How Does a Receipt Novel Fit Into Coffee Culture Marketing?
Mixue Bingcheng printed a 20-chapter time-travel novel called "The Snow King Sells Coffee in Ancient Times" on its order receipts, starting September 17 and ending with the finale on October 6. The chapters were distributed at random, so customers swapped photos on social platforms, turned comment sections into chapter exchange stations, and pushed the topic to the top of trending searches.
The story follows the brand mascot Snow King and friends running a drink shop in ancient times, tying the promotion to the company's own products rather than to coffee itself. For coffee culture marketing, the takeaway is distribution: a limited, randomly split story gave buyers a reason to post and trade. Front Street Coffee continues to follow such industry trends.
Recently, Mixue Bingcheng quietly began serializing a novel on its order receipts titled "The Snow King Sells Coffee in Ancient Times," sparking widespread attention and eager following among consumers and netizens. This time-travel story, featuring the brand mascot "Snow King" as the protagonist, consists of 20 chapters distributed randomly with receipts. Customers have been exchanging chapters on social platforms and even pushed it to the top of trending searches. The brand stated that the campaign launched on September 17 and gradually ended after the finale on October 6. This creative move not only brought the brand closer to consumers but also offered new ideas for coffee culture marketing. Front Street Coffee continues to follow industry trends and brings you in-depth coverage.
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According to a recent report by Jimu News, Mixue Bingcheng's receipts unexpectedly went viral on social platforms, becoming a hot topic among netizens.
It is reported that after purchasing drinks at a store, some customers noticed dense text printed below the order receipt on the packaging bag. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a serialized novel titled "The Snow King Sells Coffee in Ancient Times." Intrigued by the story, netizens immediately posted photos and urgently asked, "Who has the previous chapters?"
Unexpectedly, this help-seeking post quickly attracted a lot of attention, and the comment section soon became a "chapter exchange station." Customers who had recently made purchases at Mixue shared photos of other chapters they had captured. Many netizens interested in the novel joked that they could piece together the updates for free by "patchworking" in the comments.
This unique way of following the serialization sparked netizens' curiosity and enthusiasm for Mixue Bingcheng's novel. Many fans praised the brand's creativity and hoped the brand would continue printing different types of serialized novels on receipts. Topics such as "Mixue Bingcheng Receipts Hide Serialized Novel" gained traction and once topped the trending searches.
In response, media reporters verified and learned that the novel serialized on Mixue Bingcheng's receipts, "The Snow King Sells Coffee in Ancient Times," tells the story of the brand mascot "Snow King" and friends traveling back to ancient times and running a coffee shop.
According to Mixue's official account, this serialized novel has a total of 20 chapters, and at the end of Chapter 20, it specially notes, "The ending of the story is up to you," leaving room for readers' interactive imagination. Currently, the official account has collected receipt photos shared by fans on social media and integrated the 20 chapters into a post on Weibo, making it convenient for curious readers and netizens to read it all at once.
Some media reporters consulted multiple Mixue Bingcheng stores as consumers. A staff member explained that during holidays, the brand prints one or two greetings on customers' order receipts, and this time, taking a different approach by printing a serialized novel featuring the "brand ambassador" as the protagonist is also a unified company action.
They stated that receipts printed with novel chapters were gradually rolled out starting September 17, and the chapter content printed on them was distributed randomly. When consumers buy drinks at offline stores, as long as they do not encounter special circumstances such as insufficient receipt paper in the store's printer, their order receipts will basically include one chapter.
However, an employee said that after the finale chapter was released on October 6, this fun campaign should have ended, and starting October 8, receipts printed at some stores no longer show the novel content. As for whether the brand will continue to launch other types of serialized novels to attract users to place orders, the staff all said they were not sure.
Image source: Internet
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The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
