From the first milk tea-adapted animation in history, the growth history of Snow King IP

Mixue Bingcheng uses various marketing methods, launching animation, two-dimensional, joint names, video creation, etc. to create a unique brand image. This article describes the relevant content and I hope it will be helpful to you.

On August 25, Mixue Bingcheng’s first animation "The Snow King Arrives" was finally aired. This is a 12-episode instant noodle show, and the first broadcast updated three episodes in one go, showing full sincerity.

Snow King also took the first step into the second dimension. If we talk about the brands that are the best at making things happen in the food industry, Mixue Ice City must be one of them. Foodaily took the opportunity of the launch of the Snow King animation and the new node of the Snow King IP creation to carefully review the things that Mixue Ice City has done in the past.

In the marketing campaigns, Snow King IP often plays an important role. With these actions, the image of Snow King becomes more and more real and three-dimensional, becoming one of the most important symbols for consumers to identify Mixue Ice City. As IP marketing becomes more frequent, the marketing methods become more diverse. In addition to joint brands, many brands are also creating their own unique IPs.

These IPs are not only the brand's iconic visual image, but also become an important tool for brands to communicate with the outside world and establish emotional connections with consumers because of their more interesting and friendly images. In the past, classic IPs such as Want Want's Wangzai, M&M's Bean Man, and Fujiya PEKO were talked about by the public.

As a latecomer to brand IP, how did Snow King quickly gain popularity, attract consumers' attention with every move, and become the brand's traffic code? From a design drawing to becoming a second dimension, how did Snow King IP enrich its content and personality step by step to become a powerful weapon for brand marketing, fan acquisition, and breaking the circle?

1. Others co-branded the Second Dimension Snow King: Become the Second Dimension

On August 18, Mixue Ice City released the trailer of the animation "The Snow King Arrives", which quickly attracted the attention of netizens. Before the animation was broadcast, everyone speculated about the plot based on the "character relationships" of Mixue Ice City, triggering waves of discussion, such as whether the villain is Luckin? Is the Snow King's skill Peach Sijichun? On Douyin, the trailer comment area has accumulated more than 100,000 comments, which quickly raised the audience's expectations.

Image source: TikTok

On August 25, the animation "The Snow King Arrives" was broadcast, and many netizens watched it on time at 10 o'clock. The story revolves around the Snow King's search for the stolen scepter. The Snow King not only has ice and snow magic, but also jumps when he walks. The cute style and the relaxed plot have reached 310,000 views on B station within 50 minutes of broadcasting, and won a high score of 9.9 points. The opening of the animation is the plot of the fake Snow King snatching the scepter, and the fake Snow King's appearance has triggered heated discussions in the barrage.

Image source: Snow King Arrives

As the plot ends, the familiar magical melody of "You love me, I love you, Mixue Ice City is sweet" sounds on the screen, instantly bringing the audience back to 2021, which was brainwashed by the theme song. It was unexpected but reasonable. The barrage that popped up at this time all read "Don't forget your original intention" and "The battle song begins". The ending song also continues the usual brainwashing style. The magic dance of the Snow King is unforgettable, and it is very likely to become the material for the next B station ghost animal area.

Image source: Snow King Arrives

In addition, this animation also buried many Easter eggs in the main film, and the official Snow King also launched an Easter egg search activity in the comment area. The editor watched three episodes in one go and found that in addition to the mulberry series and the Mixue Ice City stores of Mixue Ice City, the protagonists of Wansheng Street, Dali Temple Diary, I Don’t Eat for Free, Youshouyan, Taiyi Xianmolu and other Chinese works also came to guest star and support Snow King.

Image source: Snow King Arrives

What’s heartwarming is that hidden in the corner of the billboard is a letter from the Snow King to Aju. The official website of Mixue Bingcheng also stated in the comment section that this animation is dedicated to all the Ajus (Aju now refers to everyone who likes Mixue Bingcheng).

Image source: Snow King Arrives

It can be said that this is a sincere production of Mixue Ice City, and it can also be regarded as a fan-oriented IP animation. As the plot unfolds, the image of the Snow King becomes more real, full, and full of vitality.

At the end of the trailer, Foodaily discovered that Mixue Ice City invited the well-known Good Transmission Animation in the industry to produce "The Snow King Arrives". This animation company has launched many popular Chinese cartoons such as "Dali Temple Diary" and "The Great Guardian". It can be seen that Mixue Ice City has put a lot of effort into the Snow King IP this time.

This year, IP collaboration has become the "traffic code" for tea brands. Major brands are busy collaborating with popular IPs, some of which have received rave reviews, while others have seen a decline in reputation. At this time, Mixue Bingcheng Animation was born, and the Snow King directly stepped into the second dimension and made himself an animation IP.

