Scenes include consumption scenes, operation scenes, and transaction scenes (terminal scenes). The core logic of this article: first, terminals create scenes, and scenes create demand; then, scene experience, scene connection, and scene triggering; finally, scenes build brands. Creating scenes around terminals becomes the soul of 'terminal as media.' This article references McLuhan's 'Understanding Media' and Mr. Kong Shou's 'Vivid Copywriting,' with special thanks! Cold Media, Hot Use McLuhan proposed the concepts of 'hot media' and 'cool media' in 'Understanding Media.' Telephone, speech, cartoons, television, and discussion classes are cool media. Radio, print, photographs, movies, and lectures are hot media. The difference between hot and cool media lies in information clarity and audience participation. High-definition media is hot; low-definition media is cool. Hot media have low participation; cool media have high participation. I agree with the above classification except for the classification of television. From the above classification, hot media are efficient media with high communication efficiency. However, the requirement for hot media is 'high clarity' of information, which can be seen from various brand theories (UPS, positioning, conflict theory) that focus on creating logos and slogans. The more distinct the logo and slogan, the higher the information clarity, and using efficient hot media becomes the most efficient way of cognitive communication. However, terminals are cool media. Terminals as media have existed since commercial society, but have not received sufficient attention in modern society. What is the value of terminal media now? In an exchange with brand expert Mr. Kong Shou, his phrase 'cold media, hot use' inspired me. When terminals become mainstream media, it is based on the following reasons: First, terminals are cool media, but when combined with hot media, they become hot media Three-dimensional space, three-dimensional connection. This is the combination of terminal cool media with social media and online media. Terminals are cool media; the internet is hot media. Social media seems to have dual attributes of both hot and cool media. Second, product upgrades require low-clarity communication Mass products have a strong demand for high-clarity, low-participation media with high communication efficiency. As products upgrade, the complexity of product cognition increases, and the demand for cool media emerges because cool media are suitable for complex products and complex cognitive activities, such as immersive experience activities. Third, Chinese brand owners have high participation in terminals This is an important feature of Chinese channels. Deep distribution allows brand owners' influence to reach terminals, making terminals somewhat controllable. Terminals were originally retailers' cognitive media, but brand owners' penetration into terminals makes them a media base for brand owners. Of course, 'cold media, hot use' is not as simple as terminal visualization in deep distribution. Fourth, the emergence of scene theory Scene theory is the major premise for 'cold media, hot use.' ****Scenes Create Demand Terminals becoming mainstream media is related to scenes; it is scenes that give terminals a soul, otherwise terminals are just places of transaction. Terminals create scenes, scenes create demand, and the value of terminals is thus amplified. Scenes create demand; scenes are triggers; scenes are hubs connecting people and goods. These words frequently appear in Mr. Kong Shou's bestseller 'Vivid Copywriting' and are also key to understanding 'terminal as media.' 1. Scenes Create Demand Satisfying known products and needs applies to user orientation. For existing product concepts, users can accurately express needs; for product innovation, expression often relies on the extension and upgrade of old product functions. For example, better smartphones. The current society is oversupplied and under-demanded. To solve insufficient demand, supply needs to create new demand, rather than competing within traditional supply areas. Scenes create demand, proposing new thinking. Mr. Kong Shou's 'Vivid Copywriting' provides a case: Sony game consoles that occupied the living rooms of players worldwide have never been able to spread among young Chinese people. Chinese gaming only has the internet cafe era of PC games and the bedroom era of mobile games. Ma Yun's answer was: because the target group really doesn't have living rooms. Ma Yun's answer is clever. Chinese living rooms belong to parents. Nintendo game consoles have no application scene in China. Creating new products requires creating new demand; creating new demand requires creating new scenes. When traditional products are severely competitive, demand management from a scene perspective is achieving a new marketing orientation—shifting from 'user orientation' to 'scene orientation.' Therefore, the analytical framework of 'New Marketing' is: scene, IP, community, communication. 2. Scenes are Triggers Scenes awaken demand. Demand is always awakened, activated, and positioned in specific scenes. A drinker may drink baijiu, beer, red wine, fruit wine, and many other types of alcohol in different scenes; the scene is the decisive factor. 3. Scenes are Connectors Scenes connect two types: one is connecting people and goods; the other is connecting different people, ultimately finding the greatest common denominator of different people's needs. 4. Scene Positioning and Scene Standard Since demand is related to scenes, marketing cognition should bind scenes with specific products (brands) (positioning) and become the standard for specific scenes. For example, in early promotion, Wanglaoji was bound to the hot pot scene and eventually became the standard for hot pot scenes. Herbal tea originally had no demand outside Lingnan, but it was specific scenes that formed the herbal tea industry. Scene standard is the highest goal of scene-oriented marketing systems. Seeing a specific scene awakens consumption desire; seeing a specific scene evokes a specific brand. Binding specific scenes with specific brands is scene standard. Conversely, brands have their representative scenes. Terminals Create Scenes Restaurants are places that sell food, but they are also scenes. Xibei discovered the 'parent-child experience' scene in restaurants. Xibei's parent-child activities integrate operation scenes, consumption scenes, and terminal scenes. I observed that among hot pot brands, Haidilao and BANU are different scenes. Haidilao is a family scene and a