Its latest launch, the Fibre Fruit Tea series, is about just that shift in proposition. Not fruit tea as a treat, but as routine. Not occasional consumption, but something embedded into daily life. The question is whether habitual hydration can be redefined as a branded experience. 

From fruit tea to functional hydration 

Consumers increasingly want beverages that are both functional and enjoyable, but the category is full of trade-offs. Health often comes at the expense of taste. Convenience can dilute perceived efficacy. 

Otter TonTon’s approach is to collapse that tension. Ingredients like kale, aronia berry, and turmeric work on the functional element, while fruit blends and sweetness control technologies smooth out the flavour profile. What they’re calling their ‘fresh extraction’ process is positioned as the technical bridge between the two. 

The more strategic move, however, is how the product is framed. Rather than leaning into wellness – which can imply effort, discipline, and inconvenience – the brand positions the product as ease. A small upgrade to something consumers already do. Reported repurchase rates above 40% suggest Otter TonTon has already moved beyond trial into habit formation.  

The discipline behind five years of growth 

Otter TonTon’s growth story is notably unflashy. In a market that has rewarded speed and virality, the brand has taken a slower path, focusing on product and the moments at which consumers engage. 

Instead of chasing traffic spikes, it has focused on when and why consumers reach for a drink. That discipline has allowed it to navigate a highly competitive period for China’s consumer brands, where many struggled with rising costs and short product lifecycles. In this landscape many brands have chosen to amplify their voice. In comparison, Otter’s branding feels geared towards timelines, being a good fit and not about exposure.  

Otter TonTon: From e-commerce brand to retail presence 

Like many digitally native brands, Otter TonTon started in e-commerce, where consumption is planned and delayed. Moving into offline retail shifts the brand into moments of immediacy. 

Now present in more than 50,000 retail locations – including convenience stores and supermarkets – the brand is mapping products to specific consumption contexts. Convenience stores capture the afternoon slump, supermarkets support household stocking, and discount channels cater to price-sensitive consumers. In this context, offline isn’t just a distribution expansion. It’s become a shift in how and when the product is consumed. 

Otter TonTon: From internet-famous to infrastructure brand 

Five years ago, Otter TonTon helped define the freeze-dried fruit tea category. That was the easier part. Creating a product is one thing, but embedding it into daily behaviour is another. 

The Fibre Fruit Tea launch suggests the brand is now playing a longer game. It is no longer just competing within beverages, but for a role in routine. That shifts the basis of competition. The moat is no longer built on traffic spikes or one-off hits, but on frequency, familiarity, and fit. In China’s consumer market, moving from internet to infrastructure is a common ambition. Few brands manage it. Otter TonTon looks set to pull it off. 

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The campaign got to a start with a teaser animation that felt made for fans. There’s wordplay between 狼 (wolf) and 郎 (ro, from Sushiro), queue numbers that look suspiciously misprinted, and a handful of blink-and-you-miss-it in-jokes. It even sneaks in a plug for takeaway.  

Visually, the brand made the right call: it sticks to the original animation style. No redesign, no over-polishing. Just straight nostalgia, delivered clean. Like its earlier Chiikawa collaboration, this one rolls out in phases. From April 6, the menu gets a themed refresh – kids’ sets, oversized sushi platters, and a soft, slightly indulgent osmanthus mousse. Orders come with merch that backs the strategy: PVC pouches, stickers, ice cream spoons, acrylic charms. Small items, high collectability. 

Spend a little more and the collaboration opens up. Bills over RMB 100 unlock limited-edition character cards, with extra add-ons like branded plates, badges, and blind boxes available to purchase. Notably, this round feels more price-friendly. The barrier is just low enough to keep the access easy and impulse high. 

The colab runs offline too. Fourteen stores have been re-skinned into Green Grassland, with themed table mats, ordering screens, and interiors that push the experience beyond the plate. Then there’s the live moment: on April 12, characters dropped into the Guangzhou Yuehui City store for photos, interactions, and instant keepsakes. 