A well-known milk tea brand in China is determined to break the circle. Thanks to the sufficient popularity accumulated by Snow King, the animation image has a high degree of recognition. Even if you don't pay attention to Mixue Ice City's products, you will pay attention to the dynamics of Snow King. Now it is easier to hit the interests and preferences of young consumer groups and break the circle. As of 20:00 on August 26, "The Snow King Arrives" has reached 1.71 million views on Bilibili, with 72,000 followers.

So, what has Mixue Ice City done in the past around the Snow King IP? How did Snow King become the top IP in the food industry step by step?

2. The Growth History of Snow King IP Chapter 1: Snow King’s Disco Explodes

Many people remember that Snow King became famous by dancing in a short video, but before that, Snow King had been waiting to become famous for a long time.

1. Debut period: The Snow King made his debut in the MV of the theme song of Mixue Bingcheng, and entered the ranks of those waiting to be released

Snow King is the new brand image officially launched by Mixue Ice City in 2018. The familiar snowman is used as the main body, with common elements such as crown, scepter, cape, etc., making the image more friendly. According to the official introduction of Mixue Ice City, in addition to serving as a brand symbol, the official also gave it specific job title, personality, hobbies and other details: Snow King is the chief quality control officer of Mixue Ice City. He is upright, friendly, enthusiastic, and enterprising. He likes singing and dancing. He only loves ice cream and tea in his life. He can't help licking his lips when he sees his favorite milk tea shop.

Hua & Hua, who designed this image, once said: They used super symbolic thinking to creatively design the Snow King for Mixue: the snowman is used as the prototype, wearing a crown to show the industry status, and holding an ice cream scepter to represent the industry attributes. The seemingly simple design achieves the purpose of recognition, memory, purchase and recitation.

In 2021, the theme song of Mixue Ice City swept the Internet. The familiar melody and catchy lyrics are old-fashioned and tacky, but just right. The phrase "You love me, I love you, Mixue Ice City is sweet" has become an unforgettable melody in everyone's mind. People not only remember this brand, but also remember the round and cute little snowman in the MV.

Image source: Mixue Ice City

Afterwards, this theme song ushered in a wave of netizens' secondary creation on Bilibili, sweeping the music section and ghost animal section, ushering in a second climax, making the already brainwashing melody even more addictive. The official account of Mixue Ice City also set up a favorites folder to collect various versions of the theme song made by netizens, and the official account has also successively updated several upgraded versions.

The brainwashing divine song "Mi Xue Bing Cheng Tian Mi" is the first breakthrough point for Mi Xue Bing Cheng in more than 20 years of entrepreneurship. During this period, although the Snow King as the "leading actor" of the theme song has gained a certain degree of popularity, it is far less popular than the brainwashing divine song, and the Snow King's own personality and personality are not distinct enough.

However, after starring in the MV for the first time, Snow King’s appearances on the official account have indeed become more frequent.

2. The popularity of face recognition: Catch the wild Snow King anywhere except Mixue Ice City, and the Snow King's magical personality will go viral

Since "music" was the first explosive point for Mixue Ice City to break out of the circle, in the subsequent marketing, music and disco became a memory point that Mixue Ice City has been strengthening, and the Snow King disco video also brought the first wave of popularity to Snow King.

Image source: Mixue Ice City

When dancing, the Snow King's crazy dance moves are full of magic, with a round belly and crown that bounces DuangDuang. At music festivals, on the roadside, and at the entrance of stores, you can see the Snow King dancing everywhere. Some netizens also expressed their desire to apply for the job of Snow King dancing. Since then, the popularity of the Snow King himself has begun to rise. At the end of 2021, Mixue Ice City launched a "Singing Snow King Doll", limited to 2,000 copies. The real Snow King doll is exactly the same as the Snow King in the theme song MV. Not only is the shape cute, but he can also sing Mixue Ice City Sweet Honey. When he dances, his belly will be duang duang, exactly the same as the disco Snow King. He is called "the dancing white fat man" by netizens. It is understood that this doll sold out soon after its release, and was once sold at a price of about 500 yuan in the second-hand market.

Image source: Bilibili user @磊磊的宗政

As the Snow King's dance range expanded, netizens discovered that the Snow King also liked to appear in front of various milk tea shops such as Gu Ming, Cha Baidao, Shuyi Shaoxiancao, etc. to dance and fight with Internet celebrity frogs. So the Snow King gained a new personality of "Street Stroller", which is very consistent with its original personality of licking its lips when it sees a milk tea shop.

As these social media contents spread, netizens began to pay more and more attention to where they could go to the scene to watch the Snow King gathering to dance and commit fraud, and actively shared and tracked the Snow King's dynamics. This not only made Mixue Ice City known to more people, but also made the Snow King's popularity accumulate rapidly. He began to become independent from "Mi Xue Bingcheng: Sweet Honey" and formed his own unique personality label.

