“Pick-up” social networking is popular, and the food industry also likes to find “pick-ups”?

This article first points out the popularity of the "pairing" culture, various ways to find a partner on the Internet, and then talks about the origin of the "pairing" culture and its application in brands. This article is suitable for brand owners to read and find promotional inspiration.

What to match and how to match is a science...

Recently, a social method called "dazi" has become increasingly popular.

If you want to eat delicious food, you can find a dining partner to go AA together; if you are preparing for the postgraduate entrance examination, you can find a study partner to supervise each other and share information; if you want to order a cup of coffee, you can find a partner to get a free coffee or a discount when you get enough coffee; if you want to play games in a group, you can find a gaming partner to share the travel and accommodation expenses; if XX is going to hold a concert, you can also find a fan partner to share the travel and accommodation expenses...

According to the WeChat index, the search data for "Dadazi" reached a peak of nearly 15 million in May this year, and remained at a high index in the following months. On Douyin, the topic #饭兜子# received 7.19 billion views, and #游戏兜子 received 6.08 billion views, and the popularity is still rising.

What exactly does the culture of dating refer to? What kind of emotional value does the popularity of this social method reflect? If the dating form that young people like is applied to the food and beverage industry, what kind of sparks can be created?

1. The “Dating” culture is gaining popularity, focusing on a vertical field and precise companionship

1. Everything can be assembled

The word "dazi" was mentioned as early as in the "Shanghainese Dictionary" published in 2007, which means "people who play cards together, and extended to partners". Later, dazi was mainly used for the combination of meal partners. Every time it is time to eat, "meal partners" with similar tastes and similar food consumption abilities can gather together to talk and enjoy food together.

Now, the word "dazi" has been given a broader meaning, becoming a new type of social relationship formed for cooperation or companionship under a common purpose. From the need to meet up for dinner to the companionship of participating in different activities, the forms of "dazi" have become more and more diverse, such as game dazi, travel dazi, sports dazi, concert dazi... As long as it involves an activity with social needs or forms of cooperation, a corresponding dazi can be formed.

The 2023 Young People's Social Hooking Report released by Just So Soul Research Institute shows that among all the surveyed groups, nearly 90% of young people have heard of "hooking" social networking, and girls are more obvious in this feature, accounting for as high as 92%. Among them, more than 60% of young people expressed a strong desire to find a "hookup", and 18.6% of young people already have a "hookup".

Light social interactions have become a popular way of socializing among young people.

2. The reason behind the popularity of “Da Zi” is the value recognition of the subdivided circles

The DT Research Institute's survey found that the qualities people value most in a partner are "similar interests", "easy to get along with", "generosity" and "sense of social boundaries".

Different from the relationship mode of friends and colleagues who live together for a long time and need to invest a lot of energy to maintain the relationship, the relationship of partners is between strangers and acquaintances, and pays more attention to the fit between partners and "self". With common goals or interests, they can seek cooperation or companionship in specific segmented scenarios.

As popularity and fatigue in modern society increase, traditional social ties such as kinship and geography are gradually dissolving. Today's young people pay attention to personal emotions and private space, and need to maintain a sense of distance from others in life; at the same time, with the popularity of social media and the accelerated pace of life, people often feel lonely and have a desire to express themselves through social sharing, hoping to release their emotions.

Through the form of pairs, young people can accurately find similar people with similar interests and rhythms in different scenes and at different times, and gain diversified social relationships in a more relaxed and comfortable way. After forming pairs based on the same interests and hobbies and getting to know each other in depth, pairs with similar values ​​and personalities will also develop into deeper friendships.

The essence of the popularity of the "tie" relationship is the emotional needs of young people for hobbies and relaxed socializing. In the field of food and beverages, many brands also use the combination of "tie" or the emotional value behind "tie" to attract consumers' attention or cater to consumers' emotional experience.

2. Specific scene combination to strengthen the product impression and make the presence unconcealable

Building relationships and focusing on precise companionship in vertically segmented scenarios. In specific scenarios, binding with iconic foods in the scenarios can help products penetrate more scenarios, thereby strengthening product awareness.

