If you're sitting here like me, wondering, wtf is a Labu
boo, Then in this episode, I want to talk to you about the latest and
greatest Internet sensation. And why should you should care as a small
business owner. This is the Mindful Marketing Podcast. Let's get into
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All right, I gotta pre apologize because I'm sick again. I know. I feel like
I apologize for this on every single podcast episode, but
legit, this has been one of the weirdest parts to me
of having kids is like, how frequently I'm sick.
So y' all just gonna have to listen to the raspiness today. Okay,
So I went to Threads the other day and I posted,
someone please tell me what the F is a Labubu. I
don't know. I started seeing these pop up everywhere. I
was on TikTok just doing my daily scroll, and I
noticed someone doing this video of, like, the evolution
of their labubu obsession. And I'm not. I don't know what it
is, right? So they had one little, like, gremlin looking thing hooked
onto their bel, and then it was like two, and then it was 10,
and then they were surrounded by them. And I was like, okay, that person's just
weird. But because I watched the whole video, y' all know the algorithm was doing
its algorithm thing. It started showing me all these labuboos, and I was like, I
don't care about this. But I'm also low key, fascinated by the level
of obsession, because you don't just see someone with one of them. Like,
when I see the videos, I see people with, like, a ton of them. And
so I Went to threads. I asked. 28 comments later, y', all,
this is Beanie Baby
but ugly. I feel like that's like the best, the best
explanation. Brazen
lawyer. My client, former client Bianca Jordan, said,
gen Z's Beanie Baby but ugly. And I was like, yes, Bianca, thank you.
It is like an ugly Beanie Baby because people are collecting
them, but they're, like, going up in value because of like, like their
popularity. Another people, another person said, this is
Siobhan Jones. She said, think trolls without
the charm on its belly. Someone else said, this
is Amber. She said, it's a Gen Z Mon Chi Chi. And I'm like, I
don't even know what that is. I don't know what it is. And then
Natalia said, it's a haunted goblin toy with a resale
value higher than your rent. Don't ask questions. Just accept this rule.
And Natalia, for you, my question is, in this economy, who
is buying these? And so as I was asking that, I was
like, yeah, I feel like this is a conversation for
today. So we're going to talk about basically the 2025
version of a Furby or Cabbage Patch doll, which I still
have haunting memories of going to a
Cabbage Batch doll. I don't know if it was a museum
or what as a kid, but those things frightened me.
Okay, but today we're going to talk about why these little
collectible toys are so popular and why people are obsessed with
them. Because I think there's something about building some sort of
internal obsession with your people.
Like, we want our people, our community, to be really
into it, right? Like, that's all. That's all we want out of our business. Like,
we don't just want, like, casual people. We want the people who show up
for us day in and day out. We want the people who spread the good
word of our business. Like, all these people are in these industries
are talking about Labubu. Okay? So
I think the first thing that I want to highlight about Labubus is that
they're weird. They are weird looking. They're weird looking and
they're creepy. Go Google it. They're creepy. I think that's the point.
Like, that's what I'm taking away from it at least is like, girl, be weird.
Like, the whole point behind this thing
is that they look a little off. And I feel like if you just had
made like, a cute little, like, if. If
they just came out with a cute little, like, normal looking, like, let's say bear,
we would be like, that's cute. And Then move on. But the fact that these
things look creepy and weird and it's not for
everybody. The people who it is for, they're
obsessed. The level of obsession is heightened because
it's so different and unique and weird. So much so that
lebooboo fans are, like, so screaming at people
to the level of, I'm sorry, my vegan listeners, but vegans.
