Detailed explanation of Universal Studios’ 7 super marketing IPs!

The opening and popularity of Universal Studios Beijing has become a major hot topic recently, and China's theme parks are clearly dominated by giants. The reason why cultural and tourism IP has such a great influence is actually because of the support of super IP. The author of this article analyzes the seven super IPs in Universal Studios Beijing for us, and let’s explore the secrets of IP in the big entertainment and cultural tourism industry.

With the opening and popularity of Universal Studios Beijing, China's theme parks have shown a clear pattern of giants: Universal Studios in North China, Shanghai Disneyland in East China, Chimelong Group and OCT Group in South China, and with the emergence of a drama complex in the Central Plains (only in Henan), China's cultural and tourism theme parks have officially entered the Warring States period.

Among them, Universal Studios and Disney both use IP as their core competitiveness, but they are different:

Tourists who go to Disneyland often think that they are going to Disneyland, so Mickey Mouse and other IP projects are all attached to them, so Disneyland is more about brand than IP .

For Universal Studios, IP is more important than brand , because tourists who go there often go for the big IPs, such as Harry Potter, Kung Fu Panda... Therefore, the appeal of its super IP is obviously stronger than its own brand appeal.

There are six main super IP areas in Beijing Universal Studios: Harry Potter, Transformers, Kung Fu Panda, Jurassic World, Minions, and Waterworld. The IP in other areas is mainly How to Train Your Dragon, totaling seven.

Why these seven IPs?

You know, Universal Studios has a lot of famous IPs that it can mobilize, so why not other IPs? What is the reason behind it?

If you clarify this question, you will understand:

What kind of IP is more suitable for large-scale entertainment and cultural tourism? In the past one or two years, I have spent a lot of time researching this issue and found that it is not enough for a film or TV work to be popular. It also needs to have the following points:

1. IP has sufficient cultural support from social consensus and a strong emotional core;
2. IP has a very systematic worldview , and it is fantastical and surreal. It is difficult to create a theme park in a purely realistic world.
3. IP also has very systematic characters , scenes , props and costumes , etc., which allow people to immerse themselves in the story and continue to extend and expand.

This can be summarized in the following chart:

Below, I will interpret Universal Studios’ seven super IPs in detail and analyze why they are the most worthy of selection?

1. Harry Potter

Creation time: 1997 novel published

Film and TV show release date: 2001

Development time: 24 years (until 2021)

I often say that Harry Potter is a miracle, not only because it has only been around for 24 years (20 years if only the film and television works are counted), but also because its author is only JK Rowling, who single-handedly created a super IP that can almost compete with all the various Disney IPs. It's really amazing.

If we don't count the entire Disney or Universal Studios theme parks and only look at single IPs, then Harry Potter must be the most valuable single IP theme park area in the world . In comparison, many of Disney's famous works are often just a project in a theme park, while Harry Potter alone can support an entire scenic spot. Whether it is actively attracting passenger flow or derivative commercial conversion, it is the highest among single IPs.

Why is it possible? It can be seen from the basic IP positioning——

The positioning of Disney's works is fairy-tale culture. Fairy tales are the most basic cultural matrix of human civilization. One fairy-tale story after another enables Disney's fairy-tale IP universe to continue to accumulate and remain strong, winning the family market on the basis of being deeply loved by children.

The positioning of Harry Potter is wizard (magician) culture, which is also the most basic cultural matrix of human civilization. Wizard culture appeared with the emergence of human civilization. Its history is earlier than any religious belief. It is an obscure part of human cultural spirit and has long entered the collective unconscious of human nature.

Harry Potter can be said to be the culmination of the wizard/magic culture, creating an IP universe that blends the real world and the wizard world. Every item in it was not created out of thin air by Rowling, but all have their origins in thousands of years of wizard culture, forming an all-encompassing and extremely systematic system of wizard cultural symbols.

In one of the episodes of my "Chen Gray Talks about IP" series of short videos, I specifically mentioned the powerful force of the Harry Potter wizard culture system.

Therefore, the world of Harry Potter is a world of wizards with rich historical roots. The growth process of the protagonist is not only empathetic, but also full of cultural symbols, props, and ritual energy.

A powerful super IP can often reconstruct time and space and build its own space-time structure. For example, Harry Potter reconstructed a parallel world of wizards that is parallel to the real world and blends with reality. In Harry Potter, the wizarding world coexists with the real world, blending and influencing each other, which can easily happen.

