2023 Year-end IP Review

2023 is about to pass. Looking back on this year, it is not difficult to find that the wave of well-known IPs is becoming more and more turbulent. Let’s take a look at which IPs stand out and become the masterpieces of the year in this era of constant change and innovation.

2023 is actually not a big year for IP. Under the pressure of the economic situation, the development of IP in various industries has encountered many difficulties. But it is gratifying that culture is a soothing agent for people's hearts, and some IPs with a strong healing sense play a significant healing role in this era.

Now, let’s take a look at the 2023 IP year-end review.

Just like previous years, there were no awards or certificates, just some compilation and analysis done by the IP Fried Rice team, to give as objective, fair and peaceful an evaluation as possible of the IP's development over the whole year.

1. 2023 Annual Important IPs: The Wandering Earth, 30,000 Miles in Chang'an, Barbie

Heavy IP refers to works that are obtained through heavy investment and content production, and at the same time have IP symbolic images that can be derived and developed, especially represented by movies, television, and animated dramas.

The mainstream of the film market in 2023 will be the focus on realistic topics, and the films that achieve particularly high box office are basically realistic films. However, realistic films often do not have derivative and developable IP symbols, so they are not enough to be rated as the IP of the year.

2023 is also the year of decline for Hollywood's big IPs. This year, Hollywood produced a large number of sequels to big IPs, but their reputations generally collapsed, and each one was worse than the previous one.

However, in China, two excellent IP blockbusters were produced, one is the live-action sci-fi The Wandering Earth 2, and the other is the animated Three Thousand Miles in Chang'an. Both have received high reputations, made greater leaps in worldview expansion and effects, and successfully created the IP universe.

Of course, objectively speaking, the plots of The Wandering Earth 2 and 30,000 Miles in Chang'an both have some shortcomings. There are too many clues and the story tension in the middle narrative part is not strong enough, but the flaws do not outweigh the merits.

The Wandering Earth 2 inherits the original and creates a future universe of Chinese cultural outlook; The Long March recreates the Chang'an and the prosperous Tang Dynasty in the hearts of the people and creates a past universe of Chinese cultural outlook. These two films, one about the future and the other about the past, together make the Chinese cultural universe more abundant.

The only noteworthy Hollywood IP movie this year is Barbie, which is full of cuteness and surprises, and successfully created a pink Barbie universe with both a surreal world and a real part, which also set off a Barbie craze around the world.

2. Light IPs of 2023: SKULLPANDA, Xiao Liuya

Different from heavy IP, light IP refers to an IP that does not involve heavy content expansion and mainly develops through image building and commercialization. Therefore, it is light, productized, and touches people's hearts.

SKULLPANDA has replaced MOLLY and become the leading IP of the trendy toy leader Pop Mart, and has achieved huge success in terms of revenue.

This image with a mysterious expression and witch-like temperament represents the cosmopolitan, legendary and diverse aspects of Chinese trendy culture. SKULLPANDA is different from MOLLY's innocence. Her mysterious expression is more mature and unpredictable, representing the unspeakable strange psychology in the subconscious.

The Little Liu Duck represents the down-to-earth, ordinary, and self-deprecating side of Chinese trendy culture. It does not look pretty, but rather a bit silly, just like an ordinary person next door.

The reason for choosing Xiao Liu Ya is not only because of its local image, but more importantly, among the many grassroots IPs that have emerged, Xiao Liu Ya has the richest product line, and its product design is very serious and thoughtful. Therefore, Xiao Liu Ya can provide an excellent example for many grassroots IPs on how to grow and how to quickly achieve profitability and long-term development through product sales.

3. The fastest growing light IPs in 2023: Nailong and jELLYCAT

Milk Dragon is the biggest surprise among the rapidly rising IPs this year. Its success is mainly due to three aspects: one is the simplicity and fun of its light content; the second is that some of its light peripheral products have become popular directly on social media; and the third is taking advantage of the potential energy of the Year of the Dragon.

