Pop Mart vs Jellycat: An in-depth analysis of the brand strategies of the trendy toy leader and the healing cute toy

Preface:

In the contemporary consumer market, toys are no longer just for children. Pop Mart leads the trend culture with its blind box model, while Jellycat provides warm companionship with its high-quality plush toys.

These two seemingly different brands have successfully captured their respective target customers and achieved significant market growth. This article will deeply analyze the brand concepts, product strategies, marketing methods and market performance of Pop Mart and Jellycat, and explore the secrets of their success.

1. Brand Overview and Concept

• Pop Mart:

  • Date and place of establishment: Founded in Beijing in 2010.
  • Brand vision: Strive to become a world-leading trendy culture and entertainment company.
  • Brand slogan: Create trends and deliver beauty.
  • Core: With IP as the core, we focus on the field of trendy toys, especially blind box products. Its representative IPs such as Molly (derived from the image of a little painter created by Hong Kong designer Kenny Wong) are very popular among young consumers.

• Jellycat:

  • Established in 1999 in the UK.
  • Brand concept: Committed to creating high-quality and interesting plush toys to add joy and happiness to life.
  • Brand slogan: Embrace JELLYCAT and enjoy warm and happy moments.
  • Core: Known for high-quality, uniquely designed, soft-touch plush toys, emphasizing product safety and emotional value. The name comes from the whim of a child who likes jelly and cats.

2. Product Analysis and Positioning

• Pop Mart:

  • Product strategy: Seize the gap in the domestic adult toy market, use IP as core competitiveness, and quickly establish brand advantages. Not only does it develop its own IP, it also actively cooperates with globally renowned IPs to expand its coverage.
  • Value proposition: It provides not only the toy itself, but also the collection value, sense of surprise (blind box mechanism) and social currency. The products are mainly aimed at young people who pursue fashion and love collecting.

• Jellycat:

  • Product strategy: Focus on plush toys, emphasizing material safety (all products pass European and American toy safety standards) and design differentiation.
  • Value proposition: Providing high-quality companionship and emotional comfort. The product has a wide price range (reference material mentions 129-1699 yuan), meeting the needs of different consumers, and its soft touch and cute shape make it a popular choice for gifts and self-healing.

3. Marketing strategy comparison

• Pop Mart’s multi-dimensional marketing:

  • Hunger marketing: stimulate consumers' desire to buy and collect through the blind box model of "fixed version + hidden version".
  • Community marketing: Use the APP to gain insight into user preferences and increase fan stickiness; through membership activities and community interactions, create a circle culture for trendy play enthusiasts and drive membership growth.
  • Cross-border cooperation: integrating seemingly unrelated elements to create a "1+1>2" brand effect and increase brand depth and freshness.

• Jellycat’s emotional and community driven:

  • Anthropomorphism and UGC: Spontaneous secondary creations by users (such as making emoticons and photo-editing activities) are widely spread on social media, especially the photo-editing activity of "Everything can be Jellycat", which has brought huge natural traffic to the brand.
  • Empathy and identity: In line with the individual consciousness and emotional expression needs of Generation Z, the product is humanized to make it a vehicle for young people to express their emotions.
  • Embrace the "loneliness economy": In a high-pressure social environment, the companionship and healing properties provided by plush toys accurately meet the emotional needs of young people in the context of the "loneliness economy".

IV. Business data and market performance (taking 2022 data as an example)

• Pop Mart:

  • Revenue in 2022 was RMB 4.617 billion, up 2.8% year-on-year, but the growth rate slowed compared to the previous year, and adjusted net profit decreased by 42.7% year-on-year.
  • Despite facing challenges such as complex processes and reliance on manual labor, as an industry leader, it still has a certain pricing power and a gross profit margin of over 60%.

• Jellycat:

  • Revenue in 2022 was approximately 146 million euros (approximately 1.157 billion yuan), a year-on-year increase of 71%.
  • Its performance in the Chinese market was particularly outstanding, with revenue from Tmall alone exceeding RMB 100 million, achieving nearly triple-digit growth.

5. Summary of Brand Characteristics

• Pop Mart: It is regarded as a "blind box money printing machine" and a "leader in trendy toy culture". Its products are a kind of "spiritual feeding that consumers cannot quit".
• Jellycat: Known as the "lonely money-eating beast" and "popular in the plush circle", it is an "emotional anchor that consumers cannot give up" and provides "heartwarming and healing cute things".

in conclusion:

Pop Mart and Jellycat represent two different paths to success. With its innovative blind box model and powerful IP operation, Pop Mart has captured the trend pursuit and collecting psychology of young people and has become synonymous with trendy play culture. Jellycat stands out in the plush toy market with its excellent quality, unique design and deep insight into consumers' emotional needs. Especially against the backdrop of the rise of the "loneliness economy" and "healing culture", it has become a warm haven in the hearts of countless people. Although the two have different positioning, they have both achieved their respective brand value and market success through precise strategies and deep understanding of target customers.