Platform Nine and Three Quarters, the node connecting the real world and the magical world.

The intersection of magic and reality makes it particularly easy for people to project, substitute and participate in themselves. For example, many people match their own life timeline with the timeline of Harry Potter's story.

In short, from the perspective of culture and world view, Harry Potter has created an extremely complete and rich system of wizard cultural symbols, which is very convenient to build into a theme park area, allowing the scenes and life in the story to be fully presented through the theme park, thus achieving huge success.

The symbolic content of Harry Potter's IP can be fully presented in the theme park.

Let’s talk about Harry Potter’s empathy. The key here is - “an orphan’s coming-of-age ceremony.”

Harry Potter tells the story of a group of children growing up, forming a unique IP symbol system through the wizarding world's special entrance ceremony, sorting ceremony, graduation ceremony, and a series of growth ceremonies.

The theme of the story is a human proposition: the story of a flawed orphan boy who grows up from childhood to adulthood. As he grows up, he encounters a series of partners, mentors, enemies, and the dark side of growth, and ultimately achieves self-improvement, regeneration, and redemption of humanity, achieving his "coming of age ceremony."

A helpless orphan grew up to be a great magician.

Voldemort and Harry Potter, the dark and light sides of human nature.

The four major Hogwarts colleges, which are responsible for growth, allow people with different personalities to put themselves in the shoes of others.

Harry Potter originally thought that he was just a poor orphan, but later found out that he was a legend in the wizarding world, shouldering the mission of stopping and completely defeating Voldemort. Through studying in the magic school, Harry Potter gradually established his own belief: to become a great wizard, to defend the equality, peace and friendship in the wizarding world, and to fight a desperate battle with the Death Eaters represented by Voldemort for this.

I once compared it with the famous domestic IP "Tomb Raiders" IP. The tomb raiding stories are indeed exciting (I am also one of the enthusiastic readers), but the theme of the story is very secular. It is about a group of adults who go to tombs to get rich. This theme is too adult. It is not a story about the basic theme of human development, and it also lacks a strong enough confrontation between the worlds of values. Therefore, from the perspective of the depth of empathy and the systematic nature of the worldview, the tomb-raiding IP appears to have too shallow empathy and too fragmented a worldview.

Harry Potter's empathy is at a much lower level of human nature. He starts as a cowardly and unconfident orphan and gradually becomes self-reliant. In this process, the protagonist grows from unconfident to confident. At the same time, the forces of darkness become increasingly powerful as he grows young, eventually leading to a decisive battle between light and darkness.

Finally, let’s summarize the IP cultural symbol system of Harry Potter:

• Cultural foundation: thousands of years of wizard/magician culture vs. modern life culture.
• Emotional core: the growth of an orphan, the struggle between inner goodness and darkness.
• Worldview: Hidden in modern life is a world of wizards/magicians with all kinds of magical powers.
• Roles: magic school students, headmasters and teachers, Ministry of Magic officials, big villains, Order of the Phoenix and Death Eaters, etc.
• Scenes: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Hogsmeade Village, Ministry of Magic, Diagon Alley, Azkaban Prison, etc.
• Props: wand, sorting hat, emblems of the four major colleges, butterbeer, potions, golden snitch, etc.

In short, the difference between a super IP and an ordinary IP lies in the depth of human emotions, as well as the thickness and perfection of culture.

2. Transformers

Creation time: 1983 Toys launched

Film and TV show released in: 1984

Development time: 37 years (until 2021)

The cultural matrix of the Transformers IP universe is modern mechanical civilization, combined with the classic system of good and evil confrontation, expressing mankind's enthusiasm and imagination for the new culture of the mechanized age. Each Transformer, which is transformed from various modern electronic devices such as cars, represents people's subconscious desire for various modern mechanical products. They feel that they can come alive and become super-powered mechanical giants, forming a strong empathy effect.

Let’s talk about the origin of Transformers first: At the Tokyo Toy Show in 1983, representatives of Hasbro of the United States discovered the transforming robot toys launched by TAKARA of Japan. They were not popular at the time, but Hasbro recognized the huge potential value of this kind of robot toys that can transform into cars or daily necessities, decided to cooperate, and launched IP transformation:

• The concept of "living robots" replaces the original setting that "robots need to be controlled by drivers";
• The character setting introduces the confrontation between good and evil, dividing the robots into two camps: the righteous "Autobots" and the evil "Decepticons";
• Introducing the world view of "Planet Tibertan", designing a historical line that stretches back tens of millions of years;
• Comics, animations, and movies were released one after another, which became a huge hit. An early Transformers cartoon.

