introduction
Who would have thought that after building blocks and cards, the category of the toy industry will run out again will be plush, and it is even predicted that it will be the next 10 billion track.
As a type of traditional toys, plush toys have entered the hot sales period mainly in autumn and winter, especially around the Spring Festival, due to their strong seasonality and less play. In recent years, plush toys have ushered in one development opportunity after another - first, the baby grabber has become increasingly popular, giving plush toys new opportunities for sales; Catching up with the rise of emotional consumption and the popularity of trendy culture, plush toys have become an important product for young people to soothe and heal, as well as a new force in the trendy toy track.
When the target group of plush toys changes from children to young people, the development and design style of plush toys naturally changes. In terms of current industry dynamics and trends, the combination with IP is undoubtedly one of the mainstream; In addition, there are many new possibilities and ways to play with plush toys that are worth paying attention to.
Own IP and branding
A person in charge of a plush toy company mentioned that in recent years, the sales of traditional plush toys have fallen by 50%, while the sales of plush toys combined with IP are very good. There are many cases that support this view, the most representative of which is the crazy robbery of plush toys such as Xingdelu, Lena Belle, and Purple Goofy produced by Shanghai Disney Resort, and the high premium in the second-hand market.
Of course, relying entirely on authorized IP to sell products is easy to cause dependence on IP, once the IP is not popular or the copyright owner is not authorized, the enterprise will be very passive. Therefore, a number of companies that have built their own IP have gradually emerged in the industry.
For example, Guangdong Harbin Generation Toys Co., Ltd. launched China's original trend doll brand Wuduyou Doll, targeting young people aged 18~35, and is committed to creating dolls with innovative design, high quality, cultural heritage and story. My Duyou Puppet extracts the characteristics of real animals, and combines its own innovative design to create 8 original IPs: Cocoa Rabbit, Spirit Rhino Warrior, Dreadnought Bear, Wolf Walker, Cultivation Ape, Guardian Meow, Peanut Mandeer, and Benxin.
My One Friend Desert Legend Series
For another example, when Dongguan Qingguang Toys Co., Ltd. laid out plush trendy toys, it chose to incubate its own IP and successfully launched the image of Bafengte Lamb. At the same time, it also breaks the inherent impression of traditional plush toys, combines plush and plastic, and has successively launched a variety of plush products with plastic cheeks and eyes to "chase people" since 2020.
Bafengte lamb super Seiko plush series - street tyrannosaurus
Not only to create the original IP, the company pays more attention to the shaping of the brand, will give the brand a story, and through the story to attract and move young people, and convert the target audience into brand fans. The positioning and proposition of the brand will inevitably conform to the characteristics of the younger generation, especially the "post-95" and "post-00" consumers - individuality, freedom, unfettered, and enthusiasm for traditional culture and two-dimensional culture, and need spiritual comfort, healing, and companionship.
For example, ask the boy to position China's high-end fabric doll brand, with the brand concept of "subverting tradition", paying attention to not breaking or standing, and breaking through itself; Regain tradition and lead the future; Super Vitality Factory has created a new concept of "plush toys", and is committed to expanding the boundaries of trendy toys with the concept of "everything can be plush", and using creativity to express the personality proposition of contemporary young people; My Duyou takes "righteousness, positivity, independence and bravery, self-confidence and freedom, and love life" as the brand personality, and designs exclusive packaging for brand products to strengthen consumers' awareness of the brand.
A plush trendy toy created by the Super Metaverse Factory
Let the plush "tide".
In the past year or so, the reason why plush toys have suddenly exploded is that they have caught up with the trend of trendy toys, and plush trendy toys have become a new direction for the development of the industry.
Blind boxes are a popular way to play when trendy toys started to develop, and now they have become a common form of sales. The most intuitive manifestation of the combination of plush and trendy toys is also the blind box. Dongguan Tongxinyu Culture Development Co., Ltd. launched the PINGU genuine authorized plush blind box series products last year, and achieved very good sales results in X11.
The series not only has blind box gameplay and IP blessings, but more importantly, it has innovative gameplay. For example, in the Variety Small Theater series, the arms of plush dolls have built-in wires, which can be concave; Each drag show accessory can be put on and taken off; Each model comes with 1 tinplate base, and the bottom of the doll can be magnetically attracted to ensure that the doll can "stand" or "sit"; The head is designed with a hidden lanyard, which can be DIY into a pendant.
