In the coffee and tea stock market, in order to win more market share, brands have moved from volume products and supply chains to "marketing wars", among which the performance of co-branded marketing was particularly conspicuous last year.
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Who makes money in co-branding?
According to incomplete statistics, from January to December 2023, mainstream tea and coffee brands have co-branded 122 times. If the "28 effect" is used for analysis, some brands will gain a lot from the co-branding, and there will be brands that are empty-handed.
A few days ago, "DT Business Observer" released a survey report on tea consumption in 2023, which also made a survey report on the "effective co-branding" marketing of the beverage industry last year.
According to the report, by the end of 2023, 10 mainstream milk tea brands have co-branded a total of 161 times, which is about an average of one milk tea brand launched a co-branding every 2 days.
Source: "DT Business Observation"
Among the survey respondents, the post-90s to post-00s accounted for 85%, and nearly 4 percent of the post-00s became more interested in co-branding. In the face of the co-branded products they are interested in, most consumers are very casual and do not have a strong willingness to buy,3 adults will actively participate in the rush to buy, but they are not willing to queue up for the rush or buy at a premium.
This is partly due to the rapid increase in the frequency and quantity of co-branded products and the uneven quality of co-branded products, which have to a certain extent depleted consumers' enthusiasm.
Some readers said that co-branding has become common, and it is a bit numb. Just get some cups and paper bags, find a ready-made mold to print the dot pattern, and cut leeks in fashionable little trash. Some consumers also bluntly expressed their disappointment with the creativity and quality performance of co-branded products.
Among the survey respondents, 4 percent of young consumers have become more interested in co-branded drinks, and they are willing to consume for hobbies.
If you only look at the total number of co-branded names throughout the year, the top three are Nai Xue's tea 38 times, Tea Baidao 7 times, and Mixue Bingcheng 19 times.
Source: CBN Commercial Data Center
Combined with the co-branding and social media popularity that consumers were impressed by in the survey, a rough count of "effective co-branding" was made, and the results showed that in terms of "co-branding efficiency", Heytea ranked first with an "effective co-branding rate" of 26.7%. In 2023, Heytea will co-brand a total of 15 times, and it will be "effective" 4 times, namely: Heytea XFENDI, Heytea X Chow Tai Fook, HeyTea X Genshin Impact and Heytea X female star Loopy.
In addition, the book also burns fairy grass X "Fengshen", Gu Ming X "Heavenly Official Blessing", Overlord Chaji X "Tomb Robbery Notes", Nai Xue X thin box, etc. are also on the list.
It should be noted that although some brands do not have many co-branding times out of the circle, they do not plan many co-branded activities throughout the year, and they rank high.
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The "Long Tail Effect" of Effective Co-branding
The so-called "effective" co-branding in the report has two meanings: the first is that the co-branding itself must be creative enough to be unexpected and cleverly combined in the actual product.
For example, consumers have unique needs and expectations for co-branded products. They wanted the co-branding to give the product more character and personalization, while also bringing a strong sense of contrast.
瑞幸&茅台，喜茶&FENDI
It can be seen that "effective" co-branding should have the characteristics of creativity and strong contrast. For example, the co-branding of Heytea and FENDI, and the co-branding of Luckin and Moutai, the publicity prominently expresses "the first FENDI for young people" and "the first cup of Moutai for young people", making the unattainable luxury goods become the capital to highlight personality. These collaborations have not only successfully allowed consumers to express their individuality, but also increased brand awareness and influence.
In addition, seize the popular IP co-branding, but the marketing planning is not perfunctory. Even if you choose a popular/classic IP, you still have to work the taste of the product itself and the combination with the co-branded object.
The book also burns fairy grass & seals the gods
Among them, successful cases such as the new co-branded products launched by Shuyi Yao Xiancao and "Fengshen" have changed from temporary hot products to permanent menu products, and Heytea will co-brand with Fujiwara Hiroshi in 2022 to launch a new cool blackberry mulberry, and after returning in 2023, it will still sell out without co-branding, with a cumulative sales of nearly 20 million cups.
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From popular IP co-branding to product co-creation
According to statistics, the size of the beverage market is expected to exceed 260 billion yuan in 2023, a year-on-year increase of 22.8%. In the fiercely competitive beverage track, brands are fighting for scale, supply chain, IPO, and franchise, and now they have to add co-branded marketing competition.
In the early days, it was difficult to make too much splash in the market by looking for popular IP co-branding, relying on simple logos and logos, simple packaging designs, and simple group CP methods such as making gift boxes.
Co-branding is not without its challenges. First of all, finding the right partner is not easy. Brands need to have a deep understanding of the market and consumers in order to find the most suitable partner.
Luckin Coffee & Cat & Mouse, Hey Tea & Hongshan Zoo
In addition, the success of co-branding requires both parties to work together to create valuable syndicated content. This requires a high degree of innovation and execution on both sides.
In the past two years, from lively IP co-branding to in-depth cooperation between brands and IPs to achieve product co-creation and scene creation, it has become an increasingly popular traffic grab, and compared with 2022, the proportion of the two will increase significantly in 2023, especially in the second half of the year.
Product co-creation is to combine the selling points of different products with each other, and take advantage of the opportunity to embed themselves in the minds of users in another circle to complete the task of expanding the circle. At this stage, the most important thing is the brand's co-branding technique.
Co-branding, as a standard marketing method for brands, has been full of changes and changes since entering the new era of consumption. In the past, simple and crude co-branding planning may be reduced to "ineffective co-branding", and only by grasping the co-branding of products and content can there be opportunities to create growth opportunities for brands.