Re-evaluating Keep, can “trendy play + sports” successfully make money?

Originally, medals were awarded by participating in competitions and winning places, but Keep has made them very popular. Not only have they been co-branded with various IPs, but they can also be obtained by simply participating, and it has even become a business model. In this article, we try to analyze why medals, which are originally "peripherals", have such a great influence.

In recent years, whenever Keep is mentioned, it is almost always related to "medals". Starting with the Sanrio Cinnamon Dog medal that became popular in 2021, Keep has launched a number of IP co-branded medals such as Chibi Maruko-chan and Kuromi to attract users to participate in online events. Until now, the most popular topic related to Keep on social media is still medals.

This is not unusual. In the Internet fitness industry, no other player has made medals a hit like this. Keep can be said to be unique. Previously, medals became a hit and were considered to be an occasional marketing event, but in fact it has continued to boost the company's business growth: According to Keep's financial report, its online membership and paid content revenue in 2023 was 996 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 11.4%, mainly due to virtual sports events, namely the medal business.

The gameplay is unprecedented, unmatched, and novel, so the value behind it is naturally more scarce. At this point, we should think more deeply about why a medal, which is a "peripheral" item, has such a great influence, can drive business growth, and even affect the company's overall business model? What kind of imagination and industry enlightenment will it bring?

1. The “shape” of the medal: making trendy toys based on IP

Medals are not uncommon as a physical reward for online events, and they are not new to the industry. One of the key factors that made the Keep medal a hit, and even a collectible trendy item, is the IP.

After the Cinnamon Dog collaboration became popular in 2021, Keep has targeted major well-known two-dimensional IPs: classic big IPs such as Sanrio and Disney are indispensable, and light IPs such as Stripe Puppy were also included in the cooperation when they were popular.

Not only cartoons and animations, Keep's cooperative IPs have been fully expanded to include popular games like "Love and Deep Space", the hit TV series "Fox Spirit Matchmaker", as well as popular stars, brands, cultural and creative products... The categories are almost all-encompassing, covering anything that young people like.

In addition to cooperating with well-known IPs, Keep also created original IPs through its own research and design team. Chinese style blessing series such as Chinese Girls and Good Luck Cards have also gained favor. The themes of cultural heritage, environmental protection, animal care, etc. conveyed in the self-created IPs have also expanded the value dimension and improved Keep's reputation.

While continuously enriching its IP, Keep is also adding a lot of new ways to play.

In the first quarter of this year, Keep launched a pre-launch mode, setting up a pre-launch venue before the official release, and issuing limited medals in stock. The gameplay of getting medals earlier than others further enhances users' eager demand for IP co-branded products. At the same time, Keep also refers to the operating methods of game products, adding virtual prop cards, virtual prizes, etc., enriching the incentive forms and better capturing the preferences of game IP enthusiasts.

Virtual gift packs and virtual props

In fact, from the perspective of the entire consumer field, IP co-branding is currently a widely used gameplay: tea brands have new IP cooperation almost every month, and clothing and department store brands have several IP co-branded models on a daily basis. However, IP co-branding is not directly equivalent to trendy toys. Ordinary IP co-branding is more of a one-time, short-term event, and the products launched are more "functional". For example, IP co-branded milk tea may be sold out, but it is difficult for people to collect various milk tea cups.

According to this logic, Keep makes medals based on IP, not just IP collaboration.

Making medals based on IP first of all fits the current mainstream trend of "emotional consumption".

As Maslow's needs theory says: After meeting basic survival needs, people will instinctively upgrade to higher-level self-realization needs. Today is an era of consumption where functional needs are fully met or even excessive, and users will naturally choose products that have more emotional satisfaction and sensory pleasure. McKinsey's "2024 China Consumer Trends Survey" also shows that 64% of consumers value spiritual consumption more, and young consumers attach more importance to spiritual consumption. This is exactly what medals can bring: whether it is a very cute cartoon character or a drama, variety show, movie or game that leaves a deep impression, it can attract attention and hit people's hearts. And consumption itself is also a way to express emotions. Consuming for your favorite IP can heal yourself and gain happiness.

The reason why Keep is not just doing IP collaboration is because its medals have more "trendy" features.

First of all, it is not easy to get the Keep medal. Users have to participate in a specific event period and complete certain running tasks to get it. This "I have it when others don't" experience makes the medal a limited and time-limited trendy toy, increasing its uniqueness and collection value.

Secondly, Chaowan pays special attention to scene marketing and "immersion", maximizing the emotional value. From participating in online running activities to finally winning medals, Keep also allows users to be immersed in a positive and healthy emotional atmosphere. Users' emotions are fully released and satisfied, and they can finally feel it more directly from the physical medals.

In addition, trendy toys are also a kind of "social currency". According to the "Trendy Toy Industry Development Report (2023)" released by the Institute of Finance and Economics Strategy of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, in addition to the collection value, consumers also value the expression of personality and attitude, as well as social sharing with others when purchasing trendy toys. The same is true for medals: winning a medal means that you have a positive and healthy attitude, and naturally gain the recognition of people who are also interested in medals. When users "show off" the medals given by their family and friends for participating in the competition in their social circles, they are actually showing the love between family, friends, and lovers.

At the same time, according to the Trendy Toy Industry Development Report (2023), the scale of China's trendy toy market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 24% between 2022 and 2026, and will grow to 110.1 billion yuan in 2026. The Keep medal shows us the possibility of upgrading ordinary sports peripherals to trendy toys. Judging from Keep's current operating ideas and gameplay, a small medal will be one of the best carriers for young people to continue to express themselves.

