Sam Blumenthal

Mystery box products have largely migrated to the U.S. from China, where the phenomenon ballooned into a multi-billion-dollar business over the last few years. The Chinese toy company Pop Mart, for instance, has built an empire out of bundling figurine into “mystery toy” boxes. Those boxes sell for about $9 each, and they have become the company’s... See more

Synthetic media allows brands to have lifelike digital mascots. Instead of an animated Ronald McDonald, customers could interact with a virtual recreation.  Digital characters will also populate stores: imagine a virtual person taking your order at a fast food drive-thru or answering your questions at the Apple Store. Artificial intelligence will... See more

According to Gordon, what makes mystery boxes such effective marketing is not only that “people love mystery” — it’s also that the experience of unboxing is so shareable and reproduceable. When someone watches a 5 Surprise unboxing on TikTok, he said, “people then want to experience that for themselves.”