What Labubu Can Teach Us About Modern Marketing: It's Not What You Sell—It’s What They Feel

What Labubu Can Teach Us About Modern Marketing

Walk into a Pop Mart store today, and you might think you’ve stepped into a parallel universe—part toy museum, part social experiment.

I was recently dragged (with love) by my daughter into the Dubai Mall branch to check out the latest drop of Labubu collectibles. Five minutes in, I understood why these oddly adorable, sharp-toothed creatures are flying off shelves, sometimes with price tags north of $1,000.

What Labubu Can Teach Us About Modern Marketing

What struck me most wasn’t the design. It was the marketing choreography.

Pop Mart isn’t just selling figurines. It’s selling emotion. Exclusivity. Storytelling.It’s selling the kind of hype you can’t click away from.

🧠 Genius Marketing = Engineered Emotion

Let’s break it down.

Blind boxes.Limited editions."Secret" releases.Viral unboxings.Content on how to spot a fake.Hype-fueled resale markets.

Each element is meticulously designed to trigger a reaction—excitement, status anxiety, FOMO. And yes, social belonging. Pop Mart taps into community-based consumerism, where collecting becomes a cultural ritual, not just a retail activity.

We’ve seen this model before: Supreme. Yeezy. Pokémon cards. But Pop Mart has adapted it for a new generation—where TikTok trends and YouTube unboxings act as the frontlines of desire creation.

📚 The Story Few People Know

Ironically, very few of the fans queuing up for the latest Labubu have read the original story.

Labubu is actually a character from The Monsters Trilogy, illustrated by the immensely talented Hong Kong artist Kasing Lung. These forest-dwelling creatures—elvish, furry, and straight out of a dark Nordic fairytale—may look mischievous, but they’re kind-hearted and noble at heart.

But in the era of content overload, the backstory is secondary. What people are really buying is a feeling:

• The thrill of the hunt

• The joy of the reveal

• The social capital of owning a rare edition

• The wink from being “in” on the trend

And that, right there, is the genius.

🛍️ Marketing Takeaway: Emotion > Product

As CMOs, we often obsess over product features, benefits, and pricing strategy.

But brands like Pop Mart remind us that the most successful marketing doesn’t just sell a product—it sells a moment. A narrative. A social signal. An emotional spike that becomes addictive.

In the world of modern retail:

💡 What Can We Learn From Labubu?

• Build exclusivity into your customer experience. Scarcity isn’t always manipulation—when done right, it’s magic.

• Invest in mystery. Blind boxes and hidden gems trigger the brain’s reward center. This is gamification at its best.

• Make the community part of the product. When customers unbox, share, and resell—they’re not just buyers, they’re co-marketers.

• Let story power the merchandise—not the other way around. People love things that feel like chapters in a bigger narrative.

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So no, I didn’t buy that Labubu plushie.I let my daughter hug it, and we quietly put it back.

But as a CMO?

I walked away with a reminder: people will forget what you said, they’ll forget what you did—but they will never forget how your brand made them feel.

Have you bought your Labubu yet? Or are you still trying to guess what’s inside your blind box?

#Marketing #Labubu #PopMart #EmotionalBranding #RetailPsychology #BrandStrategy #UnboxingCulture #CMOThoughts