The Milk Dragon can be said to be the cutest new IP in the past two years. It is like an enlarged version of a cute baby, which contrasts well with its smaller owner. Whether it is a product or an exhibition in some shopping malls, its cute and adorable temperament is displayed to the fullest, attracting a lot of self-propagation, grass-planting and check-ins.

JELLYCAT has created a different kind of sales miracle: a 49cm teddy bear went from 369 yuan at the beginning of the year to over 469 yuan on Double 11. Some popular products have even higher increases. In a horizontal comparison, most of JELLYCAT's current products are more expensive than Disney's leading actress "Chuansha Daji". Therefore, during this year's Double 11, almost all products were busy cutting prices and engaging in price wars, but JELLYCAT's prices rose instead of falling.

Strictly speaking, jELLYCAT is not an image, but a group of image products. This plush toy series from the UK includes various images such as octopus, lobster, dinosaur, bee, etc. Even a plush tree is part of the family IP.

Young people describe it as "buying jellies is addictive" and "once you buy it, you can't stop." The level of madness has reached the point where you need to quit, and there is even a jellies quitting mutual aid group on Douban.

In short, jELLYCAT has great and healing emotional value in an unconventional, absurd, simple and cute way, and is very worthy of reference and learning.

4. Global Light IP of 2023: PEPE Sad Frog

This is an IP that has not received much response in China this year, but has set off a new wave of popularity around the world: PEPE Sad Frog.

This sad frog has a very high reputation and spread around the world. It is an IP that has completely emerged from the grassroots. In the past few years, due to the improper use of some people, PEPE has been tainted with many unfavorable political factors, and even the author has given up the right to use or even the ownership of this IP.

However, a blessing in disguise may not be a bad thing.

Since the original creator gave up the copyright, PEPE Sad Frog has become a truly decentralized IP, which of course has attracted great attention from the crypto circle that advocates decentralization.

Therefore, the cryptocurrency circle launched PEPE. The completely decentralized underlying logic, well-known image, and strong emotional value made PEPE quickly become the fastest growing and most influential MEME meme coin in 2023. Its value soared like a rocket, becoming a highlight in the bear market and even becoming a leader in MEME culture.

5. Brand IP for 2023: None

Due to this year's economic situation, brands have become more cautious when launching their own IPs and have not done much marketing.

This means that there will be no amazing new brand IPs in 2023.

In fact, brand IP can help brands reduce costs and increase efficiency, but due to the existing brand marketing system and insufficient understanding of IP methodology, IP promotion often becomes a marginal thing, which makes it difficult to exert force. Brand IP promotion that could have been more cost-effective is basically unavailable. Of course, it's not just brand IP. In general, there are few good cases of brand marketing in 2023.

Of course, we believe that in the next few years when IP awareness is more complete, there will be very low-cost and amazing new brand IP cases.

6. Brand IP linkage case of 2023: Jiangxiang Latte

Although there are no good new brand IPs, there are still some very amazing brand IP collaborations.

The most famous of these is the sauce-flavored latte developed by Luckin Coffee and Moutai, which caused a huge sensation. The combination of fine wine and coffee quickly became a hot topic on the streets, triggering a buying spree and swiping of the WeChat Moments.

This is a stunning collision between a cutting-edge, resurrected brand and a classic cultural brand. There are countless things worth exploring in terms of the cultural psychology, consumer psychology, and brand development ideas behind this.

Of course, this joint name has also caused a lot of controversy, mainly focusing on whether Moutai should do this. Whether it should be done or not, IP Fried Rice will not make further comments here, let's wait for time to prove it...

7. Digital Human IP of the Year: None

2023 is obviously a low point for digital humans. On the one hand, digital human technology itself has not developed particularly strongly, and on the other hand, the explosion of AI has completely attracted the market focus to AI. In fact, AI will definitely bring great help to digital humans in the future, but now digital humans can only lie dormant.

