The original price of 219 yuan of dolls was fried by scalpers to 2288 yuan
The premium is nearly 10 times
Who is so red?
Ling Na Belle, known as "Chuan Sha Daji"
From "top" to "bottom", Lingna Belle was once again pushed in front of the public.
For the name "Lingna Belle", many people may feel unfamiliar. In short, this is a new IP image promoted by Disney, which is a small pink fox. On Disney's official website, Lingna Belle's story is very short: "She is a fox with curiosity, and she is very smart." She can find joy in solving problems and solving mysteries..."
It is such a new IP with no story, but it quickly won the love of young people: since her "debut" on September 29, Ling Na Belle has taken nearly 6 million notes in Xiaohongshu, more than 36,000 related videos on Douyin, and more than 1.6 billion cumulative plays, and weibo #Lingna Belle #topic entry reading has reached 560 million, discussed more than 3.808 million times. In the language of the Internet, young people are very "on top" of Lingna Belle.
△ On social platforms, Lingna Belle is highly discussed.
Recently, Lingna Belle has been on the hot search again, but it is because of "lower head": some fans have reported that Lingna Belle's attitude towards fans is inconsistent, and sometimes even makes fans embarrassed or sad, which makes fans very "down".
The Lingna Belle phenomenon has led to a topic: what should brands do when it comes to creating IP? Especially at present, many Chinese original brands are building their own IP, what lessons can be learned from Lingna Belle?
Cute pet, participation, multi-channel, are very "on top"
Offline, many young men and women deliberately rushed to Disney, queuing for 2 hours only to interact with Lingna Belle for 30 seconds, and the dolls were killed in seconds on the shelves; online, the short videos related to Lingna Belle were played quite impressively, and their images were used by netizens to make memes, which swept the social platform. As soon as Ling Na Belle was launched, she became the traffic bearer; because it came from Shanghai Disneyland, it was also given the nickname of "Chuansha Daji" by netizens.
There are no mature anime works, no plump character stories, why do young people like Ling Na Belle?
△ Disney's newly launched cute pet image.
"Lingna Belle is very 'cute'." This is the unanimous opinion of fans.
Pink fur, big blue eyes, complemented by the vivid performance of the actor, than love, wagging tail... Judging from the on-site interaction and the short videos and memes made by young people for Lingna Belle, "Meng" is a major feature of this IP, which is exactly what young people appreciate very much. "In recent years, among the younger generation, the 'cute' culture has prevailed, and Lingna Belle has seized on this point." In the view of Wu Shenggen, associate professor of the Department of Advertising at the School of Journalism and Communication of Shanghai University, the character image launched by Disney caters to the needs of the times, and the young people are in the middle of the heart, "After all, everyone likes to see some cute and pleasant things in their busy work." ”
There are many cute pet images, and pink dolls are also emerging in an endless stream, why is it Ling na Belle? Wu Shenggen believes that Disney's brand endorsement is also very important.
The Duffy family is a series of cute pet characters designed by Disney, including the male duffy the bear (the background setting is Mickey and Minnie's dolls), the female bear Shirley Rose, the bunny Star Dew, the little turtle Olmila and so on. Unlike the previous Disney characters, Duffy and his friends rarely have complete stories, which can be said to be "IP for IP's sake", through dressing up, interacting with fans, etc., to form their own personality. As a member of the Duffy family, Lingna Belle has benefited from the power connection of the entire Duffy family and even disney IP since the day of its debut, and naturally enjoyed the "aura" brought by the brand. Many fans feel that these cute pet images are the result of "fan cultivation", so it is easier to have a sense of closeness. Some netizens shared: "I feel that I have entered the fairy tale world, and I can live and talk with 'Er'er' (Ling Na Belle's nickname) and watch her grow step by step." ”
△ Disney designed a series of cute pet images - the Duffy family.
But it is not enough to have an "aura". Constantly giving new content to IP is one of the important reasons for Disney's long-term prosperity, and it is also another reason for Lingna Belle's popularity. Wu Shenggen said: "From the grandparents to the current juniors, everyone is familiar with Disney, but everyone is not completely familiar with it. Young people want to be unique, and the things they like also have a strong imprint of the times, and images like the ones that have been known for generations may not be very attractive to them. If Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck constitute the common memory of generations, then the new characters that are newly introduced every few years make the younger generation feel more "unique" power, and Lingna Belle is the beneficiary of this continuous iteration and continuous pushing.
In addition, the short video era also provides opportunities for the spread of new IP such as Lingna Belle. After the character image of Ling Na Belle came out, short videos interacting with her emerged endlessly on platforms such as Douyin, Xiaohongshu, and WeChat video numbers. These highly expressive short videos make more people feel that this doll has vitality, consumers can interact with the characters, and more interesting stories can be created with consumer participation. It can be said that the rich communication channels resonate with the same frequency of participatory culture, so that Disney has once again tasted the traffic dividend, and also created Lingna Belle.
How should IP be interpreted?
If Lingna Belle's fire is based on her own image, communication channels, marketing strategies and other causes, then her "lower head" is also a bit unexpected: disrespecting tourists, treating fans differently... A controversy surrounding Lingna Belle unfolded on social media.
Fans of "Lower Head" believe that as a Disney cartoon character, Ling Na Belle should meet its basic settings, have more respect for fans, treat them equally, and try to meet the needs of fans. Those who support Lingna Belle believe that the root of the wrong behavior lies in the actor, "the behavior of the inner tank (referring to the cast and crew wearing a doll coat) has nothing to do with Ling Na Belle." It turned out that when Ling Na Belle's interactive video became popular on the Internet, fans believed that there were three cast members of "pile", "seven points" and "nine points" (all of which were pronouns for fans) according to their personality differences. In general, the "pile" is lively, "seven points" is a bit "dragged", and "nine points" is very "sweet". After the controversy arose, some fans demanded that Disney dismiss the misbehaving cast members in order to maintain the image of Lingna Belle.
