IP Cafe | they pretended to open a cafe in the three-dimensional world

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The coffee shop market has been surging. After the business market has been almost carved up by established coffee chains such as Starbucks and Costa, new forms of cafes have begun to take a different approach, using coffee to build a variety of new living spaces in the city, including surprising new players.

In 2015, the first LINE FRIENDS-themed cafe landed in Shanghai, which opened the prelude to IP+ Cafe. Since then, LINE FRIENDS, Kumamoto and other imported big IP began to accelerate horse racing enclosure in China.

Native IP followed suit. Since September last year, IP such as Uncle Tong, Ali, DankeFamily of the constellation do not ask for help, and Meizi Ono have injected the fans and traffic value accumulated online into the offline cafe format. For cafes, IP owners have different expectations, but basically they all hope to use cafes as strongholds to spread offline influence and even shape new brand awareness, so as to realize the re-development of IP value.

Whether this development brings benefits to fans in the three-dimensional world, rolls up quickly as a commercial project, or both, IP is superimposed into the offline pan-entertainment format this time.

"face-to-face contact is completely different from the emotional impact of watching an emoji package or an organized one on the Internet." Ali's trader Yu Renguo told "three sounds". The emotions that offline operations can maintain are far more than pure online content, which is the basis on which IP born on the Internet hope that offline operations will extend its life cycle.

But O2O has always been dangerous, and so is IP Cafe. Although several interviewees have just started, they all say that to do a good job in this business, they need to cross several pits: familiarity with expertise and industrial chain, resistance to upfront investment, and time spent nurturing the market.

Offline development extends the life cycle of IP

Japanese style Ono Coffee

Ono Coffee "hide" in Beijing Baizi Bay post-modern city district, the storefront is not large, the current open area of about 60 square meters, Japanese style is outstanding. The rent here is significantly cheaper than that in the business district, and the residents are mainly young people.

During the trial period, coupled with the fact that we arrived on a weekday afternoon, Ono Coffee did not have many customers.

But a few days ago, it was a different scene-the book signing of the Apostle son was held here, hundreds of fans came to crowded the shop, and the event had to end early on the advice of the local police.

The owner of the store is @ Ono Meizixue, who has 15 million followers on Weibo and belongs to Gushan Culture, the largest joker company in China, and has been run into a mature personal IP. In the heart of Liu Chi, the real person of the account, this cafe is an ideal offline traffic container. He also has many KOL friends like Apostles, who are sources of "cheap traffic".

Liu Chi's immediate reason for opening a cafe stems from worries about becoming an "out-of-date online celebrity". "the growth of fans has slowed down significantly after 2015," he told Sansheng. Liu Chi wants to direct online traffic to real life, and he also uses e-commerce to sell some beauty products, but always feels that this realization "consumes fans and IP value."

On the other hand, Ono's fan base has entered the mature stage. The stickiness is getting higher, the interaction is also increasing, and you can get thousands of responses even if you take a selfie. Although reluctant to use such words, Liu Chi admits that now is the time to "harvest the value of fans."

In his view, the coffee shop can accommodate emotion rather than just a simple business relationship, and its cultural attribute is much higher than that of diet. It is convenient for content superposition and space operation, and it is also the easiest one to apply for approval in all kinds of catering industry. Therefore, it has become the only "accessible" and suitable offline format for Liu Chi at present.

Liu Chi's positioning of Ono Cafe is a platform for offline communication between KOL and fans, such as holding fan meetings, book signing and other activities. His advantage is that he has a group of KOL friends who can push each other, and the "cheap traffic" they bring can keep marketing costs to a minimum in the early stages. "this part of the cost is basically negligible, and the effect is good."

For KOL, Ono is also the shopkeeper who knows fans best. Some time ago, Leisure Lu came to Xiaoye Coffee as a guest. Liu Chi pulled out a banner saying "it took 40 seconds to play blue" to hack the record of leisure Lu Arena of Valor. Fans did not take too much trouble to watch the two Weibo restaurants "stir up trouble" with each other, watching the "love beans" pinch each other, and the comments were full of well-intentioned ridicule.

