Update: after dozens of iterations, reviews and back and fourth with the community I can finally show what I have been working on. This in my opinion is as perfect as perfect can be. Please remember that these are 3" tall figures and were designed to be a low cost fun onboarding tool for non crypto native folks no NOUNs as well as a way to engage with all ages about NOUNISH behavior and lifestyle. ( I removed the beer and the weed toys specifically to reduce any friction. ) These will be blind-boxed and come with a small base, a trading card and a unique POAP that will enable future engagement and activations for all of the things that we plan to do. Pricing info is still incoming. Prototypes are currently in the works. Thoughts, criticisms and suggestions are always welcome and I am here in the DMS to chat about anything and everything Thank you. Please know that we have decades of experience in making marketing and selling things like this and with a focus on PROLIFERATION over profit we have a fantastic/robust strategy to do some amazing things for the long term. Building a lasting brand and a loyal fan following takes years and I think that we can show mass engagement over the next six months should these figures go to production. I am here to talk extensions, collaborations and opportunities at anytime.
All are amazing! Depending on the success of the TV show and comic book series, maybe some toys specific to those characters would be in order as well?
There are a lot of moving parts with a project like this, and I have been through pretty much all of them in my experiences of doing white label work for big corporations and small independant artists.
My plan for these figures and the Noggles is based around the idea of Proliferation, Onboarding and Engagement with new audiences and partners. There are many things that I want to do, the first one is to tap into our global network if independant toy and gift shops around the world ( we sell to hundreds of shops all over the planet) Select the ones with the best social media presence and the best engagement etc and send them a set of NOGGLES and a case of toys explaining the project and asking them to simply check them out, take some pics or do an unboxing video of the product in their shop. Show their customers engaging with the items and share that experience on social media tagging @nounish, @Nounworks and a unique # that will be universal for the brand. Once that engagement is in place we can use that # as a point of reference to onboarding new opportunities and fans. There is more here but this is the first step. Designer Con Booth: I am booking a 10X20 booth this week (would love to get a bigger one but that would be a bigger prop than what I plan) I have talked about DCON many many times as it is the world biggest gathering of creatives in the entertainment space and we NEED to be there to show what this project is all about. Happy to discuss in a call this week and plan something. (already started a convo with NOTG and Stoopid buddies about some crossover as well as some other possibilities)
I have a lot of things cooking and the activation display at DCON is a key component.
Making a profit, or a sustainable business out of one novelty item or a simple series of toys is something that is takes years, and we are at a stage where we need eyeballs, press and attention and I think that I have a path to making this work if you let me. If we get to do this you will be able to see results by the holiday season. In fact I think that any IRL engagement will show a significant uptick in traffic and onboarding.
Happy to discuss and would love some help on reworking this proposal for the next steps but if we want to hit the holidays I need to start in the next two weeks so feel free to hit me up.
Thanks for your support
As far as sales, everything that we make is and will be available DTC and at wholesale where aplicable, We also have discounted codes for NOUNish builders and partners that need the items for events and plan to support global efforts as well as outfit NOTG and the Esports teams with any goodies that they may require for their activations. nounworks.wtf takes you to the shop but the site still needs work. We are also setting up crypto payments and token gating using unique POAPs
Distribution is a topic we’ve been discussing a lot lately so being able to lean into your established network is def. going to be helpful. However - and this is agnostic to your proposal - we will have to explore more avenues to “create” demand because the reality seems to be that the current demand for nounish products isn’t significant enought to sell through a product collection yet. Yes, that’s the point of the proliferation flywheel but selling actual product is tough rn.
Anyways, can we get those characters for key-chains too?
The current NOUNish product is mostly on demand hoodies and Tshirts or things tied to NFTs.
We have to have proof of life in the brand outside of NFTwitter and need case studies of marketing engagement from products just like this and more.
When agencies hire us to help them, develop and proliferate their brand ambassadors and mascots it is a large up front expense that also takes a couple of years to take hold. When we created the SUN BUM Sonny mascot Sun Bum Ape Mascot — Bigshot Toyworks no one heard of the brand and it took 3 years of retail and social engagement to get any real traction. (10 years later the brand was purchased by Colgate for 400mil uSD) By sending the samples to key retail and social media partners we will be creating the necessary engagement to build interest, press and demand. We have to have high quality product to help represent and promote the brand. These are $12-15 collectible figures with multiple engagement points in the forms of scannable QR , poaps and downloadable content. These things have to be priced accordingly if we want to onboard non crypto native people into the ecosystem and the NOUNish lifestyle, and yes these can be made into keychains
This is not about profitability or an ROI that can be measured in a spread sheet of numbers, This is a robust attempt at gaining eyeballs and attention on nouns.
