If you take stock of this year's major sports events, "Big! The sports movie "Boy" definitely has an important place. When it comes to self-media and mainstream media, there are also collectively hot discussions on "Good!" At the time of "Boys", "baseball" had undoubtedly become a hot keyword.
has won two awards from the FIRST Youth Film Festival, to the multi-circle recommendations caused by intensive pre-release before the release, and to the soaring reputation after the release, produced by iQiyi and MLB as a strategic partner. "Boy" has brought the public attention of baseball to a new level.
Baseball is a sport with a long history, but its development in China has been a bit slow. However, this situation has improved a lot in the past two or three years. MLB China uses content as a carrier and uses culture as a guide, allowing baseball to establish a broader awareness among the youth group, and more parents are willing to let their children get in touch with baseball. "Great! The hit "Boy" is more like an acceleration engine, allowing baseball culture to take root and sprout in more corners of China.
Chinese baseball ushered in its best development period
Although the influence and development level of Chinese baseball cannot be compared with traditional events such as football basketball platoons, this land is not a baseball desert. In fact, as early as the beginning of this century, we had our own professional baseball league, but we had experienced ups and downs on the road of development and did not create enough sound. In 2007, the world's top professional baseball league MLB entered the Chinese market and became an important force in promoting baseball in China.
Our baseball ecosystem is not complete, which determines that its market cultivation is a relatively long process. The sand is a tower. Last year, iResearch Consulting released the "2019 China Baseball Population White Paper". Data shows that China currently has 21 million baseball active people, of which 60% have become baseball fans in the past three years. It can be seen that the Chinese baseball industry has seen a significant upward momentum in recent years and is ushering in its best development period.
Of course, we must also realize that due to the relatively weak baseball infrastructure and not deep baseball cultural accumulation, in order to fundamentally change the industry's appearance, Chinese baseball must also start with education and cultural penetration to further improve the industrial ecosystem. This is also the main focus of MLB China in recent years. Qi Dong, managing director of
MLB China, once said that in order to continue to enter the public's vision in China, baseball is established in China with education as the core baseball ecosystem and cultivate its internal strength, it is also necessary to deeply combine trendy and fashionable content to demonstrate the charm of professional baseball to attract the "Generation Z". Qi Dong, who was a media person, has a keen sense of judgment on content operations and market trends, which has allowed MLB China to gradually build a systematic content pyramid, creating continuous attention for baseball in China.
Discover the mass touchpoint of baseball culture
If you want to consolidate the foundation of the Chinese baseball market, you must grasp the young people and serve their preferences. This is also the strategy that MLB China has always pursued. Considering that the Generation Z group is all digital natives, MLB China has created a large number of digital content assets to give more young people more channels to experience baseball culture. In addition, through cross-border cooperation, MLB China hopes to create a broader influence, break out of the sports circle, and integrate fashion and trendy elements into it.
The emergence of the epidemic has allowed more sports consumers to stay on digital channels for longer, while MLB China continues and strengthens its content strategy and launches "MLB Original Studio" to strive to tell good baseball stories in China. This year, the studio launched a series of short videos such as "Baseball 101", "MLB Trend Awards", "Super Star Archives", and "Sop and Sour Baseball". It is also worth mentioning that MLB China has also reached a cooperation with Tencent Animation's classic domestic comics IP " under one person ". While enriching the content and diversifying it, it also covers more potential baseball consumers.
In fact, MLB China is not isolated in the production and presentation of content, but has a complete extension of content strategy, such as joining forces with iQiyi and other partners to reach and influence a wider circle through film and television content.If you understand baseball and even baseball culture, you will be familiar with "Big!" The plot in Boys is more empathetic, while the self-made content such as "Baseball 101" and "Superstar Archives" is "Good! The best prelude to "Boy"
In the video, the children who came to the United States for the first time and truly came into contact with baseball culture were particularly excited. Although the defeat in the game made them lose and cry, they also learned to take responsibility in the game and achieved self-sublimation. "Great! "Youth" opens a window for more people to understand baseball from a humanistic and social perspective, and will also absorb more social forces to pay attention to China's youth baseball career. From series to "Good! The content of "Young Man" is different, but it never leaves its roots.
creates a closed-loop logic for content ecosystem
"Good! "Youth" has attracted a lot of attention and is also a strong release of MLB content strategy, confirming the significant success of using culture as a means of connection. It also confirms Qi Dong's point of view that the core and spiritual background of baseball have a natural fit with China's national cultural character.
