CATDOLL: Expanding creative product development and focusing on the long-term life of animation IP

At present, the two-dimensional culture has gradually become a favorite culture of young people who have greater life pressure and love imagination. If we regard the animation IP as a small but great potential seed, then the pan-entertainment industry is a broad and fertile soil, and the future world has unlimited possibilities. However, to achieve commercial success in the two-dimensional world, it is obviously not enough to have high-quality seeds and fertile land. Professional gardeners are also needed to cultivate in accordance with the rules; biological genetic experts are also needed to cultivate more and more durable products through cell transplantation and seed hybridization. Only in this way can the seeds of IP take root, sprout, bloom and bear fruit in the fertile soil of pan-entertainment, and breed more products. This article attempts to explore this point of view.

In July this year, the 11th China International Comic and Game Expo (CCG-EXPO) was held as scheduled in Shanghai. During the five-day exhibition period, 200,000 "otaku" troops, regardless of the typhoon warning signals issued by the meteorological department, rushed into the Expo Exhibition Hall one after another, once again demonstrating the strong appeal of the two-dimensional culture and the abundant vitality of the animation industry. It can be said that the two-dimensional culture has become a popular culture among young people, mainly those born in the 1990s; my country's animation industry has entered the growth stage from the exploratory stage, and new keywords and industry characteristics have emerged. At the summit forum at the exhibition site, Gao Zheng, deputy director of the Cultural Industry Department of the Ministry of Culture, said: "After years of development, the industry's understanding of the animation industry has become clearer. Now no one doubts that IP is the core of this industry."

Fans of the second dimension line up to enter the 11th China International Comic and Game Expo (CCG EXPO) in Shanghai, which just ended in July.

Anime IP: A seed with unlimited potential

1. Generation of animation IP

In a broad sense, an idea is an IP. A few years ago, the content creativity of the domestic animation industry mainly came from the professional creation of PGC (Professionally-generated Content) by animation companies, teams and practitioners. Today, a few years later, thanks to the development of the Internet and mobile Internet technology, the animation industry has entered an era of universal creation, and IP generation is diversified. Animation IP is no longer exclusive to professionals. More and more mass users are involved, providing UGC (User-generated Content) different from PGC through different channels and in different forms, which has led to a surge in the number of animation IPs. For example, grassroots singers and dancers who spontaneously perform and are active on the Internet because of their love for a certain ACGN content, secondary creations of fan art, fan books, MMD (MikumikuDance) videos, etc. all fall into the category of UGC.

With the transition from professional creation to mass creation, the creative thinking of IP has also changed from work thinking to user thinking. As long as users like it, any form of expression can be accepted. The extension of IP has expanded from the traditional publication forms (comics, novels, etc.) to digital products (games, online readings, videos, music), characters and idol groups, and the types of IP are constantly enriched. Sometimes, a virtual character can also become a successful IP, such as the popularity of Hatsune Miku and Luo Tianyi are good examples.

The number of IPs has increased dramatically and their forms have become richer. IP generation has entered an era of unprecedented prosperity. The industry environment we face is not lacking in IPs. Among the vast amount of IP resources, whether an IP can stand out and succeed depends largely on the expansion and development effectiveness of the IP.

(II) Development of animation IP

An animation IP is actually a seed with infinite vitality (of course, seeds can be good or bad, which is beyond the scope of this article). Only after cultivation can it take root, sprout, bloom and bear fruit. This cultivation process is actually the development process of IP. Good seeds do not equal good fruits. Only after in-depth development can IP reflect its own value and bring real social and economic benefits.

With the development of Internet and mobile Internet technologies, IP development has shown a cross-domain and chain-like trend. As a major animation country, Japan entered the Media-Mix era more than a decade ago. It has a strong awareness of IP development and protection, and has formed a complete set of IP operation models, with a sound industrial layout based on Media-Mix. Taking the Japanese two-dimensional idol project "LoveLive!" as an example, it is a kind of online and offline full-industry chain linkage development, including online animation, games, music, offline books, peripheral products, voice actor concerts, etc.

The joint development of the entire industry chain of "LoveLive!"

It can be seen from this that only through in-depth development can the influence of IP continue to be exerted, the number of fans can continue to increase, and the value of the industry can continue to increase.

Pan-entertainment: a vast and fertile soil

The in-depth development of IP will inevitably lead to the arrival of the era of pan-entertainment. This is because the in-depth development of IP often spans multiple fields, the barriers between different industries are broken down, and multiple industries are integrated and interacted to form a pan-entertainment situation.

