是什么让一个玩具走红

赞达亚和汤姆·霍兰德回归《蜘蛛侠：崭新的一天》，这部电影比系列之前的作品基调更接地气。

Zendaya and Tom Holland are back in Spider Man brand new day, and the movie has a more grounded tone than we've seen from the franchise.

但它能在趣味和黑暗之间找到合适的平衡吗？

But does it strike the right balance of fun and darkness?

我们会在NPR的流行文化欢乐时光节目中讨论这个话题。

We'll talk about it on NPR's pop culture happy hour.

可以通过NPR应用或你收听播客的任何平台收听。

Listen via the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.

你好。

Hi.

快速更新一下我们其中一个项目的进展。

Quick update on one of our projects.

你还记得我们一直在设计的《金钱星球》桌游吗？

Do you remember the Planet Money board game that we've been designing well?

现在它已经在一些商店上架了，里面充满了你的建议。

It is now in some stores, and it is filled with your suggestions.

几周后我们会做一期节目，专门聊聊这个。

We will have an episode about all of this in a few weeks.

不过在那之前，如果你看到了，记得给我们发个消息。

But in the meantime, if you see it, send us a note.

我们很想知道你在哪里看到的，可以发邮件到 planetmoney@NPR.org。

We would love to know where you spotted it, and you can send those to planetmoney@NPR.org.

如果你买了的话，顺便给我们留个评分或评论呗？

And if you did buy it, you know, why not leave us a rating or review?

好的。

Okay.

几周后会有完整更新，不过先来听听今天的节目。

Full updates in a few weeks, but here's today's episode.

这里是 NPR 的《金钱星球》。

This is Planet Money from NPR.

前几天，我和一个人通了电话，她至少在她所在的中学里，算是个大人物。

The other day, I got on the line with someone who, at least at her middle school, is kind of a big deal.

我听说你在软饺子收藏界里可是个传奇人物。

I hear that you are, like, legendary among squishy dumpling collectors.

是的。

Yeah.

我有很多。

I have a lot.

嗯，我确实有一个。

Well, I got one.

这位是朱莉安娜，朋友们都叫她朱朱，她正在数自己收集的所有软饺子，这些玩具都摆在她家厨房的桌子上。

This is Juliana, Juju to her friends, and she is counting all her squishy dumplings, which she has assembled on her kitchen table.

软饺子是一种橡胶质地、有弹性、可以捏的饺子玩具。

Squishy dumplings are these rubbery, stretchy, squishy dumpling toys.

大小刚好适合握在手里捏。

Just the right size to squeeze in your hand.

它有点像橡胶，里面还加了凝胶。

It's like kinda like rubber with just like gel in it.

每个都像真饺子一样有个小褶子顶，还带着笑脸，装在各自的塑料蒸笼里。

Each one has a little pucker top like a real dumpling, plus a smiley face and comes in its own plastic steamer basket.

这些小玩意儿是最近火起来的玩具之一。

These little guys are some of the latest toys to go viral.

而Juju是我们请来帮忙解读的专家之一，让我们明白这个小软团子在过去几个月里是怎么卖出几百万个的。

And Juju is one of the experts we call to help us understand exactly how a little squishy blob has sold so many millions over the past few months.

她告诉我们，对她来说，这种吸引力始于几个月前，当时她在刷TikTok，第一次看到有人从包装里拿出一个软糯饺子。

She told us, for her, the allure started a few months ago when she was swiping her way through TikToks and she saw someone pulling a squishy dumpling out of its package for the first time.

三个。

Three.

差不多两个。

Something like Two.

一个。

One.

你居然拿到了青绿色的那种。

You actually got the teal ones.

不会吧。

No way.

我当时就想，哇，我真的很想要一个。

I'm like, oh, I really want one of those.

和我的指甲颜色很搭。

It matches my nails.

让人兴奋的不只是玩具本身。

The exciting part wasn't just a toy.

而是那些TikTok博主也不知道会开出什么颜色，或者有什么特别之处。

It was that the TikTokers didn't know what color it would be or what special qualities it would have.

拆开包装、不知道会拿到什么的那种感觉，真的挺有意思的。

The part of, like, unboxing it and not knowing what you get is, like, pretty fun.

