F&B packaging births new generation of collectors

In a world where most people keep photos and stamps in albums, Lin Mengxi stands out as she gathers packaging from milk tea and coffee products to create her own collection.

Whenever she encounters visually appealing designs or logos on food or drink packaging, the Beijing native meticulously cuts them out and places them in her album. Sometimes she repurposes them as bookmarks.

"These paper coffee cupholders and milk tea bags, though seemingly cheap, trivial and meaningless to others, have immense value to me because they are my way to unwind from the pressures of daily work and life," said the 31-year-old who works at a Shanghai-based media company.

"The joy these items bring far outweighs the allure of luxury purchases, offering eco-friendliness and a touch of style," she added.

While occasionally flipping through the album, she shares her latest collections and handmade creations with like-minded colleagues in a WeChat group and posts them on Xiaohongshu, a popular Chinese lifestyle-sharing platform, to engage with a wider audience to discuss the hobby.

"I even exchange items with others online after finding the packaging I've wanted but never obtained," she said, using it as a way for social interaction derived from a new consumption pattern.

Since Chinese food and beverage makers began teaming up with intellectual property owners of popular shows to launch co-branded campaigns in recent years, consumers like Lin have embraced the trend of collecting and transforming the packaging into resonant accessories, such as tote bags and tissue boxes.

Priceless joy

In June, domestic coffee brand Luckin Coffee teamed up with the acclaimed TV series The Tale of Rose starring Chinese actress Liu Yifei to promote its yellow rose latte.

Lin spent 31.9 yuan ($4.5) buying the themed coffee set, which contains two cups of yellow rose latte and a keychain featuring its main character "because I was drawn to the packaging bag and I also like the drama", she said.

The packaging bag features an elegant girl with long curly hair wearing a yellow dress and a dark green background that makes it appear as if she is standing in a forest.

"The coffee set was not expensive but I got such a beautiful bag while enjoying the drink. That's a win-win situation," she recalled.

In October last year, thanks to a coupon, she spent just 9.9 yuan purchasing a cup of cheese-flavored coffee co-branded between Luckin Coffee and Tom and Jerry, a United States animated cartoon series.

As a fan of the old cartoon, she cut out the image on the packaging and put it in her cherished album. She also turned the paper cupholder into a bookmark for reuse.

"The coffee price was quite cheap but the joy I got was priceless," she said.

"Although the packaging and holders may not be worth much money, the beautiful, interesting and nostalgic items always make me happy," she added. "Happiness is the most important thing. That's my attitude towards life."

Eco-friendly and stylish

One of Lin's colleagues, whose surname is Li, said that the reason she is addicted to collecting milk tea bags is not just because they look lovely but also because some of the materials used are waterproof, which holds great potential for handicrafting and recycling.

"Large-sized waterproof bags are perfect for rainy days or during business trips, as they are good for storing wet umbrellas or placing slippers in a suitcase," she explained.

"Even more ingenious is that some high-quality two-cup milk tea bags have a divider in the middle, just enough to put a shoe in each side," she said with a grin. "By simply modifying or transforming the bags for storage, it makes things organized, clean and tidy."

Compared with the past practice of discarding packaging, upcycling or DIY modifications, in her opinion, is a new trend. "I want to be an environmentally friendly and stylish person. I don't want to be out of date," she added.

When China Daily searched Xiaohongshu for content related to the transformation of food and drink packaging at the end of September, millions of posts with transformed items or handmade tutorials could be found.

As of Sept 17, for example, more than 20,000 posts have the hashtag "milk tea bag upcycled into handbags" on the platform, with many users sharing tutorials or even selling their decorated handmade products such as cardboard boxes and pen holders online.

Similar posts have also been frequently viewed and discussed on Douyin, a popular short-video service provider. On March 2, a 14-second video demonstrating how to use milk tea packaging to make book covers received about 1.83 million thumbs-ups and was forwarded almost 2.74 million times.

One internet user, whose nickname is Gao Gao, recently posted her transformed packaging of Chagee, a Chinese milk tea brand, on Xiaohongshu, "because as a cat person, it's difficult for me to say no to anything with cat elements, so when I saw that Chagee released a bag with a cat pattern several weeks ago, I immediately made a purchase," said the 26-year-old who works in Zhejiang province.

To make the bag last longer, she took three days to transform it into a tote bag. After sharing the finished product and an online tutorial on how to make it, she received a thumbs-up from many strangers, "which gave me a great sense of fulfillment", she added.

Another Xiaohongshu user nicknamed Xiaogezi found joy after upcycling Chagee's cat-patterned bag into a handbag by adding some material.

"I carried the one-of-a-kind bag into a Chagee shop, attracting the attention of many customers. Some asked me where I bought the bag and some even expressed their will to buy it at a high price," she added.

Business success

In August, milk tea brand Naixue joined hands with the Harry Potter movie series to promote a themed beverage with packaging featuring scenes and characters from the films.

After seeing the co-branded promotion, a woman from Guangdong province, 25, who calls herself Qiu, bought the drink and "immediately decided to transform the brown, plaid-patterned packaging with the Harry Potter English logo into a handbag for one of my friends, who is a Harry Potter fan," she said.

"I didn't want to waste such fabulous and high-quality packaging. It deserves to be further developed to become more useful," she said.

Harry Potter-related products, such as toys and water bottles, can be pricey. "But the handcrafted upcycled bag from the co-branded business was affordable and met the preference and needs of my friend," she said.

In other words, co-branded promotions have provided fans of IPs with easier channels to collect IP-related products while stimulating consumer spending, she added.

"It's a successful business," said Xiaogezi. "Milk tea by itself is not considered important, as many consumers desire co-branded packaging with logos or designs, and relevant gifts such as cotton bags, keychains and stickers."

According to Kamen, a media portal focusing on China's beverages sector, 231 co-branded marketing campaigns took place among 22 mainstream beverage brands in 2023.

Specifically, cartoon-related co-branding promotions took up the largest share with 61 percent, while TV drama and computer game co-branding tied for second with 17 percent each.

The IPs that brands select, along with emotional value or chemistry stimulated by co-branding, have become critical factors for consumers' purchasing decisions, effectively promoting sales growth, Kamen said.

Naming co-branding a norm in the market, it noted that the strategy has also become a golden channel for many brands to awaken dormant users and expand potential ones.

Zhu Danpeng, an independent food and beverage analyst based in Guangzhou, once lauded the co-branding campaigns, saying, "It's a good marketing strategy and an inevitable trend, especially among younger generations."

However, he emphasized that regardless of the business promotions, the essence of catering consumption should always be the products and services themselves.

Source: By Cao Yin | China Daily