When y' all become vegans, it's not just that you're vegan, it's that you want
everyone else around you to also be vegan. That's what I'm
feeling from Labubu fans. They're like, not just you should have a
Labubu, but everyone should have a Labubu. And it's like, become their
obsession. And I can't say the word anymore. Like, I'm hearing myself. It
sounds weird. Anyways, they're not trying to be for
everyone. They're being weird for their people. And
I think about other industries where this level
of obsession applies. I saw a video on TikTok last week
of this guy talking about Apple versus Android
users. And I feel. I felt this video so much like
he was talking about how this Android user was trying to convert
him over. And people do that. If you have an Android and someone
else has an Apple, you, like, try to convert people over. And I will tell
you this right now, I have Apple everything. I have the Apple phone, the watch,
my computers. Like, everything is Apple. And
technically, I could admit Android can be better.
Like, I am not too proud to admit that Android can be better. I
can't tell you why I will be an Apple user for the
foreseeable future. I don't see myself ever switching that. They
could double, triple the price of their stuff and I would still go, well, I
guess I'm just going to have to pay to double or triple. Like, there's something
about it where, like, I'm bought in. Same thing for my Starbies.
Although I found a local coffee shop near me that's, like, better
than my Starbucks. And so I go there now. So, like, yeah,
sometimes if it's better, I'll, you know, I'll switch. But however,
whatever the case may be, when you find something that you're like, this is
my thing, it's hard to change people's minds. And so
that's the power of being, like, a little bit different, unique or weird. Okay,
second thing, Labubu is a
limited edition now. I had to look this up. Just like
with Beanie Babies, they only make a certain number of
them now. I looked it up very briefly because I cannot look at the pictures
of these things. They freak me out. And if I end up with
nightmares from studying for this episode, I'm blaming y'. All.
But people line up, they set alarms.
They're treating them like limited edition Pokemon trading
cards. Yu Gi oh, cards,
whatever the case may be. And then it's not just
that. They're building this whole, like,
fictional world behind it, there's lore, there's characters,
there's everything, right? And so this obsession
feels orchestrated a little bit by the people behind Lububu,
but also people are buying into it, right?
And because of the limited runs
plus the storytelling, I feel like that leads
to some of this brand obsession. I don't think it's accidental.
Like, the people who created this, I think they kind of studied why people
like these things. It kind of reminds me a little bit of Crocs,
okay. Because I'm a new Crocs convert. Y' all
know this here on the podcast. I thought crocs were ugly for the
longest time. Actually, I still think they're ugly. They're ugly shoes.
But my mom came over to visit, like, a year ago, and she
said, just try them on. Just try them on. And I said, you know what?
Let me just slip them on while I, you know, take the trash out, y'.
All. They're so comfortable that I was like, oh, I understand. I
understand now. And now I have a pair of Crocs that I use to, like,
walk the dog and do my daycare drop off. So I feel
like that is it with Labuu, too. It's like, it's so
ugly that it's, like, circled back around to being cute again.
But because it's got, like, this storytelling and the lore,
and it's so limited, people are so
bought into it. So as a business owner, I want you to think about,
you know, how can we frame our work in
a way that adds in the storytelling,
Right. And also makes it limited time built in scarcity.
I will say my huge, like, asterisk to this is like, we're not doing
fake scarcity, right? So when you build in scarcity,
it's intentional. Could they make more Labuboos? Yeah, they
could, but they made an intentional decision to say, this is it. This
is how many we're going to make, and then we're moving on to the next
one. And so I ask you, how can you do that in your business? So,
for example, recently I did a sale on one of
my products that did really well. And it's because I
just set the sale for four days. I'm doing a four day sale. This is
the time that I'm doing selling. It made sense for me. Made sense for my
content calendar. And like, technically, yeah, I could extend the
sale or I could shorten it, but I think the reason that it worked is
because it was the right product with the right amount of scarcity and the right
amount of storytelling is my big inbox energy. By the way,
Workshop, which is usually $97, I discounted it
to what, like $17. And
a bunch of people bought it because I set it as a limited time
parameter. Especially in the summer when we don't want to be messing around with social
media too much. It's like, okay, focus in on email. Right?
Okay, so that's the second piece of this labubu phenomenon is like, scary tell
storytelling and scarcity. And the first piece is like,
own your weird. Okay, there are two more pieces to this. The.