It’s familiar territory for Sushiro by now. Take a well-loved IP, layer it across product, space, and collectables, and let nostalgia do the heavy lifting. But this time they’ve shown a real deft hand in how to tie collaboration into more purchases and collectibility. 

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Collaboration is nothing new in the F&B world, but this one plays neatly into Saturnbird’s positioning. Rather than pushing function or origin stories, the brand leans into emotional association – using a legacy IP to frame coffee as a small, everyday trigger for imagination. 

The core product is a boxed set containing nine capsules of Saturnbird’s signature specialty instant coffee. Each mini canister features a different Snoopy ‘highlight moment,’ translating the character’s shifting identities into visual packaging cues. Alongside the coffee, the set includes a mug, magnetic fridge accessory and themed cards, extending the experience beyond consumption into collectible territory. 

Limited-edition bundles expand on this base. Three themed variations – ‘Roaming,’ ‘Pet Lover’ and ‘Carefree’ – add practical lifestyle items such as a thermos, pet bowl and storage bags. The additions are not incidental. They position the product within a broader routine, linking coffee drinking to moments of leisure, mobility and companionship. 

In this case, Snoopy’s open-ended imagination offers Saturnbird a flexible narrative frame – one that aligns with the possibilities of a seasonal spring reset, while keeping the product anchored in daily habit. This isn’t a collaboration for novelty’s sake. It’s more about reinforcement and turning a cup of coffee into a repeatable, lightly imaginative ritual. 

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It was peak strawberry season. A car accident had left the couple unable to manage a greenhouse full of ripe fruit. Wu stepped in to connect them with Mixue Bingcheng, which was already running large-scale fresh strawberry procurement locally. The result was potential loss was converted into income. 

Rather than letting the moment pass as a one-off story, Mixue formalised the relationship. The brand named Wu its ‘agricultural support partner’ and ‘real fruit tea witness,’ reframing a spontaneous intervention as part of a longer-term sourcing and rural support strategy. It also reiterated commitments to continue purchasing qualified strawberries from production hubs such as Changfeng (长丰), extending its model of focussing on origin as the backbone of its supply.  

The campaign’s mechanics sit in the details. Wu’s handwritten message – thanking participants for ‘doing the impossible together’ and turning small ‘berry’ acts into something meaningful –  now appears on customer receipts, co-signed with the brand’s Snow King (雪王) mascot. This builds on Mixue’s earlier experiments with receipt-based storytelling, but shifts the function from entertainment to embedded CSR. 

What’s happening here is also about system design. Mixue shows agri-support is linking upstream sourcing with downstream consumption, making the supply chain visible at the point of purchase. It’s a tried and tested F&B tactic. Consumers see it and understand they’re not just buying a product, they’re participating in chain of purchases and preparation. In this case, they also get the powerful feeling of knowing their choice has delivered support.  

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What did 999 Ausnutria do? 

Instead of telling that story through facts and product claims, 999 Ausnutria went offline and hyper local, centring an exhibition around a few small streets in a residential district in Guangzhou.  

Parents donated clothes that no longer fit their children. The clothes were hung alongside family photos of children growing up. Photos celebrated children’s height milestones. There was bone density testing and product sampling, as well as DIY keepsakes made from clothing scraps and a growing taller tips board for parents. 

It wasn’t a high-spectacle push for those who attended, but of course it was social media ready. In many ways, that’s a very nice approach to take. It allows for word-of-mouth amplification around the neighbourhood in a genuine way, kind of how residents might comment that the kid from down the street is growing up big and strong.  

What goes unnoticed 

What’s really smart about this campaign is that the element of outgrown clothes ties into the very problem that 999 Ausnutria are trying to overcome: visibility. A child’s growth is visible but often goes unrecognised. Just as 999 Ausnutria products list supplement specifics, parents track height, nutrition, and development through charts and metrics. But the most immediate proof of growth tends to be clothes that no longer fit. 

