Digital marketing has radically transformed how collectible brands connect with fans, build anticipation, and drive sales. What once relied on in-store releases, collector magazines, or convention appearances now lives in the dynamic, fast-paced world of social media, influencer endorsements, digital campaigns, and real-time audience engagement.
Today’s collector is plugged in, social media-savvy, and eager to participate in brand narratives online. This means that marketing is no longer a monologue—it’s a conversation, a collaboration, and sometimes even a co-creation. Brands like Funko and LEGO have mastered this transformation, turning product launches into online spectacles, fan communities into media channels, and individual fans into brand evangelists. By leveraging digital tools strategically, they’ve not only kept pace with shifting attention spans but helped shape a new digital marketing paradigm for the collectible economy.
This op-ed explores how the strategic use of social media, influencer partnerships, and immersive digital content fuels collectible mania—and builds long-term cultural relevance.
Funko: Turning Product Drops into Viral Events
Funko, the company behind the wildly popular Pop! Vinyl figures, has become synonymous with the idea of collectibles that live at the intersection of nostalgia and digital fandom. What could have remained a niche toy brand exploded into the mainstream largely due to one thing: brilliant digital marketing.
Where legacy toy brands once relied on toy aisle placement, Funko built its empire through memes, Instagram reels, Reddit leaks, and YouTube unboxings.
Influencer Collaborations Amplify Reach
In the social media age, trust is increasingly built peer-to-peer. That’s why Funko partners with influencers across platforms—particularly on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok—to unbox new figures, showcase rare finds, and review upcoming collections. These collaborations generate an organic sense of excitement that advertising alone cannot replicate.
One standout example: YouTuber Top Pops, who boasts hundreds of thousands of subscribers, regularly shares Funko haul videos, early unboxings, and convention exclusives. His videos consistently get tens of thousands of views, amplifying Funko’s reach without the brand paying for traditional ads.
It’s a win-win. Influencers receive free products and exclusive content, while Funko reaches tightly knit communities of collectors who trust these creators more than any banner ad or press release.
Hashtag Campaigns and User-Generated Content
Few brands encourage fan participation as effectively as Funko. By promoting hashtags like #FunkoPop, #FunkoFam, and #PopOfTheDay, the company taps into thousands of daily posts from collectors showcasing shelves, customs, dioramas, and unboxing moments.
This user-generated content not only builds visibility but validates collectors’ enthusiasm—acknowledging that owning a figure isn’t just about possession; it’s about identity.
Funko also leans into the virality of its “chase” variants—rare versions of a Pop! with altered colors or features. These items fuel online discussions, trading, and sometimes friendly controversy, giving the brand organic exposure from scarcity alone.
Virtual Cons: Pandemic Pivot to Digital-First Hype
When COVID-19 disrupted physical conventions, Funko pivoted quickly to “Virtual Funko Cons.” These digital events, complete with livestreams, Q&As, and digital lotteries, brought Comic-Con-style drops to everyone’s devices. The company livestreamed on YouTube, announced exclusives in real time, and collaborated with retailers for seamless drops online. Rather than suffer from the absence of in-person engagement, Funko arguably gained more global exposure—and control—by taking its most prized marketing moments online.
LEGO: Digital Storytelling and Gamification
Unlike many collectible brands, LEGO operates in a dual identity: both as a children’s toy and an adult collector’s item. Its success in marketing to both groups relies heavily on digital content that invites storytelling, creativity, and personalization.
Over the last decade, LEGO has increasingly leaned into digital-first marketing to maintain its cultural cachet and relevance.
Immersive Online Content
On platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and now TikTok, LEGO shares not just product photos but stories—narratives of designers explaining their process, behind-the-scenes videos of prototype builds, and even mini animated series tied to new launches.
For example, the LEGO Marvel and LEGO Star Wars YouTube channels feature short films using minifigs to tell original stories. These aren’t mere ads—they’re engaging content pieces that happen to feature sets viewers can buy, blurring the line between media and marketing.
This content marketing approach elevates LEGO from “toy” to “creative experience”—an essential distinction when targeting adult fans, or AFOLs (Adult Fans of LEGO).
LEGO Ideas: Gamifying Creativity
The LEGO Ideas platform is one of the most effective community engagement tools in the collectibles space. It allows fans to submit their own set concepts, which, if voted on by 10,000+ users, become candidates for official production.
The brilliance here lies in gamifying the product pipeline. Fans aren’t just buying sets—they’re pitching them, campaigning for them, and waiting months to see if they make the cut. Once a fan-designed set is approved, the marketing basically writes itself. The original designer is spotlighted. Fans who voted feel ownership. The whole community rallies around a co-created product.
Notable releases from LEGO Ideas include the Seinfeld apartment set, NASA’s Apollo Saturn V, and The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine. Each originated as a fan concept and evolved into a global best-seller, promoted with minimal paid media and maximum fanfare.
Community Shoutouts and UGC Spotlights
LEGO’s Instagram regularly highlights user builds and fan submissions, reinforcing the idea that this is a participatory brand. Whether it’s a six-year-old building a dinosaur park or a 40-year-old AFOL constructing a cityscape with 10,000 bricks, LEGO celebrates every level of fandom.
This fan-centric marketing creates an emotional halo effect—collectors feel seen and celebrated, which increases their lifetime value to the brand.
Real-Time Engagement and Data-Driven Optimization
Funko and LEGO don’t just broadcast—they listen. Both brands use real-time analytics and social listening tools to understand what fans are saying, what’s trending, and how campaigns are performing. If a new LEGO set gets criticized for being too simplistic, future designs adjust accordingly. If a Funko drop sells out too fast and causes backlash, the brand engages directly to explain inventory limits and reassure fans.
This data-responsive communication style allows for agile, fan-friendly marketing—something many legacy brands still struggle to implement.
From Collectors to Creators: The Rise of the Co-Creative Brand
One shared characteristic between LEGO and Funko is the empowerment of fans as co-creators. In today’s digital world, the best marketing often comes from customers themselves. Fan art, reviews, custom mods, and even brickfilm animations (short stop-motion LEGO films) act as unpaid, authentic advertising. Brands that embrace this content—by resharing, crediting, and celebrating it—create an inclusive ecosystem where fans feel they contribute to the brand’s story.
This isn’t just marketing; it’s community-building at scale.
As the collectibles industry grows more competitive—and increasingly digital—brands like Funko and LEGO offer a roadmap for success rooted in authenticity, agility, and co-creation.
By mastering collectible digital marketing through influencer partnerships, user-generated content, storytelling, and fan collaboration, these brands have done more than sell products. They’ve built cultures. They’ve turned drop dates into holidays. They’ve turned followers into fans—and fans into family. In the coming years, the brands that succeed won’t be the ones with the flashiest ads, but the ones that listen, respond, and invite their fans to help write the next chapter.
The collectible craze isn’t fading—it’s evolving. And digital marketing isn’t just how brands communicate—it’s how they create worlds.
