---
title: "IP Marketing Trends in 2025: From 'Connecting the Back-End' to 'Clearing Business Obstacles'"
description: "In 2024, business growth for many companies was like a self-destructive long-distance run, with profits often driven by layoffs and ad cuts, and sales by price cuts and promotions. For healthy growth, companies should focus on solving underlying problems rather than sales alone, using major content IP as a 'business lever' to clear obstacles such as low dealer confidence, high performance pressure with low budgets, over-reliance on existing customers, price-cut dependence, and declining consumption frequency."
author: "梁将军"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2024-10-30"
language: "en"
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# IP Marketing Trends in 2025: From 'Connecting the Back-End' to 'Clearing Business Obstacles'

> In 2024, business growth for many companies was like a self-destructive long-distance run, with profits often driven by layoffs and ad cuts, and sales by price cuts and promotions. For healthy growth, companies should focus on solving underlying problems rather than sales alone, using major content IP as a 'business lever' to clear obstacles such as low dealer confidence, high performance pressure with low budgets, over-reliance on existing customers, price-cut dependence, and declining consumption frequency.

In 2024, business growth for many companies was like a self-destructive long-distance run. Looking at the financial reports of listed companies, you'll find that many companies' profits came more from layoffs and cutting advertising budgets, and many sales increases came more from price cuts and repeated promotions. Many companies' growth was more on paper than real. If a company wants healthy growth, it should focus not on sales itself, but on solving its hidden problems while maintaining steady operations. At such times, we need 'business levers' to help us achieve our goals, and major content IP is one option. Over the past few years, IP marketing trends have shifted from focusing on the front-end of sales to connecting the back-end. The front-end refers to interactions with content itself, such as forwarding, likes, comments, and participation. The back-end refers to stages closer to sales conversion, such as store visits, add-to-cart, live streaming, and membership. In recent years, due to changes in the macro environment, even if IP connects the back-end, it's hard to boost sales. Because weak sales are not only due to whether the path is smooth, but also the business obstacles created by the harsh economic climate. I've roughly summarized five key business obstacles:
>   * Dealer confidence is low
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>   * High performance pressure but low budgets
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>   * Over-reliance on existing customers, pulling new products
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>   * Relying on price cuts to boost sales
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>   * Declining consumption frequency
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In 2024, many companies used major content IP as a lever to clear business obstacles and achieve relatively healthy performance. **Using IP to Empower Dealers** **Finding Confidence and Tools for Dealers** In 2024, Mengniu Pure甄 partnered with "Celebrating the Second Year" (《庆余年2》). Through cooperation with Tencent Video, they held 11 offline advanced screening events in Beijing, Tianjin, Chongqing, and Shanghai, and 14 celebrity fan meetings in seven core cities including Zhengzhou and Changsha. Notably, Mengniu Pure甄 gave 1,000 of these tickets to regional dealers, not consumers. If we interpret those 1,000 tickets as client entertainment or value-added services, we underestimate the value and significance of this move. It can be said that Mengniu Pure甄 gave away not 1,000 tickets, but 1,000 units of confidence. For many companies, dealer confidence is as valuable as gold. And for many dealers, the manufacturer's confidence may be more precious than rebate policies. In recent years, dealers may have had a harder time than manufacturers because dealers are on the front lines of sales and face market pressure more directly. In the first half of 2024, nearly half of dealers failed to meet performance targets set by manufacturers, and 63.2% saw profit declines. Under performance pressure and weak sales, dealer cross-regional selling (channel conflict) became more severe. Many dealers began diversifying into multiple brands and categories to spread risk. When the consumer market tightens, the relationship between manufacturers and dealers is more about watching and testing. Unscrupulous manufacturers keep testing how much inventory dealers can absorb, while dealers watch whether manufacturers are willing to invest continuously, fearing they are the only ones rowing the boat. **In 2024, the purpose of many brands' IP partnerships quietly changed from purely 2C to balancing 2B and 2C. IP is not only about enhancing brand influence among consumers, but also about boosting dealer and franchisee confidence and providing them with handy tools for distribution.** The reason Mengniu Pure甄's cooperation with "Celebrating the Second Year" emphasized offline city joint promotion resources was to use these offline occasions to let dealers feel the IP's popularity directly, build confidence for subsequent IP marketing, and encourage more active terminal cooperation. In the past, companies boosted dealer confidence through sales meetings, where they talked about policies, shouted performance targets, and set examples. But in such a cold consumer environment, these actions seem like 'hard chicken soup' with little persuasion. It's better to follow Mengniu Pure甄's approach, using the IP's heat to infect dealers directly. Moreover, dealers also have their own 'clients'—the retailers under them. A significant function of the many materials and assets derived from content IP is for dealers to post on their Moments, show to retailers, and stimulate terminal consumers. **All companies that rely on dealers, please leave more bullets for your dealers.** **Using IP to Improve New Product Success Rate** In the past few years, 90% of global brands launched at least one new product annually. But on mainstream e-commerce platforms, the success rate for new products is only about 2%. More notably: only 28% of new products brought market increment to brands. Only 6% of new products brought new users. These numbers reveal a 'disguise' in business: for most companies, the success rate of new products is not only pitifully low, but even if a new product survives, it feeds on the company's 'old capital'—the sales of new products mainly 'overdraw' the trust of existing customers. I want to say, **the success of a new product should not be measured only by sales volume, but also by increment. Here, 'increment' refers to new customer groups and new types of markets.