The "front wave" of the millet economy is rolled up on the beach, why does the super vitality factory hold the second dimension?

In the past two years, catalyzed by the "millet economy", animation platforms, game manufacturers, and toy manufacturers have increased their layout of the "rich mine" of IP derivatives.

iiMedia Consulting report shows that the demand of contemporary young people for spiritual consumption has increased, and the pan-two-dimensional industry has become a new trend of consumption. The market size will reach 597.7 billion yuan in 2024, is expected to reach 652.1 billion yuan in 2025, and is expected to reach 834.4 billion yuan in 2029.

However, under the rocket-like growth, the market has also exposed phased problems: commodity homogenization, domestic millet products are either reproducing the valley or being manufactured in the roll process, and the limit is involuted within a limited range.

When this business "becomes difficult", the industry also begins to pay attention to: rich and high-quality market output, and use derivative development to build a closed loop of IP value. Boutique has become a direction.

At the beginning of 2025, the boutique plush toy brand "Super Vitality Factory" will cross-border the eight celebrity IPs of China Literature: "Full-time Master", "Master of Mystery", "Celebrating More Than Years", "Breaking the Sky", "Under One Man", "Fox Demon Little Red Lady", "Da Feng Beat the Guard", and "Strange Fairy". As soon as the first co-branded blind box was launched, some netizens on social media called it "It's the New Year" and "Novel and cute!" ”

At the Yuewen Wonderland Carnival in Singapore and the eight IP theme exhibitions in Shanghai, the co-branded series of products of the Super Metaverse Factory were exposed

From the product point of view, this is a product breakthrough of a new form of material integration: the integration of "plush + figure", and the Q version of the cute original style, movement and dressing gameplay, so that the IP characters are vivid.

超级元气工厂将其定义为“PPF (Premium Plush Figure)精品毛绒手办”，旨在拉高二次元衍生品的行业基准线。

Many people know the "Super Metaverse Factory" through "original IP" and "plush trendy toys". But one point to emphasize is that he was "the one who ate crabs earlier" before Bubble Mart: he took the lead in applying the fusion form of composite material products to the image of trendy toys, and successively put forward the concepts of "plush trendy toys" and "boutique plush blind boxes", which opened up a new pattern in terms of innovation.

I have to sigh that the wind of "high-quality" has finally blown to the second dimension!

Use the "high-quality" method to redo the two-dimensional derivatives

Derivative consumption is one of the most active and vigorous sectors of the IP industry.

The market response to the annual super hit "soft plush" of trendy toys is obvious to all: the market pursuit not only makes LABUBU "hard to find", but also the pandemic of "plush trendy toys" has been promoted by industry giants, and in 2024, "no trendy toys IP is not plush". No one expected that product innovation would be superimposed on the basis of IP image, forming a large-scale growth pole.

This also confirms that product innovation can also bring market wonders.

Looking back, does the ACG market also have such a super opportunity for product innovation?

In 2024, the ACG derivatives market will heat up rapidly, user enthusiasm will be high, and considerable commercial returns will also attract a large number of merchants to concentrate on it. From toy manufacturers, stationery companies, book publishers, and even copyright agents, they are also developing their own products.

Tianyancha data shows that in 2024, the number of new registrations of "millet economy"-related enterprises will reach 2.728 million, a year-on-year increase of more than 40%.

The most rapid outbreak of "millet class" and "card class" has opened a crazy manufacturing mode, and the traditional narrative of hand-made model play is still in the hands of large manufacturers. There are more and more businesses doing IP derivatives in the market, and there are very few original developments.

It was during this period that the Super Metaverse Factory entered the two-dimensional game. In the second half of 2024, the brand has successively cooperated with Shangmei Film, one of the three giants of the Chinese film industry and the master of Chinese comics, and Tencent Games, the world's leading game development and operation organization.

Different from the product path of the conventional licensee "take the gallery and make a physical copy", the starting position of the Super Metaverse Factory is "boutique", and it tries to develop originality and linkage gameplay: use modern visual aesthetics and product language to re-create cross-border derivatives for Chinese comic characters such as Nezha Chaohai, Black Cat Sheriff, and Hulu Baby.

The founder of the company, Orange Khan, judged that it may not be possible to follow the "traditional thinking" to improve quality.

