Click the image to learn more. Nowadays, young people have become the main consumer group in the domestic market. In order to attract consumers' attention, major brands are pulling out all the stops in their marketing, with endless new tricks, even resorting to "demonization" just to win a smile. Of course, besides marketing on their own turf, many brands are starting to expand their boundaries and engage in "cross-industry marketing." "Cross-industry" itself is an important tool in brand marketing, leveraging the synergy between different categories of brands. However, some brands mistakenly believe that cross-industry collaboration is just about creating a gimmick, launching a co-branded product, and capturing consumers' attention, without maximizing the advantages of both parties. As a result, what could be a solo performance turns into a duet of celebration. Some say, isn't social marketing just about triggering self-propagation through topical events? Yes, that's true. But no matter how strong the gimmick, if it's unrelated to the core message, it's just a show. Cross-industry collaboration must also consider whether it fits the core appeal. Do you want me to think of the mosquito that was smoked to death last night drinking the same liquid while I sip a cocktail? Wang Xing once said something very insightful in an interview, though about operations, it applies equally to marketing: "Crossing boundaries is necessary, but too many people focus on the boundaries while neglecting that the core is equally important." He meant that while he crosses boundaries in product development, there's an insight behind it that ties everything together. So, for cross-industry marketing, what is the core? This brings us back to the question of why we cross boundaries in the first place. I don't particularly like the concepts many articles mention these days, such as IP crossover, channel crossover, product crossover, resource crossover, etc. These are all means. There are countless means, and understanding them can be confusing. The essence of cross-industry marketing is to solve the brand's current problems, which could be issues of brand rejuvenation, user volume, or insufficient application scenarios. When a brand or product struggles to meet customers' closed-loop needs, it needs to introduce cross-industry partners to enhance user experience and acquire more valuable users. Based on the different motivations for "crossing," cross-industry marketing can be roughly divided into four categories: crossing brand boundaries, crossing user boundaries, crossing scenario boundaries, and crossing product benefit boundaries. Each cross-industry marketing campaign will have one dominant appeal, with others as support. The success of the crossover is measured by whether it meets the initial appeal. For example, if you start a crossover to boost product sales, but end up with high user attention but monthly sales of 5, all with negative reviews, that's not a successful crossover.
01 Crossing Brand Boundaries Why cross brand boundaries? Because the company needs to strengthen or optimize a certain brand image at this stage, leveraging other brands to create image premium. After the crossover, the original brand image must be enhanced or improved; that's the core appeal. For instance, why did Mengniu, as a dairy supplier, choose to become an official global sponsor of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, a strategic partner of China's space program, and an official marketing partner of the NBA in China? Because these crossovers help its brand development goals such as "focusing on R&D and production of dairy products suitable for Chinese people," "building a national brand," and "quality, brand, innovation, health" become more deeply ingrained in people's minds. In June 2017, the "Little Yellow Man Factory" H5 went viral on WeChat Moments. This was a cross-industry marketing campaign between ofo and the Minions IP. Earlier, ofo had upgraded its brand from "ofo shared bike" to "ofo little yellow bike," aiming to provide a more convenient, joyful, and relaxed riding experience for global users, building a young and fun brand image. To reinforce this brand image, just before the release of "Despicable Me 3," ofo partnered with Universal Pictures to launch this custom "Minions" bike, the "ofo Big Eye Bike," and even had the quirky Da Zhangwei endorse it. Undoubtedly, the mischievous image of the Minions added to ofo's brand appeal, winning over young consumers. In recent years, many traditional brands have started trying the "crossing brand boundaries" approach. Facing the dominant young consumer group, how to rejuvenate and break consumers' original stereotypes has become a headache for many traditional brands. Co-branding with younger brands seems to be an effective breakthrough. Perhaps because it's still in the early exploration stage, most traditional brands are just "a bit thoughtful." I admire the various cross-industry marketing of the "Palace Museum" (Gu Gong); it has truly revitalized the word "museum" and is a typical example of "crossing brand boundaries." You might think that the Palace Museum's crossovers with various brands are to attract new users? Those who think so probably haven't been to the Palace Museum. When has the Palace Museum ever lacked traffic? It's a museum that receives over ten million visitors annually. Ask your relatives and friends who come to Beijing what they want to do first. So, what makes the "Palace Museum suddenly busy"? In fact, in the eyes of many young people, the Palace Museum has a serious and rigid image. One of the most effective ways to break this stereotype is to "get together" with brands that young people love to play with. Whether it's the music innovation competition with Tencent NEXT IDEA and QQ Music, the "Serve the Emperor to Watch the Ball" H5 with NetEase News, or the "First Cultural Relics Drama Contest" with Douyin, these initiatives not only increase the Palace Museum's influence among young people but also promote its collections. 