** For example, Xiaomi Ultra targets the high-end market, aiming at people beyond Mi fans. Xiaomi 9 Balance Wheel targets the short-distance travel market. This year, Realme launched a cost-effective phone, which should primarily cover digital-savvy males and gamers. But when promoting this product, they partnered with Tencent Video's niche IP "Perfect World" (《完美世界》). This IP, adapted from a fantasy novel to a game and then to a Chinese animation, cleverly helped Realme achieve 'killing two birds with one stone' in new customer expansion: attracting both gaming and anime audiences. They also selected a female protagonist, Yun Xi, and launched a customized 'Ling Mou Zi' (灵眸紫) phone, successfully expanding the audience to female gamers, and it sold out immediately upon launch. Moreover, Realme created a custom TVC around Yun Xi, ran joint ad placements on the anime channel, collected retargeting data from Jingdong and Tencent, and used it for subsequent ad placements, expanding customer base while improving conversion efficiency. The approach of using IP to find increment is worth replicating for small and medium brands when launching new products. **Using IP to Break Free from Price-Cut Dependence** In 2024, 'volume up, price down' was the main theme.
>   * Milk tea that cost over 20 yuan a cup dropped to a few yuan;
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>   * Mid-to-high-end dining saw a wave of closures, and economy brands also couldn't withstand price cuts. For example, a certain noodle brand cut prices by nearly 30%, and a certain roujiamo brand cut prices by over 50%;
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>   * Average car prices reportedly fell by more than 30%;
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>   * Even the hot tourism market didn't escape: during the National Day holiday this year, airfares fell by 15%; high-end hotels in Sanya cut prices by nearly 30%, and you could even stay in a five-star hotel for less than 1,000 yuan.
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Using price cuts to boost sales is both a quick fix and slow suicide. Because price cuts affect not only profits, but the biggest problem is that they create a price-cut dependency among consumers—they won't buy unless there's a discount. I've always emphasized to many companies: **in the current environment, consumers don't want low prices; they want low prices with a reason.** In the first half of 2024, Chinese residents' savings increased by 11.46 trillion yuan. Clearly, consumers aren't short on money; they're afraid to spend. The key to marketing is not to keep cutting prices, but to create new reasons to consume, making consumers ignore the price. We can use IP to achieve this. This year, Meituan partnered with Wong Kar-wai's "Blossoms" (《繁花》). Besides in-drama ad placements, they launched a food check-in map featuring dishes from the show, selected Shanghai snacks from the drama, initiated a 'Blossoms Food' special event, and launched Blossoms-themed hotel packages... People buy Blossoms-themed products not to save money, but to taste the flavor of Boss Bao and feel the demeanor of Uncle Ye. Of course, Meituan also issued coupons during the campaign, but at this time, the discount feels not like a clearance sale, but like participating in a consumption trend. That's what I call 'low price with a reason.' **Using IP to Leverage Industrial Resources** **Achieving Multiplier Effects** The "2024 China FMCG Dealer Business Survey Report" shows that 75.1% of manufacturers did not increase market spending. Not only are 'landlords short on grain,' but due to the tightening consumer market, most marketers face pressure of 'budget halved, but performance doubled.' At such times, all money must be spent on the blade's edge. But what projects can be called 'the blade's edge'? In my view, it's projects or mechanisms with leverage effects. Take car companies: this year, NIO had over a thousand salespeople become KOS on social platforms, selling over 1,000 cars through social media. Some foreign tire companies design content incubation mechanisms, letting dealers and stores produce UGC content to promote products for the manufacturer. **This year's advertising budget should not blindly pursue brand mindshare or direct sales conversion, nor even just brand-effect synergy. This year's budget should aim to use external advertising resources to leverage internal industrial resources.** For example, in the automotive industry, marketing places great importance on car clubs. Previously, brands motivated people through purchase discounts, car maintenance solutions, or offline club gatherings, but the impact was limited. At the end of last year, Audi and Tencent Video co-created a content IP on Channels—the 52Hz Wagon Channel. They encouraged car owners to share their life stories to win exclusive test-drive slots for wagons. The difference is that Audi leveraged the power of car clubs from the start. During the story collection period, they used Tencent to connect with national car communities and clubs, screening 100 owners from 45 communities and 50,000 owners to participate in offline test-drive events. They collected stories from brand managers, cycling enthusiasts, and designers, successfully expanding their user base from pure wagon enthusiasts to cycling, outdoor, camping, and other circles. After the videos were released, they quickly circulated in WeChat groups of car clubs and communities for long-tail dissemination, eventually being shared to over 550 vertical communities. In recent years, some platforms have also recognized companies' difficulties and proactively opened more upstream and downstream industrial resources, trying to integrate with companies' own industrial resources to create 'multiplier effects' for cooperative projects. For example, Tencent has opened up its ecosystem resources. Tencent Video, WeChat, Channels, Mini Programs, WeChat Reading, etc., can now jump seamlessly. When you search for "Celebrating the Second Year" or "Following the Wind" in WeChat, you can directly jump to Tencent Video and WeChat Reading to watch or read. They've also given more creative space for IP. Previously, brands and platforms were 'client and vendor,' with the platform packaging a resource bundle and selling you plans A, B, C, or D. Now, everyone co-creates together, and the platform is the brand's 'marketing partner.' Taking Tencent Video as an example, the ecosystem and industrial resources applicable to IP marketing are basically divided into three layers, and clients can flexibly 'customize' based on needs.
