$1 Million ARR in First Month: Launching The Yaoi Box, A Fan-Favorite Subscription Box
Company
Founded five years ago, The Otaku Box is the world’s leading anime subscription box service. With a community of over 55,000 members, it offers unique and exclusive anime merchandise, including scale figures and t-shirts, earning over 1,500 five-star reviews on Trustpilot and BBB.org.
Situation
When Rafael, Founder & CEO of Zendog Labs, became the fractional Chief Marketing Officer at The Otaku Box, the company was facing stagnant revenue growth. To revitalize the business, we launched our first-ever secondary line of subscription boxes: The Yaoi Box. This initiative focused on creating a new product specifically for the yaoi market.
The launch required a tightly knit strategy that leveraged the company’s existing technology infrastructure, production capabilities in China, and assets acquired from Yaoi Crate, a competitive subscription box we took over prior to the launch. Given the distinct differences between the yaoi audience and the established customer base of The Waifu Box, it was crucial to deeply understand the market to develop a successful product offering.
Actions
Market Research and Product Design: Conducted extensive research on the yaoi market and audience to develop a targeted go-to-market strategy. This included defining the product design, setting the initial price, and creating branding assets such as the name, logo, and colors.
Go-to-Market Strategy: Addressed key questions to shape the strategy: 1) Who is the target audience? 2) How will they be reached? 3) What will be communicated? This framework guided the approach to targeting, channels, and messaging.
Project Planning and Execution: Developed a comprehensive project plan for the 20-member team, assigning tasks including website development, ad creation, influencer partnerships, social media management, blog content creation, and forum setup. Rafael personally set up all email and SMS automations in Ortto, handling the copywriting as well.
Launch and Post-Launch Activities: Designed a launch plan for rapid execution, covering pre-launch activities, launch day operations, and ongoing post-launch efforts to ensure a dynamic and responsive process.
Results
Pre-Launch Success: Secured 1,000 pre-orders, generating $708,000 in annual recurring revenue on launch day.
Strong Market Entry: Achieved substantial volume in the first month, complementing The Waifu Box, which has around 9,000 active subscribers.
Ongoing Growth: Refined advertising, social media, influencer, and SEO strategies post-launch, establishing The Yaoi Box as a significant new revenue stream for the company.
Context
Capabilities: Go-to-market strategy, launch strategy, email and SMS marketing, social media strategy, search engine optimization, mergers & acquisitions, product design, pricing strategy, website development, checkout design, conversion rate optimization
Technologies: Shopify, SEMrush, Ahrefs, Meta Ads, TikTok Ads, Pinterest Ads, Twitter Ads, Ortto, Linkgraph
Regions: North America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East
Industries: E-commerce, Subscription Box, Anime, Manga
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