On the afternoon ......of July 1, Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport was crowded, and Thai fans wearing white LABUBUT shirts shouted enthusiastically.
LABUBU "deity" made a blockbuster appearance in Bangkok, Thailand, and the scene and treatment of LABUBU pick-up at the scene were comparable to that of popular stars. Surprisingly, Thai officials held a grand welcome ceremony for LABUBU and awarded LABUBU the honorary title of "Magical Thai Experience Officer". The Minister of Tourism and Sports of Thailand, Samsa Pompani, the Director of the National Tourism Administration of Thailand, Thapani Kiati Pyongbun, the Counsellor of the Press and Public Diplomacy Office of the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the Kingdom of Thailand, Zhao Mengtao, the Director of the Tourism Police of Thailand, Lieutenant General Sahira Poang, the Director of Suvarnabhumi Airport, Jidipong Jidi Kazon, the General Manager of Thailand Honor Card Company, Manat Annava, the Vice President of Bubble Mart International Group, and the Vice President of Qunar Travel and Vacation Division, Qian Daizhe, attended the welcoming ceremony.
It is understood that the new "Magical Thailand Experience Officer" LABUBU will start a week-long "Adventure in Thailand" trip to deeply experience the local characteristic culture, and interact with fans at the opening site of the Bubble Mart IP theme store.
烹饪、泰拳、拍大片...... LABABU BEGINS ITS ADVENTURE IN BANGKOK
LABUBU is a Nordic forest elf created by Bubble Mart contract artist Kasing Lung, with 9 teeth and erect pointed ears, they have a mischievous and optimistic personality. LABUBU AND THEIR ELVEN FRIENDS FORM THE MONSTERS, WHICH ARE EXTREMELY POPULAR ALL OVER THE WORLD. With the deepening of the layout of Bubble Mart in Thailand, Thailand has set off a "LABUBU fever", and the popular products of LABUBU in Thailand Bubble Mart stores are in short supply, and many Thai tourists who travel to China will also buy LABUBU in Bubble Mart stores as "local products" to bring to relatives and friends.
On September 26, 2023, POP LAND, China's first immersive IP theme park for the trendy toy industry, officially opened in Chaoyang Park in Beijing. The popular IP images of Bubble Mart have turned into celebrity friends who can "move", which has greatly enhanced the interactive sense of IP, among which LABUBU has countless fans with its naughty and cute personality. Many Thai tourists have also gone to the park to interact with LABUBU.
Thailand's Minister of Tourism and Sports, Semsa Pompani, said that the Ministry of Tourism and Sports of Thailand is stimulating the international market by actively creating a positive tourism image to promote more tourists to visit Thailand. The "LABUBU Welcome Ceremony" held in collaboration with Bubble Mart is a great opportunity to experience the beautiful tourist attractions of Thailand in traditional Thai costumes, taste the popular Thai food, and learn Thai cultural etiquette to create precious and special memories. I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely invite Chinese friends to follow in the footsteps of LABUBU and travel to Thailand.
Chen Xiaoyun, Vice President of Pop Mart International Group, said in her speech, "It is a great honor for LABUBU to be invited to experience the 10,000 customs of 'Magical Thailand', which makes Thai consumers more willing to understand China, and Chinese consumers more willing to understand Thailand. Our LABUBU theme store will open in Bangkok soon, and we hope that LABUBU can become one of the important links between the young people of the two countries. ”
LABUBU's popularity has also attracted the attention of all parties, attracting the participation and support of many partners such as the exclusive partner of the online travel platform Qunar Travel and Skinny Orange Qunar, the exclusive airline partner Hainan Airlines, the exclusive hotel partner ANANTARA, and the Thai airport company AOT.
It is understood that the "LABUBU Welcome Ceremony" event will be extended from July 1 to July 4, 2024. On July 1st, after LABUBU arrived at Suvarnabhumi International Airport, the Tourism Authority of Thailand prepared a warm welcome ceremony to welcome LABUBU with a Thai puppet skit performance, and awarded LABUBU the honorary title of "Magical Thai Experience Officer". From 2 to 4 July, LABUBU will be dressed in traditional Thai attire to visit Bangkok's most famous landmarks, sample delicious seafood at Horsamut Restaurant on the banks of the Chao Phraya River, take an electric tuk-tuk tour of the Grand Palace and Wat Phras, enjoy a Thai massage at Wat Pho, shop for local Thai crafts and souvenirs in popular shopping areas such as Siam Discovery and Siam Square, watch Muay Thai fights at Lumpinee Stadium and more. As part of this process, Condé Nast Traveler, a media partner, will shoot a blockbuster film of LABUBU's adventures and memories of LABUBU's time in Thailand. In the future, the Tourism Authority of Thailand will cooperate with the online travel platform Qunar (Qunar.com) to promote the same route as LABUBU's Adventure Thailand Tour. From July 5th to 6th, LABUBU will also appear at the opening of the Bubble Mart theme store, bringing interesting on-site interaction.
