Read More《复盘618电商娱乐营销，淘宝京东美团谁更胜一筹?》
Positive Reviews: Innovative Upgrade of Entertainment Marketing, Multi – Dimensional Activation of Consumption Potential
The entertainment marketing battle during the 618 e – commerce promotion in 2025 was one of the most remarkable ones in recent years. The differentiated explorations of Taobao, JD.com, and Meituan in long – and short – form video content, star collaborations, and creative gameplay not only demonstrated the iterative vitality of e – commerce marketing but also provided a new paradigm for traffic acquisition and user conversion during the promotion through the combination of “precise coverage + mass breakthrough”.
Firstly, the “complementary strategy of long – and short – form content” of long – form video dramas and variety shows and short dramas effectively expanded the breadth and depth of marketing coverage. Long – form video dramas and variety shows, with the high popularity of top IPs and strong user stickiness, became the core positions for platforms to build a “volume base”. For example, Taobao and Tmall deeply embedded advertisements in popular dramas and variety shows such as The Litchis of Chang’an and Farm Together 3. This not only covered the young group but also seamlessly connected entertainment content with e – commerce scenarios through live – streaming events like the agricultural assistance live – streaming by “Ten Diligent Guys”. It not only strengthened the brand’s “life – service” attribute but also enhanced users’ awareness of the 618 event through the emotional resonance of the dramas. JD.com customized evening parties like Summer Song Festival and Happy Night. With designs such as “nostalgia kills” (e.g., Su Youpeng and Ku Koo – kei performing together) and cross – scenario interactions (connecting the evening party with the live – streaming room), it successfully transformed entertainment content into direct shopping entrances and regained the attention on the “peak day”. This strategy of “using long – form content to stabilize the volume” essentially utilizes the user base of mature IPs to provide stable traffic support for the promotion.
The short – drama marketing, with its “winning by quantity” and “direct conversion” approach, filled the gap in the long – form content’s ability to reach specific circles. Taobao and Tmall jointly launched a customized short drama Hey! The Gods Are Here with Bilibili and Kuaishou. Through the comical expression of “highly integrating advertisements with the plot”, it avoided the inappropriateness of hard – core advertisements and stimulated users’ participation through bullet – screen interactions (e.g., “There’s an ad after eight episodes”). Meituan’s cooperation with Kuaishou on multiple short dramas (e.g., The Trial of the Girl with over 100 million views) targeted the consumer group sensitive to “saving every bit” by leveraging the sinking nature of Kuaishou users. JD.com’s self – produced short drama Reborn as the President of JD.com with 50% Discount directly took “discount” as the core selling point and strengthened users’ perception of the low prices during the 618 promotion through the logic of “feel – good dramas”. The “short, flat, and fast” and “strong – link” characteristics of short dramas make them a powerful tool for platforms to fill the traffic gap and improve conversion efficiency.
Secondly, the transformation of star marketing from “fan – circle dependence” to “mass entertainment” was the biggest highlight of this 618 promotion. In the past, e – commerce star marketing often fell into the dilemma of “traffic stars only attracting fans and having difficulty reaching the general public”. However, this year, the three platforms successfully achieved a “breakthrough” through creative ideas such as “homophone puns” and “scenario – based endorsements”. Meituan’s Shanghai – dialect MV “Takeout, the yellow one is more reliable” with Huang Ling skillfully combined the brand color (yellow) with the star’s surname (Huang) and strengthened users’ perception of “Meituan Takeout is more reliable” with the word “reliable” (a positive word in Shanghai dialect). Dapeng’s “The Magic Coupons Will Definitely Explode 18” bound the “magic coupons” with the star’s personal label through the homophone of “explode” and “Peng”, which was both interesting and easy to spread. JD.com’s “The red one will win” (endorsed by Kara Wai for mobile phones) and Ele.me’s “The blue one will definitely win” (endorsed by Lan Yingying) turned the business competition into a social topic for the public to play with puns. This approach of “entertainment spirit + mass resonance” not only reduced users’ resistance to advertisements but also expanded the influence through secondary dissemination on social platforms (e.g., netizens playing with puns and discussing CPs). In addition, JD.com’s “vertical endorsements” of stars (Lei Jiayin for fresh produce, Zhang Yixing for trendy products) and Tmall’s interactive game of “Star Sticker Cards” also reflected the refined utilization of star resources – matching the star’s persona with the product attributes, which not only improved the credibility of the endorsement but also enhanced user stickiness through gamification design.
