Schöpfen von Wellen, Inseln erschaffen: Hilen, das die Initiative ergreift, gibt eine Antwort auf die Sorgen in der Branche ab

In today's era, hotspots and attention are never in short supply. Fresh stories are updated in seconds: the trendy catchphrases that are flooding the screens at this moment may be replaced by new stories tomorrow and will be covered by an even more overwhelming wave of traffic the day after.

Under this narrative, most brands are deeply trapped in the cycle of chasing waves - chasing hotspots, increasing exposure, and then falling into silence until the next wave arrives. However, once the wave recedes, brands find that spending a fortune on riding hotspots and buying traffic only brings fleeting attention, let alone long - term growth and precipitation. Even after the hustle and bustle, users remember the hotspots but forget the brands. Brands become the laborers of hotspots. The harder they chase hotspots, the farther they are from establishing brand awareness.

Perhaps the answer to breaking the deadlock is right in front of us. Instead of passively chasing waves, it's better to actively create them. Only by precisely grasping the rhythm and direction of the waves, transforming from a "wave chaser" to a "wave creator", and firmly transforming the value of public hotspots into exclusive brand assets can a brand stand firm in the iterative flow of traffic. This is also the ultimate test of a brand's core capabilities.

Be a zookeeper at HaiLien for a day

If you were asked to come up with a hot - spot marketing plan about cute pets in 2025, what would your answer be?

From the simplest perspective, you could, like most brands, quickly launch a "cute - pet limited edition", pile up pet elements on the brand image, and only focus on promotion. However, the result would be that once the hotspot fades, users won't remember any connection between the brand and pets.

But HaiLien offers another way to solve the problem, which is to think about how to transform hotspots into a target audience and retain this asset in the long run. This is a difficult but long - term solution that can break the dilemma where brands are always abandoned by hotspots.

At HaiLien, the popularity of a cute - pet hotspot started with an offline event called the "Cute Face Party".

This "Cute Face Party" originated from HaiLien's puppy - themed product series for the Juhuasuan Happy Day. Participants could pick up a passport from the online store and choose an identity according to their preferences at the party venue - usually a cute little animal. Then, they could find the NPC zookeeper of their camp for the day and start their eye - catching party journey.

Interestingly, HaiLien specially invited four real - life cosplayers as "one - day zookeepers". After consumers purchase products from the puppy series online, they can get an extra sticker coupon. They can then choose the zookeeper they most want to interact with offline and also get a chance to enter a lottery.

In fact, this fun and interesting "Cute Face Party" is just one aspect of HaiLien's many ways to solve the hotspot problem. In recent years, HaiLien's online and offline activities have frequently gone viral. Through this specific case of the "Cute Face Party", we can precisely dissect HaiLien's brand - strategy logic of actively creating hot - spot events, effectively anchoring growth goals, and ultimately achieving the precipitation of user assets on the Juhuasuan Happy Day.

Before planning an event, understanding the target audience is the starting point. According to the 2024 colored contact lens industry report, the annual search volume for animal - themed colored contact lenses, such as dog - eye and cat - eye styles, has increased by 230%. The repurchase rate of cute - pet IP co - branded products is 1.8 times higher than that of ordinary products.

Despite this trend, HaiLien's connection with small animals began with an accidental encounter.

In the winter of 2023, HaiLien adopted two stray dog siblings, "Xiaohuang" and "Xiaohei", on the street. With the suggestions of netizens, they were named Egg Tart and Blackberry. Soon, HaiLien created a Xiaohongshu account with Egg Tart and Blackberry as the main characters, continuously recording the little details of their lives after being adopted, from physical examinations and vaccinations to "starting work" in the marketing department. The two puppies attracted the attention of over 1.06 million related notes, and there were a large number of comments in the comment section like "following the updates like chasing a TV series".

The popularity of Egg Tart and Blackberry also made HaiLien realize that when a brand becomes a "character" in users' lives rather than just a "product", hotspots will no longer be fleeting but will be transformed into continuous emotional connections. Inspired by the two puppies, HaiLien officially launched the "Innocent Affection" puppy - themed product series.

