Brand content marketing: from "media" to "content distribution"

& ldquo; We are moving from an era of lsquo; interruptions & rsquo; (age of interruption) to an era of lsquo; participation & rsquo; (age of engagement). Cindy Callops, president of the rdquo; Global Brand content Marketing Association in the United States, once said. Ubiquitous advertising has begun to be boring, and brands meet with content, and brands use the entertainment characteristics of content carriers to implant their own brand essence to carry out brand communication, which gradually constitutes a new marketing communication concept & mdash;— brand content marketing (Branded Content Marketing).

when the marketing and advertising circles are still hyping implantable marketing and advertising, brand content marketing, a brand-new marketing concept, begins to enter the field of vision of domestic marketing.

< strong > from & ldquo; Media & rdquo; to & ldquo; content Distribution & rdquo; < / strong >

< strong > < / strong > is different from traditional product placement advertising. Wang Yifei, general manager of Herun Media, who is committed to brand content marketing research, believes that: & ldquo; brand content marketing through the analysis of brand DNA, implant brand connotation into rich content products, and with the help of a variety of content distribution channels to reach the target audience, is the target audience active, multi-level, three-dimensional brand experience process. & rdquo;

the concept of brand content marketing classifies the content carriers such as film and TV series, sports, drama, music, television, publications, online games, online video, mobile phones, streaming media and virtual communities into & ldquo; content distribution channel & rdquo; (contents distribution). Industry insiders believe that with the changes of the media environment and the fragmentation of the audience market, advertisers also need to gradually change their communication concepts. & the traditional communication concept of ldquo; Media & rdquo; standard is gradually transformed into the new communication concept of ldquo; content distribution & rdquo;.

& ldquo; the only thing a brand can control is content, not channel. You can control what you want to express, but you can no longer control the channels through which it spreads. Because some channels are controllable, enterprises can take the initiative through advertising, while others are uncontrollable, because advertising cannot infiltrate every media channel, and the cost is too high. Said an expert at the rdquo; Brand content Marketing Association.

as it is said, domestic brands are facing a very special media communication environment. On the one hand, with the development of the media market, media segmentation is also developing in depth: traditional media continue to differentiate and gradually penetrate to a deeper level of subdivision. At the same time, with the continuous rise of new media, the Internet and mobile phones are constantly seizing the position of traditional media. On the other hand, with the continuous fragmentation of the audience market and the personalized development of consumers' consumption habits, the media they come into contact with is becoming more and more diversified.

as far as brand communication is concerned, the communication environment in which a wide audience can be reached through a small number of media no longer exists. Instead, the audience covered by a single media is gradually shrinking. As a result, for enterprises, the media cost is rising year by year, but the communication effect is worse year by year. Although there are more and more media to choose from, it is difficult for the same budget to reach the expected range of communication.

< strong > find the lost half of advertising < / strong >

< strong > < / strong > in the era of mass communication, the famous American businessman John & middot; Warner Mack once said a very classic sentence: & ldquo; I know that half of my advertising money is wasted, but the problem is that I don't know which half is wasted! The background of the sentence & rdquo; is that due to the development of the mass media, although the scope of advertising information conveyed by enterprises through the mass media is wide enough, a considerable part of the information does not reach the target consumer groups of the enterprise.

In other words, the situation at that time was that the target audience reached by a mass media exceeded the target audience of the enterprise in scope. For enterprises, this part of the cost is undoubtedly a waste.

some people think that the way to solve this problem is to rely on more accurate channels of transmission. With the subdivision of the media, many people think that this problem can finally be solved. But it turns out that although the other half of the advertising expenses are not wasted, they still cannot be saved. What's the problem?

