Background (Figure 1):
In the first half of 2018, the growth rate of the paid reading market slowed down, and the industry faced bottlenecks in development. Recognizing the potential of free reading to expand the user market, Seven-Cat decided to enter the free reading track. In August 2018, the "Seven-Cat Free Novel App" was launched. After more than three years of development, Seven-Cat has firmly established itself as a leading player in the digital reading industry.
Pain points commonly faced by internet companies: relying on buying traffic to survive, but the cost of traffic is becoming increasingly expensive, so expensive that companies cannot make money. In 2019, Seven-Cat's Free Novel App, which had just entered the free reading track a year ago, also faced the same problem. Hua & Hua used the method of Super Signs to help Seven-Cat establish a reservoir of brand equity and employed a comprehensive media combination of "wide coverage and high momentum," thus gaining control over their own traffic sovereignty.
From the initial partnership between Seven-Cat and Hua & Hua in July 2019 to July 2021, Seven-Cat's Free Novel App experienced nearly a threefold increase in daily and monthly active users, consistently maintaining its advantage among the industry leaders.
Corporate Strategy (Figure 2-3):
Online novels provide an outlet for people's emotions and feelings, allowing them to alleviate the pressures of life and fulfill their desire for a sense of existence. Online novels offer wonderful fantasies to readers. Everyone has had unrealistic fantasies, and behind every unrealistic fantasy lies a heart that yearns for more than mediocrity. Based on the value of fantasy that Seven-Cat brings to people, we have defined its operational mission as "Marvelous Fantasies at Seven-Cat," meaning "letting people have marvelous fantasies."
Brand Character (Figure 4):
The extraordinary aspect of Seven-Cat's Super Sign lies in its integration of the brand logo and brand character. When minimized, it serves as the brand logo, and when magnified, it becomes the brand character. One symbol serves as both the brand logo and the brand character. Regardless of the communication medium, the flow of the logo and character interconnects and strengthens each other, maximizing the reduction of marketing communication costs and the accumulation of brand assets.
Brand Logo (Figure 5-6):
We leverage the inherent dramatic nature of the Seven-Cat brand: Seven-Cat = 7 + Cat. We selected the universally recognized Arabic numeral "7" with a history of over 2,500 years, as the basic form of the logo design. After studying various cats from around the world, we distilled three minimal yet representative elements of cats: whiskers, eyes, and ears. Finally, these elements were combined to form the brand's Super Sign, featuring a large-eyed Seven-Cat.
Video Advertisement (Figure 7):
Seven-Cat's Super TVC is utilizes a popular internet song called "Xue Mao Jiao (Learning Cat's Meow)." The song has been played over 7.3 billion times online and has won the Billboard Radio China Top 10 Chinese Songs of the Year award. Leveraging the power of the hit song, the Seven-Cat Super TVC has a sense of familiarity right from its inception, becoming widely known and recognized.
The 15-second TVC video features the brand's song as background music, Seven-Cat characters performing tricks, the Golden Horn product providing purchasing guidance, and brand proverbs that persuade viewers to make purchases. Every element is fully utilized, and the strategies are meticulously calculated.
Product Development (Figure 8-9):
In 2021, Seven-Cat developed a comprehensive ranking system by integrating multiple dimensions such as popularity, user evaluations, value orientation, and quality stability based on their respective weights. Hua & Hua carried out comprehensive planning for the naming, symbol design, purchase reasons, and advertising promotion of this ranking system, known as the "Seven-Cat Must-Read List." Through a robust recommendation mechanism, the Must-Read List solves the problem of users not knowing which novel to read. As of the end of 2021, the conversion rate of finding books through the Must-Read List (the number of people who found books divided by the number of page visitors) had reached 36.38%.
Self-Media System (Figure 10):
For internet brands, the app is the most significant self-media platform. With millions of daily active users on the Seven-Cat app, the challenge is how to make these users remember and admire Seven-Cat and spontaneously spread the word. Based on user behavior paths, at critical touchpoints, the Super Sign "Seven-Cat" interacts with users through various expressions and actions, enriching their visual experience, enhancing their affinity for Seven-Cat, and guiding and prompting them in key user behaviors. This brings Seven-Cat to life and makes it truly engaging and fun.
Employee Training (Figure 11):
Providing training to Hua & Hua's clients is about bringing everyone into the same context, creating symmetrical knowledge and experience, and reducing the cost of mutual understanding and communication. In July 2020, Hua & Hua organized a Super Sign training camp for Seven-Cat employees, with nearly a hundred participants led by the Chairman of Seven-Cat. The event included detailed case explanations and on-site exercises, allowing participants to learn through practical experience. The training was praised by the Chairman as being worth "3 million yuan."
Author Conference (Figure 12-14):
The Author Conference is one of Seven-Cat's author service products and serves as a public relations product for the industry. In May 2021, Hua & Hua assisted Seven-Cat in organizing the third Author Conference and the first Realistic Theme Essay Contest Awards Ceremony, taking care of venue logistics, touchpoint planning, and core materials. The super prop, "Golden Seven-Cat" trophy, was so popular among authors that it was widely shared on their social media.
Exhibitions (Figure 15-18):
Hua & Hua supervised Seven-Cat's continuous participation in various industry exhibitions and conferences throughout the year, including book fairs, internet literature conferences, IP promotion events, digital reading conferences, science fiction forums, and more. The oversized Seven-Cat stand designed by Hua & Hua successfully attracted attention and compelled passers-by to take pictures with it.
Advertising System (Figure 19-20):
Starting from 2020, Seven-Cat gradually launched large-scale brand advertising campaigns nationwide. Over the past two years, Hua & Hua has assisted Seven-Cat in offline advertising at our city airports, subway stations in six cities, over 900 green train carriages nationwide, product placements in seven variety shows, and seven film and television dramas. Through creative and media combinations, Hua & Hua has helped Seven-Cat reduce traffic costs and accumulate brand assets. From solely relying on paid traffic, Seven-Cat has developed a healthy traffic structure composed of elemental media traffic, outdoor advertising traffic, variety show integration traffic, Must-Read List product traffic, and more. Gradually, Seven-Cat has established its own traffic sovereignty.