3. The Growth History of Snow King IP Chapter 2: Mixue’s Top Artists

In addition to "Disco" and "Street Drifters", Mixue Bingcheng is also constantly enriching the content output related to the Snow King. From character personality, daily work, character relationships and other aspects, through short videos, small comics to the current official 12-episode animation works and other content operations, it creates the "Snow King Universe" and builds a unique worldview for the Snow King.

3. Business Rising Stage: Snow King Becomes the Brand Promotion Department

As Snow King's popularity grows, his every move will be watched by netizens, and he has begun to take on more daily promotional work for the brand.

Last June, Snow King became a hot topic because of his "blackening". In fact, it was to promote the new mulberry series products and launch a limited skin in line with the "black" characteristics of mulberries. At the same time, netizens found that all online avatars of Mixue Ice City's Taobao store, takeaway store, official account, Douyin, Xiaohongshu, etc. were "blackened". The same black Snow King doll also appeared offline, and even "fought" with the classic Snow King. The official explanation said that Snow King was tanned when he went to pick mulberries, which was consistent with the abnormally high temperature in various places at that time, and it also made netizens who were also in the high temperature weather feel the same.

This year's mulberry season, the blackened Snow King returned again, once again sparking heated discussions among netizens, and also playing up the sunscreen joke.

Image source: Bilibili user @娱娱娱娱娱

As the price/performance king of milk tea, Mixue Ice City has a very mature product supply chain, and has many layouts in the upstream production areas of fruits, tea, Yunnan coffee, etc. In line with the rhythm of new product launches, the official account of Mixue Ice City will take everyone into its own orchards and tea gardens through the Snow King, so that consumers can more intuitively experience the raw material production areas, picking specifications, product characteristics and other information of Mixue Ice City. With the help of a more friendly IP image, it will show consumers the supply strength of high-quality raw materials and let more people know about these high-quality agricultural products.

Image source: Mixue Ice City

When a new store of Mixue Ice City opens, Snow King will also go to take photos on site. For example, when Snow King opened its Taishan store, Snow King personally climbed up Taishan and announced that "milk tea in the scenic area is only 1 yuan more expensive!" After that, Snow King went to Chaka Salt Lake, Humble Administrator's Garden and other scenic spots to open stores and check in, and also took photos with Harbin's Internet celebrity Big Snowman.

Image source: Mixue Ice City This year, as offline entertainment activities resumed, Snow King once again opened the Ice Cream Music Festival. At the music festival, Snow King not only welcomed guests and danced on the spot, but also performed drums on stage.

It can be seen that for Mixue Ice City, Snow King is not only a brand image, but also a bridge for the brand to communicate with the outside world, using Snow King's daily schedule to convey the brand's actions. Compared with conventional publicity, this method seems to be more interesting and makes consumers feel more intimate, thus attracting some consumers to actively pay attention to Snow King's daily dynamics.

4. IP content extension period: Worker, good boyfriend, adventurous...career and love are both good, and the "Snow King Universe" is born

In addition to the Snow King in doll costume, whether from the release of the animation "The Snow King Arrives" or from the content of the brand's official account, we can see that Mixue Ice City has begun to focus on content, and through stories of all sizes, it continues to build its own IP world for the Snow King. For example, on May 20 this year, the Snow King and the official CP Xue Mei got their marriage certificate. We found that perhaps in response to the keyword "sweet honey", as early as the 2021 theme song went viral, the Michelle Ice City official account had a picture of the Snow King and Xue Mei in the same frame, and the social account continued to update #雪王雪妹的日常#.

This year, the Snow King also built a castle for Snow Sister, and netizens called it "Disney that is more suitable for Chinese babies." In addition to the Snow King and Snow Sister, other members of the Snow King family can also be seen here, making it a new check-in spot in Chengdu.

The castle has three floors. The first floor is the ordering area and claw machines, the second floor is the Snow King area, and the third floor is the rooftop, which also has multiple photo areas and leisure areas. In addition to milk tea, it also provides fried skewers, cakes, snacks, etc., and the prices are also the same as Mixue Ice City's usual affordable route.

In addition, the official Michelle Ice City often releases the daily work and check-in photos from the perspective of the Snow King. It also opened a "Michelle Ice City Snow King" account for him to release some of the Snow King's daily life, share the Snow King's cute little animations, the Snow King and the Snow Sister's daily love life, etc. Through these daily lives of the Snow King, his personalization is constantly improving, and the IP core has become more full. On Xiaohongshu, the number of fans of the Michelle Ice City Snow King even exceeds that of the Michelle Ice City official account.

