Contract coworkers' milk tea for co branded surroundings: new cultural consumption in the eyes of "Houlang", have dinner with Conan anime | Animation | Colleagues
In July, Shanghai ushered in a huge tourist group - "anime". With the landing of the 18th China International Animation and Game Fair and many other animation and game exhibitions, the anime atmosphere on the streets of Shanghai has become increasingly strong. Walking in the underpass of People's Square, Nanjing Road Walkway, or even on an ordinary road, you may encounter animation coser by chance.
Taking advantage of the holiday, visiting various anime themed stores in Shanghai has become a way of life for anime fans from all over the country. In Shanghai's New World City, the recently opened Detective Conan themed restaurant has almost no reserved dining spots for this month; When we came to Xintiandi, the first coffee shop with the same name in China authorized by the well-known comic series Weekly Youth JUMP was full of customers. Anime theme restaurants, theme cafes and so on are emerging in endlessly. With the help of young "Houlang" groups, animation culture further breaks the "second dimension wall" and shows new cultural consumption momentum.
The popularity of anime themed stores is extremely high
In the area of People's Square and Nanjing East Road Pedestrian Street, the old "tourist attractions" with the most tourists in Shanghai are integrating with the current trend culture, showcasing a new cultural vitality. Entering the commercial district, it is inevitable that there will be specialized trendy shops and nearby shops. More immersive and interactive anime themed restaurants and themed cafes have also quietly emerged recently.
Manga fans are shopping for merchandise in manga themed stores
Entering the 4th floor of New World City, the Detective Conan themed restaurant catches your eye. The restaurant is dressed as a banquet style, and the entrance is a wall of flowers. Human figures of popular cartoon characters such as Conan, Maolilan, Ai Ashwara, Kidd, Shuichi Akai, and Yasuto are placed at the door of the theme store for group photos. In addition to creating an ambient atmosphere, the dining experience is also immersive. Each character has a specially designed "character package" that echoes the characteristics of anime characters in terms of details. For example, Conan's bow tie appears on a drink, Kidd the Thief's logo is his magic top hat, and customers will also receive identification photos of anime characters or derivative products such as coasters and meal mats.
"This themed store has a banquet style, and we have redesigned the evening dress for the characters. The candles and chandeliers used in the restaurant are also quite gorgeous." According to He Di, the operator and IPSTAR's trendy planet marketing department, due to concerns about excessive customer traffic and other factors, the themed store has adopted a reservation system, and most of the reservation slots for July have been filled. In addition to dining, these anime themed stores usually also offer nearby sales, allowing anime fans to experience anime culture in offline spaces for one and a half to two hours. The reporter saw at the scene that the character badges of Detective Conan have been sold out and are waiting for restocking.
Many of the surrounding areas of the Detective Conan themed restaurant have been sold out
The highly popular anime themed stores are not an isolated phenomenon. Arriving at the first floor of Infinite Extreme Gathering, the Weekly Youth JUMP themed caf é attracted many comic book fans to come and check in. At the entrance of the caf é, there is a 360 degree space-time tunnel surrounding comic pages, and the walls are filled with famous scenes from more than 10 well-known comics such as "The One Piece" and "Naruto". Through the tunnel, you can enter the themed caf é. The top of the coffee shop is a flowing electronic screen, with cartoon paper pages on it. Then the paper pages blew a "whirlwind" and came to the table, implying that the "anime" world in the cartoon came to the "third dimension" in reality. This CCG EXPO 2023, Weekly Youth JUMP themed caf é also participated for the first time and brought many exquisite peripherals.
Comic fans dining at the Weekly Youth JUMP themed caf é
"We are a comic themed store, so the entire decoration of the store is in a black and white comic style." Manager Liu Diye introduced that the limited theme of the store at this time is the comic "Family Teacher". The walls of the dining area are made into comic books, and the catering and surrounding areas are specially designed according to the comic content, full of Italian flavor. "We have multiple comic IPs operating simultaneously, and there is an irregular rotation of comic themes, which will attract fans of different comics to come and check in."
Weekly Youth JUMP Theme Cafe
Compared to the limited time Conan themed restaurant, Weekly Youth JUMP themed caf é has been in operation for a year and a half, but it is still difficult to find. In the store, Jing Ran from Hangzhou appeared with a head of white hair, dressed in a uniform and dressed up as the popular character "Prison Temple Falcon Man" from "Family Teacher". "I came to this store for the third time, specifically for 'The Tutor'. During the meal, I also bought some blind boxes and won my favorite character." Jing Ran said, and his friend, Whale, who was sitting across from me, had just finished his college entrance exam. "We made an appointment to come together. After this meal, we will go back to Hangzhou."
"Since its opening, some anime fans have said they have been here 10 or 20 times. I still remember when it opened in January last year, several people flew specifically from Qingdao and Wuhan, arrived early in the morning, ate immediately, and went home after dinner," said Liu Diye.
Tourists Come to Shanghai to Experience Anime Culture
Pu Yun, the general manager of Shanghai Xuandong Huizhan Cultural Communication Co., Ltd., believes that Shanghai's openness and inclusiveness are making this city an important clocking place in the eyes of "anime" fans across the country. The novel anime themed stores, large-scale anime exhibitions, and offline anime peripherals also make experiencing anime culture an important stop for tourists coming to Shanghai.
