Cudi, who collaborated with SpongeBob SquarePants, has become a super substitute for young people.

Let’s take a look at the effect of the collaboration between SpongeBob SquarePants and Cudi.

Looking back at the cases of going viral in the past two years, many communications are related to "emotional value". From Zibo BBQ, which exchanges sincerity for sincerity, Erbin, which pampers its fans with its heart and soul, to the collective presence of domestic brands, marketing communications that can inspire positive emotions and positive experiences always have a place in the hearts of consumers.

Just yesterday, Kudi Coffee and SpongeBob SquarePants had a cross-border collaboration that broke the dimension. The refreshing red and white grapefruit drinks collided with the childhood top stars SpongeBob SquarePants and Patrick Star, bringing consumers double the happiness. It also set off a wave of sharing on social platforms, with netizens posting their coffee blockbusters and happy moods, attracting more and more consumers' attention.

In this environment where cross-border joint ventures emerge in an endless stream, why can the joint venture between Cudi and SpongeBob SquarePants cross the "heartbeat" threshold of young people? As a new brand in the coffee market, how did Cudi make its products the first choice of young people? Let's take a closer look at this joint venture and see what considerations are behind the cooperation.

01 From brand collaboration to two-way communication, Cudi uses "happiness" to open up communication channels

Compared with those cross-border collaborations that simply add up the voices of both parties and pursue short-term exposure, Cudi's thinking is very clear. What they value is not only the traffic brought by the classic IP of SpongeBob SquarePants, but also the "happiness" attribute of the works and characters. After all, changes in the external environment continue to affect the source of happiness for young people, and small and beautiful romantic details are the best opportunity to communicate with consumers.

This collaboration mainly selected two classic images, SpongeBob SquarePants and Patrick Star, which just correspond to the bright colors of the red and white grapefruit products. The crisp sweetness and sourness of grapefruit, the vibrant dopamine color combination of "pink + blue", plus the happy partner of SpongeBob SquarePants and Patrick Star, it is easy for people to establish a positive association between the product and "happiness" in terms of vision and taste, allowing consumers to gain insight into the little happiness in life while enjoying the product.

And judging from the creation of co-branded peripherals, Kudi Coffee is a brand with a strong user perspective and user thinking. They not only print the IP image on cups, cup sleeves or paper bags, but also closely follow the emotional "focus" of contemporary young people, so that the happy atmosphere conveyed by SpongeBob SquarePants and Patrick Star can truly penetrate into the lives of consumers.

For example, the brand has created a set of peripheral stickers that incorporate social language based on the work and life scenarios of young users. It uses quotes such as "You are right about everything", "Oh, you really kicked the sponge this time", and "I want to be a child" to visualize the emotions of consumers in their daily lives, providing everyone with a breakthrough point to express their feelings and sweeping away the negative emotions in work and life.

At the same time, the brand is also encouraging everyone to share the happy moments in life. For example, the #好朋友要一起做可爱傻事# collection activity launched on the official public account has attracted many netizens to actively participate. In the process of participation, reading, and sharing, this happy mood will be further spread, driving the secondary dissemination of products and activities.

02 From understanding demand to responding to preferences, we continue to explore new ways to break through coffee consumption

Of course, the reason why Kudi Coffee has become a hit as soon as it was launched is not only because of the brand's innovation in marketing and consumer communication, but also because of its hard-core quality that is no less than that of big brands. Looking at Kudi's hit products, you will find that they have been conducting forward-looking explorations, by understanding the needs of different coffee preference groups such as entry-level enthusiasts, advanced enthusiasts, and senior American coffee connoisseurs, and meeting these needs with highly fitting high-quality products. This is the underlying support for the product to go viral.

Kudi's products are very diverse. In addition to American and classic lattes that coffee lovers like, there are also various fancy lattes and some products without coffee to meet the needs of different consumers. Whether it is the early Pampas Blue series with the exotic Argentine style, or the innovative rice milk latte series with Chinese elements of Wuchang rice, or the Liuyun latte that became popular in March this year and is favored by coffee novices, Kudi is always looking for the answer to crack the bitter taste of American coffee.

The grapefruit bubble ice extract, which is the main product in spring and summer, is the solution given by Kudi. The unique sweetness and sourness of grapefruit can perfectly blend with the bitter and mellow aroma of coffee, and the dense bubbles also provide a layer of coolness for coffee, which is very suitable for summer. In addition, the fresh and healthy characteristics of grapefruit are perfectly integrated with the iced American coffee, which also has healthy properties. This can also ensure the taste of the product while meeting consumers' advanced demand for healthy drinks.