1. Bind the wine elements of the drinking scene to create a "wine pairing combination"

In the hot summer, relaxing and enjoyable drinking scenes are becoming increasingly popular. In June, Yuanqi Forest Sparkling Water successively cooperated with the whiskey brand Chivas and the wine brand Ballantine's to jointly launch the "sparkling water + wine" "drinking pairing". From the instructions for use, it can be found that Yuanqi Forest and the two wine brands did not jointly launch new products, but started with the DIY special wine drinking method, which not only satisfied consumers' novel cocktail experience, but also provided a new scene opportunity for Yuanqi Forest Sparkling Water to penetrate the wine drinking scene and deepen its refreshing and versatile beverage characteristics.

Not only that, Yuanqi Forest also officially announced a joint collaboration with the braised food brand ZiYan Baiwei Chicken, launching the ZiYan×Yuanqi joint online takeaway and peripheral gift packages, providing a refreshing food combination for the hot summer.

Focusing on the drinking scene to create more segmented and vertical snacks, the drinking snack brand Lame Luli is a typical example. After launching the braised duck series and beef shake series, Lame Luli launched a new product, spicy chicken, in July in cooperation with Sichuan Wazi, to bring experience to the drinking scene. The new product consists of spicy chicken, glutinous rice twist and crispy pepper segments. It can be used as a snack or a dish, providing authentic Sichuan flavor. Its crispy, spicy and addictive triple taste experience matches the refreshing drinking, and can be used as a good match for meals and drinks.

2. Milk + coffee, milk + tea combination, from the raw materials behind the scenes to the front of the scene of freshly made tea and coffee, to enhance their presence

In recent years, new tea and coffee categories have been hot, especially among young people for their novel and varied flavors and tastes. Previously, Oatly oat milk entered coffee shops from the coffee base, and used the new combination of "oat milk + coffee" to effectively educate consumers, broadening the application scenarios of the oat milk category and successfully moving from behind the scenes to the front stage.

Nowadays, more and more dairy beverage brands are no longer satisfied with being the suppliers of raw materials behind their products. Instead, they have begun to "officially announce" partnerships with coffee and tea drinks to seek more category opportunities in new scenarios.

On July 20, Yongpu and Asahi Vipshop jointly launched a new series of milk coffee extracts, using natural raw milk and flash-extracted Yunnan highland black coffee, focusing on "boutique coffee that you can take with you."

On July 27, Yongpu also teamed up with Yuexianhuo to launch a relaxing "fresh" latte combination in many convenience stores in cities across the country, combining Yongpu's classic black coffee liquid with Yuexianhuo's A2-β casein fresh milk to provide a latte pairing for caffeine lovers who pursue convenience and speed.

On July 21, Yili and the tea master launched the fresh tea milk series. Yili thick milk is combined with Chinese pure tea base, providing three flavors of Congsheng Oolong Tea Milk, Wuyi Liuxia Tea Milk, and Cangwu Liubao Tea Milk.

3. New cross-border mix and match combinations to create novel experiences based on common emotional values

The partnership is established on the basis of mutual interests and value recognition. Starting from the emotional value of consumers, products with common characteristics are combined, and the emotional experience in the same direction is superimposed to enhance the commonalities of both parties and retain each other's characteristics, which can also bring consumers an ultimate and unique experience.

For example, brands in different industries can form emotional pairs based on the same activity concept and jointly create the same product mindset; different categories can seek common ground while reserving differences and integrate to create a fresh consumer experience with novel pairing combinations; they can even start with consumers' "meal pairs" to innovate product combinations.

1. Brand marketing team: New tea drinks and high-end luxury collide with young fashion culture, ice cream and beauty products grasp dopamine happiness

In May this year, the joint marketing between Heytea and Italian luxury brand FENDI sparked heated discussions among the public. It was ridiculed as a collaboration that "brings ordinary consumers the closest access to luxury goods". The new product in this series only costs 38 yuan, including 2 drinks and 1 peripheral (choose 1 of a coaster or a badge with the FENDI logo). Once the product was launched, Heytea stores were completely "paralyzed", and peripherals worth a few yuan were sold for hundreds of yuan.

