01 What are we talking about when we talk about IP?

• What is IP? What are the categories of IP?
• What is a super IP ? What are the characteristics of (concept)?
• What are the differences between super IP and super brand?

The topic we are discussing today is “ Why doesn’t China have international IP worth hundreds of billions of dollars ?”

Many people may be surprised. We have heard before that IP has huge value, but hundreds of billions is too exaggerated, right? But it is really that exaggerated, and it is in US dollars. Before I explain in detail, let me first talk to you about what IP is.

The concept of IP is very popular, but it has been abused a lot in recent years. There is no value in discussing IP in a broad sense, because as long as you register and protect it, everything can be an IP. So before we talk about IP, there must be a prefix.

The IP we are talking about today mainly refers to animation (super) IP. The reason why I added the word "super" is because I haven't thought of a more appropriate word to distinguish the IP model I want to talk about. General anime IPs are relatively ordinary IPs of relatively low value, and only super IPs have huge value. My definition of this super IP mainly includes the following three points.

A brand is created for your own use, while an IP is created for others to use.

People often confuse IP and brand, saying that IP is just a good brand. In fact, there are huge differences between the two, and their essence and direction are completely different. Due to time constraints, I will not elaborate on them this time. Let me start with a conclusion: "Brands are born for your own use, while IPs are born for others to use."

I think that no matter how good a brand is , it will never really become an "IP" . For example, among the companies in the Fortune 500, none of them are IPs except Disney. In fact, strictly speaking, Disney is not an IP either. Some of its cartoons are real "IPs", but not all of them. The current situation in China is that many people confuse the concept when they see more cross-border and co-branded products. Many companies are also blindly creating their own so-called IPs, and will fall into the traps of many pseudo IPs, and in the end they will all be short-lived.

The picture I posted is basically the internationally famous super IPs of various countries (except the Devil Cat, which is not one yet). You can get some information from this chart, let me summarize:

First of all, this industry is not very old, with only a hundred years of history, but the value it has created is extremely huge.

Secondly, you can see that most super IPs are basically from the United States and Japan. I will analyze why this happens later.

The third is that there are actually many ways to classify IPs. One simple and crude method is to divide all IPs into content-type IPs and product-type IPs .

Content-based IP is an IP that is spread through comics, cartoons, movies, and other film and television works, making it familiar and popular among everyone. This type of IP is particularly affected by the content. For example, when movies like Baibai, Nezha, and Monster Hunt are released, the image will be very popular. But after they are taken off the screen, it will basically become unpopular. If there is no next movie, it will basically become a memory.

Product IP is also called image IP. Most of them are just repeated images to make people slowly recognize and remember it over time. The most typical IP of this type is Hello Kitty . No one knows when they became familiar with it, but almost everyone knows it and thinks it is very powerful because it can penetrate almost all consumer products. Typical product IP representatives

This type is not affected by content and its initial growth is very slow, but once its value is recognized by the market and is continuously used by many brands, its life cycle is very long, and the Matthew effect is very obvious. What China lacks most is this kind of IP .

After Disney changed Mickey Mouse from a content-based product, it stopped producing content for it.

Some people may say, huh? Is there something wrong with this picture? Why did you put Mickey Mouse into the product IP? That's because the Disney Group made a strategic adjustment in its early years, focusing on cultivating Mickey Mouse among the Mickey series of cartoon characters (Donald Duck, who was originally at the same level, was strategically abandoned). After transforming Mickey Mouse from a content-based IP to a product-based IP, it stopped producing content for it .

For a company as powerful as Disney, the reason they don't create content for Mickey Mouse is not because they are short of money. This is a brilliant strategic decision .

In this world, you can’t have both fame and fortune, which means that if you want to make money from IP content, you may perform poorly on the product front. By the same token, if you want to monetize your products and use them as your primary source of income, then you can spend less energy on content, or even not do it at all .

Hello Kitty without a mouth is more imaginative than the 3000 questions of a cat

Because content often limits cognition, there is a saying in China that goes "the more you talk, the more mistakes you make." The mouthless Hello Kitty cat often gives you more room for imagination than a cat with 3,000 questions . The Devil Cat has only one sentence: "devour negative energy", and even this is just half a sentence. The rest is up to you to define! On the contrary, we can make many categories of products. Of course there are some that do both well, but they are very, very rare.