Transformers card collection.

In my 5S principle of IP incubation, the English word I chose for worldview is Scenery, which is the stage setting designed according to the theme of the drama. Similarly, the IP worldview is a unique world stage created based on the IP theme. The more systematic the worldview, the easier it is to form an IP ecosystem.

The Transformers' worldview is to continuously create product universes based on the confrontation between good and evil, such as the G1 Universe, RID Universe, Evil God Universe, 08 Universe, Real Person Universe, United Universe, Tianyuan Universe, Siege Universe, and so on. The extremely simple confrontational story, the extremely distant world view design, and the extreme character changes make the Transformers IP not only easy to make into toy products, but also very convenient to combine with theme parks to form scene packaging, amusement facilities, performances and derivative products in the park.

To summarize the IP cultural symbol system of Transformers:

• Cultural chassis: human imagination of mechanical civilization.
• Emotional core: the struggle between good and evil in human nature.
• Worldview: The history of the development and confrontation between the two factions on the planet Tibertron that lasted for tens of millions of years.
• Characters: Autobots and Decepticons, intelligent life forms, Quintessential Quintessence
• Scene: Planets and various Transformers universes.
• Props: Robots as props, various weapons, and the magic ball Vector Sigma.

3. Minions

Creation date: 2010 (animated film)

Development time: 11 years (until 2021)

Minions are quite unique among the many Universal Studios IPs.

They are not heroes or single characters, but just a large group of silly, stupid and cute friends.

Although they are not very capable, they are loved by everyone and bring joy to people.

It has only been 11 years since they came out, but they have quickly become one of the most popular animation super IPs, and the series of films (3 Despicable Me films + 1 Minions solo) has set the highest box office record for animated series films.

They carry the softest emotional parts of Universal Studios' many IPs, making children love them and giving adults a sense of healing.

If you want to understand why the Minions IP is so popular, you cannot use conventional IP character settings to understand it, because they are actually psychological symbols of the collective unconscious.

I have always found that the closer the feeling of an IP character is to the subconscious, the more people will accept and love it instinctively and spontaneously, completely unaffected by reason and logic.

Not only are the Minions extremely close to the subconscious, but they are also a very special type of IP character: the “elf”.

Unlike pets or individuals who usually appear alone, elves often appear in large groups or waves, and it is difficult to tell what they are. Representative elf IPs include not only the Minions, but also the Smurfs, as well as the tree elves and coal elves in Hayao Miyazaki's movies, etc.

You must understand the nature of elves: they are not animals, they are a group of subconscious creatures.

Because they can achieve subconscious emotional anchoring, such characters can often inspire global, borderless love. This is the magic of elves that reach the subconscious or even collective unconscious level.

In a word, the cutest is invincible.

The best thing about the Minions is that they can be perfect supporting characters, but they are very confusing as the main characters.

According to the original setting of "Despicable Me", the inventor professor poured banana powder into capsules, so their essence is a group of small banana capsules.

From color to shape, it is full of sexy subconscious symbols, so it is very successful. But when the Minions become the protagonists of the movie themselves, the story seems too weak and the historical origins seem a bit far-fetched.

Therefore, the Minions' worldview does not need to be as powerful as other IPs. It is enough to create a world with a touch of magic and science fiction, full of life and overflowing with surreal imagination, just like "Despicable Me".

In the park, you only need to be responsible for a Minions Park and undertake the tasks of making jokes and relaxing. Therefore, in Universal Studios, the Minions Park is located between the two major scenic areas.

To summarize the IP cultural symbol system of Minions:

• Cultural foundation: Relaxed and interesting cute pet culture.
• Emotional core: the subconscious in human instinct and even the collective unconscious.
• Worldview: A light fantasy city with a touch of spoof and self-mockery.
• Characters: Minions, Master Gru, Lightweight Villain
• Yellow, big goggle-like eyes, capsule-shaped.
• Scene: Minions underground factory, residential house
• Props: Various COSOLAY props integrated with the Minions.

