Animal figurines + blind boxes break through the limitations of event peripherals. The national treasure World Cup figurines are seeking financing.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup in the United States, Canada, and Mexico is the first tournament after FIFA's expansion. The number of participating teams has increased from 32 to 48, and the global attention is expected to exceed 4 billion person - times, indicating huge commercial potential. However, traditional World Cup peripheral products mostly focus on the official mascot, with a single design and limited audience coverage. It is difficult to meet the collection needs, cultural and emotional sustenance, and social sharing requirements of global football fans. Against this background, the "National Treasure World Cup Figurines" project has emerged. With its differentiated product design and innovative sales model, it is seeking a seed - round financing of 4 million yuan for IP design optimization, mass production inventory, and overseas channel promotion.
Precisely Address Market Pain Points and Create Products with Multiple Attributes
Currently, although the market for sports event peripherals has strong demand, there are obvious pain points. The official mascot peripheral products are often limited by a single design, with a narrow cultural dimension, making it difficult to meet the emotional identification needs of audiences from different countries. Meanwhile, the life cycle of most peripheral products is only limited to the event period, lacking long - term collection value, and the market popularity fades quickly after the event. In addition, the demand of the young consumer group for trendy and interactive consumption scenarios is becoming increasingly prominent, and the traditional sales model of peripheral products can hardly adapt to this trend.
The "National Treasure World Cup Figurines" project precisely addresses these pain points by launching a set of 50 figurines. It covers the national treasure or representative animals of 48 participating countries, as well as exclusive designs for China and India, two large population and consumer countries. The Chinese figurine features a panda in the shape of the main referee with a golden whistle, while the Indian figurine combines the national bird with the shape of an assistant referee. This not only incorporates regional cultural characteristics but also adds a sense of football event atmosphere. The product avoids the design constraints of the official mascot and integrates football elements with animals as carriers. It combines the attributes of figurines, culture, and collection and commemoration. It is not only a World Cup peripheral product but also an emotional carrier of youth memories and grand commemorations, especially suitable for commemorating the farewell matches of famous players like Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
Supported by an Innovative Business Model to Broaden Market Coverage
In terms of the sales model, the project takes blind boxes as the core and innovatively integrates a lottery mechanism, greatly enhancing consumers' participation and willingness to spread. This "blind box + lottery" combination model not only continues the sense of surprise in blind - box consumption but also enhances interactivity through the competitive nature of the World Cup, effectively stimulating consumers' purchasing desire.
At the same time, the project adopts a flexible supplementary sales model, selling single figurines and complete sets of figurines simultaneously to meet the needs of different consumer groups. By starting pre - sales in the early stage, the mass - production scale can be flexibly adjusted according to market reactions, reducing inventory risks. In terms of the target customer group, the project precisely targets global football fans, World Cup event followers, especially fans concerned about the farewell matches of famous players. It also extends to cultural collectors, blind - box trend consumers, teenagers, and people in high - spending countries such as those in Europe, America, Japan, and South Korea. With a wide customer base, it broadens the market coverage.
From the perspective of market space, the sales data of peripheral products of past large - scale sports events fully verify the market potential. The sales of peripheral products of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar exceeded 13 billion yuan, the sales volume of the "Bing Dwen Dwen" of the Beijing Winter Olympics reached 5.2 million in five months, and the total sales of the mascot peripherals of the Rio Olympics reached 1.6 billion yuan. With its differentiated design of the "48 + 2" national animal figurine sets, combined with emotional added value and long - term collection attributes, the "National Treasure World Cup Figurines" are expected to be more popular than traditional World Cup mascot peripherals, with an estimated sales volume of over 500,000 sets. The estimated revenue will exceed 1 billion yuan. If the project cooperates with leading enterprises to expand sales channels, the sales volume will further increase.
Improve the Operational System to Ensure and Strengthen the Foundation for Sustainable Profitability
To ensure the smooth progress of the project, the team has formulated a phased operation plan. In the pre - preparation stage (from now to February 2026), the design of 60 sets of alternative team figurine drawings has been initiated to deal with the 6 pending participating teams. At the same time, intellectual property protection work such as copyright registration and blockchain evidence storage has been completed. Two optional solutions are provided for mold development to flexibly control costs and efficiency. In terms of pre - promotion, the project will cooperate with an AI company to produce animated feature films and short videos themed on products of 10 large consumer countries and popular championship - winning countries. These will be released simultaneously on multiple global platforms starting from mid - April, and the video style will highlight the core tone of positivity, harmony, and friendship. The work of channel construction is also in progress. Currently, the project is in contact with leading overseas sales enterprises and cross - border e - commerce platforms to lay the foundation for subsequent market launch.
From March to May 2026, it will enter the mass - production and launch stage. The team will coordinate alternative partner manufacturers for collaborative production according to pre - sale data. The daily production capacity can reach 5,000 - 7,000 sets, and the monthly production capacity is 150,000 - 200,000 sets, ensuring mass launch ten days before the start of the World Cup on June 11.
During and after the event (June - December 2026), the project will focus on prize - redemption services, anti - counterfeiting control, and continuous promotion. An efficient prize - redemption channel will be established to safeguard consumers' rights to redeem prizes. Mature anti - counterfeiting technologies such as anti - counterfeiting codes and laser engraving will be used to prevent counterfeits and maintain the product's reputation and consumers' trust. Secondary promotion will be carried out in combination with the event progress, star player dynamics, and championship hotspots to stimulate a post - event consumption peak. It is worth noting that the product line is not only applicable to the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the United States, Canada, and Mexico but can also be extended to the top five football leagues, the 2030 and subsequent World Cups. By leveraging long - term collection needs, it can break through the limitations of the event cycle and achieve sustainable profitability.
Currently, the project has completed the construction of the core product design framework, intellectual property protection work, etc., and the production of prototype figurines. Initial progress has been made in overseas channel docking. This time, the project plans to raise 4 million yuan in financing, offering a 60% stake for cooperative development. The funds will be invested in IP design optimization, mass production inventory, and overseas channel promotion at a ratio of 20%, 50%, and 30% respectively. With the support of top - level event IP, differentiated product advantages, a mature sales model, and broad profit margins, the project is expected to become a hit in the World Cup peripheral product market and bring substantial returns to investors.
Appreciation of spy photos of some project products