This is in stark contrast to the mainstream thinking in Chinese animation, which holds that content is king and storytelling is the key to creating an IP, because everyone believes that content is the source of traffic, and only by attracting fans through content can it be monetized.

But I think the idea of ​​IP monetization through fans is also wrong. Real super IP products are not sold to fans, but to social consumers . Fans and consumers are two completely independent groups of people, one applauds and the other pays for it. One is that I know you and like you, and then I buy your things; the other is that I buy your things and slowly get to know you and like you. I think the second model is more in line with business laws and is more long-term and valuable.

Let me focus a little more and list the top ten of these super IPs, and you may be able to see some of the patterns behind them.

For example, you may be surprised to find that the United States and Japan each account for 50% of these top ten IPs. Among them, the single IPs with the greatest value are Japan's Pikachu and Hello Kitty, and the largest IP group is Disney in the United States.

Therefore, the success of a super IP is inseparable from the support of its own people , and South Korea has done a good job in this regard. China is not in a very good situation at the moment, but the trend of young Chinese people identifying with and supporting local culture is unstoppable .

02 What are the commonalities and rules behind these super IPs?

• Why are these super IPs all from the United States and Japan?
• How do the United States and Japan develop IP? Can we learn from Disney or Shueisha?
• How do they make money behind the scenes? Is it based on the surface content?
• The most overlooked factor in creating an IP is “time”. Can an IP be created quickly in a short period of time?

In fact, the formation of these super IPs is not a short-term process, nor is it formed in ten or eight years. Instead, it began to gradually form a long time ago, at least thirty or forty years ago. In fact, this has a lot to do with the world economic structure at that time. Think about it, did the United States and Japan start to dominate the world fifty years ago, or even earlier?

Therefore, this economic foundation determines the superordinate spiritual structure. Only when a country’s economy is strong can its culture be truly accepted and recognized by the world. In the world economic landscape at that time, the United States was the leader and Japan was the second. The same result is also reflected in the cultural aspect. Behind the culture, we must rely on the strength of the country, that is, the so-called timing comes first. If the timing is not right, all efforts will be in vain .

Many Chinese animation companies have been learning how animation is made in the United States and Japan for a long time? We have studied for decades, but what is the result? None of the super IPs have gone abroad and almost all of them have ended in failure, but they have only succeeded in making money.

I don't think we can learn from the American and Japanese models

So what is the model of the United States and Japan? Can we learn from them? Conclusion: I don’t think we can learn from the American and Japanese models .

Simply put, first of all, times have changed. Secondly, they already have a mature industrial ecosystem. From comic content production to animation production and then to film industrialization, everything is very mature. With Hollywood foundation, Wall Street finance, Silicon Valley technology, and various collaborations in various aspects, it has created a very mature ecosystem.

The success of American IP is basically the result of group fighting and coordination among various links. China's IPs are basically the result of hard work . China currently does not have the hardware environment in this area, and I don't think there will be any in the short term.

Why doesn’t the Japanese model work? Japanese people attach great importance to reading and intellectual property, which is not possible in China. It is very typical in China that people like to get things for free. They are not willing to pay for so-called comics or content, and this habit has not changed even now. They think that if they read your stuff for free, they are giving you face. Most people are unwilling to pay for support.

In addition, it is not very appropriate to tell stories with an adult orientation in China (adult here does not refer to pornography and violence), and we cannot tell too many controversial stories. Why are Japanese or American content IPs so good? Because it can be anti-government, anti-ethical, and even anti-social, so such things will arouse excitement and stimulation in many people. But this is very difficult and impractical in China, which is why learning from the United States and Japan to create content-based IPs in China often leads to failure. The relatively safe area for Chinese content IP is animation content in the K12 and below markets.

Only by taking the product-based IP route can we avoid the advantages of our competitors...

The last point is that when we use the content IP approach, we are actually comparing our own objective shortcomings with others’ strengths. So what are our strengths? Think about it, China's advantage is actually manufacturing. We still have at least 20 to 30 years of manufacturing dividends. China currently has the best factories in the world and the most product technical workers. Objectively, we can only avoid our competitors' areas of advantage by following the path of product-based IP and achieve success in product-based super IP through years of hard work and accumulation .

Now let’s take a look at why these global super IPs have an output value of hundreds of billions. How do they make money?

