On January 9, the story of Po and other characters under the lens of Wong Kar-wai ushered in the end. Since the start of the broadcast, "Flowers" has rushed to the hot search on Weibo several times, and many scenes in the play have dominated the screen on many social ** platforms. The unique light and shadow effects and strong life atmosphere in the play have reconstructed the youth memories of a generation, and a number of seamlessly embedded advertising copywriting in the play have also become really popular.
In cross-border marketing, how to deeply bind the IP of film and television dramas with brand marketing effects, and then imperceptibly enhance consumers' awareness of the brand, has always been a major problem for the cooperation between the two sides.
As the only cooperative brand of kitchen appliances and water heaters in "Flowers", Wanjiale has achieved the perfect harmony between the brand heritage and the plot core of "Flowers" through immersive implantation. Since 1985, Wanjiale has entered thousands of households and become a business card made in China. The classic advertising slogan "Wanjiale, Happy Wanjia" on the black-and-white TV screen has also become a memory fragment for many people in the 90s.
During the broadcast of "Flowers", Wanjiale also launched a series of activities such as user story collection, which made the audience the protagonist of the story, and then formed an exponential communication effect and triggered the collective memories of consumers. The linkage of various factors finally contributed to a classic communication case in the industry of Wanjiale.
The multi-cultural fit makes the brand communication deeply rooted in the hearts of the people
In the 80s of the last century, Ah Bao was just an unknown small character on the Yellow River Road in Shanghai, and finally became a man of the year through the ups and downs of entrepreneurial experience. Similarly, the history of Wanjiale can also be described as legendary, and the story experience of both reflects the background of the booming era in the 90s.
In 1988, when the domestic household appliance market was in its infancy, Wanjiale took the lead in launching a household gas water heater with flame-out protection in China, which greatly improved the safety performance of the water heater. With 15 production lines, a large-scale factory with an annual output of 2 million gas water heaters and 1.1 million gas cookers, Wanjiale products have been making great progress in the market and becoming one of the largest gas appliance manufacturers in China at that time.
At that time, Wanjiale gained the reputation of the founder of Chinese water heaters. Therefore, when the advertising clip of Wanjiale appeared in the picture or character dialogue of "Flowers" in the 90s, the brand's sense of history and real market share did not make the audience feel disobedient when watching the drama.
Since then, more than 30 years, on the basis of water heaters, Wanjiale has gradually completed the creation and replacement of a series of technologies from flameout protection to automatic temperature control, small volume integration technology, zero cold water, ** hot water, kitchen automatic cooking, etc., and the story of Wanjiale products continuing to enter thousands of households also supports the influence of the brand from the picture in the play to the reality.
In addition, one of the highlights of "Flowers" in the process of cooperating with a number of classic brands in the promotion process is that the advertising copy has been successfully integrated into the plot and has become a "supporting role" to promote the development of the plot.
Taking the plot of the newly renovated kitchen in Tokyo as an example, with the introduction of a series of advertising slogans such as "Wanjiale Wanjia", Wanjiale's first water heater and dishwasher products were revealed, and since then, the scenes of various characters chatting and cooking have gradually entered the camera. The last few lines of the advertising copy: "Friends who send houses are silent." Who? What do you say? Mr. Bao, right? It is also a natural paving of Po from the perspective of ordinary characters.
In this 54-second shot, it not only highlights the popularity of Wanjiale in the 90s, but also allows the audience to deepen their brand impression of Wanjiale while perceiving the progress of the plot.
In fact, in Wanjiale's previous cross-border marketing, we can also see the collision and harmony of the cultural core many times. On August 9, 2023, due to the close relationship between the business layout and water, Wanjiale officially announced that it had reached a strategic cooperation with the Chinese national diving team. At the same time, as a strategic partner of China Polar Research Center, Wanjiale's kitchen and bathroom products such as water heaters, hoods, stoves, and wall-hung stoves have also been selected as "Selected Products for China's Antarctic Scientific Expedition".
The linkage between inside and outside the play promotes a phenomenal communication effect
In addition to the subtle communication in the plot of "Flowers", the linkage between Wanjiale and other brands and "Flowers" outside the play has contributed to a number of communication cases worth talking about.
As the pioneer and leader of China's water heaters, Wanjiale launched topics such as "looking for the first old users of Wanjiale's first gas water heater" when "Flowers" was on the air, as well as finding easter eggs such as Wanjiale billboards on the Yellow River Road and Wanjiale advertisements flashed at the celebration banquet in the series.
Not only that, Wanjiale also launched activities such as watching drama cards in the member club, and gave out gift packages to users, which strengthened the social attributes of the product outside the play, enhanced the user's favorability towards the brand, and greatly improved the conversion rate of brand communication.
In addition to cross-border marketing, Wanjiale's product quality is the confidence of brand communication. For a large number of classic brands born in the first decade of the last century, it is not easy to balance ingenuity and catch up with the trend of the times.
In the big waves, Wanjiale actively resonates with the times and constantly innovates. In terms of quality assurance, Wanjiale has applied for about 2,000 invention patents, utility model patents and appearance patents, including more than 1,300 patent applications for gas water heaters. Wanjiale also has 24 professional laboratories, of which 3 laboratories are national laboratories.
Thanks to its excellent R&D strength and solid high-end manufacturing capabilities, Wanjiale has continued to be a leader in the gas water heater industry in the past 39 years, and has participated in the formulation of more than 100 national and industry standards, leading the upgrading process of the kitchen and bathroom industry. In 2023, Wanjiale was also awarded China's 500 Most Valuable Brands. With the growing segmentation needs of users, Wanjiale continues to promote product innovation and upgrading around specific scenarios, which will also further strengthen Wanjiale's leading position in the gas water heater industry.
The market sales data also confirms the enduring market influence of Wanjiale. In 2022, the omni-channel retail sales of China's water heater market will be 47.1 billion yuan, and the overall penetration rate of zero cold water, as a market segment with rapid development of heating, will remain at about 37% for two consecutive years.
Although "Flowers", which has been hot for nearly a month, has ushered in the finale, classic brands such as Wanjiale that have come out of the circle will also accompany the audience to find the next "Flowers". Just like Wanjiale's vision of "the creator of a beautiful kitchen and bathroom life for hundreds of millions of families around the world", it is also worth looking forward to how Wanjiale will let more users know about Wanjiale's brand power and product power through cross-border marketing.