At the entrance of Conan's themed store, Bian Xiang, a post-80s generation from Hebei, asked passersby to help take photos. Standing under the screen of Conan and others, he changed positions several times in a row. "I'm the second generation." When asked, he found that he came to Shanghai with his 16-year-old daughter during the summer vacation. Both of them are "anime" lovers, but their preferences are different. My daughter went to another animation theme store in Joy City to punch in. He took the opportunity to meet the model seller in Shanghai and exchange the Transformers that he had long liked. "When I came here, I found a new Conan themed restaurant. I have been seeing Conan since I started working. It has been almost 20 years. If I have time these days, I must come to experience it." Bian Xiang said that the anime cultural atmosphere in Shanghai is very strong
In recent years, anime themed stores have sprung up like mushrooms after rain, showing a strong trend of gathering. Also on the 4th floor of New World City, turn right from the Conan themed store and not far away is another anime themed store for Time Agent. In order to fit the theme, the store's decoration style is quite gorgeous. The reporter even saw several customers' suitcases at the store entrance. The first department store commercial center, separated by a street from New World City, is located on the 4th floor with a popular Chinese anime themed restaurant called "Full Time Expert"; Walk along the Nanjing Road Walkway, near the New World Damaru Department Store on the Bund, and the game Final Fantasy 14 has created a Heideline coffee restaurant, bringing the "Warrior of Light" an immersive experience integrating catering, shopping and entertainment.
Time Agent Theme Store
To some extent, the expansion of anime themed stores in Shanghai is also a microcosm of the roots and development of anime culture in Shanghai. He Di still remembers that when he first joined the company, there were less than 20 members, and the main business was IP peripheral design and sales. Now, this local Shanghai company has grown to over 200 people and has opened six anime themed stores in Shanghai. It has also opened themed stores in cities such as Beijing, Guangzhou, and Chengdu.
He Di said that most of his colleagues in the company are anime enthusiasts. In the past few years, when we were building anime themed stores, there were relatively few similar attempts in China. "Preparing for a themed store would take two to three months, but now we can independently develop various creative catering and boutique peripherals.". She remembers that in 2019, the company once opened a Detective Conan themed store on the first floor of Jing'an Joy City in Shanghai, which was very popular and there was a long queue on site. The consumption power of Shanghai anime fans is evident.
Liu Diye, born in the 1990s, is also an anime enthusiast. In his view, for anime fans, anime themed stores are a social occasion. "For anime fans, animation exhibition is a good social occasion, but after all, there are not exhibitions every day, so many fans will choose to come to theme stores to eat food, buy neighborhood, and communicate with their peers. This atmosphere is irreplaceable." In his view, "Weekly Youth JUMP", the first domestic theme coffee shop of the same name, has settled in Shanghai, also because of the unique animation atmosphere in Shanghai, "Shanghai is a big city, it has first-class copyright owners, research and development companies, first-class animation game exhibitions and anime activities, which will naturally attract anime fans nationwide."
In the eyes of He Di, Chinese anime IP is on the rise. "When we choose animation theme IP, we will also refer to the opinions of fans. You will find that domestic IP is becoming more and more popular, such as" Tomorrow's Ark "," Genshin Impact "and" Pending Event Book ", which are very popular with fans."
Anime joint branding boom
In addition to offline theme catering, many anime IP and FMCG brands have co branded activities, which not only stimulate consumption, but also have cross-border significance. The game "Undetermined Event Book" developed by Cha Bai Dao and Mi Ha You has launched a joint event, which not only made related topics popular on the day of the event's launch, but also caused a long queue of offline themed stores. This game has a large player base, with many people buying around the postcards and stickers that are co branded. "I have already gathered two sets of peripherals, but I can't help but want to buy them again." Lin Fei, a loyal player of "The Uncertain Event Book," frankly said that she is a bit "interested" in such joint activities. Surprisingly, friends who don't play games around her will also be interested in such activities. "I brought the surroundings to the office to attract onlookers. Many people think the surroundings are cute and will also purchase co branded products."
Today, anime IP linkage products are increasingly common on the streets of Shanghai, and often become a phenomenon level marketing event of online hot search and offline orders. Compared with the co branding of the game "Genshin Impact" developed by Qianxi Tea, Pizzahut and Miha You, Naixue's tea and Japanese anime "Magic Card Girl Sakura", many players went to the theme store to punch cards, party and communicate with each other as the characters in the game, just like to stroll the co branding store into a small and diffuse exhibition.
However, not every collaboration can succeed. Previously, the collaboration between the game "Love of Light and Night" and the Shanghai Auntie Milk Tea Shop was overturned due to issues such as employees privately selling cooperative gifts and suspected verbal abuse of players. There were also many joint activities that were not worth it, giving people a feeling of "cutting leeks". In Lin Fei's view, the "Pending Event Book" and the "Tea 100 Way" co branding activity is a successful linkage out of the circle. In addition to the demand for milk tea and the popularity of IP, the understanding and promotion of anime IP by co branded merchants are also a major factor. "The quality and appearance of the surrounding areas provided by this collaboration are both good, and the employee training video released on the first day of Tea Hundred Road has gained a lot of positive feedback, such as using the commonly used name 'lawyer' in the game to address consumers, remembering game character names and features, etc. These have made players feel respected. The official teaching video on how to turn the surrounding areas into 'rocking music' has also driven a wave of manual second creation on social media."
Milk tea brand and miHoYo's game "Uncertain Event Book" launch a joint event
Player Blank is also at the forefront of the "Undetermined Event Book" and the Tea Hundred Road joint event. In order to collect information about the joint event, she will ask colleagues to share milk tea. In her opinion, this event, like the game content, has a sense of pragmatism. "The product is practical, affordable, and well stocked, allowing you to experience the merchants' genuine desire to provide players with happiness. Checking in at themed stores and interacting with like-minded customers, inviting friends and family outside the circle to drink milk tea and share your hobbies, are all great value-added experiences."
