Song Dynasty traders created the best advertising slogans

Traders in the Song Dynasty created the best advertising language.

Text/Liu Liping

A good advertising slogan is really something you don’t need to ask for. The words may not be gorgeous, the words may not be clever, and the thoughts may not be profound, but they can attract ears and eyes. You’ll remember it when you hear it, and you’ll like it when you see it. Remembering and liking only happen for a moment and then spread easily. In a few words, all this human pleasure and desire to spread is condensed. For example, Water Margin's Three Bowls of Tang doesn't work.

In the Song Dynasty, talents emerged in large numbers and commerce was also developed. When talent and business are combined, there must be a catchy slogan. However, the most eye-catching slogan was not planned by a talented person, but shouted by an unknown manufacturer.

Market legend: A small vendor planned two seasons of advertising that caused a sensation

If you were a hawker selling cooked food on the streets of Bianjing during the Song Dynasty, you would carry a load every day in the streets and alleys. Eat and try to do good business in the world. As the largest city in the Middle Ages, what changes should you make? You don't have to have a shocking figure like Wu Dalang to attract people to buy the cakes you make, and you don't have to approach the creative literati Dongpo, a university student in Su, and ask them to write poems and poems about your products. You can only rely on your shouting to attract attention and ears. What should you shout? Moreover, even if a great talent writes advertisements for you, those advertisements are limited to the rhythm of poetry, with at least twenty words per paragraph, which is a bit too troublesome to read and not suitable for shouting.

Then you will lose me.

This is really a nerve-wracking thing. But the business people of the Song Dynasty can interpret legends other than Su Shi, Lu You, and Li Qingzhao, and their shouts can still create business miracles.

According to the records of the Chicken Rib Chapter, in the capital during the Zhezong period of Song Dynasty, there was a man who sold rice cakes. What is a ring cake? I don't I don't know. At that time, the citizens of Bianliang didn't know how to sell it to everyone. This guy has an idea. His advertisement did not contain any product introduction, nor did it say how delicious it was, nor did it say that it could nourish yin and strengthen yang, beautify and lose weight. This guy just took over the burden, looked disappointed, and sighed: If you lose, you lose.

If you lose, just give it to me. In five words, you will clearly shout out to the public an effect: I don’t drink cake, but I drink in a state where I would rather lose money to introduce good products to everyone. Don't add the tearful sale and the last three days of being a good advert at the end of the road. Every day, you will shout "I will lose money" and "I will lose money" without any explanation, leaving huge room for consumers' imagination. What is the loss? Is the product great but the price too low? No, it's all in the cry.

Hey, cake seller, what did you lose? Buy two and try them. The citizens of Bianliang rushed to buy rice cakes out of curiosity. They tasted really good, so consumers also spread such advertisements: Did I lose my cake by eating that loss? It's pretty good. Maybe the public will take it as a mantra. After suffering losses in their daily lives, they would imitate the tone of the deli vendor and say, if you lose, you lose me. The language of advertising has become everyday language, which is a sign of success.

Analyzing the hawker's planning psychology, the merchant must be placed in the position of the injured to arouse the sympathy of consumers and expand sales on this basis.

Su Shi Food Advertisement

This guy’s mind won’t stop there. He would also take advantage of the social situation and social psychology at the time to increase prices for his business. At that time, a queen was abandoned in Huayao Palace. This guy is well-informed. He carries a burden and wanders in front of Huayao Palace every day, screaming miserably: If you lose, you lose to me. The slogan of the advertisement added the color of palace resentment, and the trading volume increased again. However, the vendors soon fell into trouble and became a big business. The people in Kaifeng suspected that he was a relative of a disabled person, so they arrested him and interrogated him. He had no other motive, he just wanted to sell two more cakes, so he was let go, but he still got a hundred kills.

This guy quickly hyped the above incident into an advertisement. He planned the slogan for the second season. Every day, he would take a break while limping down the street and yelling at me to put it down. Let me put down my baggage and take a rest. Why? It is obviously a message to consumers: the guy who sells ring cakes was beaten badly, everyone feels sorry for him, please buy more cakes. As a result, people laughed and buyers increased. This time, it's compassion. In the two advertisements before and after, the merchants put themselves in the position of the injured. And compared to the former, the latter has the flavor of the second season inheriting the first season, avoiding monotony and having continuity.

