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From Stock Exchange to Trade Show Floor: DTC World Brings Custom Plush and Collectibles to B2B Events
SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE, November 5, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — The Singapore-headquartered creative merchandising agency created custom plush and collectible series in 2026 for Bursa Malaysia, Oil & Gas Asia and Zebra Technologies, bringing blind box mechanics to finance, energy and retail technology.
Creative merchandising agency DTC World Corporation has produced more than 700,000 custom plush toys for over 100 brands in the past two years alone. Across that work, it reports a clear shift: business-to-business organisations are moving away from forgettable corporate event giveaways and towards plushies and blind box collectibles that people keep, complete and share.
In 2026 alone, DTC World created collectible series for a stock exchange, an energy industry exhibition and a retail technology brand. None of them sell toys. All three turned their own world into characters people wanted to collect, and two added the consumer mechanics behind the blind box boom: a mystery in every box and a secret character worth talking about.
The shift
Blind boxes are no longer a niche hobby in Malaysia. Monash University marketing lecturer Dr Racheal Louis Vincent told The Star that the main buyers are adults aged 20 to 40, and that mystery-box mechanics are already spreading from toys into retail, games and other industries.
DTC World is seeing the same move in corporate briefs. Instead of a branded pen or a standard keychain, more organisations now ask for a set of characters with a story: one that visitors will hang on a bag, keep on a desk and come back to complete.
Plush leads the change. A 10 to 14 cm plushie bag charm travels with its owner every day, so the brand is seen long after the event, unlike a pen left in a drawer.
Three examples from 2026
Bursa Malaysia: the capital market as characters. For its 50th anniversary, Bursa Malaysia created a six-figurine collection that turned sectors of the capital market, from Utilities and Industrial Products & Services to Initial Public Offerings and Consumer Products & Services, into characters. Visitors redeemed the figurines at the InvestSmart® x Bursa Marketplace Fair 2026, the first joint investor fair of the Securities Commission Malaysia and Bursa Malaysia. DTC World developed Bursa Malaysia’s sector ideas into character designs and produced the series.
Oil & Gas Asia: the people behind the energy industry. At its 22nd edition in Kuala Lumpur, which drew around 2,000 exhibiting brands, Oil & Gas Asia (OGA) launched Geng OGA: The OGs, its first-ever blind box collection. “Six personalities. Six stories.” The series celebrates the leaders, problem-solvers and explorers of the energy industry, with five figurines and a Secret OG that comes only with the full set. DTC World produced the figurines and a plush keychain for the series, which OGA has continued to sell online after the show.
Zebra Technologies: the product line, made collectible. At NRF 2026: Retail’s Big Show Asia Pacific in Singapore, Zebra Technologies gave booth visitors custom plush keychains in blind boxes: zebras each holding a miniature of a device on show, from the ET401 tablet and TC22R RFID reader to the FS40 scanner and ZQ600 Plus printer. A secret fifth zebra held an Elo touchscreen. The giveaway did more than carry a logo: it put the product range into visitors’ hands.
Why characters get kept
“There is a lot of plush and merchandise in the market now, so a giveaway on its own guarantees nothing,” said Jason Cheng, Managing Director of DTC World. “Many briefs now start from an AI-generated image, and those designs often look like every other giveaway. Consumers are sophisticated; they can tell. The pieces people keep are the ones they relate to, with a story behind them and finishing they can feel.”
“A custom character is closer to R&D than to printing a logo,” he added. “It usually takes two to four sample rounds to get the shape, the colours and the expression right. That is why we ask brands to plan around three months ahead of their event.”
Advice for brands planning 2027 events
Drawing on its 2026 projects, DTC World suggests four steps:
Start from your own world. Bursa Malaysia used its market sectors, OGA its industry’s personalities and Zebra Technologies its own devices. A character that only your brand could have is more likely to be kept.
Design a set, not a single item. A series with a secret design gives people a reason to come back and to talk about it.
Share the budget early. Complexity drives cost, so a clear budget lets the design be shaped to fit it, for example printed details instead of sewn ones.
Allow about three months. Design, sampling, production and delivery take 2.5 to 3.5 months for most custom collectibles. [Link to the custom plush buyer’s guide]
About DTC World
DTC World Corporation is a Singapore-headquartered creative merchandising agency operating across Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia and China, serving over 900 brand clients. Founded in 2001, it creates custom plush, collectibles, gift-with-purchase campaigns, licensed character merchandise and event merchandise. The company holds EcoVadis Platinum certification (top 1% globally) alongside ISO14001, SMETA and Low Carbon SG certification, and was recognised in Singapore Parliament in February 2023 for its sustainability leadership. dtcworld.com
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