Many brands are enthusiastic about engaging in crossover campaigns with other brands to gain increased traffic and synergistic effects in the Chinese market. Just last week, HeyTea, one of China's most renowned milk tea brands, successfully unveiled its collaboration with the prestigious Italian luxury brand Fendi.
This isn't the initial instance of HeyTea collaborating with other brands, but it's definitely one of the most widely anticipated crossovers for HeyTea. Ever since the campaign was launched, numerous discussions have dominated Chinese social media, and the hashtag #喜茶fendi联名 (#heyteafendicrossover) has skyrocketed to the top of trending topics. The crossover has sparked two main discussions that revolve around Fendi itself:
On the affirmative side: This crossover is beneficial for Fendi as it introduces the luxury brand to a wider audience through HeyTea's promotion. It brings unprecedented brand exposure for Fendi in the Chinese market, and within just a few days, numerous user-generated content (UGC) has been created for this campaign.
Additionally, Fendi has leveraged this increased traffic to attract visitors to its month-long "hand in hand" exhibition held in Beijing. Fendi utilized Heytea's presence on Chinese social media platforms such as Weibo, WeChat Official Account, and Xiaohongshu for promotion.
On the opposing side: Fendi's collaboration with HeyTea is ill-advised as it undermines its own brand image due to the significant disparity in brand value between the two. This partnership unquestionably impacts Fendi's sales, as loyal customers become aware that the brand they support is aligning itself with a considerably less expensive brand.
In terms of campaign figures, the #heyteafendi related topics on Weibo have garnered an impressive 70 million views, while on Xiaohongshu, there have been a total of 176,500 interactions (including likes, comments, and saves). Notably, on China's largest search engine, Baidu, there has been a remarkable 375% surge in the search index percentage.
According to the available information, it is stated that LVMH, the luxury goods conglomerate, became a shareholder of HeyTea in 2021. This is supported by the fact that one of LVMH's investment arms, L Catterton, participated in HeyTea's Series D financing. If this information is accurate, and considering that Fendi is also under the ownership of LVMH, then the true beneficiary of this campaign would be LVMH itself.
Regarding the evaluation of the campaign, we can consider whether it is worthwhile for both Fendi and HeyTea or if it primarily benefits only one of the brands.
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