From the chart above, you can see their profit structure. In fact, you only need to look at the yellow part, which is the most profitable way for most super IPs. In fact, most IP monetization does not rely on the box office of film and television works, nor on book publishing, but on IP derivatives (IP commercial licensing products)!

If the image and genes of an IP are not suitable for productization, it will lose the possibility of becoming a super IP.

When we know the core profit model of these international super IPs, we can draw the following conclusion in turn: if the image and genes of an IP are not suitable for productization, it will basically lose the possibility of becoming a super IP .

Let’s look back at the year-on-year time indicators of these top ten IPs, the average is 60 years. 60 years old! It’s really scary, they are all so old but we can’t feel it. Like many of our young people, if you ask them who they think is older, Hello Kitty or Black Cat Sheriff? Most people blurt out that they think Black Cat Sheriff is old, but Hello Kitty actually appeared ten years earlier than Black Cat Sheriff.

If you work in this industry with the mindset of only having a 2 or 3 year plan, how can you not fail?

Many companies see that IP is so popular now, so they quickly create an IP, then raise funds and find experts. They want to spend two to three years to build an IP and achieve quick success. This industry cannot be fast, it has to be slow . All those successful super IPs need 20 or 30 years to grow to success. If you go into this industry with a 2 or 3 year mentality, how can you not fail? Therefore, the most easily overlooked fatal factor of IP is time.

We often see some domestic image IPs that become popular online, such as the friendship boat, chicken, and duck, which become popular for a moment and then disappear. I always advise everyone to slow down, because it is really not a good thing to develop IP too quickly. Especially in the early stages, you have to repeatedly try and error on a small scale. Times have changed, and you cannot use many of the experiences of your predecessors. If you do use them, it will be fatal to you.

If you become famous overnight, and then you find out where you went wrong, it is often an irreversible mistake.

So for some mistakes, the sooner you make them the better . When you are not very well-known and your scale is not that large, it is very beneficial for you to make timely adjustments when you make a mistake. If you become famous overnight and then realize where you went wrong, those mistakes are often irreversible.

I have seen some rich people and rich companies try to create IP images, but their lives don’t last long. The reason is that their resources are too good and they can expose them quickly. But you haven't laid a solid foundation. When you find problems after working for a while, it's all ruined. There's no turning back. Find someone to take over. Then, when creating a new image, the same problem will arise during the creation process. There are only a bunch of 0.3 and 0.5 IPs left in the market, and IPs that can reach 1 are rare.

03 Why doesn’t China have an international super IP yet?

• Why do famous Chinese IPs often gain fame but suffer from short profits?
• IP creation and post-operation issues
• Investment and protection of intellectual property rights
• Short-term thinking kills the cultural industry
• Do all companies need to create their own IP?

China's so-called super IPs are public resources, left by our ancestors, and can be used by everyone for free...

Many people would refute me by saying that China has super IPs. Look at our giant pandas, Sun Wukong, Nezha, Confucius, and characters from the Three Kingdoms. Who doesn’t know them? But have you noticed that although the IPs you mentioned are very well-known, I'm sorry, these so-called IPs are public resources, left by our ancestors, and can be used by everyone for free. Strictly speaking, they are not even Intellectual Property (copyright, trademark, patent).

For example, after your version of Sun Wukong or Nezha becomes popular, other people can do the same and everyone will see that they are all Sun Wukong and Nezha, so I don’t need to apply for copyright from you. Because you can't get the underlying intellectual property rights of these IPs, the result is that no matter how hard you work on creating content, in the end it's actually a public service advertisement . Of course, promoting traditional culture is another angle.

Foreigners are very smart in this regard. They even use your Chinese culture and stories, but I ask you to pay me when you use them. For example, Kung Fu is 100% Chinese, and pandas are 100% Chinese, but Kung Fu Panda is 100% American, so if you use it, you have to pay them licensing fees!

But the Americans don’t have to pay the Chinese a penny when they make a movie or create an IP. Can you imagine how much we are at a disadvantage? They design it just for you and then profit from you. You feel quite happy when you don’t know the logic behind it. So, those who have read my article, please don’t get the authorization for “Mulan” next time, hehe…

You made a movie and it became popular, but does that mean that the IP image can belong to you?

