A Study on the Extension of the IP Value Chain for Cultural and Creative Products in the Digital Age—Taking Pop Mart as a Case Study

Abstract

This paper constructs a five-stage analytical framework—creative incubation, design and production, channel operations, derivative consumption, and value recycling—based on value chain theory and intellectual property (IP) derivation patterns. Using Pop Mart as a case study, it examines the extension pathways and sustainability challenges of the IP value chain for cultural and creative products in the digital age. The findings show that Pop Mart has achieved both horizontal expansion and vertical deepening through industrialised IP operations, emotional consumption engagement, category innovation, and global expansion. However, top-tier IP concentration and the de-narrativisation of trendy toy IPs pose sustainability challenges. The “horizontal extension + vertical reflux” dual-circulation perspective proposed here challenges linear assumptions in existing IP value chain research, reveals the organisational logic of IP value evolving from chain to network, and offers a new theoretical framework for character-based IP value management.