Wang Yifei expressed his opinion on this, saying: & the problem with ldquo; is that the segmentation of the media can never be based on the preferences of the audience. Take the Chinese media market as an example, CCTV 5 classifies all sports programs into one category, and the types of programs are subdivided. However, the content of the program cannot be subdivided, and those who like to watch table tennis may not necessarily like watching football. CCTV's 8 sets mainly broadcast TV dramas, but the TV dramas that housewives like to watch may not be the same as those loved by urban white-collar workers. & rdquo;

& the feasible way for ldquo; to reduce waste is to spread brand information attached to content. No matter through which way, the audience's preference for content is always relatively fixed. & rdquo; Wang Yifei said & ldquo; for example you don't have to watch Transformers in the cinema. You can buy DVD discs or you can order them online through some online media. & rdquo;

because the audience's preference for content is relatively fixed, so to solve the problem of communication accuracy, we need to start from the content. The traditional communication concept emphasizes being familiar with the media contact habits of the audience, but now the situation has changed. Media contact habits are important, but it is more important to be familiar with the content preferences of the audience.

Brand content marketing tries to redefine marketing communication from the perspective of consumers' content preference. In Wang Yifei's view, to some extent, brand content marketing (BCM) is as important to enterprise marketing communication as the concept of integrated marketing communication (IMC). Maybe it will also bring about a revolutionary breakthrough in the concept of marketing communication.

as the first domestic company to focus on brand content marketing, and the first Chinese company to join the International Brand content Marketing Association (BCMA), Helun Media has integrated a variety of content carriers, including sports programs, TV dramas and dramas, to provide customers with more diversified and accurate content distribution channels.

at present, Helun Media has signed strategic cooperation agreements with a number of domestic top TV program production companies to seek ways to provide customers with brand content marketing in TV programs.

< strong > Brand content marketing should be combined with traditional advertising < / strong >

< strong > < / strong > try brand content marketing in the field of TV series, which is one of the key tasks of Helun Media at present. To this end, Helun Media has established a set of innovative communication model: in product design, develop brand content marketing advertising, that is, products combined with the plot, realize the carrying of content, and develop derivative products related to TV dramas. For example, producers and enterprises jointly hold promotional activities, media meetings, content authorization signing ceremony, etc., to achieve a variety of on-site interaction, and create the topic of word-of-mouth communication.

& ldquo; implants the DNA information of the brand into the storyline of the TV series without affecting the plot. in the process of transmitting the advertising information to the target audience, the brand information is integrated with the plot and skillfully combined. While the audience takes the initiative to accept the storyline, it also imperceptibly accepts the advertising information, the integration of brand information and plot, which is convenient for the audience to understand and remember the brand information. & rdquo; Wang Yifei said.

In addition, the key point is that brand content marketing based on TV series content channels will not be disturbed by viewers changing channels or doing other things at the end of the program. To some extent, it avoids the shortcomings of traditional advertising.

according to an industry source, for TV advertisements, the main indicator of pricing is program ratings. The higher the program ratings, the higher the advertising prices for the corresponding period of time. But the problem is that, under normal circumstances, the ratings of a TV program are obviously not the same as those of the ads at the end of the show.

& the thumb of ldquo; walking on the remote control determines the life and death of advertisements. People always switch channels at the end of the program. & rdquo;, an industry insider, said.

according to the survey data of CTR, 33.6% of the respondents said they would change the channel immediately when they saw the advertisement, while only 8.4% chose not to change the channel. Thus it can be seen that it is an indisputable fact that viewers evade traditional TV advertisements.

Helun Media believes that traditional advertising can play a good communication effect on the promotion of brand awareness, but due to the limitations of advertising works in the interpretation of stories and time constraints, they are unable to form a good in-depth communication. it is difficult to play a big role in the promotion of brand reputation. Brand content marketing combines brand information with plot stories, and can be interpreted in depth, so it has incomparable advantages over traditional advertising.

In spite of this, industry experts point out that brand content marketing will not completely replace traditional advertising, and brand communication in the future will more often be a combination. It is the mutual combination of brand content marketing and traditional advertising: enhance brand awareness through traditional advertising; enhance brand reputation through brand content marketing.

& ldquo; can only achieve brand building with the simultaneous improvement of popularity and reputation, and brand content marketing is providing enterprises with more in-depth communication opportunities to improve brand reputation. & rdquo; Wang Yifei said.