Seeking to establish itself as a leading force in youth culture, Pop Mart, the maker of the viral plush toy Labubu, has launched its sophomore edition of its print magazine Play/ground, this time with two icons on its cover — Michelle Yeoh and Labubu.
Keen on exploring the abstract idea of “future” and “the reality of being young in an uncertain world,” the broadsheet, 40-plus-page magazine is filled with editorials that delve deep into youth — mostly Asian youth’s — collective and individual anxieties, hopes and doubts.
For example, a survey of 600 Pop Mart fans imagines what the year 2050 will be like, a story explains 180 Chinese internet buzzwords from the last 20 years, a crowdsourced piece asks 29 influencers to imagine their own “future fit,” and profile stories on Chinese creatives whose works have a futuristic bent, including fashion designer brands Xander Zhou, Windowsen, artist Maggie Menghan Gao, graphic designer Han Gao and more.
On the cover, Michelle Yeoh wears a Moschino “trash bag” dress and hanging out with a life-sized Labubu character. The profile story was shot by the Beijing-based photographer Alix Lang at a playground in Montmartre, Paris.
The magazine, published biannually with separate English- and Chinese-language editions, will launch globally on Thursday via select bookstores and Pop Mart channels.
A promotional editorial featuring Pop Mart’s Play/ground.
Courtesy
According to Vicson Guevara, creative director of Play/ground, the purpose of the magazine was to better convey Pop Mart’s brand values, which include “creativity, companionship, self-expression.”
“This magazine is definitely more about Pop Mart the brand, versus our actual individual IPs, like the dolls we sell,” Guevara explained.
When asked if the magazine will play a role in Pop Mart’s strategy to develop a comprehensive narrative for its most popular IPs, including Labubu, Crybaby and Twinkle Twinkle, Guevara clarified that the glossy is more focused on young creatives’ stories.
“Maybe it’s something that I don’t understand because I’m much older, but it’s about how young people now absorb information. It’s not about storytelling necessarily, it’s much more about first impression and just how they feel about certain visuals,” added Guevara, who was a founding member of GQ China in 2009.
For editor in chief Greg Grigorian — formerly of GQ Russia and later in public relations at Xiaomi, the Chinese technology company — being part of a global Chinese brand that speaks directly to a new generation of global youth plays to the magazine’s strengths.
“There’s not a lot of mainstream brands in China that have that DNA that allows them to actually do that,” Grigorian said. “This magazine is also kind of an answer to the needs of youth, also their need to kind of vent their frustrations.”
Operating like any small indie magazine, Play/ground’s team of three, including Guevara and Grigorian, is based in Beijing and works with a global network of English and Chinese writers.
For Grigorian, both the idea of a print magazine and its format taps into youth culture’s obsession with nostalgia.
“A lot of young people might have never held a magazine in their hands before,” Grigorian said. “If you look into it, a lot of these spreads are posters, so it’s very interactive — you are not just reading a magazine, you can keep it on your wall, you can make a collage out of it.”
The magazine will also evolve into a “very offline” platform, according to Grigorian. For example, to fete the launch of the latest issue, Play/ground hosted a party at Cedar Kitchen, an underground bar and car repair shop in Shanghai.