So I say that these so-called well-known IPs in China are all fame-seeking but short-term profits. Their benefits are very short-term, and they are copied legally and reasonably by their own people in a short time. You can't even catch them for piracy, because these are things left by our ancestors. I can change them to be different from yours at the legal level, but if I can identify it as Sun Wukong, I can still use it. You made a movie and it became popular, but does that mean that the IP image can belong to you? Definitely not, so the IP value of giant pandas, Monkey King, Nezha, Confucius, and characters from the Three Kingdoms is very limited .

The second issue is the post-operation of IP. The later stage of operation actually tests the business acumen of the founder and the team. The thinking of an artist and a business operator is often contradictory. In fact, creating IP is not about art. It is essentially a commercial behavior. IP must create value for others to have value in existence .

The third point is the protection of intellectual property rights. Regarding intellectual property, if you are determined to develop IP, you must protect it in all aspects as early as possible. But who knows if the IP I created will become popular in the future? So people are reluctant to protect it in the early stages, but if you don’t protect it, it is very likely that it will suddenly become popular one day while you are doing it. Then your trademark, name, etc. will be registered by others, which is very troublesome.

Devil Cat started planning relatively early on, and when funds were very tight, it gritted its teeth and was determined to get this done. Therefore, we currently have registered and protected trademarks in more than 80 major countries and regions around the world, and we also have registered and protected almost all product categories in China.

Those who really want to work in the cultural and creative industry must have the heart of a monk

Fourthly, short-term thinking has killed the cultural industry. My experience working in this industry over the years is that most people have bad intentions. They don't really want to create a long-term IP, but want to use and exploit this IP theme to do something, such as get some land, manipulate some policies, or cheat some subsidies.

Anyone who really wants to work in the cultural and creative industry must have the heart of a monk and never think about achieving short-term economic results. I have hardly seen any IP be successfully created in this way. There is also a contradiction between short-term profit returns and long-term value accumulation.

Fifth point, do all companies need to create their own IP? Some people may say, aren’t you discussing why China doesn’t have international IP? Why are you discussing corporate IP?

The richest companies in the US and Japan will never make anime IPs

Because a country’s super IP should first be widely used and spread in that country, and loved and consumed by its own people, so who will use it? The main force is various domestic enterprises. We see that the United States and Japan have this kind of thinking, which is relatively healthy and benign.

Everyone recognizes that the United States and Japan are the most developed countries in the world in the field of IP. So let’s take a look at how the most valuable and well-funded companies in the United States create so-called IP? It turns out that they don’t actually create their own corporate IP, but instead prefer to use their own domestic IP when they have the need.

The most typical example is Kumamon, which, with government support, was first used by local businesses in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, and then spread throughout Japan and other countries.

China's leading companies do not give local IP a chance...

If a country itself is unwilling to actively use its own original IP, and instead cooperates with the environment of worshipping foreign things and gives priority to the super IPs of the United States and Japan, and continues to strengthen their head effect, then it will be difficult for China's super IP to make a name for itself .

In this regard, we should learn from the cultural backbone of the Koreans. Students who have been to Korea will find that their own IP has a very high share of the consumer market. Such a small country pays great attention to controlling cultural input and can even output culture in the reverse direction.

The current situation in China is that powerful companies not only like to use foreign IPs, but what is even more tragic is that many leading companies not only do not use local IPs, but also create their own so-called corporate IPs and their own cartoon mascot IPs. They would rather spend millions or tens of millions of dollars each year on these things than give Chinese local IPs a chance . This will make China's original IPs have fewer opportunities to be used and their development will be slower.

This is a very obvious difference in thinking. Foreigners like to specialize in a field and divide the work and cooperate with each other, so that they can do well in every field.

04 Devil Cat’s IP operation experience and feelings from 0 to 1

• What is the IP development and goal of Devil Cat?
• Why is it so difficult to become the first authorized partner?
• What exactly does IP empowerment enable?
• The essence and three stages of IP empowerment
• One gives birth to two, two gives birth to three, and three gives birth to all things. But the most difficult thing is to "keep one"

In the fourth part, I will talk about my experience in creating original IP over the past eight years.

Devil Cat has cooperated with more than 100 categories and nearly 2,000 SKUs so far. This number is actually not a lot. For example, Hello Kitty has about 70,000 to 80,000 SKUs. The gap is huge, the ceiling is also very high, and there are still many categories that have not been developed.

In the past few years, we have been constantly verifying the IP business model of Devil Cat. Is this IP model really valuable? The fact that we can survive in such a cruel environment in China actually depends on some differentiated choices we made in the early days.

