The archive · Product Ideas · Marketing decision · 2019
Want Want (旺旺) sells 56 ethnic-style milk cans as blind boxes — 10K+ sets in 24 hours
Want Want redraws its mascot in 56 ethnic-minority costumes and sells the cans as blind boxes — full set auctions for ¥30,551
Want Want Group (旺旺集团)
What it had to solve
Want Want, a 40-year-old snack and milk brand, was seen as aging by young shoppers. Its Weibo community kept photoshopping the iconic 'Hot-Kid' mascot into costumes, and the marketing team read that as a product idea rather than just fan art.
How it works
Want Want fans had long photoshopped the brand's 'Hot-Kid' mascot, Wangzai (旺仔), into different outfits on Weibo. The marketing team noticed, and in 2019 turned the joke into a product: 56 limited-edition milk cans, each showing the mascot in a different ethnic-minority costume, produced within about a month of the concept going viral.
The cans were sold as blind boxes — ¥76 for four random designs plus themed extras and snacks — through Tmall's Guochao (national trend) channel, so collecting all 56 became a goal. A rap song, museum-style exhibitions, and a charity program for minority-area schools extended the story beyond the product itself.
Results were immediate: pre-sales exceeded 10,000 blind-box sets in under 24 hours, and a complete set auctioned for ¥30,551 after 1,572 bids. The topic #56个民族版旺仔# accumulated 150M reads, total exposure reached 340M, and Tmall store followers grew 10x, showing that a 40-year-old brand could be re-energized through its own community.
Why it lands
- It started from real community behavior, so demand was demonstrated before a single can was produced.
- Blind-box randomness made 56 cans a collection quest instead of a single purchase.
- The ¥30,551 full-set auction created a price anchor and generated free publicity.
- One mascot redrawn 56 ways refreshed the brand at almost no new equity cost.
What it did
Pre-sales passed 10,000 blind-box sets within 24 hours; the complete set sold at auction for ¥30,551 after 1,572 bids. Weibo topic #56个民族版旺仔# drew 150M reads, total campaign exposure hit 340M, and Tmall store followers grew 10x during the campaign.
What you can take
Let the audience hand you the product idea: converting fan edits into real SKUs pre-builds launch buzz, and scarcity mechanics — blind boxes, an auctioned full set — turn nostalgia into collecting.
Since then
The ethnic-can designs became a recurring Want Want line, later extending to shrimp crackers, rice crackers and milk candy, with exhibitions in several cities. The campaign won a 2020 Shuying Award (数英奖) silver for integrated marketing and is cited in Chinese case studies as an early example of turning packaging into collectible brand IP.
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