她非得买一个不可。

She had to have one.

但Juju才13岁。

But Juju is 13 years old.

所以实际上，她得说服父母，让她必须买一个。

So actually, she had to convince her parents that she had to have one.

我是莱拉。

I'm Leila.

我是朱莉安娜的妈妈，也是她的捏捏玩具供应商。

I'm Juliana's mom, squishy supplier.

朱莉让她的捏捏供应商带她去了商店。

Juju got her squishy supplier to take her to the store.

然后我们拐进一条过道，就看到一个箱子堆满了那些东西。

And then we, like, turned down an aisle, and then just, like, there was just, the bin stacked full of them.

她们买了几个。

They bought a few.

然后朱莉回到家，把相机架在桌子上，把第一个小笼包放在面前，它还在那个米色的蒸笼里，上面有格子顶，跟竹蒸笼一样，不过是塑料的。

And then Juju came home, set up her camera on a table, and placed dumpling number one in front of her, still in its little beige steamer basket with a lattice top, just like the bamboo ones, but plastic.

她看着镜头，开始录自己的TikTok视频。

She looked into the camera and started recording her own TikTok.

好。

K.

所以我觉得我想要粉色的或者紫色的，或者那种银河款的。

So I think I'd want, like, pink or the purple one or, like, the galaxy.

她拆开包装，闭上

She pulls off the packaging, closes her

眼睛，三、二、五。

eyes Three, two, five.

然后掀开蒸笼袋的盖子。

And lips the lid off of the steamer bag.

天哪。

Oh my god.

所以你买的第一只恰好就是那种超级稀有的蓝色闪粉款？

So the very first one you ever bought happened to be like the super rare blue glitter?

对。

Yeah.

这概率也太低了吧？

What are the odds?

怎么说呢，我也不太清楚。

It's like, I don't know.

但确实挺稀有的。

But it's like pretty rare.

很快，她的朋友们都看到了她的视频。

Pretty soon, her friends all see her video.

好的。

Okay.

那这次，我想要粉色的。

So now this time, I want the pink.

然后她们在现实中看到了这个饺子。

Then they see this dumpling in real life.

或者那种绿色的。

Or the like green.

然后她们也想买一个。

And they wanna get one.

接着她们就自己拍视频。

And then they make their own videos.

然后呢，

And then

我们发现了一家新的鲨鱼公司。

We found a new shark company.

成千上万的人都在拍自己的视频。

Zillions of other people are making their own videos.

希望我们能拿到那个橙蓝相间的，还有

Let's hopefully we get the orange blue And

那个软软的小团子。

the squishy dumpling.

软软的小团子。

Squishy dumplings.

饺子一下子就火了。

Dumplings goes viral.

大家都排队去买。

And people are lining up to buy them.

在我们那家Five Below门口排着队。

In line at our Five Below.

商店都开始限购了。

Stores are rationing how many can be sold.

二手市场炒得火热。

There's a booming resale market.

你当时也是。

You were.

你睡了一觉就赚了一千美元。

You slept for a thousand dollars.

Juju的收藏还在不断增加。

And Juju's collection is still growing.

那是什么？

What is that?

我觉得我刚又开出一个亮闪闪的。

I think I just got another glitter one.

等等，你一边跟我说话一边在开？

Wait, while you're talking to me?

对，我

Yeah, I

刚开了一个。

just opened one.

哇哦。

So, woah.

大家好，欢迎收听《金钱星球》。

Hello, welcome to Planet Money.

我是埃里卡·巴里斯。

I'm Erica Barris.

这个软糯的小团子显然触动了美国人的某种心理。

The squishy dumpling is clearly speaking to something in the American psyche.

但它能火起来，不只是因为市场迎合了我们想捏可爱东西的奇怪欲望。

But its viral success is not just the market meeting our weird desire to squeeze something cute.

这背后其实是一套非常精明的商业策略在起作用。

It is also the result of a very specific set of savvy business strategies.

今天这期节目，我们就来深挖一下这个爆款背后的商业门道。

Today on the show, a quest to squeeze out the business lessons from this viral sensation.

这种潮流到底从哪来的？为什么它会火？

Where does a trend like this come from, and why?