"Cool" is relatively rare in China because 90% of the peers are focusing on cute and cute styles.

First of all, differentiation of positioning. At that time, when people talked about anime IP, most people's intuitive impression was cute, adorable, and happy, but I felt that I could no longer go in a similar direction. First, it doesn’t match my genes. Friends who have met me may know that I have nothing to do with cuteness. If you ask me to make something cute, that would be very awkward.

I am a person who prefers trendy and fashionable things. With such a personality and temperament, I choose to be trendy and cool, or to be more precise, cool, and I take the cool positioning and tone to the extreme . I was born after 1985, and our company is now full of people born after 1995, and everyone likes this tone.

My judgment is that “cool” is a relatively rare differentiated positioning in China, because probably 90% of my peers are focusing on cuteness and adorableness. Then if you make something cool, it will be different and easier for people to recognize and remember.

The second is that I believe that in the future, the cool positioning will be accepted by more and more people in the market. Because human nature has been released, there are more and more young people like this.

"Devil" is a very unique word, which can distinguish whether a person is born before or after the 80s.

Next, I will talk about the Chinese and English names of the devil cat. When we started planning this name, we asked many friends around us for their opinions. Most people said that this name is very bad, dangerous and negative, and they all advised me not to use this name.

My consideration is that, first of all, most of these friends were born in the 70s or even 60s, whom I consider to be the more experienced seniors; I think in my heart that if they don’t like it, then those born in the 90s and 00s might like it.

I think "devil" is a very unique word. It can distinguish a person, is he born before or after the 80s? What does it mean?

For people born before the 1980s, the word "devil" was a negative word that gave them a bad impression. But in the context of young people, "devil" is a neutral word, or even a positive word. For example, the devilish body, the devilish coach, and the devilish economics. They joke that you are a "devil", but they don't mean that you are a bad person, but that you are an extreme person and have superhuman qualities in some aspects.

If you work hard for everyone to like you, the result is often that no one likes you...

When I started creating this IP, I didn’t want to make something great and glorious, and I certainly didn’t want to make something without flaws. I want it to be controversial, I want it to be discussed. Because I think it is normal for some people to like something and some to dislike it. If you work towards a goal that everyone likes, the result is often that no one likes you, because you can't capture anyone's heart.

When it came to English, I did not directly translate it into the English word "devil", because in the English context, the word "devil" only means evil. That was not my original intention, so I searched the English cultural context for words that were close to what I wanted to express. After searching for a long time, I found a word called ZOMBIES. ZOMBIES is not a coined word. It is a topic that many foreign young people will become interested in after they turn 16. That is zombie culture. For example, "The Walking Dead", "Twilight", "Plants vs. Zombies" and so on have been popular internationally for many years and are a long-lasting theme.

So when the devil cat walks onto the international stage one day, we don't need to educate others to remember and recognize it again. In the context of foreigners, they will naturally remember and accept the word ZOMBIESCAT. There is no need to waste a lot of money and energy on spreading it. Like Hello Kitty, it is a combination of two familiar words, but if you create a new word, it will be very difficult for people to remember and spread it.

Therefore, naming is really very, very important. Whether a name can be remembered by others is the second most important identification factor.

So what is the first identification factor? It's the color.

Color is actually the first identification factor of brands and IP. For example, when we mention red, we think of Coca-Cola and Ferrari; when we mention blue, we think of Pepsi. Even Tiffany has created its own exclusive blue. They have captured people’s minds very well with the color.

In the field of IP, color is also crucial. For example, when you mention yellow, everyone will think of Minions, right? When we mention blue, we think of the Smurfs and Doraemon; when we mention pink - Hello Kitty; when we mention green - The Hulk; but you will find that you get stuck when we say red, and there is actually no corresponding IP that pops up in your mind. You might think of this, for example, Iron Man, who is associated with the color red, is yellow and red.

It is difficult to think of a purely popular super IP, so on the international stage, this is an opportunity, a gap in the mind, and there are really not many such opportunities . In other words, if we try hard to use red to create a super IP, when you achieve perfection, you really have the opportunity and possibility to occupy this mental color. No matter how well you do with other colors, you will always be second or third.