02 Crossing User Boundaries Crossing user boundaries means acquiring more valuable users through the partner's fan base and channels. This can be achieved by crossing a popular KOL, such as ICBC crossing with Papi Jiang; crossing a popular entertainment IP, like Sephora partnering with Marvel to launch a series of co-branded trendy beauty products, or the various TV show product placements popular nowadays; or crossing the partner's channels, like NetEase Cloud Music and Nongfu Spring launching "Music Bottles." The methods are diverse, but the core is "winning fans." Take the "Music Bottle" crossover as an example. This was NetEase Cloud Music's first large-scale marketing after announcing its brand upgrade to "The Power of Music." Facing the threat of QQ Music backed by Tencent and Xiami Music backed by Alibaba, NetEase Cloud Music crossed with the well-known FMCG brand Nongfu Spring, quickly penetrating Nongfu Spring's online and offline channels. The power of music spread through Nongfu Spring's vast user base. In recent years, there's also a hotel brand that has been "busy"—Atour Hotel. It aims to create a lodging brand and form a lifestyle. Facing the encirclement of Hanting and Home Inn, how to broaden profit channels for mid-range hotels? Atour's founder, Yelü Yin, once said, "Today's economy hotels can no longer meet the consumption needs of the middle class; IP-ification can increase the overall value of the hotel." But hotels ultimately rely on foot traffic, and behind the IP crossover lies a thirst for traffic. With this appeal, Atour collaborated with numerous top-tier IPs such as Daoda Uncle, Guokr, Qyer, NetEase Comics, Tencent QQ Super Membership, Hupu, FlowerPlus, Rishi Ji, and Chaping to create "Atour Wonderful Night" themed pop-up rooms. Understand that behind each room is a massive fan base. 03 Crossing Scenario Boundaries For crossing scenario boundaries, the core is whether the crossover can extend or reinforce users' memory of the usage scenario. For example, Tencent Video crossed with Yoshinoya. Many people like to watch shows while eating. After Tencent Video noticed this habit, it created a scenario memory point of "Watch Tencent Video at Yoshinoya" in over 300 Yoshinoya stores in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, and Northeast China, and provided "Happy Season exclusive phone stands" to serve users. I'm sure everyone remembers the #Encounter Economics at the Vegetable Market# crossover by the Dedao App with Sanliyuan Vegetable Market earlier this year. It was a book launch event for Professor Xue Zhaofeng's new book "Xue Zhaofeng's Economics Lecture Notes." By cleverly combining specific scenarios like bargaining over chicken, duck, fish, and meat in the market with the economics in the book, it gave Dedao users a stronger scenario memory and a deeper sense of the economics hidden in daily life. 04 Crossing Product Benefit Boundaries What is crossing product benefit boundaries? In short, it's amplifying product features through cross-industry collaboration. For example, the Honor brand partnered with swimmer Sun Yang as its "Speed Envoy." Sun Yang breaks records with astonishing speed, while Honor uses technology to innovate users' smooth experience. Speed is the most direct commonality between the two. Through the partnership with Sun Yang, Honor phones and other products amplify the advantage of "fast." Additionally, Uber's "One-Click Call" series experiential marketing is also cross-industry marketing that amplifies product benefits, such as one-click call for a lion dance team, one-click call for Tong Dawei, one-click call for a CEO, one-click call for a helicopter, one-click call for ice cream, etc. So, besides clarifying these appeals, what else should be noted when crossing boundaries? First, the two parties should be "well-matched." Whether in resource allocation or company size, they should be compatible, and their tones should align. Otherwise, for the stronger party, it may lower its public brand image; for the weaker party, it may easily become a stepping stone for the stronger. However, in practice, many companies are still willing to "gild themselves." Second, find the core commonality between the two parties. For example, ofo and the Minions not only naturally match in "yellow" genes, but also share commonalities like youth, fun, and playfulness. When NetEase Cloud Music and Nongfu Spring crossed, there was a phrase explaining the connection between Nongfu Spring and music stories: "What creates the universe's life is not only water, but also stories. Planets with water are not lonely; planets with stories are complete." Only when both parties find the core commonality can they, based on their respective appeals, attract users' attention to the maximum through creativity and create a win-win situation. Furthermore, cross-industry marketing is the "venom" of a brand. Operators must have risk assessment capabilities and always clarify what the goal of the crossover is. If successful, it can achieve a 1+1>2 effect, but partners or creative expressions that don't match the appeal can not only fail to solve problems but also drag the brand into a quagmire. Finally, I want to remind that no cross-industry marketing can be a one-time fix. Whether advertising or PR, it's a long-term investment in the brand. Returning to the reason for cross-industry marketing mentioned at the beginning, it's essentially solving current enterprise problems. A cross-industry collaboration may achieve certain results, but it's just one step in solving the problem. Only through long-term, targeted, and systematic efforts can companies make users feel a sense of three-dimensionality and depth, ultimately revitalizing the brand and products, solving marketing appeals, and acquiring more valuable customers. Source: Qingka (ID: lightcoo)