The reason why pan-entertainment is likened to a vast fertile land is, first, because pan-entertainment relies on the development of Internet and mobile Internet technologies to achieve full media coverage of media-mix; second, because the two-dimensional culture is prevalent in the pan-entertainment industry, the number of audiences is huge, covering almost all young groups; third, because the two-dimensional group has a generally high consumption level and is willing to "buy, buy, buy" for their favorite ACGN content, the pan-entertainment industry has unlimited business opportunities.

(I) Online and offline have their own characteristics and close interaction

Tencent was the first company in China to propose the concept of "pan-entertainment", and Tencent is also the master of the pan-entertainment industry. Internet companies have taken the lead in the pan-entertainment industry by virtue of their technology and platform advantages, gathering a large amount of IP resources and hundreds of millions of user groups, making the pan-entertainment industry first present a vibrant and enthusiastic atmosphere online. Online content such as online literature, games, videos, and music have supported a large part of the pan-entertainment industry and are currently the main profit-making part of the pan-entertainment industry.

In fact, the pan-entertainment industry includes two parts, online and offline, each with its own characteristics and close interaction. The offline part is also an important part of the pan-entertainment industry, and its operating model is becoming more and more mature and its importance is increasing. The offline part is mostly presented in the form of books, cards, and peripheral products, and also includes live events such as concerts, autograph sessions, and Cosplay, which mostly appear in traditional publishing, manufacturing, and service industries.

Compared with the online part, which is becoming saturated, the offline part has a larger market space. First, there are a large number of online users waiting to be transferred offline, and there is a huge profit space; second, compared with online giants such as Tencent, there are no heavyweight offline pan-entertainment product and service providers, and there is a huge space for competition. The company where I work, Tianwen Kadokawa, is such a pan-entertainment industry and service provider based offline, targeting the 14-25 year old youth group. Its business scope covers pan-entertainment products such as anime books and periodicals, anime card games, and anime peripherals, as well as pan-entertainment services such as on-site autograph sessions, concerts, Cosplay, anime events, and anime-themed tourism.

(II) The essence of pan-entertainment amid the market noise

On the surface, the pan-entertainment industry is the in-depth development of a certain IP through various media means. It is in the process of IP development that the industry barriers in different fields are broken down, forming a "pan" situation. Looking through the hustle and bustle of the market, the essence and ultimate goal of pan-entertainment is to maximize the development of the fan base, to include and connect consumers who originally belonged to different media users and different fields through one IP, to bring them into an industrial cycle, and to develop their emotional value to the IP from the original one-time realization to repeated and continuous realization.

Take the domestic IP "Qin's Moon" as an example. The novel was first made into an animation, which had an impact, and then gradually developed into animation books, games, movies, peripherals, live-action TV series, etc. In fact, it is to take advantage of fans' love for this IP brand and bring the original core fans accumulated from the novel into other industrial links, generate multiple consumption, and realize the transfer and realization of fans' emotional value; at the same time, new consumers of the same theme books, animations, games, movies, and peripherals are constantly joining the "Qin's Moon" fan group. Because of this, "Qin's Moon" has achieved the good results of ranking first in role-playing games and annual sales of peripheral products reaching 10 million.

The Qin's Moon series of novels and picture books produced by Tianwen Kadokawa)

This brings up a key question: How can the emotional value of fans be converted from one-time monetization to repeated monetization? How can fans be retained in an IP topic for a long time? In response to this, the online and offline parts of pan-entertainment have different functions.

(III) Pan-entertainment fan gathering methods

The two parts, online and offline, have different influences on the audience, which leads to different ways of gathering fans. One is the explosive growth online: the online part is highly instant (such as games, music, videos, etc.), which can often generate huge traffic in a short period of time, gather a large number of audiences, and increase the number of fans exponentially, forming explosive growth. Its disadvantage is that it is not sustainable, and it is easy to be short-lived, resulting in a waste of fans' emotional resources;

The other is offline warm growth, which is to retain fans gathered online through collectible physical objects or real on-site interactions (such as peripherals, books, meet-and-greets, autograph sessions, performances, etc.), and even expand them to the periphery (an important reason is that most of the users who pay attention to online are Internet users, mainly those born in the 1990s; while through offline products and services, it is possible to attract non-Internet users and include them in the fan group), thereby maintaining and enhancing the emotional value of fans to IP. This is the special role of the offline part of the pan-entertainment industry.

Gathering fans through comic exhibitions

Giving back to fans through autograph sessions

Attract fans through concerts

We can see that long-term fan emotional maintenance and multiple monetization behaviors often occur in the offline field of pan-entertainment. It is based on this that offline pan-entertainment product and service providers represented by Tianwen Kadokawa have found an entry point that suits their own characteristics in the pan-entertainment industry, demonstrating their own advantages.