Let’s talk about the age group. The Devil Cat’s age positioning directly gave up the children’s market from the beginning. Why? Because the children's market is the red ocean among the animation red oceans, China has no shortage of animation IPs for the children's market, and there are already some very popular ones, such as Mou Yangyang, Mou Xiong, and so on. Then if you continue to work in the children's field, you will have no advantage, because there will be powerful opponents at home and abroad waiting to beat you up since you were born.

We will first focus on the adult market, and if we succeed one day in the future, we can move down to the children's market. But if you start with the children's market, even if you succeed one day in the future, you will not be able to move up to the adult market. This is a dimensionality issue. Brands can only attack from a lower dimension, and it is difficult to attack from a higher dimension. It is much easier to use a high dimension to attack a low dimension, but it is very tiring to use a low dimension to attack a high dimension .

Why did DevilCat choose the productization route? At first it was because of poverty.

Why does DevilCat insist on choosing the productization route? At first it was because of poverty. In the early days, when you create an IP, even if you want to create content, it is impossible to do it systematically without several million or tens of millions.

Another thing I explained before is that it is very difficult for an IP that creates content in China to become a super IP. You may become a successful animation work, but you will not become a world-class super IP, so this cannot achieve my goal. I have analyzed China's advantage, which is product manufacturing. Therefore, in China, helping many product companies by creating IP will have a greater chance of success .

If you lower the threshold for cooperation, you may be stuck in a quagmire with no future.

Let’s talk about Devil Cat’s difficult early growth process. It took us nearly 4 years to cooperate with the first truly standardized licensee. In other words, we didn’t make any money in the first four years . We were just burning money. We also suffered from doubts from all sides and it was very difficult. I don’t even want to recall the details of this experience.

Why is it like this? Because we have never lowered the standards of cooperation, people will say, "You are an unknown person, so what kind of cat are you?" Why should I give you money? So this is a very contradictory and embarrassing thing. The truth I want to tell everyone is that if you don’t lower the threshold for cooperation, you will indeed have few customers; but if you lower the threshold for cooperation, you will most likely be stuck in a quagmire with no future .

Here I would like to thank my early partners. They are brave and wise, have a keen eye, and believe in the potential value of Devil Cat.

The first product category that Devil Cat cooperated with was also quite unique. It was not like many companies that started out by making simple things, such as pillows, mobile phone cases and other products with relatively low barriers to entry. Our first product was an audio product with a relatively high barrier to entry – headphones. We also worked with a professional company with 20 years of production experience, so this product sold out as soon as it was launched on the market.

What are my feelings through this? First, you must be clear about your standards. This is a bit like falling in love. If you know exactly what kind of person you are waiting for, you must persist . It was because of our persistence that we made it to the fourth year and then started to find matching partners.

Many potential partners will not cooperate with you immediately after getting to know you. He will observe whether you are trustworthy and think about whether your IP is valuable. He will observe you for several years before cooperating with you. But once he starts working together, he has already figured out a lot of things, so the efficiency and results will be relatively much better. So IP is something that cannot be rushed. Planning cannot be rushed. Cooperation cannot be rushed. Products cannot be rushed. Sales cannot be rushed. They are all accumulated over time .

As an IP you must try your best to cooperate with strong companies. What they lack from you is the spiritual level. You two hit it off immediately. Only when the strong join together can you become strong. When the strong join together with the weak, you will still be weak.

Next, let’s talk about the three dimensions of IP empowerment.

Taking the IP and putting it on the product is the most basic model, and it only achieves the result of product differentiation. But there are actually deeper dimensions, such as scene empowerment. In addition to the product cooperation level, you can deeply integrate this IP in its entire terminal, offline activities, and marketing events. Even more in-depth is industry empowerment, which will create new brands in vertical categories . Of course, this requires higher strength and trust from the partners.

For example, the Devil Cat costume is currently the largest in the Chinese IP field.

There are very few original Chinese IPs that open offline stores, because the clothing industry is too heavy. Most brands would only prefer to cooperate with the IP for one season. I pay you a few hundred thousand dollars and I will cooperate with you for one season. Few people are willing to invest tens of millions to build a long-term brand, especially as clothing has become increasingly difficult to do in recent years.

My partners understand that being a trendy brand is different from being a clothing brand. They must rely on cultural IP over a long period of time to form their own style identity. Instead of doing it themselves, spending many years and a lot of money, they would rather deeply integrate with mature IPs like us. Anyway, I will never touch any industrial products. I am only responsible for my wild imagination, and you are responsible for being down-to-earth. This is a win-win situation for everyone.

