90% of brands’ “IP marketing” is a mess, but this brand is popular all over the world!

Most people still have a vague concept of IP marketing, and don’t know how to build their own IP and leverage marketing. This article uses the Panda Don’t Walk Cake as an example to talk about the concept of IP marketing and how to do IP marketing. I hope it will be helpful to you.

I believe that most people have a vague idea about IP marketing. Let us first clarify the concept and logic of IP.

1. What is IP marketing?

The so-called IP refers to content that can break free from the constraints of a single platform and gain traffic and distribution on multiple platforms based on its own appeal. It can be a storyline, a character, a comic, a novel, or even just a name or symbol.

IP marketing is: IP marketing gives the brand more of a premium effect, including personalization, sense of value, dissemination, reputation, etc., allowing consumers to naturally transfer their emotions about the IP to the brand.

IP marketing can be divided into the creation of a company’s own IP and marketing through leveraging IP.

The creation of a company's own IP refers to the company anthropomorphizing its own brand or product, such as the Forbidden City, Panda Never Walks Cake, Jiang Xiaobai, Three Squirrels and other brands.

Taking the case of the Panda Don’t Walk Cake that I visited today as an example, perhaps it can help you understand better.

As a brand communication vehicle, when choosing the brand name, the Panda Doesn't Go Cake team brainstormed 2,000 names related to animals, plants, scenes, moods, etc., and finally decided on "Panda Doesn't Go" based on brand tone matching and communication voting screening, a name that all voters would remember.

Because in the minds of Chinese people, pandas are super symbols and national treasures, and are the most common, popular, most uniform, and most recognizable animals. Therefore, a brand name system that naturally contains the panda as a natural IP is like a walking advertisement, which will attract a lot of valuable traffic.

Panda Don't Go Cake IP Image

This is why the image of the panda has been regarded as an important asset of the brand since its inception. But how can a panda be made an exclusive asset of a brand?

First of all, visual communication plays a major role in information dissemination, and labeling visual communication elements can quickly establish brand recognition. Panda Buzou labels the form of communication and gives the "panda" IP a personalized attribute, which is romantic, caring, and brings joy to people.

Secondly, as an IP brand that sells happiness, entering the market and making consumers aware of the brand is only the first step for Panda Never Go Cake. How to capture the minds of users in the value chain is the top priority.

Therefore, in terms of extending the brand connotation, one of the points that Panda Buzou made was that since the brand sells happiness, and the most common phrase consumers say on their birthdays is "Happy Birthday to you", why not use this powerful cultural matrix? So the brand determined the final slogan: Panda Buzou Cake, Happy Birthday to You!

Make panda cake = happy birthday to you, so that this IP is not just a symbol, but an IP with content and resonance. Then, based on the point of "happy cake", we can output content and even develop differentiated products and services.

Based on this positioning, PandaBuzou chose a differentiated approach by providing at least two minutes of interactive performances at the end of delivery to create surprises and express emotions.

Through product innovation, scene focus, service innovation, image introduction, etc., Panda Doesn't Walk Cake has been given different spreadability, social interactivity and fission points, and it has attracted a lot of fans in a short period of time.

At present, users are very satisfied with the form of Panda No Go Cake, and the frequency of repurchase and secondary dissemination rate are relatively high.

It can be said that Panda Never Walks Cake is a very typical IP brand, that is, IP = product = service. It forms a unique product through distinctive differentiated services, giving consumers a reason to quickly remember, make choices and be happy to spread it again.

Leveraging IP marketing, as the name suggests, means that companies continue to engage in cross-border collaboration with IPs that have a certain degree of popularity in the market and empower the brand through joint ventures.

The focus of this chapter will also revolve around IP collaboration.

IP co-branding is not a new species in the marketing world. It has been popular in industries such as Marvel, daily chemicals and sports for a long time. With the changes in consumer habits and consumer industries, IP co-branding has become a phenomenal marketing concept.

2. Why is IP marketing so popular?

There are two reasons. First, compared with advertising, IP naturally brings its own traffic. Brand-bundled IP can not only increase brand exposure at a low cost, but also create personalized content based on personalized IP, leveraging the huge fan base behind IP to participate in interaction. In the new media and new marketing environment, the latter may be more important than the former.