Kudi Coffee not only pays attention to the needs of entry-level consumers, but also meets the quality needs of advanced coffee enthusiasts. The brand selects 100% Arabica coffee beans from high-quality production areas such as Ethiopia, Yunnan, China, Guatemala, Colombia, and Brazil, and the baristas carefully blend them into medium-roasted "Comet" and dark-roasted "Sirius". It is understood that these two beans are not only loved by consumers, but also have been professionally recognized by the International Coffee Tasting Competition, winning the 2022 IIAC Platinum Award and the 2023 IIAC Gold Award respectively, ensuring the high quality of coffee from the source.

03 How does Kudi Coffee capture the hearts of young people by focusing on both “quality and price”?

"The Circle Effect" mentions: "Only by understanding the business logic of the main consumers and knowing how to get close to this generation of young people can future business be successful." The reason why Kudi Coffee was able to hit the hearts of young people through its collaboration with SpongeBob SquarePants is essentially because it found the right direction.

After experiencing the awakening of consciousness from consumption upgrade to consumption stratification, consumers have become more rational, and their overall demand preferences are shifting towards emotional-price ratio, quality-price ratio, etc., hoping to maximize the use of disposable income and gain the most happiness with the least money. I believe that Kudi also foresaw and saw this consumption trend very early, so from the beginning of the brand's establishment, it chose a development route that combines "quality and affordable", hoping that the product can become the public's first choice of "super affordable substitute" - in terms of quality, Kudi takes into account the diversified needs of entry-level coffee lovers and advanced coffee lovers.

The use of more universal "light coffee" such as milk coffee, fruit coffee, and rice coffee solves the pain point of "fear of bitterness" for entry-level enthusiasts, and through high-quality coffee beans and roasting processes as well as the continuous launch of new popular products, it meets the needs of advanced enthusiasts for "quality" and "pursuit of novelty". Moreover, based on the taste of the products, the brand also keenly captures the desire of young people for positive emotions, and through the joint names with IPs such as SpongeBob SquarePants, it provides consumers with emotional value beyond coffee. And Kudi's quality strategy also allows consumers who enter Kumen with the original intention of "rational consumption" to enjoy products that are not inferior to big brands at a small price, thereby gaining a consumer experience far beyond expectations.

And judging from the current market feedback, Kudi has already found its own way to "explosive and affordable". The brand took big steps at the beginning, from opening its first store in Fuzhou to bravely entering the overseas market, and then to more than 7,000 stores worldwide, in just over a year. In the face of Kudi's rapid expansion, there are many and mixed voices in the market, from doubts and complaints to the continuous accumulation of user reputation, Kudi seems to have always been in its own rhythm and has not been affected too much. Today, Kudi can be said to have gained a firm foothold in the coffee market and has its own base.

It is understood that since its inception, Kudi has been working hard to promote the supply chain, a basic project, and has established two supply chain bases in Dangtu and Wuhu, Anhui. Although this is time-consuming and laborious, from a long-term perspective, this is not only the brand's determination to deepen its presence in the coffee market, but also provides a good "infrastructure" for the brand to output new 9.9 yuan blockbuster products in the long term. Today, Kudi's costs have reached a turning point, and the next test is no longer "speed" but "steadiness", and Kudi's choice to slow down and practice "internal strength" at this time is a good choice.

It seems that, whether fast or slow, whether expanding outward or proceeding steadily, whether doing high-profile marketing or low-key infrastructure construction, Kudi has very clear ideas and plans, and the pace and strategy adjustments are also very flexible. In such a lively coffee and tea market, this is also a necessary skill for a brand to survive and live well.

In conclusion:

Today's coffee brands all face a common problem, that is, how to let consumers distinguish themselves from other brands? In fact, the essence of all solutions must return to "products". Whether it is cross-border collaboration or social communication, it is only with the blessing of products that users can be truly attracted.

Therefore, Kudi not only focuses on the polishing of single product hits, but also breaks out of existing thinking and continuously launches popular new products such as Yuzu Bubble Ice Extract, using high-quality raw materials as the foundation and the power of innovation to gradually occupy the high ground in the minds of consumers. In order to make the products appear more frequently and deeply in the daily lives of the public, Kudi also continues to expand the consumption scenarios through creative marketing, so that a cup of coffee has emotional value beyond functional value. In short, the "super substitute" coffee created by Kudi not only has a price advantage, but also can bring consumers an experience far beyond expectations, coupled with the blessing of high-quality products, this is the key to "substitution".

We have reason to believe that Kudi, which has played a combination of "creative products + creative marketing", will also bring some new changes to the mainstream coffee consumption market in the future. Only brands that can stand the test of the market can be said to have truly understood consumers.

Author: Mr. Bingfa; Source: Marketing Bingfa "(ID: lanhaiyingxiao)"