If you carefully sort it out, you can find the logic of MLB: create a multi-dimensional content ecological closed loop that integrates teaching, characters, trends and scenes, and achieve comprehensive coverage of multiple types of audiences. Especially "Good! The multi-circle resonance effect triggered by "Boys" has opened up groups in the fields of film, television, sports, entertainment, media, etc., and is suitable for viewers of different age groups such as teenagers, young people, middle-aged people. So, "Good! "Boy" is not only a continuation of MLB's strategic logic, but also a kind of enrichment and upgrade.
Specific content: "Baseball 101" and "MLB Baseball Self-Study Class" are teaching contents, and their role is to spread knowledge and influence potential enthusiasts; "Superstar Archives" and "The Road to the Big League" are character contents, increasing the stickiness of fans; "Trend Awards" is an in-depth interpretation of baseball fashion culture, attracting young people with idol outfit content; "Big! "Boy" shows a vivid and real baseball scene, involving daily training, competition, teamwork and life, etc., allowing the audience to follow the camera into the baseball world.
The two little boys Ma Hu and Xiao Shuang, which are recorded in the film, have completely different personalities. It is this contrast that makes the content of the film more solid and the characters more vivid. From this perspective, "Good! "Boy" is an atypical documentary. In addition, the real baseball world shown in the film may bring a first experience of the sport to many viewers. When they see the grand scene of the Yankees at home in New York, the seeds of baseball deep in their hearts may have been planted.
Use short videos to allow baseball to quickly break the circle
In addition, facing the general trend that short videos have become an important carrier and channel for brand momentum and breaking the circle communication, MLB not only takes the lead in making layouts, but also constantly uses its excellent content advantages to bring information such as baseball culture, fashion, trends, and sports to the public. For example, the "520 There is a Love Called Brother" short video interactive activity planned and organized by MLB on Douyin during May 20 this year. Based on the team culture in baseball and sports, the concept of "520" is extended, from love to friendship and brotherhood, and has triggered widespread participation of 7 people and fans in sports circles. At the same time, it also affected more netizens to interact together. The number of exposures of various short videos reached 200 million, achieving good interactive communication effects.
At this year's 2020 ECOTIME Sports Annual Meeting, Qi Dong, managing director of MLB China, was invited to participate and took the "How did short videos profoundly change the sports industry? 》 shared MLB's thoughts and explorations in the short video and sports industry on the roundtable topic. During the conversation, Mr. Qi said that this year is an important year for MLB to focus on short video content. Through platforms like Douyin, MLB is constantly expanding its fan matrix. On the one hand, MLB brings exciting content on the field, such as games, stars, behind-the-scenes stories, off-site stories, and high-quality content related to baseball to fans and netizens, forming a good stickiness and also enhancing MLB's penetration in the vast baseball fan group.On the other hand, through the form of short videos, MLB has established a more direct, more efficient and social communication bridge with netizens on the platform, and has leveraged KOLs in other fields, constantly amplifying baseball trend culture, realizing the circle-breaking effect of audience communication, allowing more people to understand baseball and slowly become a loyal fan of MLB.
Conclusion
From the strategic direction of MLB, content is a systematic strategy, including events, fashion, cultural and creative, film and television, etc. And MLB participated as a strategic partner. "Big!" The sports movie "Boy" not only received the highest score in Douban for this year's domestic films, but also received attention and reports from mainstream media such as CCTV. It has resonated in many circles such as sports, entertainment, and education. Its success also confirms the influence and importance of sports content at the industry and the public.
in "Good! In "Boys", we can feel the tears, ignition and even pain points. Baseball has changed the life trajectory of a group of ordinary children. Isn't this the most real and simple sports story? China does not lack good stories about sports culture, but some mirrors that enlarge it. In promoting baseball, MLB is making this mirror. "Great! "Boy" seems to be a somewhat "unexpected" attempt, but when it really appears on the screen, we realize that the sport is not far away from us. It also provides more reference for the development of MLB in China.
Source: China.com