4. Kung Fu Panda

Founded: 2008

Development time: 13 years (until 2021)

As the IP with the most Chinese cultural characteristics, Kung Fu Panda will of course become an important part of Beijing Universal Studios.

But how was this IP created?

I once curiously asked a friend who participated in the creation and production process of "Kung Fu Panda" what the secret of this creation was?

The answer is: there is no secret, it is just made according to the most basic Hollywood routine, but everything is done to the extreme .

First, we list the important elements of Chinese culture, including Kung Fu, pandas, landscapes, food, traditional towns, etc., and then do our best in world view design and scene design.

Then, the traditional Chinese metaphysical culture of "qi" and "nothingness" is taken as the core theme and popularized to the extreme, for example, "nothingness" means not adding salt.

What is particularly important is to show sufficient respect for traditional Chinese humanities and philosophy. This is exactly why Kung Fu Panda is widely recognized by the Chinese people. It is also the reason why the live-action version of "Mulan" failed, because it tampered with the core of Chinese culture. In Kung Fu Panda, the most important Chinese cultural philosophy has not been changed.

Finally, on these foundations, we made humane and humorous character designs, using "laziness", a point of empathy that is easy to generate, as the personality setting for the protagonist, and did it to the extreme; then we made a standard routine "loser's counterattack" story, and did it to the extreme, and it was done, and it was a great success.

The working process of Kung Fu Panda is to respect Chinese culture and human nature while taking every element to the extreme.

To summarize Kung Fu Panda's IP cultural symbol system:

• Cultural foundation: a novel interpretation of traditional Chinese culture.
• Emotional core: growth, counterattack and sense of humor in human nature.
• Worldview: Combination of Chinese Kung Fu and cultural landscape elements.
• Roles: Po the panda, master, companions, family, villains, etc.
• Scenes: Small towns, landscapes, etc. with Chinese elements
• Props: Various props related to Kung Fu and food.

5. Jurassic World

Creation time: 1990 novel published

Film and TV show released in: 1993

Development time: 31 years (until 2021)

Dinosaur-themed parks are popular all over the world, and not just Universal's Jurassic World. For example, there is a dinosaur park in Changzhou, China, which has been developing to this day.

At Universal Studios, Jurassic World has also been a perennial favorite, propping up the past few decades, especially before Harry Potter appeared.

This shows that it is not just the charm of the movie, but the great charm of dinosaurs themselves.

What is the charm of dinosaurs for humans?

In my book "Principles of Super IP Incubation", I specifically talked about an important story model for building super IP, which is -

Fighting against the embodiment of great fear

In the collective subconscious of human beings, there has always been a fear of huge monsters or something beyond human power, and various symbols have been derived from this, such as ancient fear of giants, monster legends, various Cthulhu myths, zombies, and so on.

This prototype story has produced many famous IPs, such as Ultraman, Godzilla, King Kong, Attack on Titan, The Walking Dead, etc., from Jurassic Park to Jurassic World, of course.

This story archetype has two main characteristics:

1. The story will be surrounded by symbols of fear

For example, Godzilla attacks human society, Attack on Titan is about people living in high walls to avoid the giants, the story of Jurassic Park takes place in a park full of dinosaurs, Ultraman must constantly deal with attacks on the city by various alien monsters, and so on.

2. The fight never ends

Although in the story, humans can come up with various ways to resist foreign demons, the threat always exists, and humans can only remain vigilant and constantly respond to new crises.

I would like to point out in particular that Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf is also among them. Although it is a comedy and the Big Bad Wolf is always easily defeated, in essence, it is still a manifestation of the most collective unconscious fear of human beings. This is the fundamental reason why it is so popular. The comedy and the easy defeat of the wolf have become the pleasure of overcoming primitive fear.

This story archetype is particularly prone to producing both positive and negative super IP characters representing fear and confrontation.

From Ultraman and monsters, to Godzilla, to Jurassic dinosaurs, this is true because the full expression and exaggeration correspond to the fear in human nature.

So it's simple, the reason why Jurassic Park and Jurassic World are so popular is that by resurrecting dinosaurs, they awakened people's subconscious fear of giant beasts.

The prototype of this story is the embodiment of human fear of the outside world, so this type of story almost always takes place in a relatively closed environment, leaving people with nowhere to escape the threats they face, thus strengthening the confrontation.

Therefore, this type of IP is extremely suitable for presentation through theme parks, which are also closed scene environments.

