The recent years have witnessed that the surging mini-drama is rewriting China’s entertainment industry. Along with it come the brand-customized dramas. Brands cleverly integrate their products into the storyline, enabling the audience to subconsciously remember the brand. In recent years, numerous producers have taken advantage of mini-series to hugely improve brand exposure and market value, which opened up a way of advertising for brands.
Starbucks China has also embraced the novel storytelling format for marketing. Its six-episode micro-drama themed “Running a Starbucks in Ancient Times” debuted on Douyin, the Bytedance-owned sister of TikTok, on September 19, 2024. Getting more than 60 million views, the episodes has driven each signal drink garnering more than 100,000 yuan in sales. All of these showed that the coffee giant managed to usher in the era of mini-drama.
As a novice drama producer, Starbucks apparently made full preparations to enter the field. The series captured people’s attention with popular elements like sweet romance, time travel and business success. It follows a fictional Starbucks employee who traveled back to ancient China to open a coffee shop, became the wealthiest man in the region and found romance. The brand leverages the influence of the main characters who are online celebrities jointly running an account with more than 5 million followers on Douyin to drive traffic and sales. What’s more, the producer swiftly converted its traffic into sales. With frequent presence in every episode, Starbucks left audiences a deep impression, which benefited its promotion of seasonal offerings and special deals. To complement the drama, Starbucks arranged special live streaming in which livestreamer sold products in the same costume and the same scene.
A powerful marketing approach for various brands
However, mini-drama as a way of brand marketing, was not pioneered by Starbucks. Since 2023, the engaging and bite-sized dramas have quickly blossomed and become a rising marketing trend with major brands rushing to get involved. According to iiMedia Research, the micro drama market in 2023 recorded 37.39 billion yuan, up by 267.65% year on year. More than 38 dramas have been released around the 618 shopping festival in 2023, covering various product categories, such as electronics, daily necessities, beauty and personal care fashion, etc.
The cosmetics brand KANS set a fine example to tap into the potential of the marketing approach. Its sales ranked top in Douyin beauty care with 3.34 billion yuan GMV in 2023. As of March 2, 24, the “KANS Red Waist Gift Box” featuring prominently in the drama saw sales skyrocket to 4.07 million units. Brands like Proya, Grain Rain, Chando, and Pechoin quickly followed suit. In addition, an array of restaurant brands joined in the trend, including McDonald, Mixue, KFC and Tai Er Suancai&fish, gaining greater exposure and attention. Among them, KFC has amassed the strongest viewership of more than 1.4 billion on Douyin.
Why the mini drama marketing has gained popularity in China
Mini-drama’s success can be attributed to the growing habit of watching short videos in China. This habit paves the way for the popularity of short-form dramas. Therefore, smartphone-optimized and bite-sized episodes can appeal to casual viewers who prefer quick and intriguing content with twists and conflicts. Consequently, mini-drama as a marketing approach becomes more acceptable for consumers.
Mini-drama marketing helps boost brand awareness. Brands can integrate products into the plots to enable viewers to accept the brand information while enjoying the story. This ensures an increase in audience engagement and brand affinity which in turn prove mini dramas an effective marketing method. It draws more brands to do promotion through product placement in the drama and then to convert the traffic into revenue.
Online influencers also play a vital part in the expansion of short-form dramas marketing. They have established credibility and influence which make their opinions and recommendations hold significant weight among their followers. Cooperation with online celebrities or actors can take advantage of their influence to take up more growth opportunities.
Dsclaimer: All images used in the article are from the Internet.