Young people who were “controlled” by the joint name

Collaborations happen every year, but this year there are more and more. There are more and more brand collaborations with unique designs, and more and more young people are collecting. This article looks at brand collaborations from the perspective of five collectors.

"XXXX" is going to collaborate with "XXX"! Do you want to do it?

The popularity of the sauce-flavored latte hasn’t faded yet, and Luckin Coffee has been busy collaborating with Tom and Jerry, which has caused many young people to place orders crazily just to get a sticker. Previously, Chabaidao and TheShy collaborated, and the clerk used paper bags to pack the peripherals and another bag to pack the milk tea, which was praised by netizens as "very smart."

Recently, Gu Ming also started a collaboration with "Heaven Official's Blessing". In order to collect the complete set of peripherals (co-branded cups, take-out bags, stickers, transparent cards, badges, and card holders), many netizens directly bought two packages and drank 8 cups of milk tea in one go.

There are joint ventures every year, and this year there are especially many, and young people are also willing to pay for them. Many people said that even if they don’t want to drink milk tea or coffee, they will spend money on joint ventures.

Recently, I talked with five young people who are chasing after co-branding. Some of them have a hobby of modifying co-branded packaging; some have been paying attention to co-branding for professional reasons; and some are looking for something new and fun, so they buy whatever they can find, without limiting themselves to any brand.

In order to get these joint names, they also paid a certain "price". In addition to spending money, some people drink three cups of milk tea a day; some ask "agents" to drink on their behalf; and some people drink until they get "food poisoning".

People's attitude towards co-branding is that they know it is a trick of the merchants, but in most cases, they are still willing to spend a little money to pay for their hobbies. However, as the number of co-branding tricks increases, young people are also beginning to be wary.

Here are their stories.

1. Drink co-branded milk tea, collect packaging paper bags, and taste the "unfair" life.

Youguang, 25 years old, from Hubei.

I have always had a "collecting fetish". Before this, I collected crystal balls, trendy toys, game dolls, foreign coins, etc. Since last summer vacation, this object has changed to milk tea packaging bags.

Although my mother described me as a garbage collector, I enjoy it myself. Some brands not only frequently collaborate with each other, but also each time the packaging looks like it has been carefully designed by a designer. When they are put out for photos, they look colorful and "fancy", which is very eye-catching. When they are posted on social platforms, they will receive many likes and comments.

I have collected 60 or 70 bags of milk tea, spending more than 5,000 yuan. Some of these bags were bought by me when I drank co-branded milk tea, some were bought by local milk tea shops when I traveled, some were given to me by friends who drank co-branded milk tea, and some were bought in the second-hand market.

Some milk tea bags with light collected

I originally thought that there weren't many people collecting milk tea bags, but I found that there were about 1,000 or 2,000 people who were like-minded on social platforms, and a dedicated second-hand trading market had formed. Many "collectors" sold their milk tea bags on Taobao and Xianyu at a premium, with some costing as much as 40 yuan and not including shipping, which is more expensive than a cup of milk tea.

This spring, I was determined to collect more "out-of-print" bags that I had not had before but were very good-looking. To this end, I spent time, effort and effort - not only did I search for my target bags on various platforms, but I also had to chat with different sellers privately to see the goods, and then compare and bargain. Some sellers were not online every day. In the end, I spent more than a month and bought more than 20 milk tea bags.

As I collected more and more, some netizens started to ask me to buy some city-limited or niche-co-branded milk tea bags and postcards. On the one hand, I didn't want to turn this hobby into a business, and on the other hand, I only had one, so I rejected them one by one.

In fact, many coffee shops and milk tea shops have been asking us to consume the added value of drinks, such as the petty-bourgeois lifestyle and a corner of the store where you can take photos and check in. However, as the joint brands of milk tea and coffee become more and more common, the taste is getting worse and worse. Sometimes you may throw away half a cup. The unit price is high, and you only get stickers if you drink two cups, so the price is not low. The industry is gradually putting the cart before the horse - the most profitable joint brands often appear in the form of buying the casket and returning the pearl.

At the same time, some collaborations only produce stickers but no paper bags, some collaborations only produce cup sleeves and paper bags but no stickers, and some brands often collaborate with otome games, novel IPs, and the two-dimensional world, etc. The rules are more complicated, and you need to develop a strategy to get them.

The rules are confusing, and the management of different stores is inconsistent. Some cities have loose management, so it is easy to get them around. Some cities are very strict, and not only are they difficult to get, but they are also prone to being out of stock if you go too late. I also saw a post saying that a milk tea shop clerk secretly took 20 bags and then traded them in the secondary market.