To summarize the IP cultural symbol system of Jurassic World:

• Cultural foundation: Monster culture, Cthulhu culture.
• Emotional core: the human fear of huge monsters.
• Worldview: Dinosaurs are resurrected.
• Characters: Mainly dinosaurs, as well as antagonists and villains who attract monsters.
• Scenario: Keeping dinosaurs in a theme park.
• Props: Various items ravaged by dinosaurs and tools for escape.

6. Future Water World

Creation date: 1995 (film released)

Development time: 26 years (until 2021)

"Waterworld" was originally a movie released in the United States on July 28, 1995. It describes the story of the future when the glaciers at the two poles of the earth melt massively, the earth becomes a vast ocean, and people can only survive on the water.

Interestingly, the movie Waterworld did not receive very good reviews, both in China and abroad, and was generally considered to lack depth. Although it grossed 250 million US dollars worldwide, it was a loss-making business at the time due to the huge investment.

However, because the apocalyptic atmosphere presented by the future water world is extremely spectacular, the huge set and numerous special effects amaze the audience and lead them into a wonderful visual myth. In addition, the greenhouse effect and global warming are becoming increasingly serious, which makes people's empathy for it become stronger and stronger.

So although the Waterworld movie was not very successful, it was a huge success as a theme park. It has been the representative attraction of Universal Studios for decades and is very popular.

It is not uncommon for a movie to become a success and the theme park to be well-received. Disney once made a futuristic science fiction movie called "TRON", which was not a big success and had average box office. However, it created an extremely gorgeous science fiction game world, filled the gap in foreign Disney themes, and has always been a very popular attraction in the theme parks.

In short, the biggest advantage of Future Water World is that the value of world view design always exists and corresponds to people's concerns and empathy about global warming.

To summarize the IP cultural symbol system of the future water world:

• Cultural foundation: environmentally friendly future + science fiction culture.
• Emotional core: Humanity’s concerns about future global warming.
• Worldview: In the future, Earth's glaciers will melt massively and become a vast ocean.
• Roles: Hero, future pirate, etc.
• Scene: Punk-style human village in the sea and underwater city ruins.
• Props: Various future combat tools.

7. How to Train Your Dragon

Founded: 2003 Children's Book Publishing

Film and TV show release date: 2010

Development time: 18 years (until 2021)

Although How to Train Your Dragon did not become an independent attraction of Universal Studios Beijing, it has also been highly recommended. Moreover, with the vigorous development vitality of this IP, it is entirely possible that it will continue to improve in the next 10 years.

The core cultural consciousness of How to Train Your Dragon is the domestication tradition formed by humans since ancient times to tame wild beasts into good helpers. As early as ancient times, when humans tamed wolves into dogs, the domestication culture began. Later, they tamed wild horses and the ancestors of cats and turned them into pets. This genetic imprint has been engraved in people's subconscious.

The dragon in How to Train Your Dragon is actually a combination of a beast, an eagle, and a horse.

The empathy point is also crucial, which is the process of a boy growing up from timid to brave, as well as the deep friendship between humans and wild dragons.

The "coming of age ceremony" mentioned when talking about Harry Potter earlier is equally important in How to Train Your Dragon. It is the process of people and dragons living in harmony, the process of defeating themselves and the sky, and the process of transcending the control of their parents.

I recommend that you not only watch the animated film series, but it’s also worth reading the original novel. The original work is the children's book of the same name written in 2003, "How to Tam Your Dragon", which is very exciting and the descriptions of the different types of dragons are also very detailed.

To summarize the IP cultural symbol system of How to Train Your Dragon:

• Cultural foundation: the history of animal taming by humans since ancient times and the cultural legends of the Vikings.
• Emotional core: growth, friendship between humans and animals.
• Worldview: The world where ancient Vikings lived and humans and dragons coexisted.
• Characters: teenagers, various dragons, and fathers.
• Scenes: Harbor, sky, ocean, cave.
• Props: combat weapons, etc.

Finally, what kind of IP is most suitable for the development of large-scale entertainment and cultural tourism?

1. Designed by a strong worldview system;
2. Strong contradictions and conflicts, strong confrontation between good and evil;
3. Strong task;
4. Continuously expandable characters, scenes and props;
5. Strong cultural consensus.

etc.

Author: Chen Gray

Source: IP Fried Rice (ID: IPCOOK)