In recent years, the trend of designer toys going overseas has become increasingly popular. StarPony is one of the most successful domestic designer toy brands to go global.
Although China's toy industry is clearly export-oriented and has long been in a state of high exports but low brand awareness, StarPony has achieved both high sales and strong reputation. Its social media exposure has exceeded 100 million, with cumulative global sales surpassing 300 million. Among similar products, its brand occupies the top spot in the European and American markets, making it a truly renowned designer toy brand.
StarPony (Tianma Xingkong) was founded in Guangzhou in August 2020. The company's core team members come from many well-known enterprises, including Alibaba, Huawei, UC, Xiaopeng, Lingdong Creative, and Procter & Gamble, gathering elites from various industries.
In terms of product research and design, StarPony mainly focuses on three aspects: educational, intelligent, and IP-based development.
Since the last round of financing, StarPony has shifted its strategic focus to IP development. "Mewaii" is the most successful IP image created by StarPony through the TikTok platform, which has gained tremendous attention in overseas markets.
Now, let Tuke take you to explore StarPony's journey of original IP incubation in overseas markets.
Overview of StarPony's IP creation plan. Image source: StarPony independent site
One reason StarPony chose TikTok to incubate its IP is that TikTok itself attracts a large user base seeking creative and interesting content, providing ideal soil for brand communication.
Regarding this, StarPony founder Shi Cangjian once stated that China has the world's most complete toy industry chain, covering everything from design and production to supply. If this can be combined with emerging platforms like TikTok, it will provide an excellent opportunity for Chinese cultural IPs to go global.
Currently, StarPony's main TikTok account has 225,400 followers, and its IP image Mewaii's TikTok account has 118,800 followers, with many viral videos. One viral video reached 11 million views, which is already a remarkable achievement for a new IP entering overseas markets in 2022.
Mewaii image TikTok account status
Since its launch on TikTok, StarPony has promoted the image of the plush toy Mewaii in anime form, creating many creative videos.
As for the content themes, all are created from the perspective of contemporary young people's lives. From plot design to visual style, everything closely matches the aesthetics and interests of Gen Z, making the content highly relatable.
Take, for example, a video posted on its TikTok account on August 26, 2023. The video is about ways girls tease boys in relationships, combining contemporary young people's views on love and popular online memes. Once released, it caused a huge sensation on TikTok, with over 10 million views and 860,000 likes.
Mewaii's TikTok video viewership
In addition to providing emotional value for Gen Z audiences, StarPony also collaborates with many TikTok influencers for promotional campaigns, further increasing StarPony's exposure on TikTok.
TikTok influencer @funnypenjs, who has 213,900 followers, promoted StarPony through unboxing reviews. The video received 1.7 million views and 300,000 likes, achieving a good sales effect.
TikTok influencer @funnypenj promotional video viewership
TikTok influencer @ronnieaintavampire promoted StarPony in an innovative way, showcasing the softness of StarPony plush toys through a boyfriend's perspective. This video was also very popular after its release, gaining 1.2 million views and 160,000 likes on TikTok.
TikTok influencer@ronnieaintavampirej promotional video viewership
To furthercontinuously showcase the IP among target customers, StarPony has also opened accounts on other overseas platforms and posted videos, such as Instagram, YouTube, and other overseas social media.
Currently, StarPony has 13,500 followers on Instagram. Although the number of followers is not as high as on TikTok, it is still a decent achievement, surpassing many brands.
StarPony-Instagram account status
On YouTube, StarPony has 2,760 followers.
StarPony-YouTube account status
In addition to operating IPs through TikTok and other platforms, StarPony has also built its own independent website.
StarPony's overseas independent site features a cute style that matches the brand's tone, mainly telling the stories behind the IP, integrating cultural IP into its products.
Through this independent site, users can directly jump to the exclusive Mewaii online store, allowing users interested in Mewaii products to accurately find what they need.
Screenshot of StarPony independent site homepage
Of course, not only online, but StarPony has also made offline arrangements.
According to Tuke, StarPony's "Mewaii" has established solid partnerships with many well-known offline retailers in the United States, including TJMaxx Group, Five Below, and Cracker Barrel, launching a joint online and offline sales model.
Image source: StarPony independent site, news about 2024 cooperation
Summary
IP creation has always been a weakness of domestic brands, but StarPony has successfully leveraged platforms like TikTok and YouTube to promote its IP, allowing more overseas consumers to learn about the "Mewaii" IP image.
It must be said that StarPony's overseas marketing strategies are well worth learning and referencing for domestic companies looking to go global. In the future, we hope everyone can achieve excellent "going global report cards" by utilizing TikTok and other overseas social media platforms.