This summer, Chinese social media platform Rednote launched a new offline event IP called RED LAND. As the first “pain island” (痛岛), Rednote took over the entire Fuxingdao Island in Shanghai, an area of 80,000 square metres and created an immersive comic con experience over three days. “Pain” (痛) comes from the Japanese “ita”, meaning “cringe”, but now refers to decorating items or spaces with anime, comics, gaming or light novel (ACGN) themes.
The island was full to the brim with high-profile exhibitors, including Pokémon, Aniplex and Toei, as well as big names in gaming such as the highly anticipated Phantom Blade Zero, Sultan’s Game, Cyberpunk 2077 and Ubisoft. It also featured large-scale installations for visitors’ “check-in” (打卡) needs, along with community activities and live performances for participants.
- #痛岛REDLAND登岛第二日: Second day on the pain island REDLAND: 10.87 million views on Rednote, ranking number 1 on the Hot Topic list
- #全球首个痛岛就在上海 First “pain island” in the world is in Shanghai: 21.79 million views on Weibo, ranking number 30 on the Hot Search list
Some commentators noted that the scale makes RED LAND one of the largest ACGN conferences in China, alongside Bilibili World and ChinaJoy. Many feel that with Rednote’s recent brand shift towards “interest” and hobbies as well as community building, the platform is now on a collision course with Bilibili. In fact, Rednote explained that the fastest growing categories on the platform, in terms of new posts, are “erciyuan” (二次元, lit. two-dimensional, usually refers to anime and manga) and gaming, which grew 175% and 168% year-on-year, respectively, over the past year. As some pundits pointed out, Rednote had already put up a booth at last year’s ChinaJoy, so this ambition has been a long time coming.
Need to boost your China strategy? Dao Pro delivers bespoke insights on marketing, innovation, and digital trends, direct from Chinese sources. Find out more from our Dao Strategy Team here.
