What does this tea and TV tie-up add to coffee online news?

Heytea has announced a co-branding collaboration with the TV drama "Empresses in the Palace," launching two drinks: "Zhenguo·Big Orange Paints Pear" fruit tea and "Zhennai·Snow Brewed with Emerald" milk tea, both priced at 18 yuan. It is the drama's first tie-up with a new tea beverage brand and Heytea's latest IP collaboration after "A Dream of Splendor" and Genshin Impact.

Heytea's earlier crossovers moved quickly: the "Menghua Chaxi·Diancha" drink sold nearly 300,000 cups on launch day, and a Genshin Impact co-branded juice tea sold out its first batch within 59 minutes. The pattern matters for coffee online news because tea chains keep borrowing coffee's playbook of limited drops, licensed merchandise and themed stores to hold attention.

Heytea has made another move, officially announcing a co-branding collaboration with the nationally beloved TV drama "Empresses in the Palace," launching two new products: "Zhenguo·Big Orange Paints Pear" fruit tea and "Zhennai·Snow Brewed with Emerald" milk tea, both priced at 18 yuan. This is the first time "Empresses in the Palace" has crossed over into a co-branding partnership with a new tea beverage brand, and it is also Heytea's latest IP collaboration attempt following "A Dream of Splendor" and "Genshin Impact." From "Menghua Chaxi·Diancha" selling nearly 300,000 cups on its launch day, to the Genshin Impact co-branded fruit juice tea selling out its first batch within 59 minutes, Heytea's cross-industry collaborations have become increasingly frequent and remarkably effective. This collaboration not only enriches the drama's connotations but also provides a new direction for exploring cultural experiences in the new tea beverage industry. Follow Coffee Workshop to learn more about specialty coffee and beverage industry trends. Front Street Coffee also continues to bring you professional coffee knowledge exchange.

Professional coffee knowledge exchange. For more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style).

For more specialty coffee beans, please add private WeChat Front Street Coffee, WeChat ID: qjcoffeex

Heytea has once again become a topic of focus. Recently, the brand announced through its official Weibo and WeChat public account a limited-edition product line in collaboration with the classic drama "Empresses in the Palace," which has now been launched in stores. The two new products are "Zhenguo·Big Orange Paints Pear" fruit tea and "Zhennai·Snow Brewed with Emerald" milk tea.

From the ordering mini-program, both drinks are priced at 18 yuan, continuing Heytea's "real quality, not expensive" approach. Purchasing one cup of the new product comes with co-branded merchandise, and delivery fees are waived on Mondays. Combined with themed store decorations and a series of other collaborative actions, it has successfully attracted considerable consumer attention.

As a nationally beloved TV drama that audiences rewatch repeatedly, "Empresses in the Palace" has remained popular for over a decade thanks to its solid plot, superb acting, and deep Chinese cultural heritage. Whether through fan creations or brand tie-ins, it consistently generates substantial traffic. In the past two years, the wave of fan-created content inspired by the drama across major platforms has extended into everyday scenarios such as interpersonal relationships and workplace situations, spawning a large number of internet memes.

It is reported that this is the first time "Empresses in the Palace" has crossed over into a co-branding collaboration with a new tea beverage brand. Perhaps due to the strong alignment between both parties in terms of Chinese cultural elements, Heytea's collaboration not only continues to enrich the drama's connotations but also injects new cultural experiences into the cross-industry ventures of new tea beverage brands.

On October 21, Heytea's official Weibo posted a message saying "Off work, stop watching (pats shoulder)," with an image of employees watching "Empresses in the Palace," holding a never-before-seen new product with ancient-style stickers on the cup. From Heytea's interactions with netizens in the comments section, many had already guessed that the brand was about to make a new move.

Therefore, before the launch, although the official announcement had not yet been made, many people had already "heard" about it. As early as two days prior, the collaboration news was spreading like wildfire on social platforms, as if afraid someone might still not know about the "Empresses in the Palace" collaboration. Now, it has finally officially arrived.

This is not Heytea's first collaboration with a TV drama. On the last day of June this year, Heytea took the lead in launching co-branded products with the hit drama "A Dream of Splendor" nationwide — Menghua Chaxi·Diancha and Perilla·Pink Peach Drink, also following a low-price approach, priced at 19 yuan and 15 yuan respectively.

Nearly 300,000 cups were sold on the launch day. Due to the overwhelming number of orders, the official mini-program crashed multiple times, and some stores closed early after running out of ingredients. This collaboration once surged to fourth place on the trending topics list, marking Heytea's and even the new tea beverage industry's first cross-industry collaboration with a hit film and television IP, presenting a very rich array of creative approaches.

In addition to TV dramas, in September this year Heytea also collaborated with "Genshin Impact," the hottest game of 2021, to launch co-branded limited-edition drinks. The announcement immediately sparked heated discussion, topping Weibo's recommendations on the day. Two co-branded products were launched: "Ayato·Water Shadow Longan Coconut" and "Ayaka·Frost Longan Coconut."

At the same time, Heytea also released themed packaging for co-branded bottled fruit juice tea as an online activity, and player enthusiasm was extremely high. At 12:00 on September 5, the Heytea x Genshin Impact co-branded fruit juice tea officially went on sale, and by 12:59 the first batch of inventory had already sold out. The co-branded product was removed from Heytea's official platform Heytea Go and Taobao, while other e-commerce channels opened pre-sale mode with delivery within 30 days.

Looking at past moves, Heytea has frequently engaged in co-branding collaborations, and recently has been making one move after another: setting up a "fruit peeling transparent window," temporarily "changing its head" on social platforms when launching new products, finding fans for collaborations, and launching the first A-xi full-body image collection contest. As of now, #Heytea Logo Full-Body Image# and #A-xi Full-Body Image# have garnered over 500 million impressions across the internet. What results will this collaboration with a nationally beloved TV drama bring? What will the next move be?

Image source: Internet

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