Fandom, has been mainly used in entertainment or sports area, means the voluntary community or the culture of fans or enthusiastic advocates for certain stars or teams, etc. Recently, brand fandom which applied fandom to a specific brand is growing si...
Fandom, has been mainly used in entertainment or sports area, means the voluntary community or the culture of fans or enthusiastic advocates for certain stars or teams, etc. Recently, brand fandom which applied fandom to a specific brand is growing significance, because it is more and more difficult to have customer loyalty or customer retention. Brand fans have extraordinary affections towards the brand, consume the brand continuously, support voluntarily, and communicate with the brand and other fans. Thus, building and expanding brand fandom should be one of the most important goal for any brand.
This study explores the case of POP MART, the leading company in Chinese art toy industry, about building the brand fandom and business model, and analyzes the significance and success factors of brand fandom. POP MART had been the declining off-line general store, and made a turn-around to an art toy company with mania consumers, and finally made a successful performance with brand fandom. Key success factors of POP MART can be found as building and expanding brand fandom, communication with fans and among fans, and profitability from brand fandom. This case shows an exemplary case of the brand fandom, and strategic implications are suggested.