Why do milk tea scratch cards work when coffee ingredients stay simple?

New tea brands are using scratch cards, lottery tickets, and blind boxes to compete this summer. Suguo Fresh Fruit Tea promoted yellow-skinned fruit drinks with a scratch-for-real-gold offer, Heytea and Nayuki used puns plus tear-open cards and tickets, and Chagee targeted women with a lipstick blind box. The appeal is eliminating uncertainty.

The lottery format works because buyers hover between anticipation and anxiety before opening, and the surprise of winning outweighs the cost. Brands keep rotating limited fruit and packaging gimmicks to stand out as the restaurant sector struggles. For drinkers who prefer simpler coffee ingredients rather than gimmicks, focusing on flavor and quality remains a steadier path.

In the scorching summer, iced drinks are back in the consumer spotlight. To stand out in fierce competition, new tea beverage brands are constantly reinventing their marketing tactics—from early niche fruits and limited-edition collaborations to today's popular milk tea scratch cards, blind box draws, and even direct giveaways of gold, lottery tickets, and cars. Suguo Fresh Fruit Tea used its new yellow-skinned fruit product to promote "scratch for real gold," Heytea and Nayuki grabbed attention with puns plus tear-open cards and lottery tickets, while Chagee used a major-brand lipstick blind box to precisely target female customers. Behind these gimmicks is the thrill and sense of participation brought by "eliminating uncertainty." Of course, for those who just want to quietly enjoy a good cup of coffee or milk tea, returning to the product itself may be the lasting way forward. Front Street Coffee has always advocated focusing on flavor and quality.

As summer arrives, refreshing tea drinks once again take the consumer spotlight. With a huge number of new tea beverage brands, standing out requires marketing highlights. The restaurant industry as a whole is struggling, and the involution of new tea drinks is often discussed—from niche fruit ingredients to new packaging design, and to limited-edition products launched in collaboration with trendy brands.

Influenced by the broader environment, many people nowadays want to find a little luck in daily life and gain some emotional comfort, so new tea beverage brands have started playing milk tea scratch cards.

Scratch cards, lottery tickets, blind boxes, and similar lottery formats, combined with different carriers, have successfully captured consumers' attention. The reason lotteries can repeatedly attract people is the pleasure brought by "eliminating uncertainty." Before opening, consumers don't know whether they will win, hovering between anticipation and anxiety. The tension and the surprise after winning are irresistible—this is exactly the "gambling" psychology at work.

Following emblic leafflower fruit, the "yellow-skinned fruit craze" is rising in the new tea beverage circle, with brands racing to launch yellow-skinned fruit drinks. To stand out among them, marketing must be outstanding. Suguo Fresh Fruit Tea launched "Juicy Sweet Yellow-Skinned Fruit" and "Juicy Salty Yellow-Skinned Fruit," and simultaneously introduced the "Drink Yellow-Skinned Fruit, Scratch for Real Gold" campaign: buy any yellow-skinned fruit drink and get a scratch card.

One day before the campaign started, Suguo Fresh Fruit Tea posted photos of packaged gold on Xiaohongshu, with the caption: "Chinese people don't lie to Chinese people, the gold prizes have all been bought back."

Of course, actually scratching out gold is a low-probability event. In addition to the grand gold prize, the brand also set up consolation prizes such as buy-one-get-one-free and half price for the second cup.

Leading new tea beverage brands Heytea and Nayuki are also trying "scratch card" marketing. Apricot, as a seasonal fruit, is not only nutritious but also has a name that puns with "luck," carrying a beautiful meaning and giving tea beverage brands more room for launch marketing.

Heytea launched "Juicy Apricot Luck Peach," where "apricot luck" puns with "lucky," and gives away an ancient-style tear-open card with each cup, with a chance to tear out "another cup." Nayuki launched "Domineering Little Certain Apricot," where "little certain apricot" puns with "little certain happiness," and buying the new product gives a China Welfare Lottery ticket.

Nayuki's gimmick is quite attractive, hitting young people's mentality of "get rich soon" and "what if I win?" Even if they don't win, they can treat it as "pretty fun, participation is what matters," or comfort themselves with "at least I can still drink milk tea."

In addition, some tea beverage brands have launched blind box activities for different consumer groups. For example, Chagee's milk tea blind box offers a chance to draw major-brand lipsticks such as Chanel, Hermès, and YSL, precisely capturing female consumers who love cosmetics.

However, giving away gold, lottery tickets, lipsticks, another cup, and so on are still not the most exaggerated moves—some brands even go all out and give away cars. A certain tea beverage brand launched the "Drink Tea to the Rescue, Draw a Wuling" campaign, and related topics have exceeded one million views on Douyin.

The involution of new-style tea drinks has a long history: product prices have dropped, real ingredients are emphasized, and now they spare no cost on lottery giveaways of gold and cars. What unexpected tricks can new tea drinks come up with next?

Image source: Xiaohongshu, internet

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The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.