From Jingzhe to Spring Equinox, Banana is one step closer to life

This article reveals how Jiaoxia integrates lightweight outdoor concepts into life through solar term marketing strategies, providing strategic inspiration for brand marketers and outdoor lifestyle explorers, hoping to help you gain new ideas in brand building.

Following last year’s Jingzhe Festival, Jiaoxia released a new brand promotional video during the Spring Equinox.

Different from the strong and individual style of painting last time, this time it is more like a relaxing and pleasant dream.

Taking advantage of the node reminder of the "Spring Equinox", I took a physical and mental journey, switching from a fixed workstation to the boundless outdoors.

You can feel the pure joy of "returning to nature" from this short film, and feel eager to try it out.

The brand expression of Jiaoxia this time does not have too many value metaphors, but rather presents a series of stretched postures, which actually brings "lightweight outdoor" one step closer to everyone and integrates it from a general concept into specific life.

1. From the Waking of Insects to the Spring Equinox, the layers of expression of the imagery under the banana trees

Obviously, from last year's "The Awakening" to this year's "Back to the Outdoors", they all have one thing in common:

Taking the solar terms as an opportunity and using pictures as a carrier, we express brand content around lightweight outdoor.

Many brands have done solar term marketing, either by creating new packaging or by creating seasonal products. But if you want to find a brand example, I suggest you look at Jiaoxia. Currently, Jiaoxia has only done marketing for the two solar terms, Jingzhe and Chunfen, but its cultural understanding and content expression behind the solar terms are full of ingenuity.

From the perspective of the meaning of the solar terms, Jingzhe is a "call" for spring, while the Spring Equinox is more like an "action" towards spring.

For Jiaoxia, "Qingzhe Ling" is the "official announcement" of the lightweight outdoor brand strategy, and "Return to the Outdoors" is the life-like "expression" behind the strategy.

So we can see that Jiaoxia's "Qingzhe Order" is majestic, awakening people to take the first step of spring with its explosive and freehand posture.

This time, the film "Back to the Outdoors" has adopted a brighter style, focusing the camera on more daily lightweight outdoor scenes, camping, hiking, boating... "We" who participate in it, wearing and using banana shoes, are as happy as the spring equinox, without asking about the meaning.

This mutually echoing communication binds the brand with the solar terms familiar to Chinese consumers, and further relies on the "visual sense" and "emotional power" behind the solar terms to achieve the public's cognitive differentiation between Jiaoxia as a local outdoor brand and foreign outdoor brands.

2. From concept to reality, lightweight outdoor life becomes a reality

As we all know, it is difficult to create a new concept and cut a new track, but what is even more difficult is how to transform abstract strategic concepts into concrete perceptions in people's lives.

After rationally cutting into the "lightweight outdoor" track with brand strategy in 2023, Jiaoxia seems to be moving towards this goal in 2024.

From this year's film "Back to the Outdoors", we can see the specific ideas of Jiaoxia:

Through the three concrete dimensions of "emotion + scene + product", the concept of "lightweight outdoor" will gradually be integrated into the lives of more people.

From an emotional perspective, Jiaoxia looks inward and captures people's most genuine inner needs. Behind the three words "Back to the Outdoors" are reflected Jiaoxia's accurate understanding of outdoor people.

The reason why the habitual phrase "going outdoors" is changed to "returning to the outdoors" is because in Jiaoxia's opinion, people originally come from the outdoors. It is not a kind of going, but more of a return.

Seeing this, I suddenly understood why "The Origin of Species" appeared at the beginning and end of the film. This is actually a detailed echo of the expression of the Banana brand.

The outdoors are part of human nature. There is no need to conquer them like in the Western world. Just embrace the joy.

Lightweight outdoor activities are based on this emotional tone, removing the sense of purpose and meaning, and using a lighter and more convenient way to find natural happiness and see yourself relaxed outdoors.

From the scene level, lightweight outdoor has a wider range of interpretations. Compared with traditional outdoor, lightweight outdoor and life can be seamlessly connected. You don't have to deliberately choose the location and time, you can start on the way home from get off work, feel every step under your feet, every gust of wind blowing by your ears.

“If you walk, you don’t have to count your steps.”

There is no need to pursue a specific purpose. Whether you catch fish or not, you can enjoy this wonderful time. Camping is not for enriching the experience, but simply to feel the beauty of this place.

The moment is pleasant.

“If you’re fishing, it’s good to have fish or not.”

