Pop Mart’s three-stage rocket: How does Labubu use emotional value to leverage a trillion-dollar market?

Pop Mart's Labubu has become a global phenomenon through a strategic three-stage approach leveraging emotional value, marketing tactics, and social influence:

Emotional Ignition: Labubu's unique, rebellious design resonates with young consumers seeking individuality, turning the doll into an "emotional container" for personal expression and belonging.
Mechanism Acceleration: Blind box sales, limited editions, and hunger marketing create artificial scarcity, fueling secondary market premiums (e.g., 1284% for Vans collab) and dopamine-driven purchases.
Social Detonation: Celebrity endorsements (e.g., Lisa, Rihanna) and social media virality transformed Labubu into a "global social currency," amplified by Pop Mart's localized high-end expansion strategy.

This replicable model—tested with Molly (2016) and Dimoo (2018)—combines cultural resonance, psychological triggers, and star power to dominate the collectibles market.

Author: Yue Xiaoyu

Why is Pop Mart’s Labubu so popular?

First of all, Labubu’s design is very unique.

Different from the sweet image of traditional trendy toys, Labubu’s style is simply about individuality and rebellion, which actually satisfies the emotional values of young people.

Consumers regard it as an "emotional container" and gain a sense of belonging and personal expression through collecting, modifying and sharing dolls.

Emotional value is the foundation, and the starting point of a trend is emotion.

Secondly, Pop Mart’s blind box mechanism and hunger marketing can stimulate consumers’ dopamine-driven purchasing impulse.

Strict control over production capacity has led to a shortage of babies, with the secondary market premium being dozens of times higher (such as a 1284% premium on the Vans co-branded model). In fact, there are rumors that Pop Mart even has a secondary market operator.

I don’t know if this is true, but Pop Mart officials did condone or indirectly support scalpers in hoarding goods, adding fuel to the fire and creating the illusion of scarcity.

Third, it is the star effect.

Thai female star Lisa posted Labubu on Instagram many times, triggering a global craze. Later, European and American stars such as Rihanna and Beckham also joined in, greatly increasing the exposure of Labubu.

Through the overseas expansion strategy of "Southeast Asia first, Europe and the United States later", Pop Mart combined localized operations to accurately reach various regions. In addition, with high-end site selection and celebrity endorsements, it has created a light luxury brand image, making Labubu a global trend.

This is exactly the same as the way the previous NFT (called digital collectibles in China) craze developed.

In short, to put it in a nutshell, the rise of Pop Mart is a three-stage rocket: emotional value -> marketing amplification -> social detonation.

Level 1: Emotional Ignition

Through unique design and cultural resonance, Labubu ignites consumers' demand for personal expression and emotional sustenance, laying the foundation for a craze.

Level 2: Mechanism Acceleration

Blind boxes, limited sales and hunger marketing act as "boosters" to amplify market demand through scarcity and speculative psychology, driving up the secondary market boom.

Level 3: Social Detonation

The celebrity effect and social media communication act as "detonators", transforming Labubu into a global social currency and driving viral spread.

This model has been verified many times by Pop Mart. As early as 2016, Pop Mart launched the first popular Molly series, followed by the Dimoo series in 2018, and now the Labubu series.

This shows that this model is indeed effective and can be used repeatedly.