It is reported that the opportunity for the cooperation between the two parties was the cultural exchange art exhibition held by FENDI in May about Chinese and Italian craftsmen. Heytea provided a Chinese-style tea room experience and a limited product experience with Chinese Yi characteristics to express respect for handicrafts and local traditional culture. At the same time, Heytea stores also launched the "FENDI Joy Yellow" series of products.

As a representative of the mainstream brand of new tea drinks, Heytea pursues a new tea culture that conforms to modern trends. In recent years, it has deepened its connection with regional culture through various marketing initiatives such as launching new products with city-limited flavors and city-related peripherals. FENDI, which focuses on quality and brand culture, has also been exploring and trying local "local culture" after entering the Chinese market. The cooperation between the two has not only achieved the fit of each other's concepts, but also successfully broken the circle and set off a huge wave of communication.

In late July, ice cream brand DQ and beauty brand Colorkey launched joint theme stores in Changsha and Shanghai. The stores have set up "Eat some peach flavor" supply stations, "Peach flavor" dressing rooms and "Peach flavor" check-in areas. In addition, DQ's new flavor of two-headed monster ice cream, Colorkey ice cream series and DQ's joint limited "Peach color" are also available in stores.

Based on the "sweetness" commonality of both brands and young people's expectations for summer vitality, DQ and colorkey used the "peach" element, which has summer attributes, the pink and sweet scene layout, the girlish joint new products and the dopamine-filled check-in point design to attract many consumers who love beauty and food to check in.

2. Pairing different categories: Baijiu + ice cream, creating a novel experience based on the rich aroma characteristics

Last year, Moutai and Mengniu jointly launched Moutai ice cream, which sparked heated discussions in the industry and attracted the public's attention. On July 29 this year, Moutai and Zhongjie 1946 officially announced the launch of Moutai ice cream "Small Stick". It is reported that the product has undergone 120 days of research and development, 30 taste tests, and finally adopted the "three injections and two suctions" process, using 17 process flows to cleverly combine the aroma of Moutai and the milk aroma of ice cream, forming a triple stick structure of "milk shell (surface) + white shell (middle layer) + wine core (inner core)", presenting a multiple taste experience.

In June this year, Shede Wine Industry and Saint Yo Life launched a co-branded ice cream that is only sold on the Hema App. The biggest selling point of the product is that it has zero alcohol content, but has the strong aroma of Shede wine. The product is divided into three layers in structure: black sesame oatmeal flavored ice cream, cocoa cookie crumbs and wine-flavored ice cream, providing a distinct taste experience, and comes with Shede wine flavored bursting beads, unlocking a variety of ways to eat.

3. Focus on different “dinner partners”: Starting from the lifestyle of pet companionship, create a “human-pet dining together” package for non-human dining partners

In recent years, the pet economy has developed rapidly, the relationship between people and pets has received widespread attention, and a lifestyle focusing on "pet companionship", providing pet-friendly services, and launching pet peripherals have become the main way for some food brands to satisfy pet lovers and pet owners.

On July 31, NetEase Tiancheng, a professional pet brand selected by NetEase, joined hands with Pizza Hut, a Western fast food brand, to launch two cute pet packages, "One Piece of Show" and "One Piece of Play", which are suitable for pets of all stages. Among them, the "Freeze-dried Raw Bone and Meat Pizza" of NetEase Tiancheng pet snacks, suitable for pets of all stages, uses a balanced ratio of raw bones and meat, selects raw materials such as chicken, quail, and cod, and adds lactoferrin and dual prebiotics to help gastrointestinal digestion. It is called "a meat feast for land, sea, and air".

In addition, NetEase Tiancheng has also launched activities such as the Douyin Challenge for Non-Human Dining Partners, which uses sticker special effects to dress up cats and dogs, anthropomorphize pets, generate different "dinner partner outfits", and create a scene where people and pets dine together.

The emotional value generated by young people in the new era has catalyzed the popularity of a new type of social relationship called "pairing". By analyzing the reasons behind the popularity of the "pairing" phenomenon, food brands can cleverly use the "pairing" form to meet consumers' emotional needs in terms of combining "pairing" in specific scenarios and using new "pairing" to create new product experiences.

Author: Carol He WeChat public account: Foodaily Daily Food