In terms of products, Jiaoxia uses specific scenarios to undertake product sets, and in turn relies on products to achieve scene "breakthrough". In my opinion, the entire line of Jiaoxia products is like a portal, allowing everyone to switch back and forth between life and the outdoors, which also well interprets the connotation of "returning to the outdoors is also returning to life" this time.

For example, it is a wading suit that is sun-proof and water-repellent, and also a sweat-wicking and breathable fitness suit. It is an outer vest with a cup, and also a light and sweat-wicking inner wear. It is a protective hard shell that is not afraid of wind, rain, and snow, and also a warm coat in autumn and winter...

Behind this is the core product capability that Jiaoxia has always emphasized, namely, multiple uses of one product and cross-scenario usage.

3. From niche to universal, gradually build a lifestyle brand for all people

In fact, this is not the first time I have written about bananas.

Previously, we reviewed the brand strategy upgrade path of Jiaoxia and had a conversation with Jiaoxia CMO Guo Xiao. This time, we went a step further and used the case of "Back to the Outdoors" as an observation footnote to explore the possibility of local emerging consumer brands growing into lifestyle brands.

Let me first talk about my views on "lifestyle brands":

Nowadays, more and more localized brands are developing in the direction of lifestyle brands, but without breaking the wall between brand scenes and life scenes, it is easy to give people a sense of separation that they are "not worthy of the name".

To become a "lifestyle brand", it is destined not to take the niche route, but to get closer to the hearts of more people, and at least meet several key elements.

One is to lighten the emotions, freeing life from excessive grand narratives, untying it from the meaning of goals, returning to oneself, capturing every subtle feeling, and focusing on the purest happiness.

The other is to make the solution practical. No matter it is equipment, content or venue, they can all return to real life in the end, making the outdoors a part of daily life and an inseparable part of life.

The development path of most brands is to slowly iterate from products, scenarios, to lifestyles. In the matter of lightweight outdoor lifestyle, Jiaoxia is growing step by step. Naturally, it will become more and more impressive in the hearts of the public.

Why am I optimistic about Jiaoxia? It is expanding in two directions:

First, take the rational layers such as products and scenarios as the vertical axis, and dig deep into the real and mainstream needs of users and the market.

Jiaoxia has seized the trend of the popularization of outdoor activities and entered the "lightweight outdoor" lifestyle track and has taken root there. Compared with complex traditional sports, "lightweight outdoor" is not only inclusive and extensive, but can also expand to more consumer scenarios, which is enough to support Jiaoxia's growth into a mature large category.

The second is to use emotions, needs and other perceptual layers as the horizontal axis to cover more target users and awaken more potential people.

Every time BananaXia expresses its brand, it conveys the outdoor value of "lightweight", which fits the current young people's pursuit of freedom, ease and relaxation. Under the common vision of returning to the outdoors and embracing the sun, it is easy for BananaXia and young people to stand together.

With brand strategy as the axis and specific outdoor scenes as the volume, from both rational and emotional levels, Jiaoxia is outlining a clearly perceived brand image for the public, gradually approaching the goal of "a lifestyle brand for all people."

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Finally, let’s talk

Some extras of "Lightweight Outdoor". Outdoor sports originated from early exploration and scientific expeditions in Europe and the United States. Western outdoor sports emphasize the sense of purpose of "challenging nature".

Lightweight outdoor products, on the other hand, pursue the relaxed feeling of "embracing nature", which is more in line with the behavioral habits and cultural recognition of the Chinese people.

Life and outdoor activities are originally two different forms. Time, place, equipment, mentality...these factors divide them very far apart.

But Jiaoxia's lightweight outdoor products are changing this phenomenon. With lightweight products and relaxed concepts, they have effectively broken down the barriers between the outdoors and life.

One second in life, the next second outdoors.

In my opinion, lightweight outdoor life is not just a new term, but also a new demand for outdoor sports.

As a "wall breaker", Jiaoxia is slowly tearing open this hole.
Let the outdoors and life be better integrated.

Removing the meaning and returning to the nature of freedom is equivalent to truly breaking the boundaries of the outdoors and extending lightweight outdoor activities to all people, all ages, and all scenarios.

To borrow the copy of this film, "People are not going outdoors, but returning to the outdoors."

From the Waking of Insects to the Spring Equinox, Jiaoxia’s lightweight outdoor products not only bring people closer to life, but also bring everyone back to life.

Author: Black Little Finger

Source: WeChat public account "Shock Copywriter (ID: SHOCKCW)"