Ling na Belle does not have an independent story line, and the character setting is not very clear, so her personality mainly comes from the interpretation of the cast, and gradually becomes full and three-dimensional in the interaction with fans. But then the question arises: what interpretation is most appropriate? Who is the judge? The interpretations of "Heap", "Seven Points" and "Nine Points" are different, and Lingna Belle's fans have their own preferences and sometimes argue. This phenomenon similar to the entertainment industry's "rice circle" actually appeared on a doll, so when the way Ling Na Belle interacted with fans caused controversy, fans with different preferences were tit-for-tat, laying a "thunder" for the normal development of Ling Na Belle.
Li Shuanglong, deputy dean of the School of Journalism at Fudan University, believes that Ling Na Belle is not only treated as a doll by netizens, but an "anthropomorphic" existence, which meets the expectations of fans and makes fans have a "cultivated" addiction. But fans don't realize that behind the dolls they see interacting with frequently is a person with mood and sorrow, "The cast and crew have to receive so many tourists every day, and to interact with so many people, it is inevitable that there will be mistakes." What's more, how could a cast possibly meet everyone's needs? But in the marketing boom around Ling na Belle, the performance of the cast members has been continuously amplified, receiving attention from the whole network, and even some fans have asked the "inner tank" not to be "people" but only dolls, such a request seems funny and unreasonable. Therefore, Li Shuanglong believes that the success of Ling Na Belle is inseparable from the efforts of every cast member, "We need to pay more attention to 'people'. ”
Industry insiders also believe that Ling na Belle's "upper head" and "lower head" reflect the construction of a new IP, not only need an image, but also focus on how to interpret.
Shao Yunjie, vice president of the retail business of Bubble Mart, a tide play brand with multiple IPs, gave an example: "Lego has a strong ability to interpret and interpret IP. When an IP is given to Lego, Lego can interpret it very well. Similarly, the development of Bubble Mart in the tide play market over the years also relies on the ability to interpret IP. Consumers identify with this deductive ability or language ability. He feels that the same IP cannot be branded, and the interpretation of different formats is different. For brands, it is necessary to study in depth what kind of interpretation consumers like, in order to make IP more vibrant and more competitive.
What kind of IP does the market need?
An interesting detail is that shortly after Lingna Belle's debut at Shanghai Disney, Bubble Mart opened a new store in Disney Town, which includes both IP derivatives launched by Bubble Mart and Disney, as well as various IP products original by Bubble Mart. Domestic IP and overseas IP appear on the same stage, consumer choices are wider, but brands are thinking about learning from.
△ Bubble Mart opened a new store in Disney Town with a lot of IP.
Shao Yunjie feels that Ling Na Belle's popularity has inspired all IP operators, "For many years, there was no such popular plush toy image." ”
One of the inspirations is that "light IP", if properly interpreted, can establish a close connection with the target consumer group.
In the past, people's favorite IP often came from film and television dramas, cartoons, IP itself has a story, this type of IP can be reduced to emphasizing the content of the "heavy IP". But Lingna Belle and the entire Duffy family are "light IP" with only images and no stories, and they can gain fans, which is closely related to changes in consumer demand.
Shao Yunjie believes that the current consumption time has become fragmented, the aesthetic power of consumers has become stronger, and the demand for self-pleasing consumption is more vigorous. Specifically, consumers are very concerned about "whether it looks good" and "whether it can please me". In the specific consumption process, consumers will also combine their own life experience, yearning things, etc. with light IP, their own "brain supplement" related scenes, better comfort themselves, sustenance of emotions, "light content IP to meet the needs of consumers, and the form is relatively novel, so it can be welcomed by young people." ”
△ The user will set the life scene for the IP hand.jpg.
This consumption habit is both an opportunity and a challenge for IP designers and operators, that is, to design an IP image that can resonate to meet different application scenarios. For example, many young people will take a hand-made tour and take pictures of the hand-made in the relevant environment. For this part of the consumer, they do not need the IP itself to be very storytelling, but pay more attention to whether the IP is worth appreciating, because consumers themselves will give the IP personality and enrich the IP image.
The second inspiration is that dolls and toys have broad prospects for development among adult consumer groups.
Previously, China's toy market was dominated by young toys; in recent years, "tide play" for adults has become more and more popular. Comparing the "tide play" represented by handmade and model and the plush toys represented by Lingna Belle, we can find that there is still a difference between the two - the latter seems to be more suitable for children in the impression. But why are adults scrambling to buy it? The mystery lies in the fact that IP operation has included interest operation and experience operation.
△ The birth of "tide play" has made adults also become the main consumer of toys and dolls.
"Whoever can identify interest, who can understand interest, who can create interest, who can operate interest, wins the next consumer goods explosion." Shao Yunjie believes that at present, the material living standards of consumers are already high, and what is needed is to meet the needs of the spiritual level, and interest is one of them. Consumers of different age groups have different points of interest, which are targeted to meet, and have the opportunity to make toys or a specific IP become a lifelong hobby of a person.
At the same time, the competitiveness of IP is also reflected in the consumer's body feeling. People in the industry believe that dolls or toys are not standard products, but non-standard products, and many "tide play" even reach the level of collection and even the level of spiritual level. At this time, it is necessary for operators to start from multiple dimensions such as products and services to provide consumers with a good sense of body in order to continue to develop.
The original manuscripts of Jiefang Daily and Shangguan News are strictly prohibited from being reproduced without permission
Author: Ren Chong Lisi
WeChat Editor: Tynie
Proofreader: Jia Simin