Everyone knows that Su Dongpo can make advertising slogans. For example, when he was in Hainan, he wrote an advertisement for the cake of the old mother next door: When held in the hand, the jade color is even and the oil is deep and tender. A beautiful woman, Xia Hou, made a good pancake with her slender hands. It was enviable to eat fried with green oil. Su, a college student, evokes imagination with his hands and arouses appetite with colors. But I personally think that if the Song Dynasty were to set up an award for the best advertising words, it would be either a loss or a loss for me. Daxuesu's advertising slogan is a bit wordy, and it is difficult for the general public to remember it.

Celebrity effect:

Interaction with Su Shi can also become a selling point.

Su Shi was a writer and calligrapher, but I have never heard that his father was an expert in ink making. However, he is a celebrity after all, and his products will sell well as long as they touch him.

According to the records recorded by Ye Mengde during his summer vacation, it is said that during the Xuanhe period of the Song Dynasty, there was a businessman named Pan Heng who sold ink in Jiangxi. Boss Pan’s sign for selling ink is: Su Shi. He has a story in his hand, which tells that when he and University Su were in Hainan, they traveled in the sea of ??ink and were deeply appreciated by University Su, so he taught him the secret recipe of making ink. All the inks I sell are based on University Su's secret recipe. I learned from my own words that ink can be made at sea, so I got my secret recipe.

In the calligraphy and painting market at that time, Mr. Su Dongpo's market works had reached the level of one million words. In addition, at that time, his old man was dead, and his works were destroyed in large numbers by his enemies. As a result, the water rose even higher, and it even extended to the field of ink making. So after the boss Pan publicized Su Da's secret recipe, consumers came to buy it, regardless of whether it was true or false.

It is far-fetched from one detail

Ye Mengde, a scholar at the time, had always doubted the authenticity of this advertisement. Later, he met Su Dongpo's fourth son Su Guo in Xuchang. Su is Su. He and his father have been to Hainan. He was supposed to be Sue's interaction with Pan.

When Ye Mengde asked about this, witness Suguo immediately denied: My father does not have any secret recipes for making ink, and I do not have any secret recipes for making ink. These secret recipes are all advertised by businessmen. However, Suguo did not deny the relationship between Boss Pan and Lao Su. It turned out that when Su Dongpo and his son lived in Hainan, Boss Pan came to visit. At that time, the Su family and his son were making their own coal. That night, it accidentally caught fire and almost burned down the cabin where I lived.

There are still a few pieces of black coal in the embers, about the size of a finger. Su Dongpo tried to use this piece of residual coal to write, but it was not hard enough. Lao Su laughed, that's all. Boss Pan was at the scene, but he didn't want to pay attention to it. He kept this detail in mind, and then enlarged it into an advertisement with unlimited hype, exaggerating it into a secret recipe for making ink taught by the university professor.

The smartest thing about Boss Pan is that he did interact with college student Su. As for whether the secret recipe is taught on the spot, there is a lot of room for improvement. You don't have to be a matter-of-fact speaker to teach a recipe, and you don't have to take notes. Both of them are very energetic and their entire position is about business. It's not impossible for it to learn the secret sauce between meetings. Say whatever you want.

Of course, Boss Pan’s ink is indeed of good quality, but he is complacent and does not bring disgrace to the university’s reputation. However, it is a pity that he owes Su patent fees. family.

Familiar scenes:

There were also large-scale advertising performances on the streets of the Southern Song Dynasty.

Now, no

This is a record from the second volume of Mengliang Lu of Song Dynasty: One morning before the Qingming Festival in the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty, in the courtyard of the inspection office in charge of the brewing industry, various people The advertising teams of big brewing houses are neatly arranged and ready to go. Each store will hang a piece of cloth more than 30 feet long, with this slogan written on it: Our bank hires world-famous brewing masters to brew wine with excellent color, fragrance and flavor. The advertisement is hung on a long bamboo pole, and each bamboo pole is supported by three or five people. After the inspection, the professional band and singers hired by the advertising company walked out of the tally compound and onto the street, singing and singing all the way, and started a large-scale promotion activity. The restaurant took a lot of time. In addition to performances by bands and singers, some handsome guys will be invited to serve as wine models, urging them to drink along the street and handing out free snacks. There is a altar of new wine at the entrance of the restaurant, and citizens can taste it at will. How effective is it? Sales were recorded as twice the usual volume.

Thinking of the prosperous Song Dynasty thousands of years ago. Businessmen, talents, and even street vendors, their business wisdom, and their genius planning have witnessed the greatness of the Chinese nation from another perspective.