HaiLien's puppy - themed series is not just a superficial follow - up trend. Instead, it regards the "cute - pet concept" as the brand's "personality DNA". For example, the puppy - themed series has a total of 8 color patterns, which can meet different needs for colored contact lenses and precisely create the same kind of moist and shiny eyes as dogs. Also, in the naming system, names like "Egg Tart Chai" and "Blackberry Fufu" are directly related to the characteristics of the puppies. When users unpack the products, they will naturally think, "This is the same color pattern as Egg Tart's."

Nowadays, HaiLien's puppy - themed series remains highly popular among the young generation. The underlying logic is clear - in the face of the cute - pet craze, a public emotional touchpoint, HaiLien didn't blindly follow the trend by launching short - term limited products. Instead, it established the precise positioning of being a "cute - style life partner for the young". HaiLien didn't initially target the commercialization of pet owners. Instead, it incorporated the love for small animals into its brand genes. Through the personalized operation of IPs like "EnEn", "Egg Tart", and "Blackberry", HaiLien captured the aesthetic preferences, consumption scenarios, and emotional demands of "cute - style lovers", established a warmer and deeper emotional connection with consumers, and transformed the puppy - themed series from a "hot - spot accessory" into an "emotional carrier" deeply bound to users.

With the precise targeting of the cute - style audience and the high - quality carrier of the puppy - themed series, the "Cute Face Party" is no longer just a simple offline event but a complete commercial closed - loop practice. It uses "offline immersive experience + online precise conversion" as the pre - contact point, not only achieving immediate purchase conversion but also successfully retaining cute - style lovers within the brand ecosystem. It allows users to deeply understand the warm core behind HaiLien's puppy - themed series during the interaction, laying the foundation for the subsequent precipitation of user assets.

In terms of user retention, HaiLien also adheres to the warm original intention of the puppy - themed series, which originated from rescuing stray dogs. Through the "Star - Eye Guardians Alliance", for every product sold, the brand donates 1 yuan to the public - welfare fund for the rescue of stray animals. While meeting the dual needs of users for "self - pleasure + doing good", it also builds trust through the transparency of public - welfare data (real - time display of donation progress), laying a solid foundation for long - term repurchase and finally achieving the precipitation of the target audience from "hotspot - conversion - repurchase".

From "target audience" to "assets", complete the full - link business closed - loop

After establishing the strategic direction of "creating assets with hotspots", how should the specific and executable business closed - loop be implemented? Where does the targeted audience come from? How to convert interest into consumption? And how to turn one - time consumers into long - term assets?

Taking the puppy - themed "Cute Face Party" as an example, HaiLien tries to complete the full - link business closed - loop around the three major aspects of "traffic introduction - conversion and reception - asset precipitation".

In today's era when the "casting a wide net" style of traffic investment has long been ineffective, HaiLien's solution is to use "high - quality content" as the hook, precisely plant the seeds of interest in the scenarios where the target audience gathers, and let the interested audience actively approach the brand.

For example, around the "cute - style" selling points of the puppy - themed series, HaiLien initiated a large number of content co - creation projects with KOLs and KOCs on social media, creating a hierarchical content matrix. Top - tier influencers are responsible for scene - based promotion, providing fans with a full - process tutorial on the puppy - themed series, from color - pattern selection and wearing skills to clothing matching. Mid - tier influencers focus on real experiences, sharing posts on daily commuting wearing evaluations and the suitability of different dog - breed color patterns for different face shapes, showing the real usage value of the products. For ordinary users, by participating in HaiLien's colored contact lens topics and spontaneously sharing selfies and usage experiences, they can also create a new wave of promotion ripples.

As of now, through the content atmosphere created by "influencer guidance + ordinary user spread", the cumulative views of HaiLien's puppy - themed series - related topics on Xiaohongshu have exceeded 10 million, and the cumulative views of related topics on Douyin have exceeded 200 million. These potential "cute - style lovers" provide a high - quality traffic foundation for subsequent conversion.

With the interested audience, how should they be converted into consumers? Instead of choosing the conventional large - scale promotion, HaiLien created the offline event of the "Cute Face Party" pop - up event, allowing the interested audience to make consumption decisions during the immersive experience.