For the younger generation, toys are often projected with complex emotional, social, and emotional value needs, and their demands are far from just "quality", but "refinement".

At the beginning of 2024, Super Metaverse Factory proposed the concept of "boutique plush blind box". The so-called "boutique plush" standard means: more quality, more innovative, more emotional and social value.

"PPF (Premium Plush Figure) Boutique Plush Figure" is a directional breakthrough for the two-dimensional derivative market under the logic of boutique.

In this cooperation with China Literature, the Super Metaverse Factory has done a lot of preliminary work: in-depth research in the fandom, delving into the aesthetic preferences of users, overcoming the difficulty of product development and the feasibility of mass production, and finally having this category "big explosion":

Good product innovation often comes from the accurate interpretation of user needs, "better than the player" - the delicate restoration of the doll's face is a strong agent for paying for orders, dressing up the doll is a small luck that belongs to the player's personal personality, and taking the doll out on the street is a social currency that kills all sides, and it is a spiritual horse to enjoy it on the table.

Some netizens on social media were moved by the cuteness of this series of dolls, "from different angles, he seems to be looking at me". Many people spontaneously joined the group, and some even paid extra to find an artist to make an appointment, and put themselves in the same frame as their favorite character dolls.

It can be seen that strengthening product creativity has opened a market incision and has become an important way for businesses to get rid of homogeneous involution. And the ambition of the super metaverse factory may not be limited to: to create a "slush plush" story in the two-dimensional market.

Behind the explosion of "boutique plush figures", it breaks the inertia of the industry and adds to the value of IP

In 2024, China's pan-ACG user group will reach 503 million, which is equivalent to one-third of China's population being ACG. In the same year, the scale of China's pan-ACG and peripheral markets reached 597.7 billion yuan, an increase of 40% over 2023.

As the market continues to grow, a large number of licensed products are introduced to the market. "Shuffle" also followed.

There is an increasing number of posts on social media about the "closure of the millet shop". "At present, the homogenization of IP and commodities in the millet market is serious, resulting in weak user interest", "Now everyone is still developing in the IP stock market, and a large number of the same 'handle maps' (printing patterns of millet peripheral goods) are pouring in, which is easy to crash."

Many merchants lament that the money of the second yuan is not so easy to make.

From the perspective of market demand, one of the mainstream categories of two-dimensional derivatives, the popularity of plush toys is on the rise. According to data from the Tmall platform, the sales of plush toys in the first half of 2024 increased by 9.2% year-on-year, which is the top three with significant growth in the toy field.

Among the mainstream character toy categories of figures, models, and plush, the emerging subcategory is only cotton dolls. This combination of plush and IP roles has expanded rapidly in the past five years. Douyin has millions of players discussing cotton dolls; Last year, the cotton doll series with popular drama IP sold 20 million yuan. In 2021, the online transaction volume of cotton dolls on the WeChat store platform will reach 1 billion yuan.

Other than that, there are few breakthrough innovations in products.

The main reason is that the entry threshold of the mainland plush industry is low, and a large number of small and medium-sized manufacturers and white-label miscellaneous brands that rely on price advantages to grab share; And the continued low-price competition, in turn, further limits product development and innovation. As a result, plush toys have been hovering at a low level for a long time from positioning to pricing.

The development of the industry is trapped in the middle and low end, but consumer demand is moving towards the middle and high end.

iResearch's report shows that in the process of purchasing derivatives, consumers pay more attention to the quality of materials, design and collection significance. In addition, the unique design and fun style of IP co-branded products have a stronger attraction to new youth. In the report, 84% of people are willing to pay a higher price for a limited product.

In the eyes of this generation of young people, good quality can only be regarded as "just passing"; In addition to the feel and shape, the style should also be beautiful, the gameplay should be interesting, and it is the best choice to meet the emotional projection and added value of meaning.

The Super Metaverse Factory's research on the two-dimensional group found that the generation that grew up in virtual reality and the Internet has a stronger demand for "virtual companionship". Two-dimensional virtual characters have become a kind of emotional sustenance for this generation, so they are also very picky about derivatives. The style of the handle drawing, the recognizability of the second creation image vertical painting, the product texture, and even whether the artist and the brand have a deep understanding of the IP core are all directly related to the consumer's sense of role substitution and product satisfaction.

