Why Did Luckin Coffee and Yihetang Collide on the Same Theme?

Luckin Coffee and the chain tea brand Yihetang announced collaborations with Dream of the Red Chamber on the same day, and the near-identical posters set off a round of online comparison. Luckin had just rolled out a cherry blossom season line and a Ullens Center for Contemporary Art collaboration, both of which drew a lukewarm response after its 9.9 promotion was scaled back.

Yihetang followed with its own poster for the original novel, and its account replied in Luckin's comment section using a Lin Daiyu line, which pushed netizens to call the whole thing a battle between Bao and Dai. The episode shows how crowded the classic-novel tie-in space has become, and how quickly a rival can turn another brand's announcement into a shared news cycle.

After Luckin Coffee's 9.9 promotion shrinkage sparked dissatisfaction, it successively launched a cherry blossom season limited edition and a collaboration with the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, but the market response was lukewarm. Subsequently, Luckin officially announced a collaboration with the national dance drama "Dream of the Red Chamber," sparking heated discussions among netizens. Unexpectedly, the chain tea brand Yihetang quickly followed up, releasing a poster with almost identical composition, announcing a collaboration with the original novel "Dream of the Red Chamber." The two major brands' collaborations collided, and netizens jokingly called it the battle between Bao and Dai. Yihetang even interacted in Luckin's comment section using Lin Daiyu's lines, prompting calls for Chayan Yuese. Behind this marketing game, who actually comes out on top?

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Before the uproar over the 9.9 promotion shrinkage had subsided, Luckin, in order to appease fans' emotions, first launched cherry blossom season limited drinks, and then quickly rolled out cups and knitted bags in collaboration with the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art. However, these two waves of operations did not create much of a splash, and consumers were still more concerned about when the 9.9 promotion would return to its original rules.

Just yesterday, Luckin's official Weibo released a teaser, announcing that next week it would launch a collaboration with "Dream of the Red Chamber." This news quickly ignited netizens' enthusiasm for discussion, with witty comments popping up one after another: "Drinking tea and coffee at the same time, how are we supposed to enter the dream! Rui Zi, you tell us," "Rui Zi, you've really made something of yourself," "Is it only me? Or do other sisters have it too?" "Get Lin妹妹 some Americano that no one else has, Lin妹妹 never drinks that kind with milk."

Voices of anticipation rose one after another, and many netizens were already rubbing their hands, ready to rush in when the event launches next Monday.

Some netizens also joked after seeing Luckin's promotional poster that previously Starbucks collaborated with Havoc in Heaven, and now Luckin has joined hands with "Dream of the Red Chamber." Could it be that all Four Great Classical Novels are going to have a round of collaborations with chain brands?

Unexpectedly, no sooner had this joke been made than the chain tea brand Yihetang posted a poster on social media yesterday afternoon with a composition exactly like Luckin's, announcing that it would also launch a collaboration with "Dream of the Red Chamber."

Netizens never expected to witness a brand collaboration collision scene, and Yihetang's almost identical promotion to Luckin shocked everyone. Some netizens even discovered that Yihetang's official account appeared in the comment section shortly after Luckin officially announced the collaboration, using Lin Daiyu's line "If I had known you were coming, I wouldn't have come" to attract attention, and only afterward released a poster with the same composition but a different protagonist.

Yihetang's series of operations made netizens laugh endlessly, and they left comments in Yihetang's comment section one after another: "The same composition and the same angle still can't hide your absurd vibe, right," "Even if she comes, I'm still coming," "Hahahahaha you're Daiyu, Rui is Baochai, but our Brother Bao has too many good sisters."

Even more netizens who enjoy watching the drama and aren't afraid of it getting bigger urgently called out to Chayan Yuese: "Say something! A love triangle would be even more interesting! Can Dream of the Red Chamber return this year or not!!!"

After the laughter and fun, some netizens were left completely confused by Yihetang's operations, mistakenly thinking it was a three-way collaboration among Luckin, Yihetang, and "Dream of the Red Chamber." In fact, Luckin's collaboration this time is with the national dance drama "Dream of the Red Chamber," while Yihetang's collaboration target is the original novel "Dream of the Red Chamber," and its promotional materials and cultural creative merchandise designs are all taken from the Qing dynasty painter Sun Wen's "Dream of the Red Chamber" album.

From the timeline, Yihetang's promotion was earlier than Luckin's, but the official launch time of its event was later than Luckin's. Perhaps because of insufficient early promotion, and also fearing that Luckin's collaboration would steal the spotlight after launching, Yihetang chose to interact with Luckin after its official announcement, using the opportunity to build momentum for its own collaboration event.

Image source: Xiaohongshu

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