怎么打造一条能应对爆红需求的供应链？

How do you build a supply chain that's ready for viral success?

还有，你就是那个软糯小团子的创造者吗？

And are you the person behind the squishy dumpling?

是的，我就是。

I am.

是的。

Yes.

GLP-1类药物最出名的是减肥药，但它们也可能帮助人们减少饮酒、吸烟和使用阿片类药物。

GLP ones are best known as weight loss drugs, but they may also help people cut back on alcohol, cigarettes, and opioids.

它们似乎对多种成瘾行为都有效。

They seem to work for many types of addiction.

也许这些效果比我们之前想象的要广泛得多。

Maybe these effects are much broader than we previously thought.

关于大脑、成瘾和同理心的思考。

Ideas about the brain, addiction, and empathy.

这是Ted Radio Hour播客的内容。

That's on the Ted Radio Hour podcast.

请在NPR应用或你获取播客的任何平台收听。

Listen on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.

最引人入胜的全球故事，直达你的耳边。

The most compelling global stories straight to your ears.

这就是NPR《世界现状》节目所做的。

That's what we do at State of the World from NPR.

从乌克兰、伊朗的局势，到埃博拉疫情，再到英国河狸如何应对气候变化的影响。

Developments in Ukraine, Iran, with Ebola, but also how British beavers are fighting the effects of climate change.

所以我们说，河狸可能只需要一小部分成本，而且肯定更可持续。

So we said the beavers can do it probably a fraction of the cost, certainly more sustainably.

每周工作日，在NPR应用或你收听播客的任何平台上，收听《世界现状》。

Listen to State of the World every weekday on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.

首先，我们想知道这些软糯的饺子到底有多火？

First, we wanted to know exactly how big a deal are these squishy dumplings?

现在软糯饺子很流行吗？

Are squishies big right now?

是的。

Yes.

确实很流行。

They are.

所以我们打电话给克里斯汀·麦克林，她自称是消费者动物学家。

So we called up Kristin McClean, who calls herself a consumer zoologist.

她其实是玩具行业分析师，她说2026年对玩具来说是很好的一年。

She's actually a toy industry analyst, and she says 2026 has been a great year for toys.

而挤压玩具是增长最快的品类之一。

And squishy toys are one of the fastest growing categories.

挤压玩具和指尖陀螺。

Squishies and fidgets.

任何与感官、舒缓、挤压、史莱姆有关的东西，就是用手玩的东西。

Anything having to do with sensory, soothing, squishing, slime, things that you play with with your hands.

挤压的、黏糊糊的、指尖玩具。

Squishy, slimy, fidget toys.

对。

Mhmm.

走进商店，你会看到有香味的挤压水果和蔬菜，还有闻起来像不同果冻口味的果冻块。

Walk into a store, and you'll see scented squishy fruits and vegetables, jello cubes that smell like different flavors of jello.

还有那个Neato Squishes。

Then there's the Neato Squishes.

现在特别火，几乎买不到。

Those are incredibly popular and near impossible to get right now.

还有那种软软的黄油条和小动物玩具。

There's also a squishy stick of butter and little squishy animals.

你就想象成减压球，但更可爱。

Just think stress balls, but cuter.

克里斯汀说，从今年一月开始，软胶玩具的销量增长了279%。

Kristen says just since January this year, squishy toy sales have grown 279%.

为什么？

Why?

为什么这种软软的、黏黏的、解压的东西现在这么火？

Why are squishy sensory slimy things so big right now?

我觉得这跟人们——不只是孩子，大人也一样——在寻找能让自己感到希望、好玩、快乐的东西有关，同时也需要能让自己平静下来、缓解焦虑的东西。

I think that it has to do with the fact that people, not just kids, adults too, are looking for things that make them feel hopeful, playful, joyful, also things that calm them down, things that address their anxiety.

目前来看，这股热潮完全没有放缓的迹象，所以我非常看好它，尤其是进入今年圣诞季的时候。

Right now, it doesn't show any signs of slowing down, so I'm very bullish on this certainly going into the holiday season this year.

对我来说，这些装满胶状物的塑料袋子看起来都差不多，但对像朱朱这样的捏捏团子爱好者来说，可完全不一样。

To me, these plastic sacks of goo all look the same, but not to the squishy dumpling aficionados like Juju.

