Young audience

Researcher Chen Shenghua, who authored the marketing report, said there are two main types of beverage co-branding — collaborating with another brand, or teaming up with intellectual property.

IP collaborations have become popular, as they offer a broad audience, significant influence, strong customer loyalty, deep emotional connections, and easy complementary effects, Chen said.

The target audience for beverage co-marketing is primarily the 18-30 age group, especially Generation Z consumers (those born in the late 1990s or early 2000s), he said.

"This group enjoys trying new things, actively engaging in discussions on trending topics, has a strong desire for social sharing, and possesses robust purchasing power, influence and creativity. It also closely follows trends in movies, games and other popular fields," Chen added.

Heytea and Luckin Coffee emerged as top players in the competitive field of co-marketing last year.

Moutai-flavored latte, a joint venture between Luckin Coffee and China's leading liquor maker Kweichow Moutai, grabbed the beverage co-marketing limelight. Launched in September, the product proved an outstanding success, with more than 5.42 million cups sold on the first day and daily sales revenue exceeding 1 billion yuan.

Chen attributes the product's success to two key factors. First, it triggered category innovation by combining coffee and Moutai liquor. Second, in terms of marketing, it broke through social barriers, increased the visibility of Moutai, and precision-targeted young consumers seeking fresh, creative flavors, and social experiences.

Last summer, Heytea collaborated with luxury brand Fendi to introduce the specially crafted Fendi Joyful Yellow drink. The launch trended on Sina Weibo for seven hours and more than 1.5 million cups of the drink were sold in just three days, setting records for Heytea's first-week sales of a new product. The color yellow also quickly became a fashion trendsetter last year.

Chen views this success as a chance to expand the creative possibilities for cross-industry marketing in the beverage sector, adding that Fendi's influence elevated the Heytea brand image.

Xu, the Sanlitun branch manager, has been with Heytea for three years, starting as a store employee and working his way up to become a beverage mixologist. He became manager of the outlet in April.

Last year was particularly busy for Xu, with Heytea collaborating on several co-branded beverages with different brands and IPs.

One collaboration that stood out for him was with the action role-playing game Genshin Impact. One day, a group of teenagers visited the store, spending the entire time passionately explaining each character in the game to customers ordering the co-branded products.

"Before launching such a product, we undergo training to ensure all staff members are familiar with the brand or IP, making it easier to introduce to customers. These students volunteered to provide explanations because they love Genshin Impact," Xu said.

After the initial collaboration between Heytea and the makers of Genshin Impact in September 2022, the two partnered again in August last year.

On the day co-branded products featuring the 2.0 version of Genshin Impact were launched, several Heytea stores experienced overwhelming demand. Nearly 3 million cups of co-branded beverages were sold in three days, with the highest daily sales at a single store exceeding 3,600 cups.

Other activities initiated by both parties also received positive responses from the games community. At the Genshin Impact offline carnival, Heytea, the first tea brand to take part in the event, set up a booth. During the four-day carnival, the booth was highly popular, selling more than 5,000 cups of co-branded drinks on its busiest day.

Heytea customized the presentation of two popular characters from Genshin Impact — Gan Yu and Shen He — along with the development of beverage products and related designs.

For example, the drink named after Gan Yu draws inspiration from Gan's basic skills. It blends imported pineapple chunks with slow-fermented yogurt, resulting in a rich milky flavor with a lively pineapple twist.