  * The first layer is resources within Tencent Video, such as focus images, creative ads, pause ads, etc.;
  * The second layer is Tencent's full ecosystem media resources, such as Channels, Mini Programs, WeCom, QQ Music, WeChat Reading, etc.;
  * The third layer is IP-related upstream and downstream industrial resources, such as celebrity short-term endorsements, custom ads, documentaries, offline events, product licensing, etc.
These three layers of resources are collected, adapted, and integrated around the client's marketing theme, and are integrated as much as possible with the client's industrial resources.
For example, IP secondary creation is integrated with Channels and WeChat for social diffusion; documentaries are integrated with offline exhibitions, store visits, and origin tracing; offline promotional activities are integrated with city terminal promotions; Mini Programs and WeCom are integrated with private domain user operations... In short, good IP projects can effectively connect the platform's and the company's respective industrial resources, giving advertising a multiplier effect. **Using IP to Increase Consumption Frequency** **We all talk about 'consumption downgrade,' but consumption downgrade isn't just about buying cheaper goods; it also includes a decline in consumption frequency.** McKinsey's recent "China Consumer Survey Report" states that Chinese people's consumption frequency for tobacco and alcohol, consumer electronics, and home appliances is all decreasing. Previously, you might smoke three packs of Zhonghua a day; now it might be two packs of Zhongnanhai. So, the way we boost sales isn't just to get consumers to buy more, but also to get them to buy more often. We need to do both. Currently, companies mainly rely on promotional activities to increase consumption frequency. But the problem is that sales volume goes up, but profits don't. **A smarter approach is to expand higher-frequency consumption scenarios to increase consumption frequency. At this point, IP becomes a handy lever.** Yunnan Baiyao aerosol was originally a 'medicine for treating bruises and injuries,' but how many times can a person get injured in a year? This consumption reminder is very low-frequency. So, they partnered with Tencent's 23-24 NBA season, hoping to use a sports event to tell people that Yunnan Baiyao aerosol can be a regular medicine for sports, transforming from a medicine bought only after injury to a 'sports companion.' 'Injury treatment' is a low-frequency scenario, while 'sports equipment' is a high-frequency scenario. By emphasizing through ads in 180 NBA games, Yunnan Baiyao combined the sports scenario with its new positioning, successfully increasing product consumption frequency. Jingjiu has also been expanding consumption scenarios in recent years. It was originally a health tonic wine with nourishing effects, mainly sold for gifting. But in the liquor track, the gifting scenario is clearly saturated. Later, Jingjiu found a nourishing scenario for neutralizing cold foods. They partnered with the original team of Tencent Video's "A Bite of China" (《风味人间》) to produce a food documentary called "Delicacies of Mountains and Rivers" (《人间有味山河鲜》). In the documentary, you see prompts like 'Mutton with Jingjiu, warms body, heart, and stomach' and 'Seafood with Jingjiu, a warm-cool complementary pair.' When people realize that Jingjiu is not only for gifting but also pairs well with cold foods, they naturally place orders when encountering similar scenarios. Using promotions to boost sales is short-sighted. A more long-term approach is to leverage content IP to associate with higher-frequency consumption scenarios, change users' underlying perception of the product, and thus drive natural sales. To summarize: don't focus on paper growth; focus on real, healthy growth. Using major content IP as a 'business lever' to clear business obstacles and stabilize the base is one antidote during consumption tightening.


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