It is out of confidence in Duan Zi's IP group and consideration of cost control that Liu Chi chose to open a shop in the community rather than a mature business district. This also means that in addition to using the attractiveness of its own IP and regular activities to attract the target audience, the cafe ultimately has to rely on product quality and services to radiate to the surrounding communities to form a stable return passenger flow.

Therefore, for Ono Cafe, Liu Chi's ultimate goal is to become a real boutique cafe, and be able to replicate and chain operation in the future. The first store was regarded as an outpost and a "laboratory" by Liu Chi. To this end, from the selection of partners in the field of boutique coffee, to the selection and grinding of coffee beans, he did it himself.

"when Miss Ono learns to complain that she is really aging, I hope that the quality of Ono coffee can be accepted independently of this IP." He said.

Create a "base" for offline communication and make some money by the way.

Eggshell coffee exterior

Compared with Ono, Constellation Don't ask for help believes that the cafe is not only a space carrier to interact with fans, but also undertakes the function of offline realization. In June this year, the first store of Danke Falimy Caf é (eggshell Coffee) opened on the ground floor of the apm mall in Wangfujing, and plans to hold weekly fan interaction activities here. The cafe is designed as a constellation theme, including eggshell babies in the outer space, a small train bar, as well as internal eggshell dolls, posters and so on.

The menu was also designed with a constellation theme, and the reporter from Sansheng ordered a 35-yuan litchi-themed drink, tears of Pisces.

With the cartoon characters of the eggshell family and the short video content, Zodiac does not ask for help. At the beginning of its business, it discovered the continuous high heat of the constellation topic through the crawler, and adopted the short video expression by mistake. The popularity of "12 constellations to eat barbecue" and "Song of 12 constellations" was a bit beyond the team's expectations.

After Weibo and Wechat quickly amassed millions of fans, Wang Hongyi, one of the founders, still believes that the value of anime IP lies offline. "contact and interaction in the real world can bring more room for imagination."

During a visit around 5 p.m. on a weekday, Sansheng found that there were not many customers in the store, which is located in a non-core location on the ground floor, and there were also non-target audiences-middle-aged men who went to the store to deal with their work. I buried myself in the corner and tapped the keyboard very fast. Obviously, location still has a great impact on the flow of people.

In Wang Hongyi's design, the cafe is "a space in the real world for people who love constellations and eggshells to meet and communicate." it is also arranged according to the standards of the theme cafe-eggshell family dolls and posters can be seen everywhere, and the derivatives selling area occupies a good position.

The short-term shortcomings of IP also loom in the store: compared with carefully polished and constantly updated images such as line, Kumamoto and Ali, the image of the eggshell family is simple, and there are only regular pillows, T-shirts, suitcases and other items in the derivatives area.

Hearing this question, Wang Hongyi responded, "this is a fan home." You are not a fan of eggshells yet, so you can't feel this cultural atmosphere. "

Inside eggshell coffee

According to Wang Hongyi, the cafe will regularly hold activities such as astrology sharing, baking courses and constellation culture salons to exert influence among fans and then radiate to the general population.

In fact, there are certain barriers to the operation of cafes, including heavy asset investment and obvious revenue ceilings for individual stores. Wang Hong had already weighed the difficulty of operation as a whole before he decided to open a store.

"A cafe has a revenue of 5 million a year." 'This figure is simply not comparable to online advertising revenue,'he said. But he needs a "base" to ferment the image of the eggshell in the real world, "a fixed place where fans can find me." This long-term and stable existence is of great significance to maintain the feelings of fans. The "reservoir" function of the cafe will centrally release the flow of people and emotional potential energy accumulated on weekdays in pop- up stores and IP exhibitions, which are more likely to break out.

On the other hand, Wang Hongyi is ready to find out the return cycle and open up to join as soon as possible. "there were a lot of people looking for me, and the store in Xiamen was booked by a friend." Wang Hongyi said. At present, the constellation does not ask for people and does not have its own derivatives e-commerce system, Taobao occasionally other stores scattered sales of constellation unsolicited bags, dolls, etc., sales are not high. The planned eggshell cafe, which will be opened in first-and second-tier cities, will not only become a space for fans to communicate, but also serve as a terminal for the display and sale of derivatives.