Therefore, there are no cases of digital humans that have attracted particularly high attention this year. Of course, there are more and more digital humans, and they are increasingly sinking into basic applications and services.

In a word: this year there is the popular application of digital people, but no celebrities.

8. 2023 Game and Metaverse IP: Egg Party

This is a storm sweeping young children. There are already 100 million active players in this game. This game covers almost all primary and secondary schools and kindergartens. If you ask, it can be said that almost every Chinese child knows "Egg Party".

In addition to games, Egg Party has also launched a large number of peripheral products, which are widely covered in various toy stores and stationery stores. "It seems that since August or September, the store has started to put Egg Party dolls in the center," said a clerk of a chain cultural and creative store in an interview with Micro Story, "Most of the buyers are children, and they are now fascinated by Egg Party." In addition to dolls, Egg Party-related Guka toys, stationery, and stickers are also available.

What exactly is Eggboy Party? The entire game world looks like a large amusement park, where cute little Eggboys can go shopping, swing, play on slides, and meet other Eggboys in the open world and compete with them.

In short, this is a gamified universe that integrates open world, games, and social interaction.

9. 2023 Song IP: Luosha Haishi

If we were to ask which song in 2023 is both the most popular and the most controversial, it would definitely be Dao Lang's Luosha Haishi.

This song, which is based on Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio and performed in the style of Errenzhuan, became popular immediately after its release and has spanned different cultural circles and groups of people, causing heated discussions. IP Fried Rice does not want to discuss the pros and cons of this song here, but just to say objectively: the storm set off in Luosha Haishi is far from a phenomenon of a song, but a public opinion phenomenon of the whole society.

The most important reason is that the IP symbols in this song: Ma Hu and You Niao, are both very spicy and completely unclear, so anything, anyone, and any phenomenon can be corresponded to Luosha Haishi.

Therefore, this song deserves to be the IP song of the year. As for whether it is good or bad, let history make the judgment.

10. 2023 Cultural Tourism IP: Zibo BBQ, Guizhou Village Super

2023 can be said to be the year of the revival of cultural tourism. The enthusiasm for travel accumulated over the three years of the epidemic has certainly been greatly released in the first year after the epidemic, which has made cultural tourism across the country booming. Of course, traveling without consumption also reflects the severity and concerns of the economic situation.

Therefore, the cultural tourism boom in 2023 also reflects the characteristics of consumption downgrade and the power of grassroots. The most representative cases of these two points are the Zibo barbecue craze at the beginning of the year and the Guizhou Village Super Football League craze in the middle of the year.

Zibo barbecue is a public carnival amid consumption downgrade; Guizhou Village Super League is another public carnival after years of disappointment with the Chinese football team and the public's huge passion for football.

So some people say that behind these two crazes, what is hidden is not just cultural tourism, but a humble appreciation of power.

In fact, there are many cultural and tourism events that have caused heated discussions in 2023, such as Shijiazhuang positioning itself as the City of Rock, the immersive answers of the staff of Beijing Universal Studios, etc., which are all highlights of the new cultural and tourism era.

11. New cultural tourism project in 2023: Chimelong Spaceship

If it were two years earlier, the representative of the annual new cultural and tourism projects would definitely be "Only Henan", but this year, the new cultural and tourism project with the most internet celebrity temperament, apart from the Guizhou Village Supermarket mentioned above, must be Zhuhai's Chimelong Spaceship.

Just like a spaceship parked on the ground ready to take off at any time, Chimelong's spaceship building has attracted widespread attention during its construction. It is one of the most attractive buildings in China in recent years. Coupled with the brilliant achievements of Chimelong Group in cultural tourism over the years, this project naturally attracted great attention on social media as soon as it opened.