What made me most angry was that I got food poisoning after drinking co-branded milk tea. After that, I had a complicated feeling towards co-branded milk tea. I went shopping after breakfast that day. I didn’t eat lunch. I ordered a cup of co-branded iced milk tea from a certain brand. I fell ill in the afternoon, vomiting and having diarrhea. I went to the hospital for a checkup and was diagnosed with food poisoning caused by bacterial infection. I had breakfast with my mother, and she was fine, so it was definitely not the breakfast that was the problem. It wasn’t until three days later that I recovered.

All the above reasons have made me exhausted, and I don't want to be controlled by milk tea shops. I have a cabinet at home, and 3/4 of the space is already filled. My idea is to fill it up and stop. In addition, I will also cooperate with some local milk tea shops such as Mist and Mountain Tea to draw illustrations for their milk tea to "recover blood".

In my opinion, young people’s money always has to have an outlet, whether it’s chasing stars, buying blind boxes, growing plants, raising pets, or collecting small things. Everyone can spend money on their own interests, because it is impossible to spend every penny on the blade in life. But I think everyone can also reflect on whether some of the "blade consumption" advocated by trends is worth it.

2. In order to get the "paper man", I spent 86 yuan to find someone to drink milk tea for me.

Mingming, 24 years old, from Shandong.

As a person living in a "two-dimensional space", I have absolutely no resistance to the co-branded products created by merchants and "paper man" IPs. I can only say "I will buy them as long as they are available."

The first time I felt the impact of "co-branding" was in junior high school. At that time, the stationery store next to the school was holding an event, and there was a pile of Conan posters inside, but they were not for sale. Instead, you had to buy a schoolbag with Conan printed on it in the store, and then you would get a Conan poster for free. There were a lot of people rushing to buy it, and I also liked Conan, so I spent all my living expenses for a week to grab a men's schoolbag.

I was very happy to see my favorite “paper man” printed on a poster, but I never used that bag once.

I don’t consider myself a person who likes to chase after collaborations crazily. I just happen to queue up to buy when I come across an IP or a brand that I like having an event. This happens maybe two or three times a year, and occasionally I buy from overseas once or twice.

However, due to the unusually large number of IP co-branded products in the past two years, and my love for all kinds of novels, which happen to be the "gathering place" of IPs, the co-branded products I bought in the past two years range from clothing, cosmetics, food to daily necessities, from Conan to Chibi Maruko-chan, One Piece, SpongeBob SquarePants, as well as "The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation", "Love and Producer", "Your Name", "Grave Robbers' Chronicles"...

While I was satisfied, what I felt most was that the merchants were using more and more tricks, always bundling sales and nesting them. I remember buying a co-branded product between Harry Potter and a dessert shop. The minimum purchase quantity was two, but if I wanted to collect all the peripherals, I needed to buy four products. In the end, ten months before my birthday, I spent more than 500 yuan to buy four cakes that I didn't like.

Young people queuing up early in the morning for milk tea

Photos collected by interviewees and provided by interviewees

The most outrageous co-branded product I have ever purchased was purchased by paying an "agent".

At that time, an IP character I liked very much had a joint venture with a milk tea shop. I set the alarm to queue up that day, but when I arrived, I was told that I could only place an order on the mini program. I hurriedly placed an order but found that the mini program had crashed and I couldn't get in. The merchant said that the joint peripherals were sold in limited quantities and would be gone if I couldn't grab them. As a result, I could only go to the second-hand platform to find an "agent" to help me buy it. The conditions agreed at the time were that I would pay for the milk tea set + the postage of the peripherals + the money for running errands, a total of 86 yuan, and he would "drink" the milk tea on my behalf.

If the co-branded products bought in the past still had a certain collection value, now the co-branded peripheral products are all similar stickers, standees, transparent cards, and grating cards. Only the IP changes each time, and buying co-branded products has become a way to join in the fun.

Why do I still want to buy it? I think it’s because of my childhood memories and feelings.

I didn’t have much money when I wanted to buy something before, and after I started working, I wanted to please myself. Compared with celebrity endorsement products that cost hundreds or thousands of dollars, co-branding is a low-cost psychological satisfaction. In addition, there is the role of the group. For example, in order to follow a big IP, I joined a fan group, and the group would occasionally release some IP co-branding activities.

Although I know that co-branding is a trick of merchants, if there is a co-branding with an IP I like, I will still go and buy it. However, if the merchant has too many tricks and the cost is too high, I will not buy it. There is also a bottom line for generating electricity for love.

3. It’s crazy to transform the co-branded packaging, but the money is spent very restrainedly.

LAFAY.K, 30+ Liaoning.

The most expensive time I spent chasing a "collaboration" was when I attended Valentino's show in Aranya. My friend and I went to Aranya specifically to see the church painted pink, and spent three to four thousand yuan. I have also paid attention to the joint activities of museums and art galleries in the past, but this year I focused my energy on chasing joint activities in the food category, and rarely touched clothing and other types of joint activities.