And so, here’s the emotional element. Parents notice when clothes don’t fit. They even keep them. Sometimes they pass them on. By using this as their centrepiece, 999 Ausnutria has managed to enter into conversation in a way that’s deeply linked to the part of their branding that was missing.  

How 999 Ausnutria can leverage scalability 

It’s hard to miss the scalability of this type of push. While the Little Clothes Gathering only took over a few Guangzhou alleys, it’s teed up nicely for a rollout in other parts of the city, and nationwide.  

What it lacks in scale is really its strength. A few stands, some old clothes, engagement from the immediate community is all they need. Contrast this with the way Rednote’s Street Life Festival takes over entire cities, and you’ll see how nimble 999 Ausnutria have kept themselves.  

The Dao view  

What really works about the Little Clothes Gathering is its simplicity. 999 Ausnutria have found a way to solve a problem and deliver a message in a bundle so well put together, it looks deceptively simple.  

There’s no claims to be the best. They don’t push product with any real force. They’ve simply given visibility to something that goes overlooked and sat the product beside it. In a category crowded with claims and comparisons, the emotional message their product sits beside will surely hit home.  

The post How 999 Ausnutria is solving a relevance issue with outgrown clothes  appeared first on Dao Insights.

In the film’s mock-serious send-off someone asks: ‘who killed trouble?’ The answer is revealed through a string of all-too familiar scenarios. Users hesitate over meal choices, travel plans and itineraries. Each moment of indecision is resolved by Meituan’s AI assistant, Xiaotuan (小团).  

The framing here is that Xiaotuan isn’t just some AI assistant, but a tool that removed the second guessing around daily trouble. The film doesn’t push technical claims, Meituan is tapping into capability and lived experience. ‘Trouble’ becomes a shared cultural shorthand – something everyone complains about but rarely defines. And Meituan kills it off.  

It’s an absurd concept, which is why we can’t forget the timing. April Fools’ Day gives the campaign permission to be so, handling the topic with a light touch that removes any boredom with another dry product push.  

Xiaotuan was introduced as an AI-powered search function earlier this year with the push Ask Xiaotuan (问小团). During Spring Festival, it expanded into scenario-based services, helping users plan reunion dinners and trips through a dedicated in-app hub.  

Trouble is Dead consolidates those iterations into a single idea. Xiaotuan is no longer just a feature set. It’s positioned as a decision-making layer across Meituan’s ecosystem, one that promises to make choices easier, and in doing so, make everyday consumption feel frictionless. We’ve all sat flicking through Meituan too long, wondering what in the hell we’re going to eat. Maybe this was long overdue.  

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Xiang Piaopiao built its name on instant milk tea, but that category has been steadily squeezed by the rise of freshly made tea chains. In response, the company has been shifting towards ready-to-drink products, which now account for the majority of its revenue. The pivot, however, has yet to stabilise performance. Recent years have seen both revenue and profit maintain a decline.  

Overseas markets offer a bright future, if tapped well. Until now, Xiang Piaopiao’s international presence has leaned heavily on traditional distribution models, selling primarily to overseas Chinese consumers. It’s worked, but now they want to be a better fit for domestic consumers in these overseas markets. If they can pull it off they’ll be netting a while new market.  

The Thailand factory is designed with that in mind. Rather than exporting finished goods from China, Xiang Piaopiao is localising production, using Southeast Asia as both a supply base and a growth market. The plan includes a push into fruit tea products tailored to local tastes, with an emphasis on low sugar and fresh ingredients, as well as made-in-Thailand positioning to appeal to the local crowd. 

The Dao view: Xiang Piaopiao might find equally fierce competition abroad

Southeast Asia’s beverage market is already being reshaped by a wave of Chinese tea chains expanding abroad, alongside entrenched local players and global giants. Big players like Chagee, Heytea and Mixue will be tough competition.  

Consumer preferences also vary sharply by country, making a standardised approach difficult. What works in Thailand may not work in, say, Malaysia. So for Xiang Piaopiao this is more than a factory build. It’s a test whether they can localise enough to stand out, and if new turf gives them space to be competitive. If all goes well, they may have found an answer to their financial woes. 