The third piece. Why I think this works
is because it is almost
maximalist in the way that this is presented. It's
like chaos meets cute meets
ugly in, like, a weird mix. I. I
can't. I'm trying to figure out how to describe this, because I do
feel like the aesthetic online right now, there's like, certain aesthetic
buckets, right? And one of the aesthetics is, like, minimalist.
Like beige neutrals, like clean girl
coated. Okay, That's. That's an esthetic,
and this is the opposite of that. I feel like this is,
like, maximalist. Lots of colors,
all of the things. And so I kind of
feel like people are loving that. I know I am. And you may notice in
my videos, I'm going to start going that way. I got, like, these two new
bookshelves in my office, and I feel like
that I like the brightness of it. I'm not the type of person to do,
like, the neon lights behind me and like, the mood lighting like
other YouTubers do. I like the brightness, but I want
it to be colorful. So I'm thinking about, like, this wall behind
me. How can I add, like, some artwork? Or I can do lights,
but let's make it, like, super colorful. And even this rug, like, if y'
all aren't watching the video, go over to my YouTube channel. But the rug
underneath me, I want it. I want to switch it out for something, like, super
vibrant. All the colors, like, I want all of the colors in a way that
doesn't compete with me on the screen, right? So I feel like the boo boo
is Going that way, it's like chaos meets cute. And it's not
Instagram perfect. And I think people like that, right? And I will
say this. The level of chaos still feels curated.
Can we say, like, curated chaos? I love that. Curated chaos.
It's like, there's definitely an aesthetic, but it's
not the, like, beige aesthetic. And I think people
like that, right? So as a small business owner and a
brand and a content creator, and start thinking about defining your
aesthetic, but knowing that your aesthetic doesn't have to be polished. I'll say
that about mine, too. Like, when you're listening to this podcast, this is
how I talk in real life. My husband
calls it monologuing. And he does it, too. We
were both talker. He does a radio station. I do
a podcast. And so when we get into
monologuing, this is just how I talk. Like, in real life. My friends can
tell you, my husband can tell you this is just. This is just me, right?
I don't talk perfectly. I have a lot of filler
words. I lose my train of thought. I interrupt myself, I tell stories. But
I think that's part of me, and I've just
embraced it more and more over the years. If you go back,
you know, 300 episodes ago, I was a little bit more buttoned up, a
little bit more polished, because I thought that's what people wanted to hear. But the
more I relaxed, the more people actually listen to what I'm trying to say.
And so for me, too, it's a lot easier to create content, because literally
all I posted that yesterday, and I sat down today to record this
podcast about Labubu after going in my. Into my deep dive. Okay. And
so it doesn't have to be perfect. I just need to show up and
share the info, right? And so I want you to think about what that looks
like for you. Maybe it's not a content calendar. Maybe it's
knowing that you post better in real time. Or maybe it's
not, you know, doing email marketing. Maybe, you know, you're better
at podcasting. Or maybe it's not having studio lights and
doing a big YouTube production. Maybe, you know, you're better at writing blog
posts. Like, whatever it is, you don't have to follow the prescribed,
like, do this, do that, do this marketing advice. You can choose what you
want, and then your people will become obsessed with it. The next thing I want
to say about this is. And Labubu. Is it. And Labubu. A
Labubu. It's optional, baby. It's optional. Okay,
I feel like this is a huge one because I used to work in the
spa industry. I work in marketing. People keep saying you're the first thing to get
cut when, you know, people aren't making money. Blah, blah, blah, blah. Y'. All. In
this economy, people are spending money on the boo boos, okay?
Why? Because it's tugging at their heart,
not their head. Okay? People make buying decisions a
lot of times with this guy right here, your heart.
They feel the delight, I guess, of looking
at these ugly little things. They feel the nostalgia. It
feels, you know, it does. It feels like a Furby, a Beanie
baby, whatever. So, like, the parents who are our age
millennials now are buying these ugly little things for their kids
because they want it or themselves because they want it.
