What should China learn from Hollywood in classic IP operation and development

Hollywood is taking action to teach domestic IP hoarders what is meant by the development and utilization of IP.

"Warcraft" has not yet been released, the premiere of each cinema has been hot, this is the power of a classic IP, is the victory of feelings. At the same time, the film has been fermented on social media and is likely to break through the boundaries of its audience and become "fashionable", attracting people who don't play games and can't tell the difference between tribes and alliances.

Hollywood is taking action to teach domestic IP hoarders what is meant by the development and utilization of IP.

< strong > the current situation of IP1.0 growing savagely in China < / strong >

IP has the characteristics of fast powder absorption and strong vermicelli stickiness. Cultural products with IP blessing can always win, making the domestic IP craze into barbaric production. In addition to literature, animation and other IP with complete stories and worldviews, lyrics, phrases and names are also sold as IP, such as "your deskmate", which also grossed 456 million yuan at the box office. Since 2014, the price of IP has soared, from 100, 000, million to 10 million, but capital is still brandishing hot money to enter the market.

is this the success of IP? Blindly grabbing IP, hoarding IP, and then using IP to circle money, the barbaric way of IP development in the domestic market will undoubtedly cause great harm to IP and fish in the market. At present, the chaos of domestic IP development is concentrated in the rush to launch in order to circle money, destructive development, consumption of IP popularity, such as last year's "Tomb robbing Notes" online drama, was jokingly called by fans as 50 cents special effects, people set the plot to change to only one name, Douban score only 3.7 points. In addition, IP development, which has been carried out for commercial purposes such as money circle from the beginning, not only makes IP fall into a shoddy situation and depletes fans' confidence, but also leads to the emergence of a large number of homogeneous IP works in a short period of time, destroying popular types. For example, after the popularity of "Zhen Huan" and "step by step", all kinds of harem and traversing dramas emerge one after another; after "A Thousand bones of Flowers" becomes a phenomenon drama, Xianxia works appear in a swarm; after "to Youth" drives a pure love youth movie, "Gardenia blossoms" and "deskmate you" all come to talk about youth pain. This will quickly deplete the audience's enthusiasm for the same type, inundate a large number of IP works and, more seriously, abolish the IP type. For example, after the youth film market is saturated, the box office has been falling all the way in the past few years.

in addition, the thinking of excessive commercialization makes the domestic IP lack of long-term vitality and the basis of sustainable revenue at the present stage, and aggravates the hype idea of "making a fortune" of capital, which makes the development of IP fall into an awkward state.

in the final analysis, the core problem of domestic IP development is actually: while pursuing IP commercial development and making profits, we forget that high-quality content needs to be precipitated repeatedly to achieve IP, and lose the grasp of the most essential profit chain of IP. Only look at the present, short-sighted, blindly pursue short-term and quick and other reasons have led to the current IP industry original and adaptation content are weak, we have not heard of amazing works published for a long time.

< strong > what do Hollywood and Japan teach us? < / strong >

the United States can have Star Wars with a history of nearly 40 years, and Japan can easily serialize anime for more than a decade. What about us? After a simple and brutal "one-shot deal", only broken IP is left, covered with injuries. What can mature IP operators teach us in Hollywood and Japan? Is to meet the needs of the core fans to the maximum.

World of Warcraft, Song of Ice and Fire, Star Wars, including Japanese animation such as Naruto and Doraemon, are developed not only around the story itself, but also IP's worldview, values, human nature, culture, etc., as long as they are valuable, they are all for extension. This is the core part that determines the success or failure of the work, and it is also a huge world that IP can support. Therefore, it is necessary to treat every development link with a scientific and rigorous attitude. For example, after Hollywood bought the copyright of Godzilla, the Japanese side signed thick development terms with it, including details such as the type of food Godzilla ate, to ensure the consistency of Godzilla's image to the greatest extent.