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Clips of Qu mixing up English words – ‘spinach’ and ‘Spanish’, ‘percent’ and ‘person’ – have become memes. It’s offbeat, and perhaps even dated, humour but it feels fresh and relatable.  

Dairy brand, Satine (金典), has moved in quick, announcing Qu Ying as ambassador for its fresh milk line (鲜活), and in doing so, converting her renewed relevance into a chance for some fin commercial work.  

For the ad push, Satine lifts Qu’s viral lines directly into campaign visuals, turning language confusion into product messaging. The central line – ‘好喝不需要翻译’ (Good taste needs no translation) – ties the humour back to the product, running personality, meme and selling point into a single idea.  

Online, users have extended the joke format with their own riffs, pushing the campaign beyond paid media into something more iterative and social. On platforms like Rednote (小红书) and Weibo (微博), this has played out through layered interaction: comment sections evolve into parallel joke threads, while short-form video users recreate and escalate the format through duets, edits and parody clips. 

One noted that Qu Ying’s green dress is the colour of spinach (though they missed some low-hanging fruit with a Spanish gag there). Another was so keen on the campaign they commented saying ‘This wave must be supported.’ It might look like a celeb endorsement, but this is really all about cultural literacy and a sharp eye for timing. 

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For those that didn’t catch it the first time around, back in 2011, Luo self-directed a short film called Happiness at 59cm: Pony. It featured a now-classic cafe order scene. Asking for a medium-sized cup, he’s repeatedly corrected by a barista insisting the sizes don’t mean what he thinks they do. The exchange spirals into frustration, ending with Luo slapping himself. The clip struck a relatable note with viewers, becoming shorthand for consumer exasperation with overcomplicated brand logic. 

Luckin’s campaign replays the setup, but rewrites the ending. The original female co-star returns, now cast as a Luckin barista introducing the brand’s cup sizes. Viewers are primed for another meltdown. Instead, Luo calmly orders five supersized Orange C Americanos, landing the pitch in one move: more coffee, better value, no confusion required. 

Where the original joke mocked convoluted naming, Luckin positions itself as the simpler, more rational alternative. The product message is straightforward, but the delivery leans on collective memory to do the heavy lifting. 

The Luckin Luo Yonghao campaign is backed by a week-long promotion. From March 23 to 29, Luckin is handing out 30,000 free upsizing vouchers daily through its app and mini programme, encouraging users to upgrade large drinks to supersize or extra-large formats. 

The partnership itself isn’t new. Luckin has been working with Luo Yonghao since last year, including sponsorship of his video podcast and earlier content collaborations. This latest outing shows the relationship settling into its rhythm: familiar face, familiar joke, this time repurposed with a different commercial intent. 

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That’s refreshing, because most brands lean the other way: on celebrity, rather than role. Oreo are pulling campaign visuals straight from Zhu Yu. They follow Fan Changyu’s journey from butcher’s daughter to general. Her knack for cooking – a small but memorable trait in the series – forms the hook. With it, Oreo get to tell a story about food as comfort in tough conditions. 

That idea runs through the campaign line: 尝尽春日味，让再苦的军营日子也有盼头, (lit. Taste the flavours of spring – so even on the toughest days in camp you have something to look forward to). It’s not typical of Oreo, a brand that’s marketing is usually playful and light.  

This push also coincides with the launch of a limited edition Spring range. The season, with its connotations of renewal and so forth, mirrors the character’s arc, lending the product drop a bit more narrative weight. 

More broadly, it’s a good example of how brands in China are approaching IP collaborations. Rather than relying on star power alone, they link into the emotional logic of a character audiences already understand. You can look at the wild buzz around Zootopia 2 or the Ne Zha films for examples of that. Black Myth Wukong would also fit the bill. In this playbook, it’s not just about star power alone, but what that star’s story can do for your brand.  

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