我们不提她的姓氏，因为她还是个孩子。

We're not using her last name because she's a kid.

正品底部会标有RMS字样。

The real ones on the bottom will have it'll say like RMS.

你可能看不太清楚，但就在那里。

You can't really see, but it's like there.

哦，我完全看到了。

Oh, I totally see it.

对。

Yeah.

大家最兴奋的那种捏捏团子，是RMS生产的。

The squishy dumplings people seem most excited about are made by RMS.

它的意思是‘真的很神奇的东西’。

It stands for really magical stuff.

现在，它是一家新兴的玩具公司，正在改变像美泰或孩之宝这样的大玩具公司的经营方式。

And right now, it's one of these up and coming toy companies that is kind of shaking up the way big toy makers like Mattel or Hasbro do business.

但扎克·法伯刚开始在他家乡英国工作时，情况并非如此。

But that wasn't the case back when Zach Farber first started working there in The UK where he's from.

从我的口音你也能听出来。

As you can tell from my accent.

你就是那个促成这一切的人。

You are the person who made this happen.

这挺酷的。

That's pretty cool.

对。

Yeah.

我的意思是，这绝对是我们值得骄傲的一件事，我们做到了，真的很棒。

I mean, that's definitely something that we can hang our hat on that we made this happen, which is really cool.

扎克是怎么做到的呢？

How did Zach make that happen?

病毒式传播的成功秘诀是什么？

What are the secrets to viral success?

扎克告诉我，一部分靠运气。

Zach told me part of it was luck.

另一部分是他改变玩具上市方式的一个关键转折，这个我们后面再聊。

Another part of it was a game changing shift in the way he gets toys to market that we'll come back to.

但一开始，只是他在过程中学到的一系列精明的商业经验。

But in the beginning, it was just a series of smart business lessons he picked up along the way.

第一，要做出爆款玩具，你不需要是什么疯狂的发明家或创意天才。

The first, to make a hit toy, you don't have to be some kind of wild inventor or creative genius.

你只需要能想办法把现有玩具稍作调整，让它变得流行起来。

You just have to be someone who can figure out how to tweak an existing toy in a way that makes it trendy.

扎克在玩具公司工作的二十年里，见过这个招数屡试不爽。

Zach has seen this trick work many times over his twenty years at his toy company.

他最初是在英国开叉车的，后来为RMS玩具设计包装。

He actually started out driving the forklift back in The UK, then he designed packaging for RMS toys.

我会设计一本贴纸书。

I would design a sticker book.

嗯哼。

Uh-huh.

或者是一个带有新潮图案的铅笔盒，可能画着美人鱼，也可能画着恐龙。

Or it would be a pencil case with a new cool design on, and maybe there's mermaids, maybe there's dinosaurs.

但后来他转行做玩具开发，他开发的第一个玩具就是抓住潮流做的一个简单改动。

But then he moved into toy development, and the first toy he developed was a simple tweak that seized on a trend.

那是2008年，英国有一档特别火的节目叫《超级保姆》。

It was 2008, and there was this super popular show in The UK called Supernanny.

孩子表现好的时候，她会发奖励。

She'd give out rewards when kids were good.

那档节目当时很火，所以我们就把它和产品结合起来了。

Well, that show was trending, so we put that trend onto that product.

扎克做了一本奖励贴纸书。

Zach created a reward sticker book.

大家都想要它。

And everybody wanted it.

就是这么简单的东西。

Just something so simple.

是不是需要拿到那个节目的授权什么的？

Was it like, did you have to get the IP or anything

是的，

It was

还是说只是……不。

the show or you just No.

不。

No.

我们没有叫它《超级保姆》。

We didn't call it Supernanny.

我们就叫它奖励表。

We just called it a reward chart.

哦，对于他们那家主要卖小玩具的小公司来说，这真是个爆款。

Oh, Tweak for their small company that mostly sells small inexpensive toys, it was a hit.

扎克说他们卖了一万本这种贴纸书。

Zach says they sold like 10,000 of these sticker books.

扎克下次想起Tweak模式真正奏效，已经是十年后了。

And the next time Zach remembers that Tweak model really working for them was a decade later.

