What went wrong with the matcha coffee merchandise launch?

Auntea Jenny launched a merchandise collaboration tied to the hit drama To the Wonder under its Free Matcha series, offering long-scroll painting cup sleeves, takeout paper bags, lenticular card sets and student film cards. Problems appeared on day one: some stores stocked only 10 sets, takeout orders arrived with the wrong cards, and staff collected student cards during pickup, prompting complaints and customer service apologies.

The drama, adapted from Li Juan's essay collection, brought Altay in Xinjiang into public view, and the brand tied its matcha green to the region's grasslands. The case points to supply chain and store execution gaps behind drink tie-ins. For anyone asking what is matcha coffee, the drink itself is a mix of matcha and milk or espresso, but merchandise campaigns like this depend on accurate stock counts and staff training.

After the TV drama "To the Wonder" (My Altay) became a hit, the grassland scenery and herder life of Altay, Xinjiang, moved countless viewers, and this "Altay fever" has swept into the new tea beverage sector. Auntea Jenny, under the name of its "Free Matcha" series, launched a merchandise collaboration with "To the Wonder," including long-scroll painting cup sleeves, takeout paper bags, co-branded lenticular card sets, and student film cards, attracting a large number of consumers to snap them up. However, problems emerged on the very first day of the campaign: some stores stocked only 10 sets of merchandise, takeout orders delivered the wrong cards, and when customers went to pick up their orders, staff took back the student cards on the spot... Consumers were full of complaints, and customer service apologized everywhere. As observers of the coffee and tea beverage industry, Front Street Coffee also paid attention to the supply chain and store execution problems behind this collaboration. This article will fully sort out the course of events and present feedback from all parties.

The TV drama "To the Wonder" brought the small border town of Altay in Xinjiang into the public eye. Adapted from writer Li Juan's essay collection of the same name, it uses ethnic customs and herder life as its backdrop, with northwestern landscapes and grassland pastures as its stage, showcasing the beauty of the small town and conveying pure emotions of attachment to one's homeland, yearning for freedom, and pursuing dreams. Netizens called it "the most eye-friendly TV drama," and after airing it quickly went viral.

Competition in the new tea beverage sector has become white-hot. From ingredients to price, and from price to merchandise, the "autumn first cup" race keeps intensifying. Against this backdrop, the IP "To the Wonder" was naturally targeted by milk tea brands. Auntea Jenny seized the momentum to launch a merchandise collaboration, claiming that the translucent green tones of its "Free Matcha" series can rival the green of Altay, allowing consumers to find their own wilderness in matcha green, echoing the idea that "no matter how turbulent life is, live it brilliantly."

According to the official campaign description, to obtain the merchandise, customers need to buy the "Wild in a Cup Single-Cup Merchandise Set." The collaboration merchandise includes long-scroll painting cup sleeves printed with Altay scenery, double-cup takeout paper bags, and co-branded lenticular card sets. On September 7, customers who show their student ID at a store and buy one matcha drink can also redeem one Altay film student card. This touch of "Altay green" raised expectations to the max for many consumers with a Xinjiang complex, who looked forward to reliving the drama while drinking matcha.

To redeem the film student cards, many netizens who had already graduated years ago resorted to all kinds of tricks, making their own student IDs and sharing them on social platforms. This "sincerity" attracted a great deal of attention, and Auntea Jenny thus gained a wave of online traffic.

Today, Auntea Jenny's collaboration with "To the Wonder" officially launched across stores nationwide. Fans who had been waiting eagerly placed orders right away and successfully collected the merchandise they wanted.

However, similar to past collaboration campaigns, this collaboration triggered a large number of complaints as soon as it launched due to insufficient stock, and Auntea Jenny was once again pushed into the spotlight.

Some consumers posted that just after 10 a.m., they placed an order as soon as the merchant listed it, only to find that the merchandise set was already sold out. After going from store to store, they finally managed to pair a set at a farther store. As a result, half an hour after placing the order, the rider informed them that the merchandise was out of stock. The consumer questioned: if there is no merchandise, why set up a package at all? After contacting the store, they learned that one store had only been allocated 10 sets of merchandise, which she said she could not understand.

Netizens who did receive the merchandise were equally dissatisfied with Auntea Jenny's takeout service. Someone posted that upon opening the takeout, they found the merchandise was wrong. Unlike the lenticular cards they had in mind, the bag said "student film card," which was clearly a mistake. The netizen pointed out that the store's collaboration package stock was already limited, yet they could still send the wrong item, calling it absurd.

If takeout is unreliable, then can going directly to the store for self-pickup smoothly get the desired Altay merchandise? Auntea Jenny's answer was still "no." Some netizens reported that they asked in the notes whether student cards were available. When they went to the store to pick up the order, the milk tea was already made and the merchandise was also put in the bag, but the staff actually took back the "student card" in front of them, saying that according to the rules it could only be collected on the 7th. The netizen said they had waited so long before going to the store, and if they had been told in advance that it was unavailable, they could have accepted it, but now that it could not be given, their already depressed mood became even worse. As the saying goes, the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment. Netizens' complaints mostly stem from wishes that cannot be satisfied immediately.

It is understood that on a certain social platform, an account marked "Auntea Jenny Customer Service" is rushing around to put out fires, replying that it is deeply sorry for the poor consumption experience caused to "respected customers" and will contact stores as soon as possible to verify and handle consumers' problems.

Image source: Internet

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