introduction
There are some toys that we love. Maybe it's not really the need for toys, but the need for "it" to accompany, the need for "it" to share our happiness, to share our sorrows. Therefore, the innovation of toys should not only focus on the innovation of toys, but also return to the origin of customer needs - let toys become the carrier of love and companionship. Through story marketing, consumers can have stories about toys and themselves while owning toys, and share them through online and offline member communities to establish emotional connections, which is the secret of toy premiums.
Case 1: American Girl: Toy or Friend?
"American Girl" is the star of today's international high-end doll market. In addition to dolls, it also sells books, magazines, accessories, hair salons, photography studios, movies, squares (malls) and other peripheral products. At present, "American Girl" is the world's largest toy company Mattel corporation in addition to Barbie dolls in addition to the most popular and best-selling fashion doll brand. Its related books are also very popular, according to the data released on the official website, "American Girls" has published more than 800 books so far.
In recent years, the social media boom has also made YouTube videos of American girl dolls more and more popular, and even some girls will open self-media channels based on the theme of their daily lives and dolls. For example, a girl named Chloe runs a channel called Chloe's American Girl Doll Channel, which posts videos every Wednesday and Saturday. The channel has had nearly 630,000 views since its inception three years ago.
The channel resonated with many girls with the same hobbies, and one of the American girl doll fans who had just entered junior high school left a message saying: "American girl dolls accompanied me through the terrible first to fourth grades. I've had 12 dolls so far! Going every year to find and collect this year's new dolls has also become a tradition for my lovely sisters. ”
In addition to YouTube, Facebook is also a platform for online fans of "American Girl" toy products. A community of 1.46 million followers, American Girl, was born – a large number of girls aged 12 to 18 took photos of their dolls and posted photos to share their lives with the dolls.
The success of American girl dolls comes from a precise grasp of customer needs: Girls buy American girls, not to buy a toy, but to need a friend. Its emotional story marketing, which actively works with customers to create a growth experience, consists of the following three aspects:
1. Make dolls into friends with stories
It's not so much about owning an American girl doll as having a new friend. Since they are friends, they will have their own personality, will spend together, and can accompany growth.
First of all, there are more American girl doll styles, each with a story history, which can fully meet the needs of customers to choose personalized friends.
American girls dolls have different eye, hair and skin colors, and girls can choose the same color as their own hair and eyes. Named Kaya, Felicity, Josefina, Kirsten, Addy, Samantha, Kit, and Molly, they were born in various important historical periods in the United States and represent strength, courage, responsibility, tolerance, wisdom, and hope. Each girl has her own unique story, with her own secrets and dreams, wisdom and desires.
Secondly, through peripheral products such as clothing, Let American girl dolls become friends with children.
Girls can choose dolls with different skin tones, pupil colors and hair colors, match them with various styles of clothes, and even buy the same clothes as the dolls in the storefront to make the dolls look more like themselves. Dolls live with children, and girls can take care of them through the hair salon and hospital specially set up for dolls in the store, learning to "take care" of their lives, while also subtly learning to take care of themselves and take care of themselves.
2. Build emotional attachment through American Girl magazine and movies
Every American girl doll has its own story, they have their own family, friends, neighbors and school, they suffer setbacks in life, and they learn to grow.
Almost every year, "American Girl" will introduce a new friend to the girls, through telling the story of this new friend, let the girls enter the life of the new friend, learn to get along with people, and shape a strong and confident self; the "American Girl" series of movies also reflects a profound truth by telling the story that happened to the protagonist.
Be brave and confident. This year's "American Girl" introduces the girls to a little girl named Luciana with long dark brown hair and bronze skin, telling a series of stories about Luciana and her friends' brave adventures.
Luciana first landed on the moon, leading the girls to a space summer camp to explore the mysteries of the moon together, and then dived underwater to exercise her ability to survive in underwater habitat, showing her brave and self-reliant side to her girls and friends.
In the comments section of the official website of "American Girl", it can be seen that mothers are generally positive about the psychological pleasure and personality education that this magazine brings to their children. A 5-year-old mother said: "Before playing with dolls, I would read storybooks with her, and the child became fond of reading, and would take her own dolls to role-play in the story, becoming more confident and brave in life." ”
Sincere friendship. In 2004, the American Girls Company and the American Red Om Films Film Company released their first film, Samantha: An American Girl's Holiday, which is set in the Victorian era of 1904 and tells the story of a warm friendship between two girls.