The previously neglected element of "design" is becoming more and more important in the derivatives market. On social media, many people are "crying out for aesthetic fatigue" about the same product form. Some bloggers pointed out the homogenization of plush on the market, shoddy manufacturing, humanoid IP hard plush hoods, and lack of innovation, "like a phobia of plush". The video got 770+ likes.

A positive sign is that good design is always word of mouth on social media and fandom. The beautiful "baby mother" starts a group, and every time a new product is launched, it can always attract a batch of "tap water". Some of the prize dolls in the first prize, because the IP character design style hit the preferences of young people, have become enduring sought-after goods, maintaining a premium in the second-hand trading market.

Putting aside the hustle and bustle, quality products are always scarce.

At present, Bubble Mart has brought fire to "plush plush", which has promoted the widespread popularity of "plush trendy toys", and the market enthusiasm has not diminished; And composite material plush dolls have not really entered the two-dimensional market. It's a gap in the market and a potential brand opportunity.

The uniqueness of the super metaverse factory is that it does not copy the routine of popular product forms, nor does it blindly chase the heat and do flood development. Instead, based on the plush track, starting from all the emotional needs of fans for IP, a new consumer symbol is opened up - "PPF boutique plush figures".

Orange Khan pointed out that "a good derivative is the "translator" and "amplifier" of IP, which can "translate" the emotional core of IP into a perceptible physical form, so that users can see, touch and feel; Able to produce a more direct interactive experience, this "translation" is not a consummation, but a value-added. Good derivatives can reversely activate IP potential energy and extend the IP life cycle."

When the IP characters of animation games extend from the screen to the plush figures, the emotional projection of consumers is concretized, and the business path of IP is also redefined.

A collectible blind box identity card created by the illustrators of the "Super Genki Factory".

Many IP fans have already "been in it" before they have even purchased it, followed the official account online to discuss on Weibo, and went offline to check in and buy the eight major IPs of the Chinese New Year. And the first batch of "early bird" buyers have also become the pioneers of "baby-tanning" on social media.

These social media "tap water" also prove that derivative consumption not only enriches the IP business ecology and completes the value closed loop for IP commercialization, but also an important engine for brands to connect with consumers, activate market potential, and bring deterministic growth.

The derivative consumption track is like a "marathon", and the long-distance run has just begun

Nowadays, IP is becoming a new force influencing social culture and entering life consumption, and constantly exploring new ways around the combination of content and industry.

On January 25, the Yuewen Wonderland Carnival in Singapore was unveiled and launched in Shanghai, Hangzhou and Chengdu.

Chinese IP going abroad has also allowed Chinese IP consumer brands to find a foothold in the international market. The pattern of IP derivatives has been further opened, "not only as a carrier of cultural output and exchange, but also with the deep integration of consumer culture in cities in different countries around the world", which is the direction that Super Metaverse Factory sees.

According to the analysis of Everbright Securities, the global market for IP licensed goods and services currently exceeds 2 trillion yuan. According to the International Licensing Industry Association (LIMA), the sales of licensed goods and services in China will reach US$13.77 billion in 2023, with a compound annual growth rate of 10.6% from 2014 to 2023. China's IP licensing market is still in a stage of rapid growth.

When thousands of troops flock to the single-plank bridge of the "millet economy", they will do a race to expand, bet on the "next super IP", and maximize production capacity. It is foreseeable that the future will inevitably rise and fall, and it will be difficult for brands to find a value anchor in the homogeneous market.

"Throughout last year, the phrase I heard the most was 'too slow, too slow for new products, too slow for R&D'. But what I was thinking at the time was, 'Running water is not the first, but the competition is endless.'" The market water is hot, but it calms down the orange sweat.

"In the short-term race of the market, the price of products produced by sacrificing creativity and quality and reducing unit costs will eventually have to be adjusted. This kind of producer-side economies of scale is essentially a negative feedback economy with increasing marginal costs. On the contrary, good differentiated products have the potential to become mainstream, and the soil for long-tail value will become deeper and deeper. ”

Compared with the past, copyright owners have adopted a more open and positive attitude, working with toy manufacturers to "co-create", and better embed derivative development into the growth cycle of IP market development. Derivatives developers have also changed their identities and are deeply involved in the IP value chain. The two sides worked together to touch the "ceiling" of IP value.