2018年，RMS扩展到美国后，他们推出了自己的泡泡玩具变体。

In 2018, after RMS had expanded to The US, they came out with their own tweak on a pop it.

你知道那种泡泡玩具吧，就是那个硅胶托盘，上面有凸起，你烦躁时可以按下去，发出“啪”的一声，然后从另一面再按回来，前几年特别火。

You know the pop it, that silicone tray thing with bumps that when you're fidgety, you can push them in and they make a little pop sound like this, And then you can push them back from the other side, very viral a few years ago.

不过，RMS并没有发明泡泡玩具。

Now, RMS didn't invent the poppet.

他们那款叫Popper。

Theirs is called a popper.

这也是他们公司运作的一个关键环节。

And this is a key part of how their company works.

因为在中国，有一个叫义乌的制造业城市，那里非常热闹。

Because there is this place, this buzzing manufacturing city in China called Yiwu.

在那个城市里，有一个像是不尽头的玩具公司集市。

And in that city is this like endless bazaar for toy companies.

那里有成千上万的卖家，销售所谓的公开市场玩具。

There are thousands of sellers with what are called open market toys.

想象一下，你走在一条街上，左右两边都是桌子，街边小贩们都在努力向你推销这些发光玩具，或者用弹力球来吸引你的注意。

So imagine walking down that road, you've got tables left and right, and you've got all the street vendors trying to sell you these light toys that they're throwing in the air or bouncy balls that they're trying to get your attention with.

天哪。

Oh my goodness.

就像是一个活生生的广告，两边的人都在不停地向你推销玩具。

Like a living commercial of people on the sides just like plying you with toys.

是的。

Yeah.

所以，在那个市场里，很多这种小玩意儿——我们暂且这么叫吧——你都能找到。

So through that market, a lot of these like knickknacks, we'll call it for the purpose of this conversation, that's where you're gonna find them.

他就是在那里发现了一个弹跳玩具。

That was where he found a popper.

那是一个简单的硅胶方块，然后他说，听我说完。

This one was a simple silicone square, and he was like, hear me out.

如果我们给它加点潮流元素呢？

What if we do something trendy with it?

做成蝴蝶形状，再带上闪光。

Make it in the shape of a butterfly and glittery.

这次他说，他们卖出了几百万个。

And this time he says, they sold millions.

我管这叫小写字母的创新。

I call it innovation with a small I.

对。

Uh-huh.

不一定要成为下一个大热门。

It doesn't need to be the next big thing.

只需要做点什么，让情况稍微好转一点就行。

It just needs to do do something to turn the dial a little bit.

我问扎克，那个软乎乎的小饺子是不是就这么来的？

I asked Zach, is that how the squishy dumpling came about?

对。

Yeah.

是的。

It is.

就是这么回事。

Exactly what happened.

他有个同事在义乌那些长长的过道里看到了它。

One of his colleagues caught sight of it in those long aisles in Ewu.

基本上，这个东西跟那个啪啪圈差不多，如果你就这么卖，它也能卖得动，挺酷的，也还行。

Basically, this item similar to the popper, like if you just sold it as is, it's gonna sell and it's kinda cool and it's okay.

第一版，也就是最初的软糯团子，在2020年首次亮相。

This first version, the as is squishy dumpling, made its debut in 2020.

它没有彻底失败，但表现平平，在货架上无人问津，只卖出了大约十万个。

And it didn't flop, but it languished, lounged on the shelves, sold like a 100,000.

然后在软糯团子上市几年后的2023年，扎克抓住了一个大趋势。

Then a few years into squishy dumplings life in 2023, Zach picked up on a huge trend.

他观察了玩具市场的格局，心想，这还用说吗，人们真的很喜欢惊喜，或者用他的话说，神秘感。

He was looking around the toy landscape, and he was like, duh, people are really into surprises, or as he calls it, mystery.

我们开始调整业务，不再只想着怎么让它看起来很酷？

We started to adjust our business no longer, or how do we make it cool?

怎么让它变得时髦？

How do we make it trendy?

到这个时候，扎克已经是RMS美国分公司的CEO了。

By this time, Zach was CEO of RMS in The US.