In Wang Hongyi's view, there will be more room for imagination in derivatives and licensing business after cafes can really gather and release the constellation culture of eggshells. His goal is the enduring classic IP such as hello kitty and Doraemon. "those big IP can earn hundreds of millions of dollars every year by licensing." But compared with these higher national IP images, in order to achieve broad commercial success, the zodiac sign does not ask for help and the eggshell family must first expand its influence and "increase the intensity of IP."

The "third person effect" of Tongdao Cafe

Tongdao Uncle Cafe

Fan Sun, COO of the same uncle, has been very busy recently. When "Sansheng" met him, he had just returned to his office in Beijing with his suitcase from his last business trip, and after talking with us for several hours about the offline strategy of the same uncle, Fan Sun rushed to Wuhan non-stop to deal with the affairs related to the quality store, Uncle Tongdao snack shop.

The brand partnership accelerated after the launch of Tongdao Cafe last September, confirming the team's early judgment of the role of the cafe-"the cafe is an important part of the brand strategy." Fan Sun said, "you have to do it even if you lose money."

Unlike Ono and Zodiac who don't ask for help, Tongdao also emphasizes the significance of cafes in the to C market-the team from Tsinghua Academy of Fine Arts has their own views on how to use "display psychology" to create consumption scenes of "uncles and his friends." A young girl told Sansheng, "the lighting design in the same coffee shop is very suitable for taking pictures."

"Let fans see me in the real world and know that I am not low." Fan Sun said.

But the greater significance of this store is the display of to B. In communication, this phenomenon is known as the "third-party effect"-"this feeling is actually passed on to brands, who can also have direct access to our products and services through cafes and see the value of our fans." This is the "drunken man's meaning" of Tongdao Cafe.

The significance of Tongdao Cafe's display in the to B market has generated greater value after Tongdao sold itself to Meisheng Culture, a listed company. Meisheng has experience in the development of the whole industry chain of derivatives and provides derivatives services for Disney. As a listed company, Meisheng has greater goals for the performance of its peers, and also has some requirements for its industrialization and large-scale development.

On the one hand, the freshness and richness of content is an important guarantee for the vitality of IP. "We replace talented creators with professional editors." Fan Sun said that the team studio has gradually replaced the personal creation of Cai Yuedong, the creator of Uncle Tong, and has developed more than 1200 SKU of the same family, realizing the "standardization of content" that the team values most, and constantly iterating with the help of Meisheng's mature supply chain.

As the mascots of the 12 constellations are all around the core image of Tong Dao Uncle, but the degree of recognition is still relatively low, the same content team is working to develop stories for single images to enrich this part of the content. Some of these SKU will be converted into derivatives and sold in cafes.

The Capricorn month activity of the same uncle

In terms of running cafes, Meisheng's mature cultural experience has brought a lot of help to fellow students with "physical experience".

Compared with the expansion plans of other IP operators, Fan Sun said that Tongdao Cafe does not pursue large-scale replication at present, but large-scale cooperation can be achieved through the brand cooperation connected by the coffee shop.

"Learning costs and time costs have been significantly reduced, so we can seize the dividends of the early window period." "in physical business, the supply chain is at the core of everything," Fan Sun said. " For a period of time after opening, due to the fading of freshness and the fact that the food quality was not up to expectations, Tongdao Cafe had a monthly flow of only 80,000 yuan, which was less than the peak volume of half a week. Only after making adjustments to the suppliers did the situation gradually improve.

But the team's concern is that the image of IP alone does not constitute a real brand, not to mention that the image of the same family is far from deep enough. Only by constantly cooperating with enterprises can we rapidly expand the volume in the competition of physical commerce.

"only with the help of real products can brand value be precipitated." After the cafe was launched, Tongdao successively partnered with big customers such as quality shops, Nuoxin Cake and Minsheng Bank to launch customized snacks, cakes and credit cards, hoping to gradually form this impression in the minds of the audience. "in addition to playing around and complaining, Tongdao can also develop a variety of different products."

While continuously injecting young and trendy culture into other brands, Tongdao has also reaped the endorsement of these brands. Fan Sun calls this cooperation "mutual empowerment", and the starting point of empowerment is the same image and culture exported to the outside world through the same cafe.

