Why Marketing Organisations Must Master the “Viral Skillset” – The Labubu Conclusion

Last Christmas my wife received a Labubu as a present – a pink one. She opened the box slowly, not knowing which Labubu she would get. The family discussions that followed, and the weeks of research they triggered, led me to write this Brand Future Thought, in search of a recipe for the success of this little cute‑ugly toy.

Labubu – the story

Labubu was created by Hong Kong–born artist Kasing Lung, who moved to the Netherlands at the age of seven and quickly fell in love with Nordic fairy tales. In 2015 he launched an illustrated book series called The Monsters, featuring female elves known as Labubusi.[i] In 2019, Pop Mart – a company specialising in designer‑toy IP and blind‑box retail – secured the exclusive rights to produce Labubu blind boxes, and the character rapidly became the company’s flagship IP, driving fast international expansion and a significant share of total revenue.[ii] Pop Mart grew Labubu, as part of The Monsters series, from around USD 60 million in 2023 to over USD 400 million in 2024. This represents more than 23% of Pop Mart’s total sales and Labubu is expected to become a billion‑dollar brand in 2025.[iii] Pop Mart achieved this through a multi‑channel model: its own stores and vending machines, e‑commerce, and pop‑ups in high‑traffic locations in major global cities, ensuring constant visibility and easy purchase opportunities. The worldwide blind‑box craze, amplified by livestreaming and social media, provided the perfect context. [iv]Labubu invests only around 3–5% of revenue in advertising, which is low for such a highly competitive market, so there must be more behind this tremendous success.

Labubu – the Sucess Model

Every brand owner or manager dreams of such worldwide success without a huge media budget, driven instead by word of mouth – the most effective form of marketing communication. Professor Jonah Berger developed a word‑of‑mouth framework, and Labubu can almost be read as a textbook application of it.

 S = Social Currency

Berger defines social currency as the way products make people look smart, special or “in the know” when they talk about them[v].Owning rare or early Labubu releases, sharing “shelfies,” and posting resale wins all function as status displays, making fans look in‑the‑know and taste‑leading, which increases their motivation to talk. Additionally influencer postings with a Labubu as a fashion item on a branded purse supported the social acceptance[vi].

T = Trigger

Triggers are cues in the environment that keep a product top‑of‑mind and tip‑of‑tongue[vii]. Labubu omnipresent through high‑footfall stores, mall‑based vending machines, frequent series drops and collaborations that plug the character into everyday contexts like fashion, food and licensed franchises[viii].

E = Emotions

Berger shows that high‑arousal emotions—excitement, awe, anger, anxiety—are more likely to drive sharing than low‑arousal feelings[ix]. The Labubu blind‑box mechanic harnesses excitement and tension: buyers don’t know which figure they will get, rare items are hard to pull, and limited drops add urgency and fear of missing out[x]. If you are not convinced that this little cute-ugly doll can trigger emotions, go on TikTok.

P = Public

The “public” principle states that the more observable a behaviour or product is, the more likely it is to spread via social proof[xi]. Social media turbo‑charges the observability: posts by influencers and celebrities like BLACKPINK’s Lisa made Labubu collections visible to millions, normalising and glamorising the act of buying and displaying the toys[xii]. This observability fits Berger’s idea of “built‑to‑show, built‑to‑grow”: when others can see Labubu everywhere—in real life and feeds—it becomes easier for new consumers to imitate and join the trend.

P = Practical Value

Practical value is about sharing useful information, but in Labubu’s case it appears in a slightly different, more market‑oriented form[xiii]. Content around Labubu often includes tips on how to trade, where to find stock, how to spot fakes, and how to time purchases or resales to maximise value, which makes posts genuinely useful within the collector community[xiv].