And they want it because they just want it. That's it. They want it because
they want it. And I feel feel like sometimes we go too
far in the marketing to try to orchestrate desire from people
instead of figuring out what people want and then giving it to them. And I
talk about this a lot with my mentees in the mentorship program where I talk
to service providers, social media managers, web
designers, Facebook ad strategists, marketers,
right? Y' all are out here trying to
orchestrate desire for your offer when desire already exists.
Ain't nobody wants to write their own emails. They don't want to run their Facebook
ads. They definitely don't want to post on Instagram. Okay? So, like,
some of this is just showing up and allowing people to,
like, see that you have it to offer and them going, phew, that's exactly what
I wanted. Right? And they may not need it, but
they want it and they want to buy it. Hey. And so I think that
that's something that you have to acknowledge in the work that you do.
It sometimes can be a hard pill to swallow, because as
artists, we want people to, like, crave our stuff because of the
deep intrinsic value, when at the end of the day, they just go, I
like it. So I bought it. So I think that could work
for any sort of industry. You
know, people like something, they feel it in their heart,
and then they buy it. It doesn't need to be a huge mental back
and forth decision. Now, my reflection for
you at the end of this episode is this. If
you were to be Labubu,
what would you be? Okay, if
you were to be a Labubu, what would you be? What is your Labubu of
your brand? Right? What is the thing that is a little bit weird
it, you know, causes this obsession because of the
storyline. It has scarcity built
in. It's. It has its own esthetic that's not, you know, the
Instagram minimalist, polished aesthetic, but it has an aesthetic and people
just see it and they want to buy it. Right. What is that in your
business? How can you create that or amplify that
in your business? And this Labubu is
a trend. I want to emphasize that, too. It's a trend. There will
be another one. Just like Beanie Babies were a trend, Furbies were a
trend. Cabbage Patch Dolls were a trend. Just because
something's a trend doesn't mean you don't do it. Right. Fidget spinners,
that's another one that was a trend. Just because it's a trend, it doesn't mean
you don't do it. But if you have your ears and eyes open and you
listen to what people are saying they want, and then you find a way
to show up in that way, it can be very, very helpful for you to
stay memorable with your story, to add in scarcity,
to. To speak to people with their heart first,
then their minds. I think it'd be such a powerful marketing strategy
for business. So I'll give an example. An example that I give a lot of
times when I talk idea, and it's
the idea of a business that's a dog kennel of sorts,
you know, a doggy daycare or overnight stay, doggy hotel, whatever word you want
to use there. And a lot of times with marketing this type of business,
you can market things like, you know, we take really good care of the
dogs. We have, you know, X number of rooms, X number of staff members.
But I have a dog, and for me and my
dog, we need to know the benefits. Like, are they going to be
cuddled? Are there doggy treats?
Show me pictures of the dogs having a lot of fun and I'm sold.
Right? Like, you don't necessarily need to be so technical
in how you show that thing, because I will get to the
technicalities later when I'm making the buying decision. But
immediately, if you put a picture in my feed of a dog having a
grand old time on, like, a giant stick stuffed
couch playing with other dogs at your doggy daycare, I'm like, my dog
needs to go there immediately. And so I feel like
sometimes as the business owners, we get so technical and like, how we present
our offer when we really need to speak to the heart first.
All right, if you have a Labubu and you actually like it, please DM me
on Instagram. I'm online. Drea, I need to know personally
why you like it. I. I have a lot of reasons why people don't like
them, but the more we talk about, the more they're selling. So I need to
know, like, what is your personal obsession with it?
And then stay tuned. I have more episodes, of course, coming at you every single
Tuesday. Thank you so much for enjoying the show. If you really do like it,
it helps out a lot if you have a five star rating on Spotify or
Apple podcasts. I'll see you next week. Bye for now.