Unlocking Corporate IP Success: Key Takeaways from Tencent & JD’s Design Salon

JDC’s first “Magical Creatures Party” IP design salon was held at Akimbo Cafe in Shekou, bringing together eight speakers from Tencent, QQ Family, King of Glory, Quirky Goose, Penguo, JD, and others to discuss corporate IP design, challenges, and value.

Liu Ziyun (Tencent | QQ Family) – “The Caretaker’s Training Diary”. She explained online operation, offline hype, and licensing design, emphasizing an agent mindset, respecting artist individuality, staying visually current, and continuously reflecting on how IP adds value to the parent brand.

Cai Chunlin (Tencent | King of Glory) – “Content Is Creative at Its Core”. He described building an IP ecosystem through comics, animation, street dance, cross‑brand collaborations, and user‑generated content, aiming to deepen emotional connections and let the game’s IP expand into broader entertainment.

Li Haifeng (Tencent | King of Glory) – “Bringing Games into Life: Derivative Design & Creation”. He highlighted the need to translate game IP values into consumer‑friendly marketing language, optimize product pipelines, and structure graphic assets (ICON, BADGE, BORDER, PATTERN) for versatile brand applications.

Gao Yue (Tencent | Quirky Goose) – “‘Good’ Play Is Serious Business”. She explained the brand’s core culture—“Quirky” (breaking norms), “Strange” (curiosity), and “Goose” (communication)—and how diverse graphic assets and lightweight promotional tactics build emotional resonance.

Gao Shaowei (Penguo | Yuanxian IP) – “IP Derivatives: Deep Integration with Production Resources”. He shared Penguo’s role as FUNKO POP’s largest OEM in China, emphasizing mass‑product strategies, deep resource coupling, low‑price sales, and building strong IP reputation through extensive fan‑culture coverage.

Lin Yanling (JD | Old Oil Barrel & Friends) – “Designers’ Extracurricular Activities”. She described creating a work‑related IP from New Year gifts, focusing on external tags for user resonance and internal contrasts for character depth, turning accidental ideas into purposeful team‑wide creativity.

Fang Yuning (JD | Express Pigeon) – “Express Pigeon: Re‑imagining Logistics”. He explained the new JD logistics IP, its naming, pigeon symbolism, and how a relatable, everyday‑style character bridges brand trust and user emotion without heavy tech aesthetics.

Zheng Wei (JD | JOY&DOGA) – “Wagging Toward Content‑Driven Derivatives”. She discussed JD’s e‑commerce IP strategy, integrating JOY&DOGA into brand systems, cross‑departmental collaborations, and research showing users prioritize character and story over price, with collectibles like figures and phone cases leading sales.

The Q&A session covered challenges such as limited exposure for niche IPs, library creation techniques, supplier coordination, and evaluating whether product success stems from IP pull or creative design.

Overall, the salon highlighted practical methods for designing, managing, and monetizing corporate IPs across gaming, e‑commerce, and brand ecosystems.