Crack the blind box cognitive misunderstanding

Blind boxes originated from trendy toys and have always been divided into trendy toys, mainly for consumers over the age of 12. For traditional play companies to do blind boxes, most of the trend toy brands are not very optimistic, thinking that they lack understanding of the trend.

The blind box is indeed a "fresh product" for most play companies, and many play companies' cognition of the blind box mainly comes from the brand enterprises of the blind box, such as Bubble Mart, City of Dreams, 52TOYS, etc. This kind of cognition is actually biased, which makes many players step into the misunderstanding. In fact, the blind box is a way of playing, allowing consumers to experience the unknown of the game. As long as this kind of play can be used, combined with high-quality products, blind boxes and traditional toys can also be organically combined.

Shenzhen Toy Fair, which enjoys the reputation of "China's toy market vane", has many innovative blind box products at this year's exhibition, and there are many products like archaeological toys that use the blind box concept.

Blind box products are handmade?

Blind box brands such as Bubble Mart, their blind box products are mainly handmade made of plastic and glue, and there are few other categories. This phenomenon makes playing companies think that blind boxes are equivalent to handmade. Judging from this year's Shenzhen International Toy Fair, the blind box hand-made category launched by play companies is the most common.

In the field of trendy toys, the reason why the blind box is mostly handmade is because the handmade itself is a representative category of trendy toys, on the other hand, it is also because the collectibility of the hand is relatively strong. But in fact, the products in the blind box can be any category, handmade, model, plush, building blocks, puzzles, dolls, cards and so on.

Case 1: Surprise Treasure Chest

The surprise treasure chest launched by Jiandong Cultural Creation adopts a fully enclosed treasure chest design, which is divided into different themes, and each theme also has different colors. After the transparent shell is removed, the child will be given a key, which can be used to open the door of the corresponding color before taking out the product inside. The number of keys for different theme treasure chests is also different, such as 2 keys in the "Magic Castle" series and 5 keys in the "Magic Castle Simple" series. The entire collection includes more than 95 uniquely shaped keys (exquisite desserts, cute animals, etc.), all of which are collected to form a complete DIY handmade product.

The products inside the treasure chest are divided into trinkets, bracelets, necklaces, and a small probability of opening to rare pure gold jewelry. There are 48 types of trinkets, each treasure chest will be randomly opened to a different model, and bracelets and necklaces are divided into gold and silver, which are also randomly obtained. These gadgets can be handmade by children into bracelets and necklaces.

Blind boxes are all carton packing?

Whether it is a blind box as a trend toy or a blind box combined with traditional toys, the packaging is basically a box box, which is unified with the packaging box of the theme series, and the image of IP is printed on the box. But although the blind box is a "box", it does not mean that it can only be packaged in a carton. The blind box is played by consumers knowing which products are available, but not knowing which one will be opened. As long as this game is satisfied, box cartons, cube cartons, plastic bags, plastic balls, plastic boxes and so on can be any packaging.

Case 2: Dinosaur egg fossil blind box

There are 12 dinosaurs in the series, and there are no hidden models. The individual products are designed as egg-shaped and the color is earthy yellow. The child must use a hammer and brush to open the dinosaur egg to know which dinosaur is inside. It is quite distinctive compared to other blind carton packaging on the market.

Blind box must be IP blessing?

It is undeniable that under the same conditions, the sales volume of blind boxes supported by IP will be more guaranteed, and the added value of well-known IP will also make blind boxes more worthwhile. However, if the influence or popularity of the IP is not enough, it cannot effectively promote product sales. Shenzhen Soumeng Culture Communication Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Somon Culture") has launched a variety of different themes of "Dongji Dolls" after obtaining the genuine authorization of the copyright owner of the "Dongji" IP. According to Chen Yi, the head of the company, when Somon Culture began to prepare for the "Winter Doll" blind box project in 2018, the domestic blind box was not as hot as it is now. "At that time, the main domestic blind box was Bubble Mart, and many consumers' understanding of blind boxes was Bubble Mart." Chen Yi recalled that because they did not cooperate with Bubble Mart, the project was slow to advance, coupled with the fact that the brand awareness of "Dongji" in China was not high enough, and the research and development of blind boxes was suspended at the end of 2019.

Can non-IP products be made into blind boxes? Of course. However, it should be noted that in addition to the game of blind box attracting consumers to buy with unknownness, there is also a collection method. If the product of the blind box is not attractive enough and the quality is not good, then the probability of repeated purchases by consumers is much smaller. Therefore, non-IP products should pay more attention to product design when doing blind boxes.

Case 3: Sprouting forest plush blind box

This blind box launched by Dream Building has a total of 9 regular models and 1 hidden model. The 10 images are not well-known IP, but original images designed by enterprises.

Play enterprises can not make blind boxes?

Chen Yi said that there are now some low-priced blind boxes. These products are incomparable with professional trend toys due to their production process and fineness, and are more suitable for the student market, and as for how much potential there is, they also need follow-up attention. "Everything can be blind box, the key lies in how the product attracts consumers." If your own products and brands are not too hard, everything else is nonsense. For many companies now entering the blind box market, Chen Yi believes that as various channels are filled with various blind boxes, channel providers will also be afraid and will also consider what to sell, so it is also difficult for new blind boxes to rely on these existing channels to promote and sell.

Most of the traditional toy channel providers have begun to contact blind boxes in the past one or two years, and the evaluation of this category is generally better. Wang Jianfang, general manager of Henan Fufang Trading Co., Ltd., said that in the past two years, the rise of brands such as Bubble Mart and Ruolai has occupied the blind box market; the rise of trend toy stores has replaced pre-school stores and some traditional supermarkets, which is the main channel for blind box sales. "I think that trendy toys and blind boxes are inseparable, and maybe there will be a long way to go in the future, but as far as the current situation is concerned, the trendy toys represented by blind boxes are becoming a trend." Blind boxes should become one of the directions of china's animation toy transformation in the future. ”

Case 4: Balala Little Devil Fairy Trickster

The tumbler ornament produced by Aofei Entertainment appears as soon as the star button is pressed. To facilitate the collection of fans, the series brings together anime characters.

Source: Chinese and Foreign Toy Manufacturing Magazine