Image source: Mixue Ice City

In addition to the doll costume form, Mixue Bingcheng also opened an official account for the Snow King, updated the Snow King's daily animations, and even launched more than a dozen sets of Snow King's WeChat emoticons to accelerate the spread of the Snow King IP.

Image source: Mixue Ice City Snow King, WeChat

In the gaming industry, where IP development is more mature, launching game-derived animations, promoting IPs through multiple content forms, and improving IP ecosystems have become a very mature practice. Many successful cases have been born both at home and abroad, such as Japan's "Fate" series and China's "Onmyoji" and "League of Legends". Sanrio, a character brand that owns many well-known portrait celebrity IPs such as Hello Kitty, Big Eared Dog, and My Melody, has also tailored animations for these IPs. After entering China, it has continued to update short video animations on Douyin, enriching the connotation of IP images through animation works and establishing a deeper emotional connection with IP fans.

Mixue Ice City's launch of "The Snow King Arrives" is similar to the launch of animation works for game IPs and portrait star IPs. On the one hand, the construction of the original story and world view of the Snow King IP enriches the IP image and increases the depth and stickiness of fan links; on the other hand, this is also another promotion and marketing of the Snow King IP, which further deepens netizens' impression of the Snow King IP and expands the influence of the IP.

4. With so many brands flocking to create IPs, who will be the next Snow King?

In China, Mixue Ice City is not the only company that values ​​brand IP. In recent years, more and more brands have personified their images, and puppets with different characteristics often appear in the streets and alleys, becoming a powerful driving force for increasing brand popularity and converting traffic into sales.

For example, the brand image of Lucky Coffee, a coffee brand under Mixue, is K Laotou, who often interacts with Snow King and performs on the streets. He also launched his own theme song in December last year. Perhaps inspired by Snow King's popularity, Zhengxin Chicken Steak launched its spokesperson "Chicken King" in May this year. The use of crown and cape elements makes the image of Chicken King more recognizable. On May 18, Zhengxin Chicken Steak opened its first store in Japan in Shinjuku, Tokyo. The spirited Chicken King stood outside the door to welcome customers, attracting local passers-by to take photos and interact with him. The turnover on that day exceeded 15,000 yuan.

As consumers' obsession with puppets continues to escalate, the self-entertainment of branded puppets can no longer ignite the public's interest. Puppets from different brands are paired up and "battled" in various forms, and scenes of grievances and love have become hot topics on social media.

Tintin the Cat, the brand totem of Cha Baidao, has had many "friendly interactions" with the Snow King. Some curious people made it into a "TV series" "Tea and Snow Wars", which is said to have a Douban score of 9.8!

Image source: Lucky Cafe, Xiaohongshu user @c木木木

In addition to this, more and more brands have begun to launch various peripheral products. For example, the Hippo Blind Box launched by Hema Fresh and the City Fridge Magnet launched by Heytea have received positive reviews from consumers. From IP co-branding to product packaging, to doll ornaments, brands have put a lot of effort into IP marketing.

Although various brands have come up with various marketing methods, Snow King always seems to be able to outsmart others and gain more attention and favor from consumers. Foodaily believes that Snow King’s success lies not only in its creative marketing methods, but also in many other aspects:

First of all, the IP image of Snow King is based on the snowman that is familiar to the public. He is cute, friendly, and full of childlike innocence, which makes people like him at first sight; secondly, the high frequency of Mixue Ice City's popularity is inseparable from the enthusiasm of netizens for secondary creation. The recent marketing events have gained a second wave of popularity through the secondary creation and dissemination of netizens. Mixue Ice City not only fully respects the freedom of secondary creation, but also assists in the dissemination of secondary works; finally, in addition to the ability to create hot topics, luck is also an indispensable part.

Today's consumer market is dominated by Generation Z, and how to attract the attention of young people has become a compulsory course for major brands. In addition to marketing methods, what is more important is whether it can attract the attention of Generation Z and trigger consumers' spontaneous dissemination and secondary creation on the Internet.

Whether it is the theme song, animation, or postal theme store, the popularity has been ignited again with the help of high-quality secondary creations by netizens. Mixue Ice City's creation of Snow King can be regarded as a phenomenal event in the food marketing industry in recent years. Looking back on the growth and popularity of Snow King, and analyzing the Snow King's efforts in shaping the IP personality, it is hoped that more food brands can understand the way of IP marketing and let more fresh and unique brand IPs become the link between enterprises and consumers.

Dear readers, have you watched "The Snow King Arrives"? Do you think the Snow King became the leading male protagonist of the hot-blooded animation because he brought in money or because he won this work based on his own strength? Welcome to leave a message in the comment section to discuss!

By Lyra Liu

Source: WeChat public account: Foodaily Daily Food (ID: foodaily)