The little girl Samantha moved in next door to The Nelly's family, who were the helpers of another family. Helpful, confident and brave, Samantha stepped forward to help Nelly out of her predicament when Neiri and her sisters suffered a prank by Rilan's son. Although Samantha and Nelly have very different backgrounds, it does not prevent two kind and lovely girls from becoming good friends and gaining sincere friendship.
After watching the movie, one girl said: "I love this movie, it touched some pure and beautiful emotions in my heart. Looking back on the movie today, the girl is still touched by the friendship of the protagonists in the movie: "To this day, I am still touched by these simplest and most beautiful emotions. ”
Be strong and inclusive. The 2009 film "Krissa: Standing Tenacious" pointed the finger at the widespread school bullying phenomenon in society.
The film tells the story of the protagonist Krissa who was bullied by three girls in the new school, after a period of frustration and disappointment, bravely faced it with the encouragement and companionship of friends, and finally with a rational and inclusive mentality, cooperated with a girl who had bullied her to win the swimming competition, embraced reconciliation.
One girl was impressed by Krisa's strength and generosity: "I was really touched when Chrissa and Tara (the girl who had bullied Krisa) hugged each other at the end. ”
Dream and grow. The 2013 film "The Sky Depicted by SEG" shows us the journey of four girls to "chase their dreams".
Seger's school replaced the art class with a music class due to a shortage of funds, which caused dissatisfaction among some students such as Segger. Seg and his three partners planned a march for the power of art class, which was stopped by the school and turned to a press conference. The principal told the girls that there was no more money to hire an art teacher, and they needed to earn $5,000 in six weeks to start art classes.
So, the four girls did their best to get this "huge amount of money", worked together to plan a balloon carnival, and Seg also overcame the fear of facing many audiences at the press conference and gave a fundraising speech.
The real school life touched the hearts of the girls, and one girl said, "I like the horse that SEG painted." Not only the children, but also a parent who was deeply touched after watching the movie: "This is a story about the friendship, growth, inspiration, overcoming fear, and using intelligence to persevere in the love of the heart." It's not just a movie for kids. ”
3. Combine online and offline communities to create a growth experience and write a growth story together
Girls of America creates spaces for children to get along with each other, between children and dolls, and between children and their families: online is a platform for girls to make friends through games and situations, and offline activities are used to provide opportunities for family and girls to accompany each other.
Good friends get along with each other. The games section of the American Girls' Company website allows girls to have fun together through online mini-games.
Girls can choose their own virtual pets in the game and let the pets compete in skiing competitions, football matches, shooting competitions and other activities. Girls deepen their relationship with their partners through games, while also subtly learning about various sports activities or life skills.
In addition, "American Girl" has also created a related APP to closely connect the online space and the mobile terminal, so that the space for good friends to get along with each other is more flexible.
For example, in June 2016, the American Girl Company launched a new "WellieWishers" series, which launched a mobile terminal APP based on the story of depicting the wonderful lives of five good friends. The app creates a virtual community for kids to communicate online, where they can interact and explore the garden world together through mini-games in the app.
Toy dolls grow together with girls. Offline, American Girls creates spaces for girls to live with the dolls they own.
The store also set up a hair salon belonging to the dolls, children can bring their own dolls, together with the hairdresser in the hair salon to design fashionable hairstyles for the dolls; there is also a special doll hospital in the store, children can learn nursing knowledge, take care of dolls in later life and even learn to take care of themselves.
In addition, the American Girls Studio can take pictures of girls and their dolls together, and publish their most beautiful smiles on the cover of American Girls magazine, so that their dreams come true, and together with their dolls, they can be the cover protagonists of the magazine and become a star.
The companionship of parents. At the same time, the company also creates activities to provide opportunities for girls to get along and communicate with their parents.
