Heytea's "I am Buddha holding a cup" trended on the Internet, it's really fun

This article uses the popular Heytea joint product "I Buddha Holding the Cup" as an example to analyze the current popularity of temple economy and the reasons why it is popular among the public. Friends who want to market themselves should read this.

After temples became the new favorite of young people, the temple economy gradually gained favor among young groups and became a popular cultural phenomenon. Many brands smelled the business opportunities and began to use it as a foothold to promote the temple economy to a wider market.

For example, yesterday, Heytea’s involvement in the temple economy attracted public attention, and the Weibo topic #Heytea我佛持杯# topped the hot search list and received a very high number of views.

This is a joint marketing campaign between HEYTEA and the Jingdezhen China Ceramics Museum. The theme is “Everyone with a cup in hand, Buddha enjoys life”. The theme is to create a “pleasant” atmosphere. “Buddha HEYTEA Latte”, customized “Buddha Joy Cup”, “Buddha Joy Fridge Magnet” and other peripheral products are all in use, which has attracted high attention and interaction.

In addition, three large Buddha statues are selected for the product and its surroundings to protect the lives of young people:

Meditating Arhat: Although seemingly "speechless", he is actually gaining wisdom and realizing the truth through meditation.

The Tiger Subduing Arhat is compassionate and can subdue a tiger. Its meaning is: courageous and resolute.

Happy Arhat: Happy from the heart.

Perhaps it is precisely because Heytea's co-branded products well interpret the mental state of young people during work that they are so popular. Young people choose their favorite Buddha meaning and start their own product experience journey. Some choose to cooperate with the silent Buddha in a flowery way, and some start to make "fun" strategies for product purchases/how to have more fun.

Through taste experience, atmosphere creation, and meaningful gameplay, this wave of collaborations by Heytea has truly enabled the brand to play together with young consumers, and also allowed Heytea's metaphysical gameplay to shine.

In fact, from some aspects, the metaphysical and Buddhist marketing that brands are using now all fall into the category of temple economy. The brands targeting the temple economy are not only Heytea, but also Crazy Sunday Temple launched by KFC, Cibeiweihuai by Xiangpiaopiao, "Compassion Coffee" of Hangzhou Yongfu Temple, "Fangtan Coffee" of Shanghai Jade Buddha Temple, etc. Whether it is brands leveraging the popular temple culture for marketing, or temples using coffee products that young people like for commercialization, it proves that temple fever is an indisputable fact.

Under the influence of many factors, such as brand marketing, temple commercialization, and strong attention from young people, the temple economy has taken a path of its own. How popular is the temple economy now?

01 How popular is the temple economy?

On Weibo, topics related to temples are everywhere. For example, the cumulative reading of the topic #Why is temple tourism so popular among the post-90s and post-00s# has exceeded 88 million, and the number of interactions has reached 140,000. Topics related to the "temple economy" such as #Temple Coffee# and #Fuzhou Young People Love Temple Coffee# frequently appear on hot searches.

On Xiaohongshu, there are more than 1.39 million notes related to temples and more than 20,000 products related to them, which shows how popular they are.

At the same time, the conversion data of temple-related tourism also proves that the current temple economy is really hot. According to relevant data from Ctrip, temple tourism this year has shown a high growth trend, and the number of ticket orders for temple-related scenic spots has increased by 310% year-on-year. The people who choose to visit temples are getting younger, with those born in the 1990s and 2000s accounting for nearly 50%.

Data from all aspects prove that this generation of young people's attention to and consumption of temple economy has shown high growth characteristics, and temple fever has promoted the development of temple economy.

02 Why do young people like temple culture?

Temples are usually quiet places, and the environment itself can easily give people an immersive experience. The temple economy is highly respected, which is closely related to the hobbies and consumption tendencies of young people.

1. Emotional Value

The religious beliefs and inherent unique cultural atmosphere of the temple make people feel peaceful and tranquil, and can provide young people with the necessary emotional value.

Young people need an emotional outlet to release stress.

The fast pace and high pressure of modern society make young people need to find an emotional outlet to release stress and relieve tension. Temples provide a quiet and peaceful environment where people can temporarily escape from the hustle and bustle of the city and seek tranquility.

Young people release their worries and stress by burning incense in temples, traveling or drinking temple coffee, reconcile with themselves in a moment of peace and comfort, and explore more possibilities in life without burden.

At the same time, young people visiting temples also provide themselves with emotional value that pleases themselves.

Amid the phenomenon of temple fever, young people experience the tranquility and peaceful atmosphere brought by temple culture through activities such as burning incense, praying, and drinking coffee. This can help young people better cope with their complex inner emotions, thus creating self-pleasing emotional value.

2. The charm of traditional culture itself

As part of traditional culture, temple culture is an important cultural heritage and historical heritage. It is also an important place for people's spiritual home and cultural inheritance, recording the development of human civilization and the essence of cultural heritage. Protecting and inheriting temple culture is of great significance to inheriting traditional culture and promoting national spirit.

With the development of temple culture, today's temples not only carry people's expectations, but also serve as a medium for young people to communicate with traditional culture, shouldering the mission of cultural inheritance and dissemination. Visiting temples or drinking temple coffee can help young people understand traditional culture and religious beliefs, and deepen their knowledge and understanding of traditional culture. This helps to cultivate young people's cultural confidence and cultural identity, and inspire their love for traditional culture and awareness of inheritance.

3. The influence of social trends

With the popularity of social media and the emergence of social life, social trends have become an inevitable phenomenon. People share their life experiences, emotional experiences and hobbies through social media and social activities, which is also a window for them to understand society. Social trends not only strengthen interaction, but also promote the dissemination and sharing of information.

Under the influence of social trends, the phenomenon of "everything can be socialized" has emerged in many fields. For example, modern young people choose to visit temples, partly because people's travel experiences and daily consumption experiences on social platforms have influenced more people's consumption choices.

Final Thoughts

The rise of temple fever has attracted the attention and participation of a large number of young people, and has gradually increased their interest in traditional culture and religious beliefs. They are eager to understand and experience traditional culture through burning incense, visiting temples, etc.

At the same time, the logic of "seeking grass" plays an invaluable role in the context of temple fever. Modern young people pay more attention to experience and emotional value when choosing consumption, and are willing to listen to recommendations and suggestions from others. By sharing their own temple visiting experiences, burning incense and praying experiences on platforms such as social media, many young people are involved, which also brings more exposure and word-of-mouth communication to the brand.

It can be said that the temple craze and the logic of the circulation of young people have provided new business opportunities for brands. The brand has achieved marketing by integrating temples, temple culture and the culture popular among modern young people.

Author: Mr. Bingfa WeChat public account: Marketing Bingfa