Another year, another Coconut Latte anniversary campaign. After the meme-tastic success of the Tengger and THE MONSTERS (LABUBU and friends from POP MART) collaboration, Luckin Coffee is back at it again to celebrate its evergreen best-seller, the Coconut Latte. For the Coconut Latte’s fourth birthday, Luckin recruited standup comedian Fu Hang, winner of the iQiyi King of Comedy and took him to a private island in Indonesia.
However, this is not a resort. It is one of the Banggai Islands that Luckin and its partners leased from the local authorities exclusively for coconut production. Fu Hang is now named the “happy birthday officer” and the honorary “master of the coconut island” for Luckin. Dressed in a coconut-themed Hawaiian shirt, Fu is pictured with mountains of freshly harvested coconuts in the shoot.
The promotional video, however, takes away Fu’s speciality of language as it is a “silent ad”. By silent, Luckin means no dialogue, only music and subtitles. Music plays a huge role in the ad as it took the opening theme to the 1986 Journey to the West TV series and Fu parodies the Monkey King in many of the shots. But for the most part, Fu interacts with local workers to harvest coconuts and pose with the fruits. This is also fitting because Fu is sometimes called “Monkey” by endearing fans.
Luckin also introduced a commemorative coconut latte with jellies to celebrate the 1.2 billion cups sold in the past 4 years. The coffee chain launched giveaway campaigns for social media engagement. Fu Hang merch and Jellycat-like coconut plushies are also available as part of the collaboration.
Not only is the campaign heavily meme-able, making it interactive, but it also establishes “Coconut Latte” anniversaries itself as a brand. The campaign is part of Luckin’s recent initiative of emphasising the place of origin for its ingredients to differentiate itself as a healthier brand with better quality.
Need to boost your China strategy? Dao Pro delivers bespoke insights on marketing, innovation, and digital trends, direct from Chinese sources. Find out more from our Dao Strategy Team here.