12. Personal IP of 2023: Dong Yuhui, Li Jiaqi, Crazy Little Yangge

2023 is an eventful year for several live-streaming super personal IPs. The most representative of these are, of course, the Dong Yuhui incident and the Li Jiaqi incident, and the charity concert of Brother Yang has also attracted widespread attention.

It might be helpful to understand the Dong Yuhui incident as another version of the Li Ziqi incident. Behind it is the issue of how the relationship between super personal IP and the company should be sorted out.

IP Danchaofan believes that the Dong Yuhui incident is likely to have a different outcome than Li Ziqi's development. The fundamental reasons are two: first, Dong Yuhui and Li Ziqi are essentially different types. The former can become an executive in a company, while the latter is more of a pure artist; second, the company behind New Oriental and Li Ziqi is also different. New Oriental wants to be a cultural industry group, while the latter is just an MCN business organization.

Moreover, judging from Dong Yuhui's daily style, he essentially does not want to be a live-streaming seller forever. This is different from Viya and Li Jiaqi who are born salespeople. Therefore, if we analyze from the personal DNA of Dong Yuhui and Yu Minhong, Dong Yuhui is more likely to use this opportunity to return to the cultural work that he wants to do most, which is not mainly live-streaming, and New Oriental can continue to move forward towards a cultural group.

In contrast, the Li Jiaqi incident is a typical negative event connecting personal IP, fans and emotional value, which more reflects the distress of personal IP. Li Jiaqi cannot always be the same Li Jiaqi, while his fans remain the same fans and the emotional value remains the same.

Therefore, the future development of the Li Jiaqi incident must be to continue selling goods and maintain it. On the other hand, Mei ONE will sooner or later implement a de-Li Jiaqi route just like Simba Company de-Simba. Li Jiaqi gradually retreating behind the scenes is the best development choice for him and the company.

Crazy Xiao Yang Ge has actually created a miracle. In a period when live streaming sales have become involuted, he has made his own way through situational live streaming. Even though Douyin has been constantly suppressing emerging entrants in order to prevent individual live streaming from becoming too big, he has still become a superstar in the post-live streaming era. This is commendable.

Therefore, Brother Xiao Yang's decision to hold a completely free star-studded concert is very service-minded and far-sighted.

13. 2023 Cultural Progress Project: Pop Mart’s International Development

This may be the most significant thing for cultural going overseas: Pop Mart started opening stores abroad two years ago and has made great progress in 2023. Its stores range from various countries in East Asia to the United Kingdom in Europe, and have begun to achieve excellent results.

This reminded Lao Xiaoge of what Wang Ning said when he chatted with him a few years ago: Two years before Pop Mart went public, many investment institutions were still not optimistic about Pop Mart because they believed that given China's consumer environment, it would be difficult for Pop Mart to sink into the third and fourth tier markets in China, which would limit its development. But at that time, Wang Ning asked in return: What about overseas?

Yes, why can’t Chinese cultural products be sold at a premium overseas?

Therefore, Pop Mart’s international store openings are of particular value and significance to China’s cultural industry.

14. 2023 IP Award: AI Creation

Finally, we come to the annual IP awards.

Who is the most awesome, powerful, influential, and most future-impactful IP of 2023?

IP Fried Rice’s answer: It’s not the individual, but the creativity of AI.

Since the beginning of the year, a series of AI innovative applications have demonstrated their creativity, from images to videos, from articles to programming, from tools to inventors, which has really amazed everyone. Whether AI will replace humans has also become a real crisis.

To sum it up in one sentence: I never expected that the development of AI would first replace not manual laborers, but mental laborers.

Whether AI can replace humans is a serious question, but it is not the issue that this article is concerned with.

All IP Fried Rice can do is to present the annual IP award to the AI ​​creativity brought by various IP applications, because AI can really create IP and it deserves to win the award.

The above are the annual achievements of various IPs in 2023. Correspondingly, in 2024, IP will usher in a big year.

Author: Chen Gray

WeChat public account: IP Fried Rice (ID: IPCOOK)