scene for girlfriends, with many children; BANU is a business scene and a scene for close friends. The three major scenes are consumption scenes, transaction scenes (terminal scenes), and operation scenes. The founder of 'New Distribution' said that product promotion requires 'connecting the three major scenes.' Consumption scenes are application scenes; operation scenes are cognitive scenes; terminal scenes have three values: awakening demand, cognition, and transaction. The design of the three major scenes should be integrated as a whole. Consumption scenes are difficult for manufacturers to reach in batches; operation scenes are simulations and abstractions of consumption scenes; terminal scenes can be transformed if manufacturers penetrate terminals. Scenes are a way of life. Life scenes include consumption scenes. Terminal scene creation transforms terminals from their original display and transaction functions into scenes. A scene is a situation that makes people unconsciously 'involved' in it, even completing experience and cognition without realizing it. This is the goal marketers pursue: cognitive effects without traces. Terminal scenes must originate from life scenes and be higher than life scenes. Whether it's Lidu's Zhiweixuan or Meijian's operation scenes, they are the unity of life scenes and consumption scenes. Terminal as media starts with terminal scene creation. No longer view terminals as simple transaction places, but as presentations of lifestyles, and create consumption scenes within life scenes. Scene Experience Some people now call experiential marketing 'tasting' or 'sampling,' which is a principled error. The target of tasting is goods (products), still a transaction mindset. Scenes are connectors connecting people and goods. The formation of scene experience has two aspects: one is the complexity of product cognition. Hot media's high clarity and low complexity do not require cognitive experience; high-end, complex products require experience. Terminals as cool media are very suitable for high-participation, low-clarity experience forms. Experience is a diverse perception, not only through vision and hearing, but through all five senses, thereby obtaining cognitive effects that are difficult to describe clearly in language. Scene Connection, Terminal Re-mediatization Scenes are cool media; experience is an inefficient cognitive method. That was in the past, but not now. Social media has popularized the IP logic of brands. I once joked that IP is 'word-of-mouth social media communication.' Word-of-mouth is an inefficient communication medium, but when it meets social media, it changes. Similarly, terminals are cool media. Even if terminals are scenified, it only changes the effect of cognition, not the efficiency of cool media cognition. But when terminal scenes meet communities and networks, all this changes. Old Media and New Media In media such as television, newspapers, and radio, the advertising target is goods (products, brands), organizations, etc. Using the people-goods-scene framework, in the internet age, if the communication target of social media is goods, communication is extremely difficult; people are the receivers of social media communication and the initiators of re-communication, not the target of communication. The more effective communication targets are content and scenes. Terminal as media does not design scenes according to transaction logic, but according to communication logic. When scenes are designed according to communication logic, people holding smartphones will actively become communicators. For example, people participating in themed activities or experiential activities are easily and spontaneously spread in the scene atmosphere. Spontaneous and voluntary communication is the basic purpose when terminal scenes become efficient communication media. It is also the difference between old and new media: old media broadcast, new media spread. Three Major Scenes Traditional marketing theory emphasizes 'user orientation.' In the book 'New Marketing,' I proposed 'scene orientation' and proposed the basic framework of new marketing: scene, IP, community, communication. Marketing is satisfying user needs. This is the cornerstone of user orientation. So, who are users? Users are groups with similar needs. Products satisfy the needs of similar users. This theory has a BUG. Needs are products of the environment, related to individual users and also related to the environment. In a scene, different users' needs may converge. For example, at a banquet, the same product satisfies different users' needs. The factor determining the product is the scene. For example, a person drinking can choose baijiu, beer, red wine, fruit wine, and many other types of alcohol in different scenes; the scene is the decisive factor. User orientation emphasizes the individuality of needs; scenes create demand, scenes are triggers, and scenes are hubs connecting people and goods. Find commonality through segmentation. Scene orientation emphasizes the sociality of needs, finding commonality of needs through scenes. In practice, there are three forms of scenes: consumption scenes, terminal scenes, and operation scenes. Consumption scenes are scenes for insight into needs and forming scene standards. Operation scenes are scenes in the promotion process. According to the requirement of 'originating from life, higher than life,' operation scenes are more abstract consumption scenes, easier to deepen scene memory. Terminal scenes are scenes that awaken demand. Once terminal scenes are seen, they evoke consumption scenes and operation scenes, thereby awakening scene demand and achieving transactions. Scenes Build Brands Terminal as media, scenes build brands. These two sentences must be linked. Scenes form strong cognition, which is beyond doubt. Because terminals are cool media, they are suitable for high-participation cognition. The higher the participation, the stronger the cognition. Terminals create scenes, scenes combine with social media, cold media used hot, and the cognitive efficiency of scenes is greatly improved. In this way, terminals have both the strong cognition of cool media and the high-efficiency cognition of hot media. This achieves a balance between cognitive efficiency and cognitive intensity. Summary: High-end products need strong cognition, and mass media are not suitable; social new media have unreliable content fission. Terminal as media, cold media used hot, strong cognition, hot communication, build high-end brands. Terminal as media, scenes build brands. Recommended Reading