这就是第二个重要的教训。

And this is the second big lesson.

他说他学到了怎么打造一款爆款玩具。

He says he learned about how to create a viral toy.

怎么让它变得流行呢？

How do you make it trendy?

加入惊喜元素。

You add surprise.

这个嘛，我们当时就觉得它装在一个很酷的篮子里。

This one, we just thought it comes in this really cool basket.

干嘛要告诉他们是什么颜色呢？

Why tell them what color?

就在那时候，我们把它变成了一个神秘产品。

And that's when we turned it to a mystery.

对。

Yeah.

他们给产品加了一点悬念。

They put a little suspense into it.

对很多人来说，比如13岁的朱朱，这种悬念感是关键。

And for many people, like 13 year old Juju, the suspense is key.

比如说，如果我直接给你一堆拆开包装的玩具，那还会一样有意思吗？

Like, if I just gave you a pile of them unboxed, would that matter?

嗯，我还是会开心，因为毕竟是一堆玩具，但我觉得拆开的过程和不知道会拿到什么，才是乐趣的一部分。

I mean, like, it's I'd still be happy because, like, it's, like, a bunch of toys, but, like, I feel like the opening part and, like, not knowing what you get is, like, part of the fun.

你觉得为什么会这样？

Why do you think that is?

嗯，我也不知道。

Because, like, I don't know.

我觉得如果它们直接展示出来是哪些，就没那么好玩了，因为那样你就可以直接挑你想要的，然后每次都拿一样的，就会很无聊，你懂吗？

I feel like if they just, like, displayed which ones it were, it wouldn't be as fun because then you just get to, like, pick which ones you want, and then it'd be kind of boring just, like, getting the same thing or you know?

但当你打开的时候，不知道里面是什么，就有机会拿到别的东西。

But, like, when you open it and you don't know what it is, there's, like, a chance that you might get something else.

就连朱朱的妈妈莱拉也明白这一点。

Even Juju's mom, Leila, gets it.

她小时候，最想要的就是那些交换卡片。

When she was a kid, the thing she absolutely had to have were these trading cards.

我收集过那些垃圾场小子卡片。

I collected those garbage pail kids.

哦，对。

Oh, yeah.

你知道，就是那种卡片。

You know, cards.

是的。

Yeah.

我不喜欢运动，所以没收集棒球卡。

I wasn't into sports, so I didn't collect baseball cards.

但我觉得这跟那种感觉一样——你不知道会抽到什么，老是抽到普通款，但你就想要那张稀有的卡。

But I feel like it's that same kind of thing where you don't know what you're gonna get, and you keep getting the same ordinary ones, but you're looking for that one rare card.

垃圾场小子卡片在八十年代可是个现象级的东西。

Garbage Pail Kids were a phenomenon back in the nineteen eighties.

这是对另一款爆款玩具——椰菜娃娃的恶搞，但却是最恶心、最政治不正确的版本。

A spoof on another viral toy, the Cabbage Patch Kid, but like the grossest and, yes, politically incorrectest version of them.

比如有‘鼻涕山姆’这种卡片，画的是一个抠鼻子的山姆大叔，还有‘胖胖莫德’，一个被糖果包装纸包围的巨大玩偶，这些还只是我觉得勉强能在节目里说的。

There were cards like Snooty Sam, which was a nose picking Uncle Sam, and Broad Maude, a very large doll surrounded by candy bar wrappers, and those are just the ones I feel quasi comfortable sharing on the air.

所有集换式卡片背后的心理机制就是：你不断用很便宜的价格买，希望抽到真正想要的那一张。

The psychology behind really all trading cards is you keep buying them at a really inexpensive price with the hope that you'll get the one you really want.

这些玩具和赌场的老虎机有很多相似之处。

And these toys share a lot with casino slot machines.

它们都在利用大脑的奖励机制，就像你在追逐某个特定的结果。

They're all playing with the brain's reward system, like you're chasing a specific outcome.

就差那么一点，就差那么一点。

You're so close, so close.

在心理学上，这叫做‘变比率强化’，你不知道奖励什么时候会来，这种不确定性让你一直坚持下去。

In psychology, it's called variable ratio reinforcement, where you don't know when the reward is coming and that uncertainty keeps you going.