Finally, the “all – in – one marketing” that integrates multiple business lines improves the efficiency of resource utilization. JD.com’s two evening parties (Summer Song Festival and Happy Night) not only covered core businesses such as mobile phones, home appliances, and medicine purchasing but also promoted the takeout business through links such as the “instant delivery” of the same – style set menu from The Chinese Restaurant. Taobao and Tmall linked the agricultural assistance live – streaming in Farm Together 3 and deeply bound the variety show content with the e – commerce scenario. This “making the most of one thing” strategy avoids the waste of resources caused by different business lines operating independently and strengthens users’ perception of the platform’s “full – scenario service” through the coherence of content.
Negative Reviews: Behind the Marketing Carnival, Hidden Concerns about User Experience and Conversion Efficiency Emerge
Despite the diverse forms of entertainment marketing, the underlying contradictions of the e – commerce promotion were still exposed beneath the hustle and bustle of this 618 promotion: the imbalance between the “virtual” marketing investment and the “real” conversion effect, the damage to the user experience due to complex mechanisms, and the long – term value of some marketing methods being questionable.
Firstly, over – reliance on entertainment marketing may drive up costs, while the actual conversion effect is questionable. The sponsorship of top IPs in long – form video dramas and variety shows, the star lineup of customized evening parties, and the multi – platform promotion of short dramas all require huge financial support. For example, the stars invited to JD.com’s two evening parties included popular contestants from multiple variety shows such as Sisters Who Make Waves and Brotherhood of Rap. The endorsement and appearance fees must be substantial. Meituan’s cooperation with Kuaishou on multiple short dramas also incurs costs for traffic sharing and content production. However, the “volume” of entertainment marketing does not equal “sales”. Some users reported on social media that “they watched the evening party and found it lively but didn’t end up buying anything” and “although the short – drama advertisements were interesting, the discount mechanisms were too complex, and they were too lazy to compare prices”. The risk of “high investment, low conversion” may lead platforms into the strange circle of “marketing for the sake of marketing”. Especially for small and medium – sized e – commerce platforms, blindly following the entertainment marketing of large platforms may increase the financial pressure.
Secondly, the lengthening of the promotion period and the complication of nodes weaken users’ trust and consumption willingness. From Li Jiaqi’s pre – heating in early May to the return event on June 19th, the 618 promotion period was further extended and overlapped with multiple festivals such as Mother’s Day, May 20th, and the Dragon Boat Festival. Users had to pay repeated attention to the discount rules at different times, which led to the common confusion of “when to buy at the cheapest price”. Complaints such as “The second purchase was cheaper than the first” and “I bought it at a loss” flooded platforms like Xiaohongshu, reflecting users’ disgust with the platform’s “tricks”. Although entertainment marketing can attract users’ attention, the complex mechanism design makes users give up consumption due to “decision – making fatigue”. This contradiction of “acquiring traffic in the first half and losing users due to poor experience in the second half” essentially means that platforms prioritize “traffic acquisition” over “user experience”, which may damage the brand’s credibility in the long run.
Thirdly, the “winning by quantity” strategy of short dramas may dilute the brand’s tonality, and the instrumentalization of star marketing may weaken the long – term value. Due to the “short, flat, and fast” characteristics of short dramas, they often use the implantation method of “strong exposure, weak content” (e.g., repeatedly showing the brand slogan). Although it can quickly reach users, over – reliance on “quantity” may lead to users’ aesthetic fatigue and even a negative impression of the brand as “tacky”. For example, some users commented on Meituan’s short dramas on Kuaishou as “the advertisements are too hard – core, and I can’t remember the selling points after watching”. In addition, the “instrumentalization” trend of star marketing (e.g., homophone puns are just for fun and lack a connection with the brand’s core values) may weaken the long – term binding between stars and brands. If platforms only regard stars as “traffic tools” instead of conveying brand concepts (e.g., environmental protection, quality) through long – term cooperation, it will be difficult to establish users’ in – depth recognition of the brand.
Finally, the balance between the “circle – based” and “mass – oriented” aspects of entertainment marketing still needs to be optimized. Although platforms try to cover the general public with long – form content and reach specific circles with short – form content, some marketing actions still have the problems of “too narrow a circle” or “lack of public interest”. For example, although Tmall’s short drama Hey! The Gods Are Here in cooperation with Bilibili meets the “second – dimension” preferences of Bilibili users, the proportion of Bilibili users in the overall e – commerce user group is limited, making it difficult to achieve large – scale conversion. Meituan’s variety show This Is My Journey to the West in cooperation with the TFBoys’ era group attracted young fans but had limited reach among middle – aged users. How to make circle – based content break through the circle while maintaining the “precision” of mass – oriented content is still a problem that platforms need to solve.
