Personality Analysis and Prospect of Fun Candies

So-called fun candies are a type of food that is personalized in terms of candy content and packaging sensory experience, with functions such as viewing, eating, playing, or reuse. They are usually combined with toys or marketed in eye-catching cartoon, anime shapes, and three-dimensional packaging. Typical products include toy candies, sour liquid mousse candies, bubble gum, eyeball candies, and toilet candies produced in Guangdong, Fujian, and Zhejiang provinces. Compared to the confusion and stagnation of domestic fun candy companies, some foreign candy companies have set their sights on the huge development potential of the Chinese fun candy market and have already embarked on the journey to explore the market.

The Personalized Expression of Fun Candies

Its personalization is mainly reflected in the following aspects:

First, the novelty of the candy content itself in terms of taste and sensory experience, such as high acidity, unique eating methods, and sensory appeal, such as high acidity promoting saliva secretion, high color tones stimulating the eyes, and unique shapes providing aesthetic pleasure; for example, sour liquid bubble gum, which can be blown into the sky like soap bubbles and eaten, is sweet and sour, and replaces "unsafe" soap bubbles; another example is the jelly "DIY" from a Hong Kong company, which contains instant jelly powder. Children only need to add water to a cup, stir evenly, pour it into a small mold, and it will solidify within ten minutes, forming various shapes of jelly. This unique eating method truly reflects the innocence of children playing house; also, Kraft's color-changing drinks, when a proper amount of water is added before consumption, this solid powder drink changes color. What is particularly surprising is that this color change is unrelated to the flavoring and its unique coloring used in the drink. One of them is a solid drink called "Grape Magician," which is originally a golden-yellow drink with grape flavoring, but turns red when water is added. Another is the "Color-Changing Green Peach" solid drink, which can change from a blue peach flavor to a green drink.

Second, it is reflected in the packaging. The packaging is the candy's wedding dress. In addition to protecting the candy content itself, it is more about achieving brand effects, realizing functional demands, and shaping personalized concepts. For example, YaKe's Rainbow Cat Blue Rabbit series of candies uses the cartoon image of Rainbow Cat and Blue Rabbit to create personalization. Packaging undoubtedly plays an important role in marketing functions. Using allusions or well-known cartoon images in packaging can naturally increase product and brand awareness. Fun candies are mainly prepared for the post-80s, post-90s generations, and children aged 3-10. This group either pursues fashion and trends or seeks novelty and fun, and generally holds the underlying consumer psychology of showing their personality through the candies they eat. Therefore, at the end of severe product homogenization, personalized and differentiated packaging is undoubtedly an effective tool for personality shaping.

Third, the brand personalization or marketing personalization resulting from the combination of the above two personalities. Let's avoid fun candies for now and analyze Wangzai QQ candy from a marketing perspective. Before the launch of Wangzai QQ candy, there was no mature brand of gel candies in China. Wangwang seized this market opportunity and used its own advantages to seize the market. This preemptive approach had a significant impact on brand market cultivation, making it the top player in the gel candy market. Afterwards, because Wangzai QQ candy was priced at the low end, although it left little room for later entrants, many companies still started to "imitate," leading to the glorious industrialization of China's gel candy industry. Because Wangzai QQ candy is only one of Wangwang's many food products, and its advertising investment has not been high for ten years, this unchanging old image is not suitable for the market's demand for innovation and change. However, later gel candy brands have found it difficult to break out of the framework set by Wangzai QQ candy. Why? The key is that the words "Wangzai QQ candy" are deeply rooted in people's hearts, just like "Jelly Pudding Xizhilang." It doesn't need much advertising. In fact, "QQ" has already reflected the product's fun, and it has also shaped and achieved its brand's personality concept. If it had been named "AA," "BB," etc., it would definitely not have achieved this effect. Of course, this packaging planning case could only succeed by combining the novelty and uniqueness of the candy itself, which also verifies the necessity of combining the first and second points above, because gel candies originated from German GUMMI candies, not China. Looking back, most existing domestic fun candy manufacturers mainly rely on exports or OEM. However, due to the impact of the financial crisis on exports, can these companies continue to do OEM?

Industry Development After the Crisis

Fun candy manufacturers that mainly rely on OEM for their economic sources are mostly located in coastal areas such as Guangdong, Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and Tianjin. A typical example is the processing of various toy candies. Since the financial crisis, some companies have gone bankrupt, while those that have survived have seen a sharp drop in orders. The machinery that used to be fully utilized is now largely idle, because most of them do OEM work for domestic and foreign companies, and some companies don't even have sales staff. Now, driven by the overall environment, fun candy manufacturers seem to have to switch to the domestic market, which is an unavoidable choice. Looking around, the domestic fun candy market is waiting to be explored, but there are many difficulties: firstly, there is no brand foundation and no sales channels; secondly, compared to ordinary candies, fun candies have higher costs and higher terminal investment, and domestic consumption capacity also needs to be evaluated; thirdly, Chinese people have misconceptions about fun candies, believing that they are only for children, unlike in foreign countries where sales to adults are also good. This requires the industry and enterprises to gradually guide consumers' consumption concepts.

In the current domestic market, several fun candy manufacturers have achieved success. For example, spray-type sour liquid candies and ball-bearing candies produced in Zhejiang province, with a ball-bearing dispensing mouth, similar to a glue bottle packaging, children lick to eat, are safe, and correct children's habit of "sucking their fingers" (this type of candy is called liquid candy, its nature is between candy and beverage, with the high sweetness and high acidity of candy and the liquid characteristics of beverages, it has a long market life, and its fun characteristics ensure that the product is less affected by seasonality). It has already radiated to the rural markets of southern provinces and cities. Small capacity, low price, and cartoon packaging are the characteristics of this product, which is also divided into sugary and solid suspension types; another example is Yingbao Evergreen Food Company, which brought the overseas popular TOPPS candies to this year's spring Chengdu Sugar and Wine Fair. Products include fun diamond candies, fun lipstick sticks, and fun pacifiers. The small packaging is also a highlight of this product. Currently, the company is exploring the Chinese fun candy market because consumers have not yet formed a dependence on a particular brand of this type of product, there are no strong competitors, and there is great development potential.

The domestic market for teenagers and children is undoubtedly a large consumer group for fun candies, and it is also one of the effective ways to save the fun candy production enterprises under the crisis. The functionality and fun of the candy content and packaging need to be further catered to Chinese teenagers and children. According to reports, Korean beverages are also developing in three directions: "aging, personal taste, and fun." Of course, to enter the domestic fun candy market and occupy a certain market share, further exploration and cultivation of consumer demand in this field are needed. First, quality and safety must be guaranteed, in line with domestic and international standards. Will there be "too much to handle" after the recovery from the financial crisis? Second, different levels of positioning should be made according to different product value orientations. For example, Yingbao Evergreen's fun candies and Korea's "DOOGY Let's Play Together" beverages are mainly positioned in the high-end market. In addition to focusing on international brands, the price also adapts to market consumer demand; in terms of channels, in addition to team building, it can be promoted through exhibitions, industry media, etc.; in addition, starting from the product content and packaging container functions, such as intellectual functions, combined with kindergarten channels for promotion. This industry already has a good product characteristic and structural foundation, and only needs to truly achieve localized operation in China.

In fact, it is not necessary to be limited to candies. Many foods that children like, such as jelly, biscuits, potato chips, and beverages, can also be included and organically combined to create a fun complex. In short, the development of candies never stops. The times are changing, the market is changing, and candies are constantly changing.

----From "China Candy Magazine"