This gave rise to a new brand called Devil Cat Clothing, which is both a vertical brand and a part of the Devil Cat IP, so it is called the third dimension, empowering the industry . In essence, there is a shared ecosystem behind the three dimensions, but the depth is different.

My last point to share in this section is that one gives birth to two, two gives birth to three, and three gives birth to all things. The most difficult thing is to stick to number one. Why should we stick to number one when creating an IP? Because this world is already very complex and rich, and there is no shortage of a mediocre IP. So in the early stages of our entrepreneurship we should focus, focus, and focus again, so that you can get deep into what you want to express, and make it stand out so that others can remember your point.

In fact, we have persisted in doing this for 7 or 8 years, and we are just constantly improving this model. There are still many problems that need to be verified and solved. Don’t be afraid of making mistakes in the early stages. If you don’t work hard at it, you won’t understand why many mainstream ideas are wrong when they are implemented. What I shared today is easy to understand at the level of "technique", but you will not be able to fully comprehend it at the level of "Tao" unless you experience some hardship and pain yourself.

You must cherish your partners and partners, and be cautious with capital . There are few people in this world who will accompany you in dreaming.

05 Opportunities and challenges for China’s original IP brought by changes in the world pattern

• Why am I optimistic about the future of China’s original IP?
• Be bold in predictions and be cautious in practice; ideals are full of hope, but reality is skinny.

Finally, let’s talk about why I am optimistic about creating a super IP? Because of ambition and spiritual sense of achievement, this field has huge room for imagination, just as Disney CEO Robert Iger experienced in his autobiography "The Ride of a Lifetime", Jobs, Lucas, Murdoch, Lasseter and other top talents in various fields are willing to make him successful. How to make powerful people willingly help you realize your dreams through a win-win situation is an important issue that IP practitioners should think about.

Small success depends on personal efforts, medium success depends on partnerships, and great success depends on national prosperity. In fact, I believe in the country's destiny and believe that China will be prosperous and strong in the future. I believe that China will become a world-class country internationally, and Chinese culture will also step onto the world stage and be "worshipped by foreigners" by other countries. Working in the cultural industry is inseparable from the support of the country as the mother body behind us. The era we are born in is the best. Only with the great rejuvenation of China can you have this opportunity and value.

Spreading culture through life is more effective than preaching

Let's take a look at how Americans have conveyed their culture and values ​​to the world over the years. They have done so through a long-term, subtle approach. From a young age, I let you drink Coke, eat hamburgers, and watch Hollywood movies. I let you feel many small and interesting things about America. This has influenced your young people for decades in a subtle way, making you like Mickey Mouse, Captain America, and Iron Man. Many people have accepted his culture and values ​​in a subtle way.

This is something that cultural practitioners in our country need to learn very much. It is more effective to spread culture through life than to preach the way.

Culture is not defined by books, but the social value created, and the cognition of the public's mind.

I think the cultural industry often needs to use more fragmented and fine forms to turn your original system into surfaces, then into lines, and finally into points. For example, when we are now working on the Devil Cat IP, you may not think it is amazing, but if we really insist on doing it for 20 or 30 years, there are tens of thousands of Devil Cat products, and this image can be seen everywhere. Then do you think it is a culture to some extent? And can't it be better to gradually improve the process over the past few decades? Therefore, the definition of culture is not defined in books, but the social value created, and the cognition of the public's mind.

I once told people that the Devil Cat’s goal is to be a billion-level IP . Many people think that I dream. Although this dream is very big, it is based on the Chinese dream. In the future, China needs such a national super IP tool to influence young people in the world in an entertainment-oriented way .

If the Devil Cat creates 100 billion value, we will make 100 million. The others are from various types of partners. I believe that one day, when the image of the devil cat and the slogan of "devouring negative energy" were repeated 100 billion times, and passed on word of mouth through many people around the world, through the principle of collective unconsciousness, the devil cat really had this magical ability to devour negative energy, and this is my ultimate spiritual purpose as the founder: selflessness and altruism. Every Devil Cat derivative is not just a product, but a part of the contribution. No matter you are a partner, channel or consumer, this big game will allow everyone involved to discover greater value and more fun!

Author: Yuhai

Source: IP Egg Fried Rice (ID: IPCOOK)