This is more in line with my consumption concept of spending money on co-branded products. It is easy to buy it by spending only some "small money".

In addition, milk tea and coffee brands have frequently collaborated this year, and the packaging is very beautiful. I have been writing notebooks for nearly ten years. My major in college was visual communication, and I have a certain sensitivity to product image design. So I combined the two and designed the packaging of the brand collaboration into the notebook. This method not only satisfies my hobby of renovation, but also does not take up space.

Photo provided by the interviewee

Whether it’s the collaboration between Heytea and Fendi, or Luckin’s various collaborations, they were very popular on the Internet when they first came out. I’m in Shenyang, and I can buy them by just waiting and grabbing. The “competition” is not as fierce as in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

But since I want to post the modified works on social platforms, they have to be original and fast, so as to catch up with the trend. Luckin Coffee and Tom and Jerry’s joint venture was launched on October 9th. My first paper bag transformation video was at 5 pm that day, and the second paper bag transformation video was released the next day.

This kind of transformation is a process of breaking up and reorganizing, which is not complicated for me. From seeing the actual brand co-branded packaging, conceiving ideas, to making it into a notebook, taking a few photos and posting them on social platforms, it takes about half a day.

However, many people now comment, "What is the process like?" and "Can you make a tutorial?" This involves recording and editing videos, which will take two or three more hours on top of the original time.

Fans also gave me a lot of feedback. For example, although I like some brand co-branded packaging, I can't buy it because the brands don't have stores in Shenyang. For example, when Lelecha launched a co-branded product, fans sent me paper bags and asked me to make a modification tutorial so that they could follow suit.

Photo provided by the interviewee

This process of communication and interaction between strangers is quite beautiful, and it seems to have a deeper impact on the consumption of young people today. Maybe something becomes popular on social platforms, and many people want to own it, or modify it manually, and then post the process online to get some feedback and resonance.

As a post-90s generation, I was quite shocked by the depth of this influence. Take the joint venture between Luckin Coffee and Moutai, for example. At that time, my friends circle was full of messages. I didn’t expect so many people to follow suit and buy that coffee. I don’t really understand this curiosity. This may give people a sense of satisfaction that comes with getting something at hand, and the brand has grasped the current mass consumer psychology.

I work in marketing and can accept most of the marketing activities of brands, but I am very restrained in my spending and always spend within my means. I don’t feel like I’m being manipulated.

Because I would buy a couple of cups of coffee and milk tea when I have nothing to do, so I don’t have any extra financial burden, and my friends and colleagues often give me paper bags. If I have to say that it’s a burden, it’s that I’ve bought products for the sake of peripherals, and the things in them really don’t suit my taste.

Modifying popular brand collaborations and posting them online will be more helpful in increasing followers. However, popularity is not entirely my consideration. There are some collaboration packaging that I don’t like, have no idea of ​​modifying, and will not force myself to participate.

4. If you cannot get the joint signature by yourself, ask someone in other place to help you get it.

Dudu, 30+, Zhejiang.

I have been collecting co-branded peripherals for more than half a year. The first one was Luckin Coffee. Now there are Heytea, Nayuki, Guming, Kudi, etc. I collect everything, just like "collecting junk".

My favorite is Luckin Coffee. I buy whatever Luckin Coffee releases. I can’t wait for new products to come out every day. This time, Luckin Coffee launched Tom and Jerry co-branded peripherals, including three paper bags, four cup sleeves, and a sticker. I collected them all on the first day.

I bought it for five days in a row. On the fourth day, all the stickers were sold out. On the fifth day, even the co-branded cups were gone. If I couldn't do it, I asked others to drink with me. This is when my colleagues' role was reflected.

Photo provided by the interviewee

You have to grab the co-branded peripherals. In fact, some brands have good marketing, but the actual materials have not arrived at all. I have been waiting for several days, but I haven't seen the paper bags.

These two days, Gu Ming is cooperating with "Heaven Official's Blessing". Last Friday morning, I ordered a four-cup set meal for 60 yuan, which came with a lot of peripherals. When I placed the order, the page showed 485 cups and 89 orders, which means that on average, each order had about 5 cups. This shows that most people are grabbing the four-cup co-branded set meal.

I drank one of the four cups of Gu Ming in the morning and gave the rest to my colleagues because I couldn't finish them. In the afternoon, I went to Chali Yishi because they had an event for the opening, so I went to see what good things they had. So throughout the day, I drank three cups as a base - Luckin, Gu Ming, and Chali Yishi.

In addition to grabbing them yourself, sometimes you need to find someone to help you. Some areas are limited, so you can only ask someone to buy them, or find like-minded people online, treat them to coffee, and help you get the peripherals. Some time ago, I found someone in Beijing to grab a lot of Luckin Coffee China Open limited edition cup sleeves, and then the other party sent them to me by express delivery. Treating coffee + sending express delivery, the cost is not low.

