What the Chicecream collaborations reveal about the coffee heart of the market

More than 600 coffee shops have run pop-up collaborations with Chicecream this year, using its ice cream flavors in creative drinks. The tie-ups followed the brand's pricing controversy, which kept it in the spotlight for about half a month and pushed its name into wider public recognition, making it an attractive traffic partner.

The collaborations work both ways: coffee shops borrow attention, while Chicecream rebuilds fame after criticism over ice cream prices. Guochao culture gives the pairing extra appeal among younger consumers. The open question is conversion, since collaboration heat fades quickly and repeat purchases depend on what the shop serves afterward.

Zhong Xue Gao was thrust into the spotlight over its high-priced ice cream, yet it gained unprecedented attention amid the controversy. This year, more than 600 coffee shops raced to collaborate with it on pop-up events, using different flavors of its ice cream to craft creative coffee drinks. Behind this collaboration craze lies both brands' pursuit of traffic and a reflection of the weight of guochao culture in consumers' hearts. However, the heat brought by collaborations is ultimately short-lived; how coffee shops can convert traffic into long-term repeat purchases is the question more worthy of deep thought. This article will start with Zhong Xue Gao's public opinion storm and analyze the logic and hidden concerns behind the coffee collaboration phenomenon.

When it comes to Zhong Xue Gao, everyone should be familiar with it by now. A while ago, due to the lack of price transparency in the ice cream industry, this brand dominated the trending lists on major social platforms for nearly half a month, and many netizens raised similar questions about its products.

Since its founding, Zhong Xue Gao has firmly bound its products to a "luxury" image, and selling at high prices is no longer news. In addition, its pricing is several times higher than ordinary ice cream, and its flavors are quite unusual. It is precisely these highly discussion-worthy settings that have allowed Zhong Xue Gao to successfully break out of its niche again and again.

The reason it was suddenly pushed onto the trending lists earlier lies in the frequent discussions triggered by ice cream prices, and as a typical representative of high pricing, Zhong Xue Gao naturally became the target of public criticism. Although criticism poured in from all sides, the name Zhong Xue Gao was also firmly imprinted in the public's mind.

Some financial media analysis pointed out that after this round of criticism and the fermentation of the roasted ice cream imitation trend, Zhong Xue Gao's brand value and fame would both rise significantly. Originally, many consumers did not pay much attention to the brand, but now at the sight of ice cream or high-priced products, they reflexively think of Zhong Xue Gao, and the brand has thus become a veritable king of traffic.

In the past few days, many netizens have noticed that numerous coffee shops and Zhong Xue Gao have jointly launched pop-up events, using the brand's different flavors of ice cream to make all kinds of creative coffee. And this is not the first time Zhong Xue Gao has collaborated with coffee shops.

As early as last year, Zhong Xue Gao had already carried out similar pop-up collaborations with coffee shops in Shanghai, Guangzhou, and many other cities, but at that time the number of participating coffee shops was limited, only more than 200. And this year, after Zhong Xue Gao became a hot topic, the number of coffee shops joining increased nearly threefold, with as many as 600 coffee shops scrambling to collaborate with Zhong Xue Gao.

From this, it can be seen that although the brand and pricing have been questioned, at the marketing level it has indeed "won." Nowadays, whether in the ice cream industry or the coffee industry, how to stand out from the vast market has become a difficult problem that many brands ponder every day.

The restless atmosphere of the internet age has instead created breakout opportunities for many domestic brands. Although criticized, it is still traffic. If these accidental opportunities can be used well, a wave of reverse marketing can be created, and consumers will continue to pay attention and keep trying out of curiosity.

This time, many coffee shops chose to collaborate with Zhong Xue Gao, on the one hand for traffic, and on the other because Zhong Xue Gao's unique tile-shaped design and rich Chinese flavors can create cup after cup of creative coffee with Chinese style and Chinese taste.

At present, "guochao" and "local" culture have already secured a place in consumers' minds. Joining hands with local brands to create guochao-style products is the fastest way to resonate with consumers and also the fastest way to catch their attention.

However, the traffic brought by collaborations is only temporary. If coffee shop brands want long-term development, they ultimately cannot do without professionalism. How to use the traffic brought by collaborations to increase repeat purchase rates is the question coffee shops most need to think about.

Image source: Internet

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