Why Do Coffee Enthusiasts Track Brand Collaborations?

Luckin Coffee announced on September 23 a collaboration with JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean, with themed events rolling out across nationwide stores in October. The brand first asked social media users who they wanted Luckin to work with, then revealed the manga partner. Luckin has run crossovers before, including Coconut Palm and EDG, which drew wide discussion.

For the coffee enthusiast, co-branding has become a standard tactic in the coffee and tea sector. Manner paired with Helena Rubinstein and LV, Heytea linked with A Dream of Splendor, and Nayuki worked with Love Between Fairy and Devil. Such tie-ups help brands break fixed impressions and reach complementary customer bases, which is why industry followers keep tracking each announcement.

Luckin Coffee officially announced on September 23 a collaboration with *JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean* for October, with themed events rolling out across its nationwide stores. This is not Luckin's first crossover; previous tie-ups with Coconut Palm and EDG also sparked heated discussion. Looking at the coffee and tea beverage sector, Manner's partnerships with Helena Rubinstein and LV, Heytea's link-up with *A Dream of Splendor*, and Nayuki's collaboration with *Love Between Fairy and Devil* all show that brand co-branding has become an important tactic for breaking away from fixed impressions and achieving customer-base complementarity. This article rounds up several recent typical cases and includes Front Street Coffee's professional exchange channels for coffee enthusiasts who want to learn more about industry trends.

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On September 23, Luckin Coffee announced through official channels that it would launch a major collaboration with *JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean* in October, with events covering major stores nationwide.

Some time earlier, Luckin had started an interactive topic on social platforms: "Come on, tell us—who do you want Luckin to collaborate with!?" Clearly, in order to settle on its next partner, Luckin proactively reached deep into the consumer community and widely collected netizens' opinions.

Now the official answer has finally been revealed: it has chosen to collaborate with *JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean*. As JOJO is a long-running manga work, could Luckin's collaboration with it this time be aimed at attracting a group of manga fans? This news is enough to excite many JoJo fans! In fact, Luckin's cross-industry collaborations are already nothing new.

On April 11 this year, Coconut Palm and Luckin simultaneously announced that the two sides would jointly launch a collaborative product, "Coconut Cloud Latte," which was also the first cross-industry collaboration for Coconut Palm coconut juice since it came onto the market 34 years ago. It is said that "Coconut Cloud Latte" uses "cyclic molecular encapsulation technology," replacing traditional milk cap with coconut milk; after whipping, it forms a cloud-like, rich and delicate milk foam, thereby ensuring a dense mouthfeel.

The two sides also jointly launched 2 limited-edition paper bags and 1 cup sleeve, fully maxing out the presentation of the year's new product. Speaking of Coconut Palm, most people's impression of it may still remain at its "debris flow"-style packaging aesthetic. Coconut Palm coconut juice's packaging style has been jokingly called by many netizens "so tacky it becomes trendy," but the fact is that this product sold 660,000 cups on its first day online.

Immediately after, on April 25, Luckin Coffee announced a brand-new collaboration with EDG. The S11 champion players of EDG Esports Club served as Luckin recommendation officers, and consumers who bought Coconut Ice Extract could obtain an EDG electronic medal. In addition, Luckin's EDG limited-edition cup sleeves had already been rolled out in stores in Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Wuhan, Chengdu, Chongqing and other cities.

The brand also opened a luckin × EDG Shanghai theme store, which featured themed light signs and a game experience area, and was arranged with the EDG logo, super hype bullet comments, a wall of the team's historical honors, and an infinite fantasy check-in area.

When it comes to collaborations, this is no longer limited to the beverage industry. All kinds of brands are actively participating, and co-branding has become an important lever for brands to shape differentiation and break through established perceptions. Among them are no shortage of cases that leave a deep impression on consumers and bring significant benefits to both partners.

Manner is also one of those that generated enthusiastic pursuit because of a collaboration. As a rising star in the coffee world, Manner announced this summer a new product jointly launched with high-end skincare brand HR Helena Rubinstein—a matcha ice cream-flavored latte called "A Cup of Youth Returned"—and its popularity even caused the server to crash at one point. Not only that, not long ago Manner also collaborated with LV, and the two sides jointly designed two "LV runway custom" coffee cups.

Looking next at the tea beverage circle, in June this year Heytea collaborated with the hit drama *A Dream of Splendor*, launching two custom co-branded tea drinks nationwide—Menghua Chaxi · Diancha and Perilla · Pink Peach Drink, priced at 19 yuan and 15 yuan respectively, taking a low-price route.

In addition, it also launched multiple activities such as co-branded pop-ups, creative merchandise and theme stores, bringing a full-scale collaborative experience from products to stores. The co-branded new products sold 300,000 cups on the first day they went online, also becoming a new hot topic outside the drama.

Just now, Nayuki's Tea joined hands with the hit drama *Love Between Fairy and Devil* to launch a co-branded new product, "Domineering Oriental Pomegranate," under the theme "Canglan Pomegranate Longing." It is understood that this co-branded product exceeded 10,000 cups in sales within 8 minutes of going on sale, setting an industry record, and many Nayuki stores saw orders explode. The Weibo topic "Love Between Fairy and Devil has even prepared the wedding tea" directly rushed onto the Weibo hot search list.

It is understood that around the theme "Canglan Pomegranate Longing," Nayuki also launched a series of limited-edition merchandise, using cup sleeves, tote bags, phone stands, stickers and other carriers to recreate the beautiful scenes in the drama such as Shuiyuntian, Siming Hall and Yunmeng Ze. The cup sleeve borrows the shape of the "life record leaf" in the drama and embeds the image of the male and female leads in Shuiyuntian. "Combined with the plot of the drama, you'll feel this merchandise is very story-rich and will want to collect it." At the same time, Nayuki's Tea set up one "Canglan Pomegranate Longing" theme store in each of five cities—Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hangzhou. Customers who participate in the "secret code" interaction at the theme stores have a chance to receive corresponding benefits.

As communication channels become increasingly widespread and market competition becomes fiercer, the cost of acquiring users and the cost of service for a single merchant continue to rise, so choosing to cooperate with multiple brands to share costs has also become a trend. Co-branded products basically rely on each side's respective advantages to form complementarity in consumer groups.

This is already nothing new. Long ago there were already commercial activities involving brand collaborations. Many partner brands, because of their own fame, trigger frenzied buying on the release date, but truly memorable co-branded series are few and far between.

Image source: Internet

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