I collect peripherals simply for fun and to collect. Some of Luckin's earlier cup holders can be sold for 200 yuan each, forming an industrial chain. I am more of a Buddhist, I won't make up for what I missed before, but I can't miss out on new ones in the future , so I will grab them all when they are newly released.

If you want to collect peripherals, you can also exchange them. For example, on some second-hand platforms, people exchange brand peripherals to share what they have.

Recently, coffee and milk tea have been co-branded like crazy, and the update speed is very fast. Heytea and Nayuki update 2-3 times a month. Only co-branding can promote shopping desire.

I think it is normal for young people to scramble for co-branded peripheral products. Everyone has their own hobbies, just like some boys like to wear girls' clothes. It's fine as long as you like it.

5. Most of the collaborations are beautiful garbage, but I am willing to spend a little money to buy happiness.

Xiaobei, 30 years old, from Beijing.

I am in the consumer investment business and I pay close attention to brand collaborations. In addition, I also like to try new things. I started pursuing collaborations around 2020, mainly focusing on milk tea and coffee.

The most I have are the little ducks given by Linli, a tea brand. They usually give a duck with every order of a new product, and each cup costs about 25 yuan. I have collected more than 40 ducks now. Different stores have different accessories such as pearl necklaces and small hats, and you can DIY the ducks, which is a bit like playing with Barbie dolls when you were a child. Recently, they have released kitten-style ducks, a total of six styles, and I just collected them all two days ago.

Tims launched a drink before, and it came with a rabbit-hair grape pendant. I wanted it very much at the time, but I found that all the stores within a 5-kilometer radius were sold out. I told a friend of mine about it, and he searched for the same product on Taobao, and it only cost a dozen yuan, so he said he would buy it for me. I said that the core of peripheral or co-branded products is the gift, and if you spend money to buy this thing yourself, you won’t have this feeling. Later, I still found a way to find someone to get the peripheral.

Photo provided by the interviewee

I bought the co-branded milk tea of ​​Bawang Cha Ji and Tomb Raiders, which came with stickers and bags. I couldn’t get in line in Beijing, so I bought it in Harbin on a business trip. I also bought Luckin’s sauce-flavored latte and the latest co-branded one with Tom and Jerry. Nova and Mao Geping have co-branded incense sticks, and I really like the smell. I’ve bought it three or four times. A co-branded one between Manner and Winona comes with a set of Winona sunscreen and face cream samples, which I also spent a lot of effort to buy.

Starbucks and Bilibili did a joint product before, giving away fluorescent bracelets that rolled up when thrown on the hand. There were four or five colors in total, with different words on them. I collected all the colors at that time. Recently, Heytea is going to do a joint product with Capibara, and it will be limited to Jiangsu Province. I have already mobilized my friends to help me find a way to get it.

In fact, most of the joint ventures and peripherals are beautiful wastes, not very practical. Every time I buy them, I don’t have a good way to use them. Some are thrown away, and some are left to gather dust. Recently, my friend and I came up with a way to transform stickers into refrigerator magnets. I have bought soft magnets, glass glue and other tools from the Internet, and plan to do some secondary creation to fix these peripheral joint ventures for a longer period of time.

The duck in the neighborhood has become a kind of social currency. For example, people who like ducks are called duck farmers. There are codes for which store to send a certain duck, and people can communicate and DIY with other people who like ducks.

If I have to say that I have made mistakes, it is that I often buy products not for the product itself, but for the peripherals and joint brands. Many new products are not delicious. In fact, young people also know that this is a routine, but they are still willing to pay for it.

This kind of joint venture is essentially the same as fans buying idol endorsements, except that one is for real people and the other is for virtual IPs. It is equivalent to that we are all crazy fans of certain favorite IPs. At this time, there is no need to talk about value. If you like this IP, you will be controlled by others. Although we know that this is a commercial routine, it is enough to give ourselves a reason to buy it.

For brands, the core of co-branding is to keep attracting users' attention. The cost is not high and it is easy to bring about a sales explosion. This method is still very useful. However, if the product is not well made, users are unlikely to repurchase. Relying only on co-branding to increase sales is equivalent to constantly investing in marketing expenses. This approach cannot be sustained.

I have never pursued a particularly expensive joint venture. For me, this kind of cheap joint venture is just to spend a small amount of money to buy a very simple, short-term happiness. At the time, I felt that I got a bargain. I took a photo and sent it to my friends and Moments. I think it is worth it to exchange a small cost for a little emotional value.

*At the request of the interviewees, Dudu, Mingming and Xiaobei are pseudonyms in this article

Author: Bruce Wen Gu Xing Xing Xiang Yuan Han Mo, Editor: Xing Xing

Source: Dingjiaoone (ID: dingjiaoone)