Second, the popularity of an IP represents a kind of cognition and traffic. Its popularity also reflects a degree of preference, which brings trust in the associated brand and relevant fans. For brands, finding the right IP can help them find users accurately.

However, behind the hot IP marketing is a mess. How can the value of IP be stimulated? Most brands do not think deeply about this issue, and directly spend a lot of money to buy IP licenses, and then do packaging and promotion. In the end, only a handful of them can really become a hit.

Many colleagues have asked me, why are most companies doing IP marketing stagnant, while MINISO is so popular?

Very good question.

Many people only see that MINISO is very good at IP marketing, but they don’t see how much insight, deliberation and persistence we have put in behind the scenes.

My answer to everyone is: most companies only regard IP as a marketing tool, rather than a strategic investment. We should not do "IP marketing" but "IP strategy".

In the years of exploring IP marketing at MINISO, I summarized this method as the "Onion Model of IP Marketing" based on my own practical experience.

IP Marketing Onion Model

Just like the soul of an onion is its core, the key to IP marketing is to find the brand core of both parties to the collaboration, create a product that can hit the target audience's itch points and needs, and then leverage the IP's super traffic empowerment to quickly gain popularity through quick-explosive content marketing, and finally achieve a win-win situation in sales and voice. It is a progressive relationship.

Next, I will discuss this model methodology one by one.

3. Choose a super IP with a cultural matrix

What is a Super IP?

I simply understand it as a super symbol with storytelling, continuity, derivative, and communication properties that can break the circle and carry huge traffic, attracting people to actively connect with it, and the traffic will be "sucked away" by it when they get close to it. Super IP is a guarantee of traffic and a market explosion point.

Let me explain it to you using Marvel as an example.

Storytelling: In the past 11 years, Marvel has carefully told the stories of every superhero and built a huge Marvel Universe in the hearts of the audience - the world of superheroes. Spider-Man, Captain America, Iron Man, Hulk, Captain Marvel, Thor, Black Widow, each of them has a large number of loyal and enthusiastic fans behind them, spanning genders, ages, and nationalities, all over the world.

Continuity: In 11 years, the total global box office of Marvel's 22 movies has exceeded 50 billion US dollars. One obvious feature is that it is an IP that can transcend time periods, has a large audience coverage, and at the same time it has a relatively good universal value, and there is also a space for re-creation. For example, independent superhero movies such as "Iron Man", "Thor", and "The Hulk" seem to be single IPs, but in the Marvel Universe, they have a continuous timeline, unified values, and a coherent plot.

Derivativeness: IP must be popular and have enough derivative space to be interpreted, quoted, and continuously created. For example, after the commercial value of Marvel's IP has reached a large enough scale, the Marvel IP image has penetrated into various market segments. When the opportunities for contact with consumers increase, it gradually becomes a part of trendy cultural life, thus completing the transformation from fan economy to mass consumption.

Communication attributes: On major social platforms around the world, it is easy to attract attention as long as topics related to Marvel are discussed, because it has successfully created a truly popular IP series collection.

Before cooperation, MINISO will conduct a more comprehensive assessment of the industry background and strength of the IP copyright holder. At the same time, in addition to considering whether this cross-border IP is in line with MINISO's target user group, we also focus on whether the co-branded IP can serve as a cultural carrier to allow users to have a deeper recognition of their own identity and better display their own personality.

For example, MINISO joined hands with the Forbidden City not only because of the Forbidden City’s long cultural history, but also because it has injected trendy emotions into its own strong cultural production capacity, especially the emotional communication and connection with young people.

Of course, MINISO has also had experience in trial and error when choosing IP cooperation.

For example, PANTONE, the world's most famous color organization, releases the popular color of the year every year, but the cooperation between MINISO and PANTONE did not meet our expectations. This is because this IP is difficult to promote, and its colors are cold tones. People in the design circle think that MINISO is very tasteful and high-end, but many ordinary consumers do not know what PANTONE is. This gives us a problem that we need to spend a lot of time and energy to educate consumers during promotion.