Build a bridge of friendship and actively promote the interaction between China and Thailand
The official level of Thailand awarded LABUBU the status of "Magical Thai Experience Officer", in addition to the super popularity of LABUBU itself in China and Thailand, it also fully demonstrates the commercial value and appeal of LABUBU. In June this year, at the 2024 Thai Style Festival hosted by the Thai Embassy in China, LABUBU also made a surprise appearance as a "Special Guest of Thai Style Event" and accepted the trophy from Han Chancai, the new Thai Ambassador to China.
The official identity has placed the Thai official hope that Chinese tourists can learn more about Thai cultural tourism through LABUBU and follow the footsteps of LABUBU to travel to Thailand. The deeper reason behind this is mainly that the trendy toy IP has gradually become an important link to promote the interaction of Chinese and Thai trendy cultures.
In May 2023, Pop Mart officially entered Thailand with a joint venture with Minor International, the world's largest hotel, restaurant and retail group. In September of the same year, Thailand's first store opened in Central World, Bangkok's largest shopping mall, attracting nearly 2,000 fans on the opening day. At present, Pop Mart has opened five offline stores in Thailand, and the LABUBU theme store that will open in Bangkok on July 5 is the sixth offline store in Thailand and the first LABUBU IP theme store in the world, which fully demonstrates the importance of the Thai market in the global map of Pop Mart.
In addition to the expansion of the business territory, Pop Mart also hopes that trendy toys can make consumers in the two countries more willing to understand each other, so that IP can undertake more important missions to promote cultural exchanges. Chen Xiaoyun said that at the important juncture of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Thailand, the cultural exchange activities between the two countries will be unprecedentedly active. As a trendy toy brand loved by young people in both countries, Bubble Mart will continue to contribute to the promotion of non-governmental cultural exchanges between China and Thailand.
In fact, in addition to LABUBU, many IPs under Bubble Mart, such as CRYBABY and Ono, are also deeply loved by consumers in Thailand and even Southeast Asia. CRYBABY is an IP image created by Thai artist Molly, and the creative concept stems from the artist's unique understanding of crying. In February this year, Pop Mart opened its third offline store in Bangkok's Central Ladprao shopping mall, and Molly's on-site signings on the opening day helped the new store set a new one-day sales record for Pop Mart's global stores. On June 27th, Bubble Mart's IP Ono pop-up store officially opened in Bangkok's Central World shopping mall, with a crowd of people in a space of 2,400 square meters, in addition to exclusive limited products and sculptures and other extended new products, there are also two exclusive limited products in Thailand, the design uses Muay Thai elements, which are deeply loved by Thai consumers, and the revenue on the first day is close to 5 million (RMB).
Across countries and geographies, IP's global influence has jumped
From the pure consumption level to the national level to the awarding of IP titles, LABUBU's popularity has exceeded the general commercial value category, which has greatly enhanced the brand value. Behind the popularity of LABUBU and other IPs in Thailand is an important cross-section of the global influence of Pop Mart IP.
Founded in 2010, Pop Mart has created a new subdivision from the original trendy supermarket to the leading brand of trendy toys and now to the trendy culture and entertainment group, and has brought many IPs to consumers around the world. Whether it's design, art, or the little happiness that brings people beauty and happiness, toys are a universal need that transcends cultures and geographies. Since the launch of its globalization strategy in 2018, relying on its global artist operation system, more and more IPs under Pop Mart are releasing strong global influence.
For example, in the Thai market, the cooperation between Pop Mart and Molly is a highlight of localized operation, and thanks to Pop Mart's mature IP operation system and global artist operation capabilities, CRYBABY has excellent performance in the field of trendy toys and peripheral products and IP licensing, attracting more and more global fans. Previously, Molly was named one of the "50 Most Influential Women in Thailand 2023" for her achievements in the arts and business. In the U.S. market, Pop Mart has also collaborated with a local artist, and his work Peach Riot has achieved excellent market performance in the local market.
"We hope to find local artists from different countries, help artists incubate their IPs, and incubate these IPs into local top streams, and strive to bring these IPs from the local area to the world to play a better commercial value." Excavating artists from different countries is the consistent IP operation strategy of Pop Mart, and having a mature system for incubating and operating IP around the world is also the core competitiveness of Pop Mart.
In this process, Pop Mart has brought trendy toy IP culture to more and more countries and regions, and its global business territory has also been expanding. Taking Southeast Asia as an example, in addition to Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam, which have already landed offline stores, Pop Mart will also deploy potential markets such as Indonesia and the Philippines in the future. This year, Pop Mart will also open offline stores in many world-renowned neighborhoods, followed by the Louvre store in Paris, Milan, Italy, Amsterdam in the Netherlands, and Myeongdong in South Korea.