the ultimate goal of striving for excellence in IP content is to meet the needs of core fans. Core fans of Godzilla, for example, want to watch the "monster" that fits their imagination, not the Hollywood hero story in the guise of "monster". So the first adaptation of the film failed in 1984, and the new version of the film that followed the needs of fans 30 years later was successful again, which is the importance of core fans. IP is the fan economy, the core fans, that is, the key fans who are willing to pay for IP, and they can drive the consumption of potential fans and followers. The larger the core fan base, the better the effect of multi-level development, and pull new fans, the product will have the strength to spread to the public, making it more likely to become a phenomenal work.

the intensive cultivation of IP in the United States and Japan is to maintain the core fans while developing a new fan base. For example, Marvel fought a turnaround through the pan-entertainment development of IP, using the original comic book fans as "magnets" to attract and transform a large number of movie fans, and then build Marvel Universe to keep these fans in the world. It is a textbook-like example of the implementation of pan-entertainment industry development, and it is also the most valuable case for domestic practitioners to learn from.

in China, the development of IP is more utilitarian, that is to say, the pursuit of performance-to-price ratio. As soon as a hit, a large number of capital and imitation followed, consumer fans; the tide passed, the popularity also quickly subsided, unable to form a lasting force. Only the mature and lasting brand can maximize the value of IP and enhance the value in the development of the work itself and its surrounding extension. This is precisely the deficiency that is still lacking in China at present.

< strong > the arrival of the IP2.0 era < / strong >

in 2015, with a series of literary adaptations such as "Ghost blowing Lamps", "Thousand bones of Flowers" and "Nirvana in Fire", how to make up for the shortcomings and extend the value of IP, we probably found the answer-ecological co-operation. In other words, the IP industry has been promoted from simple and brutal 1.0 to intensive 2.0.

IP2.0, in fact, is to realize the pan-entertainment ecological development of IP through multi-industry and multi-channel linkage. Pan-entertainment ecology is also a key word constantly mentioned in recent years, which contains a complete industrial chain including network literature, offline publishing, online games, film and television creation and peripheral derivation. This industrial chain is the overall solution and perfect ecology for the commercial realization of IP value.

as the longest life cycle and the most diversified adaptation form in the pan-entertainment industry chain, network literature is the most suitable "ecological entrance". At present, in the online literature industry, more than 90% of the super-popular adapted works come from China Literature Group. China Literature has been exploring the development ecology of online literature IP, which is worth understanding. Although it is only one year old, China Literature Group, who combines Tencent Literature and Shanda Literature, has more than 4 million original creators, more than 10 million original works and 600 million users. Only with this mass can the attempt and development affect the trend of the entire industry.

in the past, after buying online literature IP, capital was adapted into different forms of cultural products according to its characteristics, such as games, animation, etc., but the form was always single. After the rapid rise of the mobile Internet, the diversification of entertainment has brought traffic flow in all directions, a single cultural form is difficult to attract traffic, simple IP trafficking behavior has been unsustainable. At present, ecological co-operation is undoubtedly the most practical and effective means of IP operation in this scenario.

Ecological co-operation is a combination of literary writers, literary platforms, film and television, games, capital and other heroes, with IP as the core, connecting a win-win ecological chain among fans, ordinary consumers and partners. This can not only avoid the fragmentation of IP value caused by unilateral and closed development of IP, but also successfully realize the maximization of IP commercial value. This is a new method of IP, from single-line straight-line development to multi-line industrial ring, this new game itself is a pan-entertainment ecological industrial chain with platform linkage and industrial coordination.

now, we only need to solve one question: who will connect the many industries under the core IP? We need a strong platform to carry the heavy burden of series connection, which can not only grasp the strong voice, but also weigh the pros and cons of all parties, and choose the extension development that is most appropriate to the value of IP. Perhaps the first IP ecological conference held by China Literature Group on June 6th will give an answer. Behind China Literature is based on the support of 600 million fans, which is the way to win.

in fact, various attempts to adapt literary IP after China Literature's founding, such as "choosing Heaven", "Shenzang" and "once upon a time there is a Lingjian Mountain", have revealed China Literature's ecological operation and commercial system which is infinitely similar to the new method of IP. Take high-quality IP as the core, organize the industrial chain, open up the value chain, form a perfect business system and business ecology, and let IP grow into a sustainable and growing "century-old brand". This is the "golden future" that we most want to see.

Edit: queenie