Therefore, in terms of sales, this series is not as explosive as Hello Kitty and Marvel.

This also taught us a lesson: when choosing IP, we should choose an image that is familiar to everyone. So generally speaking, MINISO finally chooses to cooperate with global classic IPs, such as "Pink Panther", "We Bare Bears", "Hello Kitty", "Marvel", "Mulan", "Forbidden City", etc., which are all world-renowned IPs with rich and varied images.

MINISO co-branded IP

These IP producers are the top 3 in the licensing industry or international giants with a long history, such as Time Warner Group, MGM Studios, Japan's Sanrio Company, and the United States' Disney.

Among them, Disney can be said to be the most standardized IP licensor in the world. Their authorization of cooperative brands is also subject to rigorous evaluation, including very high requirements for the brand's supply chain, such as no child labor, no pollution, no wage arrears, etc.

Looking at MINISO’s joint partners, I believe you can discover a pattern: these popular trends in movies, comics, and animations come from trends, and these trends come from people, especially young people.

As a popular and well-known IP, young people already know them without the need for mainstream media or mainstream corporate media. This is a perfect embodiment of youth culture and the power of youth culture.

Therefore, for brands and IP copyright holders, it is very important that the concepts of both parties are aligned. Only when they are well matched can they form a strong alliance, and such a marriage will help to enhance the influence of both brands.

However, choosing a good tree to live in does not mean that you can sit back and relax. How to create an IP hit? How to make an IP joint name stand out? We still need to take advantage of the east wind to create a fire.

Mobile Internet is all about speed. Events need to spread and ferment quickly, and imagination, creativity and execution must keep up. It cannot be a lot of noise with little results. This is also the key to testing the planning ability of the brand department.

I have made a very detailed analysis of this "IP Marketing Onion Methodology Model" in my book "Breaking Word of Mouth". Welcome everyone to share your experience.

4. IP x product, cleverly use IP to endorse the product

The first step for MINISO to enter the IP joint track is to start with product innovation, make products IP-based, empower products with IP, redefine the value of products, thereby achieving mutual collision of traffic and entering different cultural circles.

But one thing to note is that IP collaboration is not only a conversion of traffic, nor is it just a simple sale of peripheral derivatives, but it is about discovering more commercial value and innovative extensions of IP through in-depth exploration, giving IP more possibilities.

Here, MINISO has developed several strategies:

1. Product deeply bundled with IP peripheral customization and design

For MINISO, the brand image that has long been built around products, designs and life concepts is what attracts consumers to make long-term purchases.

We are also very clear in our hearts that every time we enter a field, focusing on making good products has always been the main theme of MINISO.

Therefore, after obtaining the IP authorization, we considered more about how to associate MINISO with the IP characters, stories, and symbols, and how to integrate the brand's product design concept to truly give the product design and soul, rather than simply and crudely printing an IP logo on the product.

For example, the "Pink Panther" IP deeply developed by MINISO, focusing on the Pink Panther's cute and gentlemanly image, during the cooperation period, we put all our efforts into the comprehensive integration design of the entire IP and MINISO products, and developed dozens of products including the Pink Panther series of fashionable baseball caps, Pink Panther series of hardcover stationery, Pink Panther plush dolls, Pink Panther makeup series, etc., and launched the second wave of Pink Panther stationery series, makeup series, cup series, digital series, etc. in MINISO stores.

MINISO Pink Panther series products

2. Popular products at affordable prices

At MINISO, high quality and low price are the unshakable foundation of the brand, so the prices of IP-based products will not increase due to the premium effect of IP, and can even be made cheaper.

The prices of products from other brands that collaborate with well-known IPs will double, because there are copyright fees for IPs, and they are also limited editions, so price increases are normal. However, there has been almost no price increase for MINISO's IP collaborations, which is actually a way to restrain one's inner greed.

Whether it is Marvel or Pink Panther, entering MINISO requires respecting the brand’s pricing system and gross profit.