Another example is FLO Progressive FLO — Bigshot Toyworks
we had a pretty healthy budget to produce 50K of these 6" action figures for a campaign. All of these were given away during tradeshows and marketing events.
we made 60K units of these ceramic cuties and they were all given away with a huge response. you can see the vid here
To me this is what proliferation looks like and how it makes sense and these amazing lil figures are going to be a great onboarding tool for Nouns.
I am happy to answer any questions and if you have ideas on proliferation I am all ears since we as a group do not have a functioning Marketing pod or press pod yet. Anything helps
demand has to be created via culture touch points by breaking the correct attention membranes. This is where our project “studio 1” comes in and is our primary focus.
We released hundreds of Uglydoll skus and created the demand with product where there was none… but it has to done the right way in the right place with efforts aimed at the right consumer and tribes to create context, which creates demand.
Current demand and the effort to move forward with product are not related if the above is activated.
I can have more impact on culture with 100 items in the right store than I can 100,000 items in 2000 stores through the above approach. ( which I outline in the nouns discord under project 92, studio 1… and these efforts are underway. ) Would be happy to explain if there is interest from the larger voting community, but this is pretty clear ( and proven through my own experience with repeat success ) , see link for detailed explanation:
yes, agree! what you call culture touch points, I’ve been refering to as memorabilia brand experiences.
it’s hard to disagree that doing the right thing at the right point in time with the right product and price to the right audience will deliver a positive result - I have no doubt about that and it’s great to see your track record that supports the thesis too.
I know it’s hard to formalize culture in a framework or guidelines, but pershaps there are nuances and references you could summarize in a piece for other builders that functions as an assistant to read their culture compass better to accomplish the above.
They are summarized and laid out in great detail with examples and visuals via that link.
The short version is those products are not products at all, but vehicles for creating context for those who will then turn and tell everyone else. But those consumers touch very specific places where something found there will be understood an entirely different way than if it were found elsewhere.
While in the states that is becoming increasingly difficult to pull off in the real world, there are still some cities where if one knows where to place things and when to place them there, and there is a positive initial reaction, you can make as much progress as if you had a major media event or mass market program, if not more, if one is willing to put in the time and remain consistent.
Japan and most of the rest of Asia it’s far easier and while the approach is a long play, ultimately has direct impact on the “cool kid” in New York and Los Angeles etc. etc. which then has a ripple effect between the two. (I hate to call them the cool kids but for the sake of getting the message across to those who might be reading here )
Even shorter version, if I want to get Shanghai and Beijing based consumers in their late 20s to late 40s to buy my handbags and go crazy for my character driven goods, I need to place a giant statue of my character in a very specific design centric neighborhood one hour south of Seoul during a certain season, and then see to it that the same imagery is repeated at the Taipei toy festival in Taiwan months later. then follow this up with dozens of similar formulas.
There are thousands of such potential scenarios to make use of but to know the correct 10 to 12 to pay most attention to is critical, and typically this is how demand is created in the first place. The model of playing something on television and expecting the consumer to run out and acquire related licensed products is still there but currently under great weakness.
From there we can get into the Sanrio approach and focus on tribe leaders.
To relay info beyond what is pinned at that link would require an in person guided all day tour in Tokyo, but technically possible. Klim has taken this tour.
the 10 days in japan and Saoul were definitely one of the most eye opening learning experiences of my career
following up to Davids point we have partners in Seoul, Beijing and Singapore ready to be engaged but we need to have actual goods to engage them with. They don’t deal in sketches and 3D renders when planning their activations
and studio 1 exists to make sure the consumer in Seoul understand before finding “things” / understands the thing as “more than just a thing” by finding it in the right place where meaning is created through being there vs somewhere else. Otherwise, the things are just items, and items never work no matter how adorable…( out motto is never items, always programs ) they must start in specific places where they take on meaning through discovery. Enter the wrong retailer and this opportunity is missed. By the time Klim’s items touch South Korea, this context will have been established.
