Plant a pencil and grow vegetables, do you dare to eat it?

Insert the leftover pencil head into the soil, pour a little water every day, and wait quietly for a period of time, you will find that the soil has sprouted and grown into green plants, flowers or vegetables…

It is such a magical pencil that became popular on the TikTok platform, and netizens rushed to buy it, and the pencil brand SproutWorld became famous because of this, and its sales increased greatly!

Today, Shoptop will analyze the success of the "plantable pencil" SproutWorld brand and explore the marketing secrets.

01

'Plantable pencils' go viral on TikTok

Through a TikTok search, it was found that SproutWorld's official account @sproutworldofficial has 157,000 fans on the platform, with a cumulative like of 5 million.

Source: SproutWorld video

In a video released in mid-August 2022, @sproutworldofficial showed the process of turning an old pencil end into a green plant through a video: just insert the soil and water two steps, and you can easily get a pot of green plants. Such a simple and magical process makes TikTok users feel incredible.

The popularity of this video has soared rapidly, and it has received more than 10 million views and more than 1.6 million likes. Many netizens exclaimed "so cool" in the comment area and asked where to buy it.

And SproutWorld also took advantage of the huge traffic of TikTok to link to its Amazon stores in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Italy, Spain, Germany and France, and linked itself through four sections: corporate procurement, self-design, pencils, and cosmetic pencils. official website of the European Union.

Source: similarweb

Through similarweb search analysis, it was found that SproutWorld's website visits reached 22.4K in August 2022, reaching a small peak, which was consistent with the popularity of TikTok videos at that time.

While the total number of visits declined in the ensuing two months, the site's global, country and category rankings have steadily increased.

02

The secret behind the 'plantable pencil'

Relevant information shows that the SproutWorld brand was founded in early 2013 and has been tepid for many years. Its Tik Tok account has released videos before, but it did not cause a big response, so the update frequency is extremely low and the number of fans is very small.

Until August 2022, SproutWorld seemed to have suddenly mastered the traffic password, increased the frequency of updates, gained millions and tens of millions of exposures on TikTok, and even increased its fans by 150,000.

1. Why can SproutWorld pencils germinate and bloom?

SproutWorld pencils are made of cedar with a clay and graphite refill, and their plantability looks amazing, but it's actually very simple.

Source: Google

While regular pencils usually come with an eraser at the tip, SproutWorld's pencils, eyeliners or brow pencils have a biodegradable capsule at the tip filled with peat and various seeds.

Therefore, when people insert the old nib upside down into the soil and water it, the capsule at the top will degrade, and the seeds will slowly take root and germinate, and grow into green plants or flowers.

SproutWorld has produced a dozen or two varieties of plantable pencils, including calendula, sunflower, lavender, thyme, rosemary, sage, basil, mint, cherry tomatoes, peppers, parsley, and even spruce.

A label is engraved on the side of each pencil for easy identification of the plant that contains the seeds in the capsule. Generally speaking, as long as you water and take care of it on time, you can see tender shoots in the soil in 1 to 3 weeks.

2. Derivative services and products

It is worth mentioning that the success of SproutWorld is not only dependent on the creative secret of "plantable", they have also launched many derivative services and products to attract consumers.

Source: SproutWorld website

As can be seen on the SproutWorld website, they can provide customers with personalized customization services, engraving various types of labels, text, badges, etc. on the side of the box or pencil.

In terms of packaging options, customers can choose a single package, or choose 3 or 5 packages together.

For B2B business, SproutWorld has also set up a contact channel on the website, which is convenient for enterprise or organization orderers to obtain the price list.

In addition, in addition to plantable pencils and cosmetic pens, SproutWorld has also launched a series of derivative products, such as the brand wooden pencil sharpener, which also supports personalized customization services.

Source: SproutWorld website

At the same time, they also launched the Sprout notebook. According to reports, the notebook is produced in the European Union and is made of sustainable paper. It is suitable for users who use it for meetings and events when it is matched with a pencil.

03

Learning Marketing from SproutWorld

1. Make good use of social media marketing

SproutWorld became popular because of the TikTok video, and then they quickly seized the opportunity to update the video and distribute it through TikTok, which increased the popularity of the brand website and Amazon store, and also increased brand awareness and opened up a broader market.

Source: SproutWorld Amazon US store

In the past, SproutWorld's customers were mainly concentrated in European countries such as Germany and Italy, but now their customers in the United States have seen a sudden increase.

The Shoptop query found that several products of SproutWorld in the Amazon US store were once sold out and were out of stock.

In addition, similarweb's data also shows that most of the users who visit the SproutWorld website come from the United Kingdom and the United States.

2. Use joint marketing skillfully

SproutWorld is not just a stationery brand, but has also dabbled in cosmetic pencils.

After the explosion, they launched a joint marketing campaign with Danish hair care brand ZENZ Organic: between October and December 2022, a shared giveaway event will be held once a month.

During the event, every order placed in the SproutWorld online store can get a ZENZ Organic Rhassoul shampoo gift, and every order placed in the ZENZ Organic online store can also get a free black or brown SproutWorld eyeliner.

Source: SproutWorld website

SproutWorld also emphasized that their beauty cooperation with ZENZ Organic stems from shared values ​​and a common mission, that is, love, respect and responsibility for the health of the earth, and is committed to producing natural, high-quality products that are beneficial to the earth, creating a more environmentally friendly and A sustainable beauty industry.

3. Pay attention to brand independent station

From the surge in traffic on SproutWorld's official website, it can be seen that consumers are not only interested in a certain product when they "plant grass" on social media and other platforms, but are more willing to learn more about the brand, especially for certain novel products.

According to a report released by TikTok, 58% of TikTok users will discover new brands and new products on the platform, but 65% of users will also conduct more online research on brands.

Source: SproutWorld website

SproutWorld's website opens a window for potential customers to understand its brand. In addition to product, event, customization, B2B and other sections, SproutWorld also elaborates on its brand concept on the website, that is, their products are not just office supplies and cosmetics, but also " "Green Messenger" can convey sustainable ideas and stimulate people's awareness of environmental protection.

4. Keep abreast of the hot trend

Social media platforms such as TikTok have a strong ability to "plant grass". Therefore, this is also an excellent platform for cross-border sellers to discover hot products and trends.

Take SproutWorld as an example, which represents environmental protection and sustainable products. Statistics show that global pencil sales exceed 14 billion per year, which means that about 82,000 trees will be cut down, but trees are an important part of the fight against climate change and global warming.

Therefore, from this perspective, the production of pencils is not in line with the concept of sustainability, but SproutWorld has packaged its products as environmentally friendly products through seed ideas.

Source: SproutWorld website

At present, environmental protection products have a strong influence in Europe, America and other regions, and the market prospect is broad. According to a report released by Think with Google, 78% of consumers believe that brands have a responsibility to fight climate change.

Therefore, domestic cross-border e-commerce companies can also learn from SproutWorld, and use "environmental protection", "natural" and "sustainable" as selling points to inject deeper connotations into the brand.

Pay attention to the Shoptop brand overseas think tank, we will share more cross-border strategies with you!

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