MINISO x Marvel Series Products

For example, there is a Pink Panther classic expression plush doll for 39.9 yuan, a Pink Panther fashionable shoulder bag for 29.9 yuan, and a Pink Panther series hardcover book with straps for 15 yuan; there is also the Marvel series, an exquisite green mug that costs as low as 7.9 yuan, a small ornament with the image of a Marvel hero that costs only 10 yuan, and a well-made Captain America embroidered baseball cap that costs only 35 yuan... In comparison, the average price of MINISO's genuine IP is only one-tenth of the price of peripheral products of genuine IP sold in other brand stores.

Therefore, when monitoring consumer feedback on social media, we often see interesting comments like: "MINISO satisfies all the vanity of a slum girl (me)", "Thanks to MINISO, we can bring the entire Marvel Universe home without any pressure"...

Indeed, for a Marvel fan, it is very exciting to get a set of Iron Man, Spider-Man or Captain America peripherals for only a few dozen yuan, and this is also the original intention of MINISO to insist on low prices.

Similarly, the cross-border collaboration between Uniqlo and KAWS encountered the craziest buying spree in history, with consumers fighting over a T-shirt that did not distinguish between sizes. Consumers were so crazy that they even stripped the clothes off the models. This was in stark contrast to the mediocre sales of the T-shirts that Kaws and Dior had previously collaborated on, and became the craziest IP+brand case in 2019.

UNIQLO x KAWS co-branded T-shirt

A big reason for this polarization is that, compared to the T-shirts that Kaws collaborated with Dior, which are priced at thousands of yuan, the joint T-shirts of KAWS and Uniqlo are priced at only 99 yuan. The huge difference between the two will lead fans to take completely different actions.

Uniqlo's affordable prices, coupled with the collaboration with a popular IP and limited edition products, have greatly satisfied and stimulated consumers' psychological expectations and ignited consumers' pleasure of what they see is what they get. The resulting buying spree is completely different from the collaboration between Kaws and Dior.

It can also be understood in this way that for users who pay, the development of social networks has made the cost of "showing who I am" unprecedentedly low - "I bought a certain joint brand with very little money" is one of the low-cost ways of self-realization, and the satisfaction it provides is also an order of magnitude higher, so it naturally attracts a lot of fans.

3. Build an IP ecological entertainment company

In recent years, IP co-branding has become common in the retail industry. One thing that needs to be emphasized here is that to enter the IP co-branding track, you must act quickly and expand the scale in a short period of time to have a chance to reap the dividends of this market.

This is also the reason why MINISO stands out when it is the right time for brands to cross-border IP: speed and scale.

Use speed to widen the gap, use scale to reduce costs, and use massive sales and user reputation to gain IP brand recognition.

In my impression, one of the brands that has mastered this approach to perfection is Uniqlo.

From Marvel's superheroes, Lucas' Star Wars, Line Friends, Street Fighter, Minions to Disney, Doraemon, SpongeBob SquarePants and other big IPs that have harvested the childhood of generations... Uniqlo's joint collaborations with well-known IPs are "countless", together forming the "Uniqlo joint IP universe."

UNIQLO joint IP in 2019

The UT series has carved out a niche for UNIQLO in the Chinese youth market. From classic anime and movie IPs to trendy designers and artists, there is nothing UNIQLO cannot collaborate with, only things you can't think of.

Consistent with Uniqlo’s approach to IP, in order to rapidly expand its scale, MINISO has adopted a wave-like ecological superposition approach in IP operations, forming a complete IP ecosystem.

While the MINISO x Sesame Street trend is still fermenting, the popularity of MINISO x Marvel Black Gold Store has been heating up and gradually reaching a climax, and at this time MINISO x Forbidden City has emerged. This continuous superposition of one wave not yet passing and another wave coming has kept MINISO's IP economy in the position of a market trend leader, forming a virtuous cycle similar to a nuclear fission chain reaction.

At this time, as Mr. Ye Guofu said, MINISO is no longer a retail enterprise, but an entertainment company. We have turned our own products into a stage for many IPs, thus widening the distance with our competitors.

This article is excerpted from the fifth chapter of my book "Breaking Word of Mouth: Brand Methodology from 0 to 15 Billion" titled "IP Marketing, a New Marketing Growth Point."

Author: Mulanjie Talks About Brands; WeChat Official Account: Mulanjie (ID: mulanjie-)