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interface news reporter | ma yue

interface news editor | ya hanxiang

starbucks has also joined the new track of "travel through time, rebirth, and becoming a boss".

on september 19, starbucks china's first brand short play "i opened a starbucks in ancient times" was launched on douyin. from the name and promotional posters, we can know that starbucks, which has always been restrained in brand advertising, has also grasped the current traffic code in china's social networks - sweet pet themes, ancient and modern time travel, gold fingers and farming stories.

like many routines of traveling back to ancient times with modern skills, the core idea of ​​this short play of starbucks is also based on the setting that ancient society had never been exposed to coffee. by colliding contemporary coffee culture with ancient background, a series of dramatic conflicts and humor are created, such as the shop opened by the protagonist in ancient times is called "starbuck inn". while telling the story, more brand and product elements are also implanted, including the promotion of seasonal new products.

screenshot of the starbucks skit

the reason why starbucks has also started using this kind of "earthy" short drama to gain traffic is that the short drama trend has already spread to the catering industry.

the demonstration effect of leading brands has led more brands to join the short drama marketing. in july this year, mcdonald's launched its first short drama "reborn: i practicing magic in mcdonald's". talk show actor tong mo nan was reborn in the kitchen of mcdonald's and became a worker who worked hard to make hamburgers.

tai er pickled cabbage fish launched the "sour theater" at the end of july, presenting the brand's first short play "the intern boss is crazy about doting on the fish girl", in which talk show actor he guangzhi transformed himself into the "second young master of the he family".

on august 9, mixue bingcheng’s live-action short drama “the snow king’s time travel diary” was launched. the plot elements are nothing more than rich young masters, overbearing presidents, funny dancing kings, etc.

kfc is "late but arrived" - it launched the short drama "rebirth of the foodie queen who can't be provoked" on august 30, which is still the bloody but addictive plot of rebirth and a domineering president, but also adds elements of business war, and intensively implants the "kfc weekend crazy fight" event.

from left to right, mcdonald's, tai er pickled fish and kfc's brand skits

there is no doubt that short dramas have become a hot topic. in the past year, short dramas have become a strong storm sweeping the film and television content industry. the horizontal store has become a vertical store, filled with high-energy plots of overbearing ceos, handsome and beautiful girls reborn, and workers' counterattacks, etc., which capture the strong emotions of the public on the mobile phone screen.

it has become one of the few brand content that advertisers are willing to spend a lot of money to produce after tightening their wallets. the "2024 china advertiser marketing trend survey report" recently released by cctv market research (ctr) shows that the number of micro-short dramas filmed and recorded in the first half of 2024 increased by 16% year-on-year. in its survey, 45% of advertisers said that they have used micro-short dramas and recognized the advantages of short drama marketing, such as low cost, strong exposure, easy sharing and fast conversion.

the first to reap the benefits of short dramas were beauty brands. for example, after the short drama case of the domestic beauty brand hansu successfully drove traffic and sales, more beauty brands such as proya, guyu, chando, and pechoin began to actively follow up; then internet brands represented by meituan, qunar, dingding, tmall, and xianyu also explored more ways to play in the short drama track. today, many industries have entered the brand short drama track, including beauty, internet, finance, automobiles, food, maternal and child care, and catering.

leading catering brands have flocked to the short drama trend this year, and one of the main reasons is to seek brand exposure.

judging from specific cases, catering brands including mcdonald's, kfc, starbucks, mixue ice city, and tai er pickled fish are very active in social marketing. they continue to stay young through communicating with consumers, are good at grasping the latest popular trends, and have also maintained their brand tone through various joint ventures and pop-up stores.

therefore, after skits became a new marketing front, it was only natural for these leading brands that had accumulated enough brand resources and were good at "playing with memes" to try skits. from the perspective of traffic monetization, skits can also softly implant products and expose them intensively in scenes, thus playing a role in brand communication and conversion.

however, as catering brands have concentrated on entering the short drama circle this year, it also means that the strategy of "small wins big" is not so easy to work.

you will find many permutations and combinations of hit elements, and you can summarize countless familiar bloody routines in the short drama, such as 10,000 reborn workers waiting for a counterattack every day, a bankrupt lady vowing to take back everything that belongs to her, and traveling back to ancient times... short dramas certainly have mature narrative templates, but many copycat works do not start from the core tone of the brand, and the copied routine plots make it difficult not to complain that "it seems to be the same for everyone if you cover up the brand."

iresearch consulting mentioned in a report that in 2024, the marginal effect of brand-cooperation dramas will decrease as the scale of investment increases significantly, and the implantation gameplay needs to be further refined to meet the new demand.