With more than 1,000,000 sets sold during the 2015 Chinese New Year holidays, the launch of the NEOBEAR Pocket Zoo was an overwhelming success. The company even needed to open up pre-ordering sales on its e-commerce store to cope with demand, achieving nearly 1,000 pre-orders with a few days.

But what exactly is the NEOBEAR Pocket Zoo, and why has it been such a big hit?

The NEOBEAR Pocket Zoo uses AR (Augmented Reality) technology, which is still just a concept in Microsoft’s Hololens products, yet one Chinese company has successfully turned this technology into reality, allowing millions of people to enjoy the experience.

The device includes 96 cards, with an animal on each card. Customers first need to download a free app released by NEOBEAR, then, when a tablet or smart phone is placed in front of the cards, something magical happens; the animals will stand up on the screen and either walk, run, or fly, even making the sound of the species.

Pocket Zoo can also teach kids the Chinese and English words for each animal and when they touch the screen, the animals become interactive.

The founder of NEOBEAR is Neo Hsiung, a well-known serial entrepreneur in the TV, media, electronic sports, advertisements, movie, IT and new media industries. A father of two, he has the hybrid of passion in innovation, technology and early education, finally establishing the current company, Young Zone Culture (Shanghai) Co., ltd. His mottos are ‘To play is to work’, and ‘Innovation comes from overlapping thinking’; concepts encapsulated by the Pocket Zoo.

In spring 2015, Hsiung flew to Munich, Germany to receive the 2015 iF design award for NEOBEAR’s next product, Magnifier NEO, a magnifier shaped AR product that allows kids to explore an augmented reality world. The iF product design award is regarded as the Oscars of the design industry and the Magnifier NEO was awarded the best design, a big accomplishment for such a young company.

Hsiung’s dream is not just to create products, but to build the landscape of a magical world, in which kids can find fun and explore in innovative and imaginative ways. As Hsiung himself says, “We want to create a Disney in the mobile internet era so NEOBEAR has protected its IP (Intellectual Property) from the very beginning, including technological patents, new designs, and the storytelling of the NEOBEAR & Friends.”

In future NEOBEAR will create a series of AR products and expand to cartoons and movies based on the company’s philosophy and ecosystem. The first couple of episodes have already been released along with the new product launch, and the cartoons are seamlessly embedded in the NEOBEAR free app. This is its business model, and the dream of one Chinese company for the mobile internet era.

About NEOBEAR Pocket Zoo

NEOBEAR is a brand of holding company Young Zone Culture (Shanghai) Co., Ltd which was established in 2009. Pocket Zoo is one of its flagship products, and another is the AR-Kids Cube, a multi-functional device that connects to a TV set. This brand is positioned as an innovative technology brand for kids, targeting users from two to seven years old, and focusing on the early edutainment (education+entertainment) niche market.

In the two months since its debut right before Chinese New Year 2015, 1,000,000 Pocket Zoo sets have been sold, with nearly 1,000 pre-ordered on its Tmall flagship store. NEOBEAR has spread its sales channels online and offline, and even better, airline, attracting a surprising number of national and international investors which has contributed to the successful launch of its O2O strategy, and generated a big buzz in the market. It has online sales platforms on major Chinese e-commerce sites such as Tmall.com, JD.com, YHD.com and Amazon.cn. A strategic partnership with China Spring Airlines also shows that the sky really is the limit for NEOBEAR’s innovation.

 

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