Mini amusement park

Ali Cafe on Shibao Street, Zhongguancun

Ali's first cafe also opened last month on Shibao Street in Zhongguancun. The store was not big, but the image of Amiti above the signboard and the various Amiti derivatives displayed in the window were very conspicuous.

As the first "national level" cartoon image born in China's Internet, the pure and cured red fox A Li has a history of more than ten years and has also gone through the most complete IP development path. From wallpapers, input methods and QQ emoticons to picture books, animations and numerous derivatives, raccoon has been active in the market.

Yu Renguo, Ali's trader and CEO of Beijing Dream City Culture Co., Ltd., comes to the store every Monday afternoon to observe the reaction of customers.

A little boy caught a raccoon doll on the doll machine in the shop and shouted excitedly. "Look how happy he is. This is the embodiment of our brand value." Yu Renguo said that the original intention of Ali Cafe was to provide "pure and beautiful experiences for those who still believe in fairy tales." The store not only offers raccoon-themed drinks and light food, as well as various souvenirs, but also displays two doll machines filled with raccoon dolls. Next month, the egg twisting machine will also be launched.

Yu Renguo positioned it as a miniature amusement park.

The doll grabbing machine in Ali Cafe

Somewhat surprisingly, this Monday afternoon, the occupancy rate of Ali Cafe was more than 80%, and even the outdoor exterior was almost full. In fact, despite a series of problems such as decoration and fire acceptance, Ali Cafe broke even in the first month of its opening, which was a little better than expected for Renguo.

Location is very important. This is the heart of Zhongguancun, surrounded by dense schools and business circles, active with Ali's accurate audience of young women between the ages of 15 and 25, and there are no other themed cafes.

But what is more important is the fine operation. In the daily operation of Ali Cafe, the activities are detailed to every day: weekly live broadcast, Thursday's new product launch, weekend launch of new food, etc. Ali also has a full range of peripheral and collaborative products that are constantly updated and developed. Directly support the rapid iteration of the content in the cafe, "in line with the requirements of an Internet genetic culture company" Ali's designers, marketing, sales and other departments also take time to work in the store every week to get in direct contact with customers to understand the real needs.

In addition, coffee and food suppliers are also following the pace of innovation. Yu Renguo is drinking the new coffee, which was launched last weekend. Lahua is a lovely bear head. "Big Bear is a good friend of Ali." He cleared the clutter off the table, took out his cell phone and took several photos and sent them to his moments.

"Ali's products have been fully circulated, and hundreds of millions of people are covered by the image through the Internet. now the most important thing is to deepen Ali's culture among the fan community." "what we lack is face-to-face communication," Yu said. "

Like others, Ali doesn't want to be a "closed cafe". "this cafe must be a platform for Ali to communicate with fans, fans, Ali and his partners." Yu Renguo introduced it to "San Sheng". "it must be an open space."

Ali's advantage lies in his existing experience. Over the past decade, it has become a highly recognized image of the public. Its operating company, Dream City, has accumulated operational experience through image authorization, IP exhibitions, and control of suppliers. Can also "directly fall into the coffee shop", "our management system, standards can be standardized output", so Yu Renguo believes that it is an easy thing to open a cafe.

However, the barriers to entry of physical commerce, as well as fierce retail competition, all IP, including Ali, must "continue to deliver good products and services" in order to win room for survival.

Yu Renguo began planning the cafe in 2015 and did not set a location until last August. One of the most time-consuming is the location, to find a balance between ensuring the flow of people and cost control. At this point, almost all the interviewees have their own regrets. For example, Wang Hongyi said that the location of Wangfujing APM is not so ideal, while Ono Coffee chose to open a shop in the community to reduce costs.

Most practitioners are also psychologically prepared for the difficulty of running IP Cafe. Yu Renguo said, "doing this business requires the cooperation of industrial chain resources and professional knowledge. Not every practitioner can afford this tuition fee and afford this time."

"you know there are good scenery ahead, but there are many holes in it." Fan Sun said that the macro paths of all people are similar, but it is the skill in each specific implementation link that really determines where they can go.

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