manage brand building as a long-term strategy, which is a continuous and permanent project, in this process, the work of the brand should also reflect consistency, because the focus and persistence of the brand, In order to form a unified logo, it will be easier to be remembered by consumers.