Today I'd like to propose a merchandizing / marketing idea: a collaboration with Pop Mart.
For those who don't know, Pop Mart is a Chinese toy company that was founded 15 years ago, but that gained incredible popularity in the last few years due to its high-quality blind boxes, with exceptionally detailed figurines that could arguably be called art pieces (and are highly collectible in nature). Millions of people have been flocking to Pop Mart stores across the world (though I believe the highest popularity is in Asia) to buy up boxes for collections like Skullpanda, Dimoo, and Labubu. Both my kids (and my wife...) are obsessed with Pop Mart and we have hundreds of items across many collections.
Sample collection from the Skullpanda family of Pop Mart figurines
Pop Mart frequently does collaborations with brands (such as Disney) as well as directly with artists. My proposal is to reach out to Pop Mart and discuss some Splinterlands collections. I don't know what the commercial terms are for doing such a thing, however I think it's worth at least exploring it. Pop Mart has inboxes for collaborations on their Contact page and over 600 people on LinkedIn, so I'm sure with a little we could find out.
What a Splinterlands Pop Mart collection might look like
Pop Mart prides itself on creating high quality figurines that are highly collectible. Boxes typically contain 9 to 12 different figurines that are equal in "rarity" (drop chance) and a "secret" figurine that isn't revealed on the box and has a much lower drop chance.
The box art should look and feel both like Pop Mart as well as Splinterlands, and should put emphasis on the cards from the Splinterlands universe. In this concept, I'm focusing on Conclave Arcana, and I'm calling the collection "Earthbound". The idea is that these are physical collectibles that are bound to our physical space (the earth) vs their natural, digital realm that is Praetoria.
On the back of the box, you'd see the various figurines available in the collection.
The figurines themselves would be high quality 3D models that capture the feeling and essence of these legendary Conclave Arcana cards. Each one would be crafted to precisely mimic the original art, with some adaptations to fit the Pop Mart style. Here's a board showing a possible full collection, with a few full renderings below.
Secrets & Black Foils!
The "secret", which is a staple of Pop Mart blind boxes, would obviously be a very special card. In the case of the current set, it could be one of the promo cards. Check out this awesome rendering of Gramel looking his best self in the physical realm.
All figurines would have a "regular" version and a "black foil" version, with a black platform and would also have a different finish. For example, the regular version would have a glossy finish (which is more common in Pop Mart figurines) while the "black foil" version would have a textured matte finish and more premium materials.
Game tie-in
On the bottom of the figurines, we would etch a Splinterlands-themed QR code that would send the user into the game and automatically generate a promo-code for them to redeem a special glamour for the card who's figurine they pulled. It would have to be a one-time consumable, which means after-market sales of the figurines wouldn't get this benefit. This would encourage people to buy directly from Pop Mart rather than secondary markets, which is something I know Pop Mart highly prefers.
This collab could be a great way to:
(1) Start building out Splinterlands IP, developing a case study that can be used for further projects
(2) Get a product on shelves that could attract new eyeballs to Splinterlands
(3) Engage with a company who has been crypto-friendly (e.g. they've issued NFTs of some of their own characters) and find a mutually beneficial commercial arrangement
(4) Drive revenue from merch sales
As I said above, I don't know what the commercial terms would be from the Pop Mart side. It's entirely possible that they would have restrictive or cost-prohibitive commercials or that they'd be unwilling without certain guarantees from the SPL side. However, engaging them to find out seems like a reasonable thing to do.
Let me know what you guys think in the comments.
All the art in this post is AI-generated. The models were largely made using ChatGPT, with the original Splinterlands art as reference. Some tunings were done via Midjourney.