The core design of this event is to deeply integrate "experience" and "conversion". Consumers can scan the QR code at the "Cute Friend Certification Center" at the entrance of the party to become a member of HaiLien's Taobao store. After getting a cute - friend passport, they can gain access to the party. During the event, through activities such as the Super - Cute Eye - Skill Supply Station, the Cute Friend Hugging Point, and the "We're All Together" area, consumers can deeply experience HaiLien's puppy - themed series products and the brand story behind them. And if they buy the puppy - themed series at the party venue, they can participate in the on - site lottery and have a chance to win autographed wide - format instant cameras and other peripheral gifts.

Therefore, the "One - Day Store Manager" became the biggest surprise of the "Cute Face Party". HaiLien invited influential guests from the cosplay circle to guide fans and users to join the "Cute Face Party" event mechanism, become the protagonists of the event by joining the cute - pet team, and better interact with EnEn, Blackberry, and Egg Tart in a cute and interesting way, allowing users to feel the joy of "playing with the brand" rather than the pressure of "being marketed to".

One - Day Store Manager

To continuously enhance the user experience, HaiLien also set up a public - welfare interaction area at the queuing area. Users only need to "high - five" once offline to donate 0.1 yuan to the pet fund for stray animals. Later, they can also see the latest situation of the stray animals on the online H5 page, making their kindness "tangible".

According to statistics, at the on - site "One - Day Store Manager Meet - and - Greet" of HaiLien, the number of fans and passers - by watching the event reached over 500 every day. It also attracted over 100 KOLs to check in at the party venue and interact closely with HaiLien's puppies and EnEn. Additionally, the marketing topic #Look at Our Cuteness, So Eye - Catching# of HaiLien's Juhuasuan Happy Day has reached over 30 million views across all online platforms; there are over 500 fan - created second - generation notes about the new product's One - Day Store Manager across all platforms. At the same time, 88 large screens in Chongqing Raffles City were fully covered, and the brand's recognition and reputation increased rapidly.

But conversion is not the end; it's the starting point of user - asset precipitation.

In the full - link closed - loop of "traffic - conversion - assets", retaining the target - audience assets is the last and most difficult step. All along, HaiLien has been deepening user recognition through value - orientation output. Through the continuous operation of IPs like EnEn, Blackberry, and Egg Tart, HaiLien is also transmitting the "healing and warm" core behind the "cute - style" stories to every user, deepening user recognition through value - orientation output.

Moreover, private - domain operation is also the key link to convert short - term consumers into long - term assets. HaiLien has created a "cute - pet social circle", opened "EnEn's Moments" in the enterprise WeChat group, and shared the daily "work" of the puppies every day - for example, today Blackberry tore open the express box in the marketing department and was fined 10 freeze - dried treats. These interesting snippets attracted a large number of fans, and the average number of daily interactive messages from users exceeded 2000.

As the "water level" in the private - domain seed pool rises, the "water flow" will naturally extend to the public domain, feeding back into public - domain conversion. For example, through the private - domain contact matrix such as Moments, groups, and private - domain mini - programs, HaiLien coordinated with its Tmall official flagship store to pre - promote this Juhuasuan Happy Day, naturally achieving the closed - loop of private - domain reach → public - domain exposure → purchase conversion.

All these closed - loops ultimately aim at one goal - converting "short - term consumers" into "long - term assets" and upgrading users from "buying products" to "recognizing the brand".

In this Juhuasuan Happy Day in the contact - lens industry, from the offline large - scale event to the successful online closed - loop, HaiLien finally released an excellent battle report - GMV exceeded 10 million +, with a 200% increase on the first day; the transaction amount of members increased by 59% month - on - month, and the sales of the cute - pet series products ranked second in the whole network.

A large number of fans gathered at the on - site One - Day Store Manager Meet - and - Greet

HaiLien's marketing inspiration in the era of "retained traffic"

In the era when the traffic dividend has reached its peak, while most brands are still anxious about not being able to catch up with hotspots, HaiLien's practice proves that the ultimate goal of hotspot marketing is not to "ride on the traffic wave" but to "create assets".

By observing HaiLien's marketing practice, it may provide a more comprehensive long - term growth methodology for the industry - "brand - strategy upgrade, business - growth closed - loop, and target - audience asset precipitation".

It's never difficult to come up with a single - point creative idea. The difficult part lies in how to think systematically. Behind the implementation of this closed - loop methodology, HaiLien grasped the core concept of "becoming a partner that users are willing to co - create with", that is, a brand should not be a one - way information provider but a "co - creator" of