HEYTEA x FENDI, another one-way collaboration?

The "HEYTEA" x "FENDI" collaboration became a hot topic on Weibo. Once launched, the official HEYTEA app crashed and many stores were sold out. However, FENDI's official Weibo account and other accounts did not mention the collaboration at all that day. Why? Behind the popularity, the collaboration is not simple. Let's take a look!

“HEYTEA has made great progress! It has collaborated with the luxury brand “FENDI”.”

“I paid the full amount for just over ten bucks. This is the closest I’ve ever been to FENDI.”

“The collaboration between FENDI and HEYTEA reminds me of last year’s MANNER-LV Aranya menswear show.”

Since yesterday, knife friends in the knife skills community have said that their friend circles have been flooded with messages about the "HEYTEA" x "FENDI" collaboration.

That morning, #喜茶FENDI合名# became a hot search on Weibo. In the real-time discussion area of ​​the topic, many netizens reported that the official Heytea app "Heytea GO" was overwhelmed. They found that the co-branded products and peripherals were quietly launched online at some point, and many stores were sold out.

In fact, as early as May 15, Heytea released a notice that it would announce a new joint venture the next day, and some people in the comment area speculated that the partner was FENDI. But on May 16, Heytea did not make the official announcement as promised.

It was not until several hours after the trending search on Weibo that Heytea officially announced on multiple social media accounts including Weibo, Weibo and Xiaohongshu that it would work with the "FENDI 'hand in hand' Art Exhibition" to bring the "hand in hand tea room" and limited product experience with Chinese Yi characteristics, and specially present the "FENDI Joy Yellow" special blend in Heytea's mainland stores. At the same time, Heytea also changed the visual of the brand's social media accounts to a limited joint version, including the new "Joy Yellow" LOGO and cover.

On the other hand, FENDI's official Weibo and other accounts focused on promoting the "FENDI 'hand in hand' Art Exhibition" and did not mention the joint event at all, maintaining the luxury brand's usual "aloofness".

Considering all the above, it is no wonder that some people speculated that "this collaboration was a scam by Heytea and FENDI was cheated."

But in fact, this collaboration is not as simple as imagined.

1. HEYTEA x FENDI: Does it matter who takes the initiative to invite first?

Did Heytea contact FENDI first, or did FENDI contact Heytea?

More than one knife community is concerned about the question of "who takes the initiative first". According to knife analysis, the key to this question lies in two points.

First, why is there such an "unequal" cross-border collaboration between Heytea, whose average customer spending is around 15-20 yuan, and FENDI, whose average customer spending is over 10,000 yuan?

Second, why did FENDI choose HEYTEA?

@刀姐doris shared the views of her friend @robbie on Xiaohongshu. Here is an excerpt: For co-branding, the unit price of both parties is not important, but the brand's position in the industry is important. Heytea is a top brand in its own industry, and its recognition among young people is the basis of the co-branding.

Intuitively, it is this seemingly "unequal" relationship that makes cross-border brand collaborations the most original topic. In WeChat Moments, Weibo, and Xiaohongshu, more and more consumers are posting their purchases and making jokes, from "My first FENDI item was given by Heytea" to now "I went to buy a co-branded milk tea, the peripherals were sold out, and I ended up getting a FENDI scarf as a gift."

Image from: Knife Skills Community

Active communication and social media postings are important criteria for testing the effectiveness of brand collaborations. This collaboration gained a lot of attention in just two days, and even Heytea FENDI peripherals were priced at 100 yuan on second-hand platforms. The effectiveness of this marketing campaign is self-evident.

Dao Fa's "Kinetic Energy Theory Model 2.0" proposed the "Four Quadrants of Brand" based on the degree of desire, availability, spiritual needs and functional needs, and divided brands into four main types: spiritual leaders, technological leaders, practical and necessary currencies, and addictive small happiness.

Comparing the "Brand Four Quadrants", we can find that Heytea belongs to the "addictive little happiness" in the lower right corner, while FENDI is in the "spiritual leader" in the upper right corner. In terms of the number of audience groups, Heytea's consumer base is larger and relatively sinking. As a luxury brand, FENDI is more inclined to high-net-worth consumers in high-tier cities. The joint brand of the two parties can complement each other's audiences through the collision of their respective tones and positioning.

According to the ideal logic deduction:

• Previously, Heytea faced competition from lower-tier markets due to price cuts, opening up franchises in lower-tier cities, and further exploring lower-tier markets. However, through the joint venture with FENDI, Heytea has undoubtedly raised its brand tone again, opening up a new situation for deepening its brand psychological imprint in lower-tier markets.
• In contrast, FENDI has not received much attention in social media discussions in recent years and has not produced any hit products. The collaboration with HEYTEA can cover a wide range of people at one time, and a considerable number of these milk tea consumers already have sufficient financial strength, making them have the opportunity to become FENDI's brand fans and potential consumers.

It seems like a win-win situation.

However, what people are more interested in is "who benefits more from it".