Future market: Whoever knows how to manage fans will occupy the commanding heights

As mentioned above, the essence of IP economy is fan economy, and the essence of pan-entertainment is to bring fans into the industrial cycle. Therefore, fans are the key behind IP and pan-entertainment. In the future market, whoever knows how to manage fans will occupy the commanding heights.

The "China Cultural Consumption Index" jointly released by Renmin University of China and the Cultural Industry Department of the Ministry of Culture shows that there is a cultural consumption gap of more than 3 trillion in my country. According to iResearch data, in 2014, the scale of core ACG users in my country reached 49.84 million, while the scale of pan-ACG users reached 100 million. In the future, with the advancement of the pan-entertainment industry, the scale of core ACG users will grow steadily, and the scale of pan-ACG users will continue to expand. Faced with such a large user group, how can we find an effective way to manage fans? The author believes that we should grasp the following points:

1. Who are the fans? Where are they?

This is a problem that naturally arises at the beginning of the birth of IP. Because, in today's world where the two-dimensional culture is clearly segmented and the audience's consumption needs are diverse, no IP or any product can be all-encompassing, and it must have a clear direction. In other words, it must be targeted. IP operators must first figure out: Which group of people are the original fans of the IP? What is their age, gender, and spending power? Are they students or adult white-collar workers? Do they belong to the 2nd dimension or the 2.5th dimension? In the process of IP development, such problems will arise repeatedly, because the different product types brought by the same IP must be directed to different fan groups.

(2) What do fans like? What do they want?

The godfather figure Steve Jobs once said: "Users never know what they really want. What you give them is what they want." Experienced fan managers will not write "What kind of product do you want?" on the questionnaire, but try to dig out effective information from the fans' actual behavior, living habits, interests and hobbies, etc.: "What websites do you often browse?", "Which physical stores or online stores do you often shop in?", "What do you talk about with your companions?", "How much money do you spend on the ACGN field in a week"... Everything is up to the operators to analyze by themselves, split and combine various information, and then continue to try and error in the market.

(III) How to deliver product information accurately?

Under the name of "ACG fans", there are actually many different types of fan groups. This has been mentioned in point (1). There should be different product information release channels and marketing strategies for different fan groups. Take information platforms as an example: traditional platforms such as Baidu Tieba, Sina Weibo, Douban, etc. are commonly used online communication gathering places for ACG; but vertical platforms are more segmented and more targeted, such as "Banciyuan" and XCOS commonly used by Cosplay enthusiasts, "Skylight" for the fan community, "Technical House" for the technical geek group, "Beiwo" and "M Station" for gathering ACG sound products, etc. Finding the right channel for product information broadcasting often achieves twice the result with half the effort.

(IV) How to interact with fans and get closer and closer?

The reason why the pan-entertainment industry can bring fans into the industrial cycle and realize the repeated realization of fans' emotional value is based on the psychological needs of fans. Fans hope to see their favorite works appear in different types, hope to narrow the distance between themselves and their idols, and hope to find a sense of collective belonging and share their experiences in gatherings with like-minded people. They even hope to participate in the process of creating a certain IP (such as participating in crowdfunding). Operators should grasp and satisfy this natural psychology of fans, constantly get close to the fan group, create activities and topics, so as to increase fan loyalty and cohesion.

In terms of fan management, Tianwen Kadokawa's actions may provide a reference for its peers. For five years, Tianwen Kadokawa has been focusing on operating for users aged 14-25, who have independent understanding and consumption capabilities. Today, Tianwen Kadokawa already has 3 million loyal fans and has successfully operated 500 IPs. Since different IPs have different audiences, we segment fan groups (otaku, fuxiang, literary and fresh...), establish a complete user database, and accurately grasp fan information; carry out special marketing for different types of fan groups, so that fans can closely follow the products; create the original "regional webmaster system", set up Tianwen Kadokawa physical and online franchise stores, regularly hold theme activities, and distribute product information in real time, striving to get as close to users and serve users as possible.

Through its unique fan management mechanism, Tianwen Kadokawa has become a "fan fermentation tank": when operating an IP, we can accurately locate the location and needs of the IP's original fans, and through Tianwen Kadokawa's own channels, we can gather this group of fans in a short period of time, enter the Tianwen Kadokawa fan system, and interact with Tianwen Kadokawa's existing 3 million fans, so that the IP fan group continues to expand.

Take the book product "Peak Glory" of Tianwen Kadokawa as an example. "Peak Glory" is a spin-off of the popular online novel "The King's Avatar". When developing the online novel into a book publication, we did a lot of editing work based on the fans' hobbies, added illustrations and many attractive spin-offs and gifts, making the physical book much more valuable than the online novel. Then, we selected the appropriate marketing channel and launched the "Peak 100 Hours" book pre-sale event in Tianwen Kadokawa's online franchise store, setting a sales record of tens of thousands of copies within 100 hours of being on the shelves. Facts have proved that Tianwen Kadokawa can find the core fans of the IP "The King's Avatar" in a very short time, attract them, and make them continue to expand in the fan fermentation tank of Tianwen Kadokawa, and their stickiness and loyalty continue to increase.

