What counts as a good idea? Maybe you come into contact with creatives every day, even senior creatives, but you may never think about it. In different times, the answers we get may be different. Let's first look at one of the most classic commercials in advertising history, Apple's "1984".
At that time, the three major television networks in the United States and nearly 50 local TV stations all broadcast the "1984" commercial, and almost half of Americans have seen the short film. In this era, the standard of a good idea is "quality", because your advertisement is aimed at the whole society, and this advertisement must be durable and able to stand up to everyone's scrutiny and questioning. The advertising feature at this time is "one person with a thousand faces".
But if you put an advertisement like "1984" on Douyin, do you think "1984" will still have such a sensational effect? Certainly not. Because in the algorithmic environment of Douyin, you don’t need one idea, but a group of ideas. A mobile phone brand may produce various scene-based ideas from multiple dimensions, such as:
Functional scenarios: listening to music, live video recording, taking photos while traveling, no lag in games, fast charging...
Consumption scenarios: business communication (cloud synchronization), taking advantage (Double 11), vanity (limited edition), new life (student graduation), gift giving (Father's Day)...
Types of people: electronic enthusiasts, selfie fans, game fans, music fans, business dogs, student parties...
Brand belief: ultimate pursuit, minimalist aesthetics, challenging authority, rejecting mediocrity...
In today's era, creativity has "deteriorated". Our requirements for the "quantity" of ideas are far greater than the requirements for the "quality" of ideas.
At this time, the advertisement has become "thousand people with thousands of faces". Perhaps "a thousand people with a thousand faces" is not enough to describe the power of the algorithm. The current creative pursuit is "one person with a thousand faces", which means that each person will have completely inconsistent consumption realization in different consumption scenarios. For example, some people have questioned that Pinduoduo's users are low-end users, and there is no high-end market.
But the founder Huang Zheng refuted this view, saying: "Pinduoduo attracts people who are looking for high cost-effectiveness. He will buy a Hermes bag and a box of mangoes for 9.9 yuan, which has nothing to do with spending power. For example, my mother is already a rich mother, but she still cares about the difference of a dollar or two when she goes out to buy vegetables and paper towels, but she also buys a high-end iPhone.
Traditional companies use the first, second, and third lines to divide people. Pinduoduo satisfies many aspects of a person. "From "one thousand people with one face" to "one thousand people with one thousand faces" to "one person with a thousand faces", the creativity has changed from the pursuit of "fine quality, great influence, long-term use" to the pursuit of "large quantity, fast speed and low cost".
In a word: creativity cannot be measured by inspiration, but by production capacity. When creativity becomes production capacity, creative capacity will determine the pattern of business. Creative capacity determines the market share of small and medium-sized brands.
The world is not created equal. For example, the gap in educational resources between cities and towns determines the future life of children; the telemarketing list carbon emission index (carbon neutrality) between countries determines the development speed of a country. Then, what are the key elements that affect the future development of enterprises?
In the current world, the barriers to resource orientation have been gradually broken down, and every small business and even every individual has the ability to rise rapidly. For example, why are new consumer goods companies emerging now? Because the resource barriers previously held by the giants have been loosened.
First of all, China's manufacturing industry is becoming more and more developed, and everyone can find a foundry to produce listed products as long as they have funds; then, the rapid development of the logistics industry makes the experience of online shopping and offline shopping closer and closer. Finally, the rise of algorithms allows small businesses to find users and sell products for a small amount of money.
The business world is infinitely close to being "flat", and there is only one piece of high ground that has not been leveled, and that is content creativity. In an algorithmic environment, advertising does not express selling points at all, but links user needs. In principle, as many kinds of creativity as you have, you can create as many kinds of consumer demand.
Large companies have the budget and resources to connect with high-quality advertising providers and build their own in-house teams, but small compan