What the Shared Longjing Master Says About Origin Marketing

Guming and Nayuki both launched West Lake Longjing series in spring using the same intangible cultural heritage inheritor, Fan Shenghua, one labeling him instructor and the other supervisor. Promotional images showed nearly identical clothing, posture and expression, and netizens joked that the master was working two jobs.

The overlap reflects a shared traffic logic in high-end tea and coffee marketing, where origin stories and named producers are used to signal quality. As with coffee bean origin labels tied to specific farms and regions, tea brands lean on heritage credentials to stand out in a crowded seasonal release calendar.

It is standard practice for tea beverage brands to launch Longjing (Dragon Well) series new products in spring, but Goodme and Nayuki sparked heated discussion by choosing the same West Lake Longjing intangible cultural heritage inheritor, Fan Shenghua. The two brands announced successively, one calling him an instructor, the other a supervisor, and in the promotional images the master's clothing, posture, and even facial expression were highly similar, prompting netizens to joke that "the master is working two jobs." Behind this "master collision" incident lies the common dilemma and traffic logic of high-end marketing in both the tea beverage and coffee industries.

On March 17, Goodme Tea announced another collaboration with Fan Shenghua, a representative inheritor of the national intangible cultural heritage project "West Lake Longjing Picking and Making Techniques," and its 2022 original Longjing series is about to be relaunched.

On March 30, Nayuki announced the launch of the first season of "Seeking Fragrance in Chinese Tea" and introduced the "Longjing Qingtuan Treasure Tea." The brand copy stated that the "Nayuki Seeking Fragrance in Chinese Tea" series starts with Longjing, and all products in the entire season are supervised by Ms. Fan Shenghua, the West Lake Longjing intangible cultural heritage inheritor.

Comparing the promotional content of the two new products, Goodme labeled Fan Shenghua as instructor, while Nayuki labeled him as supervisor, but they indeed refer to the same Longjing intangible cultural heritage master.

At the same time period, the same master was endorsing Longjing series new products for both, and even the master's clothing, movements, shooting angles, and facial expressions were almost identical. Such a coincidence inevitably made both Nayuki and Goodme appear somewhat awkward.

After the news spread, netizens complained and joked about the two major tea beverage brands: "Did Nayuki borrow the master from Goodme?" "Are Goodme and Nayuki sharing one master?" "Nayuki and Goodme are fighting over the same person."

Regarding the master's identical appearance, netizens said bluntly:

"Too busy"

"The master didn't even change clothes and just shot two ads?"

"The master has one foot in two boats"

"Working two jobs, truly a master"

"The master kept his eyes closed the whole time, so no one can tell who it is; can't blame the master."

So, even though Nayuki's announcement was more than ten days later than Goodme's, and knowing it would "collide with the master," why did it not choose to avoid it and instead promote as usual?

Currently, if the tea beverage and coffee industries want to gain more traffic and attention, marketing is indispensable. In addition to common novel packaging, novelty flavors, and IP collaborations, what remains is high-end product positioning and recruiting top industry talent.

In the marketing of specialty coffee, one must compete for green bean varieties, famous production regions, and world-class competition champions, while tea beverages must highlight tea leaf origins and master craftsmanship to prove the product's premium quality and the brand's artisan spirit. The number of artisans who can add persuasiveness to products is, understandably, very limited.

Precisely because this practice is common, master endorsements as part of new product promotion make it difficult to determine who borrowed from whom or who copied whom. A "collision" can instead spark netizens' curiosity, achieve unexpected marketing effects, and win a wave of unexpected traffic.

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