What happened
Rihanna’s beauty brand, Fenty Beauty, announced its collaboration with the popular Chinese tea shop HEYTEA for the promotion of its “Cheeks Out” Cream Blush ($20) on Wednesday, April 29. But instead of a product drop, which is common for limited editions, both brands decide to only reward dedicated fans via a lottery on Weibo.
The product was originally released worldwide earlier this year; however, the new not-for-sale packaging offers a couple of additional freebies: make-up bag with both brands’ logos and a HEYTEA voucher inside. In order to enter the lottery, fans first needed to follow both brands’ Weibo accounts and then finish a couple of tasks. Since Wednesday, @HEYTEA (@喜茶, 627k followers) and @FentyBeautyOfficial (92k followers) have garnered 46,000 impressions collectively with official posts.
Jing Take:#
The not-for-sale crossover is a clever move for Fenty Beauty to create hype while adding an air of exclusivity to the event and the product. The goal is clear enough: the two brands share the same target audience — Chinese millennials and Gen-Zers — who are loyal to Fenty Beauty and don’t mind waiting in long lines for a cup of HEYTEA, so why not share the pool together?
HEYTEA is not your everyday tea shop. It’s a venture-backed start-up with a whopping $2.3 billion valuation last month, according to TechNode. Unlike Luckin Coffee, the Chinese coffee chain that recently caught international headlines due to fraud, HEYTEA’s organic popularity has its zealous fans to thank — that’s another thing that the brands have in common.
The Jing Take reports on a leading piece of news while presenting our editorial team’s analysis of its key implications for the luxury industry. In this recurring column, we analyze everything from product drops and mergers to heated debates that sprout up on Chinese social media.