Of course, to refine the product, to pinch the tip of the fan market, and then drive the large-scale spread of new popularity - this kind of market recognition is not achieved overnight.

Super Genki Factory promotes the concept of "PPF (Premium Plush Figure) boutique plush figures", which is only the beginning of the brand's exploration of the two-dimensional consumer market.

The implementation of a new idea is the result of the R&D team's product design capabilities and cross-business collaboration capabilities, as well as mutual trust and co-creation between partners. Among them, the super metaverse factory is more likely to take the attitude of "co-builder of IP ecological value" to add value.

In cooperation with the Korean phenomenal mobile game IP "Cookie Run: Kingdom" national server version of "Chong Ya! In the "Biscuit Man: Kingdom" co-branded product, the co-branded goods correspond to the game's interactive props, forming the effect of "breaking the dimensional wall", so that the emotional experience brought by the game can be continued on the physical goods. Through cross-scenario and diversified linkage methods, IP and derivatives bring "emotional value" and "cultural identity" to the bottom of players' hearts.

In cooperation with Shangmeiying, the modern trendy toy IP and the classic Chinese comic IP "Century Hand in Hand": A Dou x Nezha Naohai 45th Anniversary Limited Series launched two bomb co-branding, and its limited creation items use more than 15 kinds of composite materials only in the clothing part, and the Hanfu and cheongsam fabrics, exquisite Chinese stitching and production technology are applied to the doll clothing. Once this series is launched, it is online in seconds, and its popularity can be seen. Sheriff Black Cat and Hulu Doll are newly presented in Cino's IP image, and the mixed and matched design of the character cross-dressing is like traveling through time. Although it has not yet been officially released, it has accurately sniped the preferences of young people, and the expectations are full.

In Orange Khan's view, there is still too much room for value mining in derivative development. One is the "visible" design iteration, material upgrade, and gameplay overlay; There are more "invisible" upgrades, including mass production efficiency, product structural optimization, etc.

The precise control of product presentation and the realization of complex and difficult mass production landing are also the confidence accumulated from 30 years of plush manufacturing and production background. It is understood that the super Yuanqi factory has invested heavily in Ankang to build the country's first digital semi-automatic assembly line with its own intellectual property rights, and the digital supply chain management system provides support for R&D and production, so that high-restoration and high-quality products can be realized.

For the super metaverse factory, IP business cooperation is also a worthwhile path.

From the perspective of the market, we have insight into the preferences and needs of young people for categories, make pioneering explorations, use the blade of "new categories" to cut into the two-dimensional market, and open up a second way in addition to the independent original IP research and development business. At the same time, relying on the advantages of IP product research and development and supply chain, the "pioneering" is made "replicable" to achieve the scale growth of the business.

From the perspective of brands, IP commercialization cooperation not only enhances market influence, but also creates more connection points between brands and users. The brand can use its unique product language to continuously promote the emotional connection between the brand and its fans, and achieve value repurchase. Through partners such as China Literature, Shangmei Film, and Tencent Games, we will establish a high-level, in-depth and wide-ranging cooperation connection to further consolidate the brand mentality.

At present, the Super Metaverse Factory is promoting the two-wheel drive strategy of "independent IP R&D" and "IP commercialization cooperation", promoting IP commercialization and diversity cooperation on the one hand, and continuously launching new image IP on the other hand to expand the brand scale.

坚持“匠心创造（Crafting Ideas，Not Just Products）”才是超级元气工厂遵循的长期主义。 正如创始人橙汗所言——“流水不争先，争的是滔滔不绝”。

summary

The success of today's consumer business is not to encroach on the shelves, but to conquer people's hearts. This is also why the two-dimensional derivatives market is "difficult to do", the market is hot, and there are many overturns. The birth of a new product and whether it can run through is related to the understanding and respect for the circle market, which can hit the bottom of the user's heart and create "beyond expectations".

The "insistence on innovation" of the super vitality factory is also an "anti-involution" solution: from "boutique plush blind boxes" to "boutique plush figures", it constantly breaks the shackles of product thinking. Based on the strengths of its own brand genes, it will complete the creation of popular products, the expansion of business scale and brand potential.

For the growing new generation of trendy consumer brands, only by continuously improving the strength of innovation and R&D can we find the foundation of the brand in the changing tide.