"Peak of Glory" launched a pre-sale event of "Peak 100 Hours" at Tianwen Kadokawa's online franchise store, and tens of thousands of copies were sold out

It can be seen that the key to winning the pan-entertainment industry in the future is not the company or individual holding high-quality IP (IP holder), but the IP operation company (IP operator) that is proficient in fan management. In the future, cooperation between IP holders and these companies will become inevitable.

How to judge the pros and cons of an IP operation company

To win in the pan-entertainment industry, you need not only the best IP creators, but also the best IP operators. This is like having a good gardener, so that the original good seeds can eventually bloom into flowers that exude all their charm. However, if you encounter a gardener who does not know when to sow, when to fertilize, and when to weed, no matter how good the IP is, it will lose its value because its potential cannot be developed.

At present, the competition for high-quality IP resources in China has become fierce, but the results of IP operation are uneven, and there are many lessons learned. At the Shanghai CCG EXPO Summit Forum in July this year, Nanpai Sanshu, the original author of "Grave Robbers' Chronicles", was invited to attend. When an audience member asked him whether his main focus was on IP operation or content creation, Nanpai Sanshu replied helplessly: "Now I am focusing on how to calm the anger of fans. I really want to continue creating, but because of various operations, including the results of the first adaptation of many themes, all my energy is now focused on how to make fans happier and accept this reality. We will work harder next time." It can be seen that in IP operation, how to make product development reasonable, retain the original flavor to the maximum extent, and maintain and increase the emotional value of fans to IP is a very important proposition.

How can IP holders find excellent IP developers? I personally think there are several criteria for judging:

1. Past IP development experience

This is the most intuitive and convenient way to evaluate an operating company in a short period of time. Which IP holders has the company worked with? How many years of IP development experience does it have? Are there any successful cases? From past successful cases, we can see what kind of fan groups the company is good at targeting and what type of IP it is good at operating.

2. Fan Management Level

An excellent IP operation company must be one with a mature fan management mechanism. Its fan management level determines whether it can find the core fans of the IP in a short period of time, provide the fans with the products and services they want, and keep the fans in the industry cycle for a long time. Because IP economy, to put it bluntly, is still fan economy. If fans don't buy it, everything is in vain.

(III) Product and Service Quality

The success of IP operation depends not only on the overall planning, but also on the refinement of details. Only by providing refined products and services can we win the trust of users, form a brand effect, and keep fans firmly in the product circle. This is an important intangible asset. Especially in the cross-border development of IP, when a new product form is launched (such as the original online novel is transformed into a paper book publication), the audience will be more likely to accept this new product out of trust or even dependence on the company's brand.

This is exactly why Tianwen Kadokawa places special emphasis on product quality and brand building in IP operations. All our products must reach the advanced level of similar international products; the cooperative service providers and manufacturers we look for must be able to withstand the most stringent selection and have successful experience in OEM for foreign companies. Once a product has defects, we will reiterate the standards and replace the cooperative manufacturer at any time. With excellent quality, Tianwen Kadokawa's products are more likely to stand out in the market, and Tianwen Kadokawa's brand has been stabilized and elevated through years of persistence.

(IV) Corporate Culture

This is not only a deep-seated reason that affects product quality, but also means the environment in which the IP seed will grow. Whether the IP operator has an outward-looking corporate culture, whether it can allow the coexistence of different cultures, whether it is tolerant and cooperative, and whether the mechanism is flexible, these deep-seated corporate cultural factors are worthy of attention. Because IP operation is often not the business of a single company, but involves different fields and is completed by multiple companies working together. Companies with an open corporate culture, strong tolerance, and high flexibility are often more competent for this role of coordination and cooperation.

(V) Resource Platform

The higher the starting point and the wider the scope of a company's platform, the more resources it can gather and the more possibilities it can provide to IP holders. For example, a company with an international cooperation platform can more easily absorb international advanced concepts and operation models in the process of IP operation, so that its products can reach the first-class level in the industry, and it can also facilitate the launch of local IP products in foreign markets.

In summary, with the popularity of the second dimension culture today, the pan-entertainment industry has a vast space and unlimited business opportunities, especially the offline part of pan-entertainment has great potential. If excellent IP holders can work together with mature IP operators and firmly grasp the ultimate core of IP economy and pan-entertainment industry - fan groups, they can stand on a new commanding height and create miracles. The author hopes that in the future, more and more IP seeds will bloom bright flowers and bear sweet fruits in the vast land of pan-entertainment.