Girls Corporation of America often hosts special gatherings to provide a platform for girls to get along with her friends and family. For example, beauty parties, invite children to participate with parents, learn how to love the doll, do skin care and beauty for it; handicraft parties and fashion design parties, children can learn to make small pillows and sleeping bags for dolls with the help of parents, and design fashion for dolls; food parties, learn to make small cakes, feast on relatives and friends.
In addition, there are ordinary birthday parties, "American Girls" square day trip and other activities. These gatherings allow girls to learn to take care of themselves through games and how to get along with people in communication.
Case two: BUILD A BEAR: a toy company or an amusement park?
In 1997, the first Build A Bear opened in St. Louis Square, USA, embarking on a journey to create bear cubs with customers.
The process of creating your own exclusive bear is as joyous and fascinating as a fairy tale, a unique experience that attracts a large number of customers, and in less than four months, Build A Bear has sold nearly $4 million; by 2002, during the 100th anniversary of the birth of the teddy bear, Build A Bear ushered in the opening of its 100th store, and began a long journey into the international market.
Today, Build A Bear is distributed in Europe (Germany, Great Britain, Denmark, etc.), Asia (UAE, Japan, Singapore, etc.), the Americas (Canada, Mexico, etc.), Africa (South America) and Oceania (Australia), with a global market.
In addition to bear toys, Build A Bear also has more animal characters, as well as its peripherals (costumes, accessories) and events (centennials and charity events).
Building A Bear's success is the way to create a story marketing around bear toys and co-create unforgettable experiences with customers, allowing customers to experience the magical process of fairy tales.
1. Set the process of value co-creation as a journey and package it as a story of "creating life"
At the Bear Factory, people begin the journey of "Creating Bear" as bear creators.
Visiting customers are known as "Bear-Builders", and builders take a walk along The Bearway, stopping at every "station" set up in Bearway, breathing life into their bears step by step.
The first station is the Chose Me station, where Builders chooses a piece of fabric, size, and color to create a favorite look for their bear. Next came the Here Me station, where Builders picked one of the different sound chips to be the bear's voice. The third stop is The Stuff Me station, where Builders will determine the hardness of the bear's "soul"—that is, the solidity or softness of the toy core— and personally operate the machine to give the bear's soul—and put the core into the skin cloth. Builders then chooses the bear's heart — a heart-shaped red satin pillow that gives the bear life before the machine shuts down — and puts the "heart" into the toy. Finally, on the Name Me site, Builders will give the bear a name, and after entering the name into the computer, the bear will really "live" and give them a kind greeting in the voice that Buildters likes.
This complete experience tells the story of each Builder who created his own bear, and each story is unique and unforgettable.
2. Continue the "story" and implant additional services to deepen the customer experience
The Builders can further deepen the role of the bear after creating their own bear.
There are three ways to deepen it, signing a birth certificate, choosing a book about bear toy making, and creating an exclusive image of the bear in the bear boutique.
Customers can sign a birth certificate with Bear Chief Executive Bear Maxine Clark to give the bear's identity "legal authentication", or choose a bear to make a storybook that records the history of the bear's birth. At the Bear Boutique, customers can not only choose different materials and styles of clothes for the bear, but also choose accessories (including miniature sports equipment, shoes, hats, sunglasses) to enrich the image of the bear.
In this way, the bears are perfected step by step from the outside to the inside according to the personalized preferences of the bear creators, and finally become a complete "life" and become a member of the customer's life.
This process is the experience of making your own toys, a journey full of novelty, and a beautiful story of creating "life" and obtaining "friends" to accompany you, which is unforgettable.
3. Create a story sharing platform to communicate together
Build A Bear also provides a platform for all bear creators who love bear cubs to communicate and have fun together - Build A Party.
Potential bear creators who want to experience can book through the official website, more than six people can host a party, led by a dedicated tour leader for the "Create Bear Tour", and can also play in teams during the trip. While creating their own bears, everyone communicates and interacts, and the process of creation makes the bear creators excited, sharing and communicating also makes them feel happy and satisfied.
Build A Bear creates not only a bear, but also the precious memories of its creators. And in the future life of these creators, this lovely plush friend will always accompany them.
A bear that carries the past and accompanies the future, Build A Bear, like "American Girl", creates a more colorful life with consumers.
This article was published in Sales & Marketing Magazine Management Edition Issue 12, 2018
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