对扎克的那个软乎乎的小笼包来说，神秘感推动了整个事情的发展。

For Zach's squishy dumpling, the mystery propelled things forward.

一年之内，他们的销售额翻了一倍多。

In one year, they more than doubled their sales.

然后扎克就想，你知道人们还喜欢什么吗？

And then Zach was like, you know what else people like?

这听起来可能有点反直觉，但人们其实喜欢难以得到的东西。

This may sound counterintuitive, but they like it when things are hard to get.

稀缺性会驱动人们的行为。

People are driven by scarcity.

扎克说，这是他的软糯小团子之旅揭示的第三个道理。

That is the third lesson Zach says his squishy dumpling journey made clear.

他和同事们想，如果我们推出不同系列的小团子会怎么样？

He and his colleagues were like, what if we release different series of these dumplings?

你仍然一次只买一个，但每个新系列的团子最终都会卖完。

You'd still buy just one at a time, but the dumplings in each new series would run out eventually.

我知道他们出过一个鲨鱼系列，全是蓝色的，然后那个稀有的款式是透明的，里面还有一只小鲨鱼在凝胶里。

And I know they came out with, like, a shark series where they're, like, all blue, and then the, like, rare one is kinda, like, clear with a little shark inside the gel.

哦，还有

Oh, And

我知道他们还出过一款青苹果味的。

I know they came out with a green apple scented one.

那如果我们每个系列里都放一个特别神秘的饺子呢？

And then what if we include one super special mystery dumpling in each series?

对。

Yeah.

所以还有一款银河系列的，里面的稀有款长这样之类的。

So there's like a galaxy one where the like rare looks like this and everything.

所以你可不是买六个就完事了。

So you don't just get six of these things and move on with your life.

你得一直买，直到集齐系列里的六个。

You have to keep buying dumplings until you get all six in the series.

要是想要那些超级特别的，那就继续买吧，接着买。

And if you want the super special ones, well, just keep going, keep buying.

然后还有一种全息系列的。

And then there's like a holographic series.

它们就像限量球鞋发售一样。

They're like sneaker drops.

所以如果你喜欢那种软糯的小团子，而某个平价店比如Five Below有限量发售，你肯定不想错过。

So if you're into squishy dumplings and there's a limited drop at say the budget store Five Below, you don't wanna have FOMO.

你不想落空。

You don't wanna miss out.

朱朱的妈妈说，这招对她女儿确实管用。

Juju's mom says it definitely worked on her daughter.

我下班回到家，她就会过来说，能带我去Five Below吗？

I'd get home from work, and she would be here and say, can you take me to Five Below?

我连外套都还没脱呢，你知道吗。

And I, like, hadn't even taken my jacket off yet, you know.

你爸妈总是愿意开车带你去买吗？

Are your parents always willing to drive you to get them?

也不是每次都行，但我总会想办法说服他们，如果他们说不去的话。

Like, not always, but, like, I'll, like, convince them because if they're like, no.

我真的不太想开车带他们去。

I don't really wanna drive them.

我就会说，好吧，现在正好有货。

I'll just be like, well, they have them just for right now.

万一以后再也买不到了呢？

Like, what if they're never here ever again?

她说话的时候，还带着那种期待的笑容看着妈妈。

While she's talking, she actually looks at her mom with this hopeful smile.

其实还挺容易的。

It's like, it's kinda easy.

头几次还说得过去，但跑了几趟之后，就觉得每次都要花五块钱。

It's reasonable for the first couple, but after a few different trips, was like, you know, this is like $5 every time.

然后就开始变成财务讨论了。

And then it starts turning into a financial discussion.

你看，这股热潮完全是因为他们用那个便宜的塑料玩意儿把你给套牢了。

Like, you know, the craze is only because they've hooked you on this cheap piece of plastic.

然后呢？

And yet?

我发现自己也有点兴奋起来了。

I kinda found myself getting excited too.

我也跟着陷进去了，因为她会到处找那些特别稀有的款式。

I fell because into she would be, you know, looking for these special rare ones.

所以有一天我下班开车回家，路过了一家Five Below商店。

So there was one day I was driving home from work and I passed a Five Below.

