Instagrammable Appearance an Absolute Must for Food and Beverage Brands in China
An ice cream flavor called oat earth went viral on Chinese social media. It is from a store called Gelato Dal Cuore (达可芮) in Shanghai. Six months after it was introduced to the public, it sold more than 40k cones. There are 4,200 posts about this one ice cream flavor on Xiaohongshu. This is just one example showing how food brands in China can make a name for themselves just by being photogenic.
The ice cream is blend of green and blue ice cream, making a scoop of this ice cream look like a little earth. With its popularity on Chinese social media, Dal Cuore has become one of the must-go ice cream stores on DianPing (大众点评), an app that helps users easily find local restaurants, hotels and shops.
More Than Just Good Looks
What makes the ice cream different from others is the external meaning created by its looks. It is a collaboration with environmental oat milk brand Oatly. It is delivering the message to customers that there is only one earth in the world and we should protect and cherish it well. This concept is accepted by the public and makes it more than just an ice cream. By buying it, it feels like you agree with the concept and you are joining the protecting-the-earth team.
Does this sound a bit familiar with you? While reading this news, it reminds me of an article that we wrote before about the Bear Claw Coffee also in Shanghai. Coffee sold at the store are not ordinary ones for the reason that the store specifically employs disabled people, and by buying coffee, customers are showing their support and care for them. A warm cause behind the product.
LELECHA (乐乐茶) and its Earth Yogurt
Dal Cuore is not the only one tapping into the earth theme and collaborating with Oatly. On the past Earth Day (April 22), new beverage brand LELECHA launched a new drink called Earth Yogurt. It adds blueberries, avocado, yogurt and oat milk into the drink, as if they were the sky, cloud, mountain and lake on the earth.
Even without a story, food brands, especially beverage brands can also create “another reason” for customers to buy it by changing its packaging or looks.
Peach drinks with a “peach” on top
While many new beverage stores are launching fruit tea, to stand out, Heqi Taotao (和气桃桃) directly puts a “peach” on top of the drink. The peach is made of custard and it looks very real. Before serving the drink to customers, employees use a sprayer to put those fruit powder on it. The process is often presented in front of the customer, which offers them a chance to take photos or to record a video.
The product is also popular because of scarcity. Because of the complicated process to create a custard peach, each store will only sell 100 peach drinks at 1 pm, and another 100 peach drinks served at 6 pm every day.
Flower decoration
Girls love flowers and the majority of milk tea consumers are girls. Be Normal Cafe, a coffee store in Xiamen (厦门) has beverages with flowers decoration on the top. It has become a must-go store for visitors.
Adding a Guochao (国潮) element
As Chinese consumers’ interest in local culture (Guochao), many beverage brands have started incorporating traditional Chinese design elements. This is especially popular near tourism destinations.
For example, the coffee store located near The Palace Museum, adds the scenery spot’s element to its packaging. The combination of tradition and cuteness appeals a lot to the young generation. Cloud milk tea (乌云奶茶), is another example. It sources inspiration from Chinese style painting. Or there’s Dedi ice cream’s recent collaboration with the Shenyang Imperial Palace Museum.
All of these examples have one thing in common, they have added additional reasons for consumers to buy the drink. Photogenic or “Instagrammable” products are popular for food and beverage brands throughout the world. In China this is certainly a key way to generate buzz about a product and get consumers in the door.
Read more: 产品“造景”，给顾客增加一个购买的理由｜水滴案例