Suggestions for Entrepreneurs: Entertainment Marketing Needs to “Precisely Break Through the Circle”, and User Experience Is the Core
The entertainment marketing battle during the 618 promotion in 2025 provides multi – dimensional insights for entrepreneurs. Based on the experiences and problems of this promotion, the following suggestions are worth considering:
-
Balance the investment in “long – form content” and “short – form content” and focus on the design of the “conversion link”
Long – form video dramas and variety shows are suitable for building brand awareness and public recognition, especially in the stage when there is sufficient budget and a wide user base needs to be covered. Short dramas are suitable for precisely reaching specific circles (e.g., the sinking market, young women) and require attention to the “short, flat, and fast” conversion design (e.g., direct jump to the purchase link, strong discount information). Entrepreneurs should choose the content form according to their target users and avoid “using long – form content just for the sake of it” or “using short – form content just for the sake of it”. At the same time, for both long – and short – form content, a clear conversion link should be designed (e.g., connecting the evening party with the live – streaming room, inserting purchase entrances in short dramas) to avoid the situation of “high popularity but low conversion”. -
Star marketing should be based on “emotional resonance” rather than “traffic stacking” and strengthen the “instrumentality” and “long – term value”
The selection of stars should be strongly related to the brand’s tonality and product attributes (e.g., choosing down – to – earth stars for agricultural products and young and trendy stars for trendy products) and avoid blindly chasing top – tier stars. Creative ideas such as “homophone puns” and “scenario – based endorsements” can be borrowed to reduce users’ resistance through interesting interactions, but it is necessary to ensure that the creativity is related to the brand’s core values (e.g., “saving”, “fast”, “quality”) and avoid “using puns just for the sake of it”. In addition, long – term cooperation between stars and brands can be explored (e.g., jointly developing customized products, participating in public welfare activities) to enhance users’ emotional recognition of the brand. -
Simplify the promotion mechanism and combine “entertainment marketing” with “user experience”
The core of the promotion is to “benefit users” rather than “confuse users”. Entrepreneurs can reduce users’ decision – making costs through designs such as “fixed prices”, “price – protection services”, and “clear time nodes (e.g., only having a pre – sale period and a peak period)”. At the same time, part of the entertainment marketing resources can be allocated to “resolve users’ doubts” (e.g., clarifying “when to buy at the most cost – effective price” and “price – protection rules” through short dramas or star voice – overs), combining entertainment with practicality to improve users’ trust. -
The “all – in – one marketing” needs to have a “clear main line” to avoid “mutual interference” among multiple business lines
If an enterprise is involved in multiple business lines (e.g., e – commerce + takeout + local life), it can integrate marketing through methods such as “theme evening parties” and “IP linkages”, but the main line should be clear (e.g., centered around the “618 Carnival”) to avoid information overload. For example, although JD.com’s evening party covered businesses such as mobile phones and takeout, it was linked by the “happy” theme, and users perceived it as a “one – stop carnival” rather than a “chaotic pile of advertisements”. Entrepreneurs need to ensure that the marketing actions of multiple business lines revolve around the same core value (e.g., “worry – free”, “cost – saving”) to enhance the unity of users’ perception. -
Pay attention to “user feedback” and dynamically adjust the marketing strategy
The effectiveness of entertainment marketing needs to be evaluated in real – time through user feedback (e.g., bullet – screens, comments, conversion rates). If short dramas win by quantity but users comment that the advertisements are too hard – core, the content design can be adjusted (e.g., increasing the relevance of the plot). If long – form video dramas and variety shows cover a wide range but have low conversion rates, the link design can be optimized (e.g., adding exclusive discount codes). Entrepreneurs need to establish a dual – track evaluation mechanism of “data monitoring + user research” to avoid “innovating just for the sake of innovation” and ensure that the marketing investment matches the actual effect.
In summary, the entertainment marketing battle during the 618 promotion in 2025 reflects the “traffic anxiety” of e – commerce platforms and is an inevitable result of the industry’s trend towards “content – based and entertainment – oriented”. For entrepreneurs, the key is not to “copy the gameplay of large platforms” but to find a marketing path that can “precisely break through the circle” based on their own resources and user needs. At the same time, “user experience” should be placed at the core to avoid falling into the trap of “marketing carnival but user loss”. Only in this way can entertainment marketing truly become a “powerful tool” for driving growth rather than a “cost black hole”.