我当时想，

I was like,

就进去看看，

I'll just stop in and

顺便帮你妈妈瞧瞧。

check out your good mom.

看看他们有没有存货，有没有饺子卖。

If they have any if they have any dumplings in stock.

那可能是我最尴尬的时刻，有一天我下班回家路上停了三四个地方。

That's probably my most embarrassing moment, the one day that I stopped at three or four on my way home from work.

说这个应该觉得丢人。

I should be embarrassed to say that.

对。

Yeah.

扎克也这么觉得。

Zach agrees.

不丢人，因为这都是设计好的。

Not embarrassing because it's all by design.

追逐的刺激感让人兴奋。

The thrill of the chase is is exciting for people.

那是多巴胺的刺激。

It's a dopamine hit.

比如说，人们会觉得无聊。

Like, people get bored.

你得换点花样才行。

Like, you gotta do different things.

所以，我们是在迎合大家的注意力时长。

So, you know, we're playing into the attention span.

而让货架上保持恰到好处的玩具数量，不光是数学问题。

And keeping the store shelves stocked with the exact right number of toys isn't just math.

这里面涉及很多心理学。

There's a lot of psychology involved.

如果货架没货，人们找不到东西，就会觉得无聊。

If you don't have stock shelves, people get bored because they can't find it.

找不到就会觉得无聊。

So they get bored if they can't find it.

找不到就会觉得无聊。

They get bored if they can't find it.

那这个平衡点在哪里呢？

What's that happy medium ground?

平衡点就是不断推出限量版。

The happy medium ground is special release drops constantly.

一旦那个彩虹雪糕卖完了，就真的没了。

Now once that rainbow sherbet's gone, it's gone.

就是这样。

That's it.

抱歉。

Sorry.

这种人为制造的稀缺性可不是扎克发明的。

This kind of artificial scarcity is not a move Zach invented.

这种模式是从豆豆娃那里来的。

That model exists because of Beanie Babies.

他们绝对是先驱，百分之百。

They are the pioneers, a 100%.

是的。

Yes.

豆豆娃，就是那些小毛绒玩具。

Beanie Babies, those small stuffed animals.

豆豆娃火起来的时候，我正好在卖玩具。

I was selling toys when Beanie Babies came around.

消费者行为学家克里斯汀·麦克莱恩九十年代在波士顿一家玩具店工作，那时候人们开始疯狂迷恋豆豆娃。

Kristen McLean, the consumer zoologist, was working at a toy store in Boston in the nineties when people became obsessed with them.

店里会收到这些箱子，上面贴着封条写着‘此日期前不得打开’，那就是店里豆豆娃的发售日期。

We would get these boxes into the store, and they would have a seal on them that said do not open until this date, and that was the drop date for those Beanie Babies in the store.

人们会排队等着买。

And people lined up for them.

克里斯汀说，这正是人们痴迷于限量发售的开端。

And Kristen says this was the very beginning of people obsessively collecting limited drops.

限量版、特别发售，还有限时抢购。

Limited editions, special releases, you know, time boxed.

扎克正是从这些经验中获益，他的那些软糯小团子大受欢迎。

Zach was reaping the benefits of all these lessons with his squishy dumplings.

然后到了一个时刻，可以说是那个关键时刻，软糯小团子开始有了自己的生命力。

And then came a moment, kind of the moment, where the squishy dumpling took on a life of its own.

他和同事们正在办公室里，然后上了网。

He and his colleagues were in the office, and they went online.

我们当时都惊呆了，天哪。

We're like, oh my god.

有5亿次观看，全是人们为这些团子疯狂的内容。

There's like 500,000,000 views of these people going crazy over the dumplings.

他们喜欢拆箱的体验，或者找到闪粉款的那种惊喜，一下子就爆火了。

They love the unboxing experience or finding the glitter one, and it went nuts.

是普通人在自发推广我们的产品，因为他们真心喜欢，没人要求他们这么做。

It was regular people that were promoting our product without being asked to because they loved it.

所以，去年全年他们卖出了数百万个软糯小团子，而今年上半年，他说销量已经达到了去年的十倍。

So while last year's access, they've sold millions of squishy dumplings, he says so far in the first half of this year, they've sold 10 times that.