Back to the starting point of this collaboration, FENDI's starting point is to promote its own art exhibition. Now search the keyword "FENDI" on Weibo, and the results page will also show the exhibition-related content. FENDI has also set up an exclusive event mini program specifically for this art exhibition. Daofa learned through the mini program that as of the afternoon of May 18, all the places for FENDI's exhibition from May 19 to 28 have been booked.

"Business Matters" pointed out that "In March 2021, L Catterton, the world's largest consumer investment fund, invested in two emerging consumer brands in China, one of which is Yuanqi Forest and the other is Heytea. And 40% of the shares of this L Catterton fund belong to the family of Bernard Arnault, head of the LVMH Group. As a member of the LVMH Group's brand matrix, if FENDI wants to choose a local Chinese tea brand to cooperate with, Heytea is obviously a more logical choice."

Considering the social media voice FENDI gained through this collaboration, the popularity of the exhibition, and the capital relationships behind it, in the short term, FENDI is not completely the one being "taken advantage of."

Of course, everyone’s concerns about FENDI are not without reason.

Xiaohongshu user @芋艿和猫 said: FENDI contributed the main brand and main elements to this collaboration, and put itself into a common cooperation case (milk tea collaboration). In addition to gaining some exposure, it may face the pickyness of old users in the future.

Using the kinetic energy theory of knife skills, FENDI chose to monetize its brand potential in pursuit of brand momentum. This choice is full of risks, because once the critical point of brand potential is broken, it is difficult to return to the original height again. For example, beauty brands emphasize "big brand substitutes" in order to quickly launch popular products, and it is difficult to create high-end lines later.

Once the potential energy falls below the critical point, it is difficult to rise again

FENDI's cleverness lies in its collaboration with HEYTEA while holding an art exhibition, combining kinetic energy with potential energy .

Another fact is that this joint exposure has allowed many young users to get in touch with FENDI, but FENDI is positioned as a luxury brand, and mainly operates offline stores and official mini-programs in China. It has not opened an official store on mainstream e-commerce platforms such as Tmall, and has indeed failed to maximize the flow of passers-by fans and thus drive conversions. In contrast, GUCCI, which also pursues youth, has made a certain distinction between online e-commerce through pallets and offline stores, giving users higher availability and choice.

If FENDI wants to accelerate the rejuvenation of the brand by co-branding with HEYTEA, then the longer-term brand strategy is the focus that FENDI needs to focus on. From this perspective, it is not important whether HEYTEA is “touching” FENDI or FENDI is actively looking for HEYTEA.

2. The more you collaborate, the lighter you are, but you can’t make it more watery.

In addition to being a surprise, consumers can also clearly feel that the HEYTEA x FENDI collaboration has been basically a one-way output by HEYTEA so far, and FENDI has not yet released related materials on social platforms.

For FENDI, this is a relatively "light" collaboration.

Daofa also found that although beverage brands are major players in joint ventures, in the past two years, some brand joint ventures have become increasingly "light".

DaoFa reviewed the cases of Heytea, Nayuki's Tea, Luckin Coffee, and MANNER. Most of the cross-border cooperation between brands has two types:

One is a relatively deep collaboration. Both parties will come up with a limited theme, make comprehensive innovations in product flavors, peripheral gifts, promotional slogans, etc., and set up offline theme stores.

For example, Heytea’s co-branded designer Fujiwara Hiroshi launched a new flavor called “Cool Black Plum Mulberry”, and the store and product designs will also adopt a new black color scheme, and the practice of using mulberries as an ingredient for milk tea has become popular. Another example is Luckin Coffee’s collaboration with Line Puppy, and the limited new product “Thorny Rose Latte” launched on Valentine’s Day, with purchases of the product giving away cup sleeves, stickers and other peripherals, and the stickers were sold out many times in less than a week.

The other is to update the visual design of the surrounding gifts and stores based on the existing products. For example, Nayuki's Tea cooperated with "Just Love" to promote the classic "Baqi Green Grape" series, providing Q-version plush pat rings, key chains and other peripherals; another example is Luckin Coffee co-branded "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure", promoting the annual hot single product "Raw Cheese Latte".

Among them, the latter degree of collaboration is equivalent to the brand creating a new consumption scenario (new IP), using "explosive products to attract new customers", and exploring potential target groups for milk tea in the segmented field.

In this regard, Daofa has no intention of taking sides and endorsing which type of joint venture is better.

The fact that collaborations are becoming lighter does not mean they are ineffective. After the collaboration between Luckin Coffee and JOJO, the sales volume exceeded 1.31 million cups per day. FENDI provided the brand logo, and users flocked to the mini program to buy the limited edition Heytea.

Today, the impact of brand collaboration is large enough to allow two different audiences to see each other's lifestyles.

The only thing brands need to remember is their users. Don’t let the collaboration become more and more watery, and don’t waste the good opportunity for the two sides to create a chemical reaction through cross-border collision.

Author: Chu Qing

Source: WeChat official account: "Knife Skills Research Institute (ID: DigipontClub)"