2. The “God” of Medals: Fashionable Play + Sports, the Value is Amplified

Simply classifying the Keep medal as a trendy toy is not enough to fully describe its value. The medal is the reward for actually taking a step forward and "exercising". This unique sports value attribute is not possessed by any other emotional product at present, and it also makes the medal significantly different from ordinary trendy toys.

In order to fully present the value of this sport and let more users feel it, Keep completely "deconstructed" professional events. In the past, online running activities were mainly for enthusiasts who were unable to participate in offline marathons, and there was a certain degree of difficulty and threshold. But you will find that now with Keep's online running, you can participate in the event and win medals by running one or two kilometers, which directly lowers the threshold.

With this idea, more people are willing to take the initiative to participate and feel the wholehearted devotion of sports, and will also experience a special sense of pleasure and deep satisfaction. Because each medal requires sweat, effort and time, this self-drive, self-discipline and perseverance also bring users a sense of accomplishment and self-confidence. Many users will have the feeling of "feeling that their motivation has improved" and "I have gained a lot after running" when showing off their medals. This is the best expression of this spiritual value, which cannot be measured by money, and cannot be obtained through other consumption.

Based on the unique sports attributes, medals, as the perfect combination of trendy play and sports, also invisibly further amplify the emotional value brought by sports.

First of all, the trendy play attribute opens a new entry point for non-sports enthusiasts to cultivate interest in sports.

Running, as a traditional sport, may seem monotonous and unattractive to many people. However, on social media, you can see that many users have mentioned "I ran my first five kilometers for a certain co-branded medal", "I found that my first long-distance run was not difficult", "I ran hard for the next medal"... When trendy elements are integrated into sports, it is possible to radiate a more interesting and fashionable temperament, which directly doubles its appeal to non-sports enthusiasts. As long as users participate, they will discover the charm of sports and even cultivate an interest in long-term running.

Secondly, the trendy nature of the medals also adds a sense of instant satisfaction.

Sports itself requires a long time and effort to achieve significant results, and the satisfaction is often delayed. The instant satisfaction brought by trendy toys fills this gap. When people have a uniquely designed and personalized medal, they can directly feel happiness and satisfaction while playing with it.

In addition, the combination of fashion and sports has itself become a new cultural phenomenon that is currently very popular.

For example, in recent years, sports functional style has become a mainstream trend, and many big brands are designing sports-related products; many sports brands that were originally very professional and vertical have become popular and sought-after products. This cross-border cooperation has given trendy brands more value and made sports more diverse and interesting, which will naturally attract more people to participate and interact on brand communities and social media.

From this point of view, the positive transmission of the sportsmanship presented by the Keep medal, and the idea of ​​innovative expression superimposed with trendy play culture, will open up more possibilities for the trendy play + sports model in the future.

3. “Form and spirit” combined, digging for gold in medals

In fact, in recent years, capital has been in a wait-and-see state towards the Internet fitness industry. To gain recognition, companies cannot just rely on imagination, but must overcome the threshold of expanding scale and profitability. Since its listing, Keep's profitability has always been the focus of attention from the outside world, and medals are the tool it uses to fully tap into the treasury of emotional value.

For Internet platforms, traffic is the foundation of all business. Attracting new users, retaining existing users, promoting activation, and converting existing users determine the survival of the platform. Therefore, improving traffic scale and operational efficiency in all links is the prerequisite for the platform to achieve profitability and stable development.

Medals have a global impact on Keep's operations. On the one hand, IP is a traffic reservoir. Medals can continuously attract new users, enhance user retention, promote activity and increase conversion rate by repeatedly cooperating with various IPs. On the other hand, as a social currency, medals are not for users to "have fun" on the site or in a fixed circle, but can break through the community on the site to bring topics to the entire network and attract new users.

In addition to traffic, Keep medals are also improving the platform's overall business model in a positive direction, and profitability is expected.

Keep currently has three major business segments: own-brand sports products, online membership and paid content, advertising and others. The medal business initially had a simple and clear To C business model: attract user participation, the platform gets registration fees, the more people participate, the higher the income, so it continues to drive the growth of online membership and paid content revenue. Now that the medals are influential enough and the platform's operations are mature enough, Keep can not only get registration fee income To C, but also To B to cooperate with brands and obtain title advertising income, which means that medals can directly increase the income of two of the three businesses.

It is worth noting that medals are not only used as rewards for online running activities. There are many types of sports on the Keep platform. Medals as event rewards have begun to expand to more types of sports and activities, and the product form of medals is also gradually extending to more diverse peripheral products. In this way, the scale of users and revenue that can participate in the To C model can be further broken through, and in the To B model, the types and scope of brands that the platform can cooperate with will also be wider.

In addition to the expansion of event types, in the first quarter of this year, Keep's newly added virtual gameplay will further reduce the operating costs of physical medals, which also means that there is still room for improvement in business gross profit, and the company's profitability will likely be further improved.

In summary, although Keep's medal is small, its value is quite heavy. Compared with the feedback from the current capital market, Keep deserves to be re-evaluated. From a more macro perspective, as a leading player in the industry, Keep's commercial prospects can be clarified as soon as possible, which also provides a more reference answer to the question of how the Internet fitness industry will move forward as a whole in the next stage.

Author: Lv Yue

Source public account: Deep Echo (ID: deep-echo), global vision, value perspective