 S = Stories

Berger stresses that people do not share isolated features; they share stories in which brands are embedded as “trojan horses.”[xv] Labubu’s narrative world—The Monsters universe, character lore, seasonal and thematic series—provides endless story hooks, from “my first pull” to “the rare one I chased for months.” Pop Mart leans into this by staging events, collaborations and community rituals (meet‑ups, trading circles, pop‑up photo spots) that give fans narrative episodes to recount online and offline[xvi]. The result is that Labubu is carried inside personal stories—about identity, escapism, friendship, or hustle—rather than as a naked sales message, which is exactly the mechanism Berger describes for durable word‑of‑mouth diffusion.

Combining the STEPPS elements does not guarantee that a product will go viral, but it increases the likelihood of contagious diffusion, as Berger notes. This framework is well known by most middle and senior brandmanagement responsibles.

Brand Futurist Thoughts & Reflections

The Brand Futurist argues that word of mouth will be one of the key success factors for effective and engaging communication in the future, particularly in an environment saturated with AI‑generated content in which consumers increasingly struggle to assess what is authentic. In this AI‑dominated market context, demand for authenticity is likely to intensify, and word of mouth represents one of the most effective modes of communication. 

Although most marketers are aware of the importance of word of mouth and aspire for their products or communications to “go viral,” the underlying mechanisms remain only partially understood in practice.  It is therefore argued that it will be essential for brand owners and managers to develop and master a distinctive “viral skillset.” 

This viral skillset must be built through iterative experimentation in real markets with real products and services; identifying the most suitable execution for each lever, and the most effective combination across levers, requires immediate consumer feedback and the organisational flexibility to adapt.

The extent to which firms master this viral skillset is likely to become a key differentiator between more and less successful marketing‑led companies. 

The Brand Futurist will continue to monitor how this viral skillset evolves across markets and organisations, with particular attention to how marketing functions translate conceptual frameworks into repeatable capabilities and processes.  

If you want to contribute or have any reflection on the above, please do not hesitate to comment.

[i]J. Kim, 18. June 2025, NPR, www.npr.org/2025/06/18/g-s1-72939/what-is-labubu-pop-mart-explained

[ii]F. Wang, 20. June 2025, BBC, www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy4ydxlm9n9o

[iii] W. Zhuoqiong, 8. May 2025, China Daily, www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202505/08/WS681c10d1a310a04af22be101.html

[iv]E. Yoon, 25. August 2025,CNBC, https://www.cnbc.com/2025/08/25/china-blind-box-craze-pop-mart-labubu-success.html

[v]J. Berger, Contagious, https://jonahberger.com/the-secret-science-behind-big-data-and-word-of-mouth/)

[vi] The Brand Stategy Lab, June 2025, https://thebrandstrategylab.com/blog/labubu-branding-strategy-from-million-dollar-collectible/

[vii]J. Berger, Contagious, https://jonahberger.com/the-secret-science-behind-big-data-and-word-of-mouth/)

[viii]The Brand Stategy Lab, June 2025, https://thebrandstrategylab.com/blog/labubu-branding-strategy-from-million-dollar-collectible/

[ix]J. Berger, Contagious, https://jonahberger.com/the-secret-science-behind-big-data-and-word-of-mouth/)

[x]F. Wang, 20. June 2025, BBC, https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy4ydxlm9n9o)

[xi]J. Berger, Contagious, https://jonahberger.com/the-secret-science-behind-big-data-and-word-of-mouth/)

[xii]S. Quader Sinha, Forbes, 7. July 2025, https://www.forbes.com/sites/sylvanaqsinha/2025/07/01/labubu-how-asias-quirky-toy-became-a-global-business-phenomenon/

[xiii]J. Berger, Contagious, https://jonahberger.com/the-secret-science-behind-big-data-and-word-of-mouth/)

[xiv]The Brand Stategy Lab, June 2025, https://thebrandstrategylab.com/blog/labubu-branding-strategy-from-million-dollar-collectible/

[xv]J. Berger, Contagious, https://jonahberger.com/the-secret-science-behind-big-data-and-word-of-mouth/)

[xvi]The Brand Stategy Lab, June 2025, https://thebrandstrategylab.com/blog/labubu-branding-strategy-from-million-dollar-collectible/ beginnt alles mit einer Idee.