Tongxinyu's PINGU series plush blind box
"Plush + X" is one of the directions of plush toy innovation. Zhongshan Orange Xin Cultural and Creative Co., Ltd. launched the "Ciaoka Chaoka Creation" brand, focusing on creating plush trendy toys based on "plush + PVC", and increasing the playability of the products. For example, the company's Kaiyun Fumeow series, which won the 2024 Chinese and Foreign Toy Awards - Trend Toy of the Year Award, has a PVC face that is movable and interchangeable with other products in the same series; Comes with blank eye pupils and a variety of pupil color accessories, you can design your own characteristic eye pupils to create a different plush doll.
Ciaoka Chaoka Creation - Kaiyun Fu Meow Series
Plush toys that can be "trendy" are bound to be in line with the fashion trend, and the current hot trend is not only trendy toys, but also the national trend. The so-called national tide, simply put, is to show and inherit the connotation of traditional culture in a modern trendy way, such as the mythical beast series of my only friend, which draws inspiration from the "Classic of Mountains and Seas" to create theme dolls such as nine-tailed fox, Ying Long, and Bai Ze.
My only friend puppet beast series dolls
Along with the national trend, there is also a museum craze, that is, more and more young people are keen to visit museums and buy museum cultural and creative products, and plush happens to be an important category of museum culture and creativity. In recent years, the more out-of-the-circle cultural and creative plush products include the Gansu Provincial Museum's copper galloping horse plush series, the Suzhou Museum's Wu Yue Zhengba plush fat sword, and the Sanxingdui Museum's bronze plush dolls.
Based on the museum's own cultural and cultural relics accumulation, combined with excellent design innovation, the overall attraction of cultural and creative plush products is great. For example, the gold-faced man/copper-faced plush doll in Sanxingdui Museum selects the bronze head of the gold-masked person and the bronze Xiaoli statue as the prototype to refine the characteristic design; The product has a built-in magnetic material on the hand, which can be attached to the refrigerator or unlock more play scenes; Using a variety of materials and sewing methods, the wool is soft and the shape is exquisite in details; The interior is filled with rubber particles and plump fleece, so that the plush doll can sit firmly on a flat surface.
Sanxingdui Museum produces cultural and creative plush
In addition, giant panda fever is also one of the current crazes. In this craze, there are those who first create panda-themed IPs and then launch related plush toys, such as Rake Teacher, Panda Roll and other IPs have related plush dolls; There are independent original design panda plush toys, such as Temei Toys to create a series of panda Qianqian products, with a variety of ways to play, singing, dancing, rolling, "eating" bamboo, sleeping and snoring, etc.; There are also artificial plush that highly restores the characteristics of real giant pandas, such as Fubao, Huahua and other giant panda plush created by the panda factory, which uses intangible cultural heritage skills and has a very high degree of simulation.
Temei toy panda Qianqian series
Add functions to improve usability
"Practical plush products are better sold, such as pillows, neck pillows, blankets, eye masks, etc." A channel dealer who has been engaged in toy sales for many years said that even if it is driven by damp toys and baby grabbing machines, the sales of plush toys are still seasonal, but the products with strong practicality are relatively better, such as products with blankets can be used as air conditioning quilts and nap blankets, and they are quite popular in summer.
It is not uncommon for plush toys to add functionality in the industry, especially for neck pillows, pillows and blankets 2-in-1 designs. The innovation today is that the IP will be integrated and more functionality will be added. For example, Guangzhou Xingyue Animation Culture Development Co., Ltd. has launched GARFIELDFamily Garfield family genuinely authorized functional plush products, covering bags, eye masks, cushions, thermos cup covers, fan covers, hats, etc.
Xingyue Anime Garfield Plush - Cute Treasure Little Garfield & Cartoon Bouncy Ball
Plush toys are not only static, but also dynamic, such as Fun Nest Culture's franchise of electric plush toys, in order to add music, dancing, tongue learning and other functions to the product, the use of buttons, stroking and other ways to control, improve the interaction between the product and children; Planet Teemo creates a series of glowing and singing magic sparkle dolls.
From the perspective of traditional toy division, plush toys belong to children's toys, but because most parents will worry about the quality of fillers, hair loss and other problems, afraid of affecting children's skin and breathing, so there are not many parents who take the initiative to buy plush toys for their children. On the contrary, it is the IP tide, the "baby raising style", and the healing nature that make plush toys successfully enter the young market.
In the June 2024 issue of "Chinese and Foreign Toy Manufacturing" magazine, the "Plush New Track Topic" will be launched to bring new trends and trends of plush toys at home and abroad to readers. Click on the applet below to subscribe▼▼▼
▍来源：中外玩具网（ctoy-gdta） 文/编辑：Iris/Salas