As health awareness rises and young consumer groups gain influence, major brands are revamping their tea drink packaging to capture attention and gain more market share in the beverage market. On April 15, Beijing Business Today reporters discovered in some supermarkets that Uni-President's Xiaoming Classmate had launched a co-branded new packaging with the British Museum. Notably, not long ago, Nongfu Spring had just upgraded the packaging of Tea π. Industry insiders believe that the ready-to-drink tea market's growth is slowing, forcing companies to continuously innovate, and brands hope to capture the peak season's dividends through innovation. Xiaoming Classmate and Tea π can be seen as industry bellwethers; this time, Xiaoming Classmate's collaboration with a major IP to launch new packaging is clearly aimed at Tea π's revamp, ensuring it doesn't fall behind as the beverage peak season approaches. 01 Frequent Packaging Marketing Beijing Business Today reporters observed in the market that Xiaoming Classmate's new packaging, co-branded with the British Museum, features an Ancient Egyptian civilization theme, with Xiaoming Classmate depicted as Cleopatra, an Egyptian pharaoh, Anubis, and the Sphinx. These images reflect Xiaoming Classmate's humorous and quirky characteristics. Additionally, Xiaoming Classmate, in collaboration with the British Museum, launched a limited-edition gift box priced at 39.9 yuan. Each gift box includes four 480ml bottles and two 330ml bottles of beverage, along with a folder printed with Xiaoming Classmate's ancient civilization quirky designs. To cater to young people's love for pets, the limited-edition gift box can be transformed into a pet house. The single-bottle terminal price of Xiaoming Classmate's new product remains unchanged, and it is sold alongside the original packaging. Similarly, after three years, Nongfu Spring's Tea π had previously changed its packaging. A Nongfu Spring spokesperson stated that the new packaging differs from the original's abstract and imagery style; the bottle designs enhance narrative, with each image telling a story, aiming to interact with young people. Zhu Danpeng, a Chinese food industry analyst, said that leveraging well-known IPs to boost peak season sales is a common practice among beverage companies. As the peak season approaches, brands hope to attract young consumers' attention through innovation and reap the benefits of the summer peak season. 02 Competitors Pressing Hard As new-generation forces in the ready-to-drink tea sector, Xiaoming Classmate and Tea π are both making moves before the peak season. In this regard, Zhu Danpeng believes this indicates that competition in the ready-to-drink tea market will be fierce during the peak season. The reason ready-to-drink tea has become a focus for companies is that the market is beginning to recover. The ready-to-drink tea market in China is over 40% larger than the white milk market and more than three times the size of the yogurt market. Currently, both Uni-President's Xiaoming Classmate and Nongfu Spring's Tea π have annual sales of 1 billion yuan. However, in the ready-to-drink tea market, Xiaoming Classmate faces considerable pressure. Data shows that in 2018, Uni-President's tea beverage revenue reached 5.944 billion yuan, a 2% increase compared to the same period in 2017. Uni-President stated that the 2018 growth was driven by the growth of Uni-President Ice Black Tea and Ice Green Tea during the peak season, while Xiaoming Classmate's sales in 2018 fell short of expectations. In contrast, Kangshifu stated in its 2018 financial report that it adjusted channel profits in mid-2018. Through IP collaborations, sports marketing, and scenario marketing, it attracted young consumers and family consumer groups, achieving sales growth in tea beverages. Meanwhile, Nongfu Spring's Tea π also began changing its packaging in early April and launched a new advertisement for "Tea π, Unique in Its Own Way." Additionally, Nongfu Spring sponsored the variety show "I Am a Singer-Songwriter" under the Tea π name. Although Uni-President's chairman, Lo Chih-hsien, stated at a recent briefing that Xiaoming Classmate was originally a product for a niche market, with expectations of annual sales of 1-2 billion yuan, facing competitors' aggressive moves, launching co-branded products is also a necessity for Uni-President to achieve better sales during the summer beverage peak season. A Uni-President spokesperson told Beijing Business Today reporters that to seize the growth of ready-to-drink tea, Uni-President in 2019 focuses on consumer needs, enhances customer value as the core, and continues to invest resources and energy in product internal and external optimization and consumer communication, pursuing healthy and balanced market growth. In 2019, Xiaoming Classmate cooperated with the British Museum, hoping to create new brand voices. 03 Outcome Uncertain In Zhu Danpeng's view, ready-to-drink tea has health and refreshing properties. In previous years, after industrial upgrading, tea beverages enjoyed the dividends brought by overall consumption upgrades. In 1999, Kangshifu's ready-to-drink tea officially began terminal displays, and China's ready-to-drink tea market entered a period of rapid development. Statistics show that in 2011, China's ready-to-drink tea production exceeded 9 million tons, and the ready-to-drink tea market accounted for 20% of the entire beverage consumption market. China has nearly 40 ready-to-drink tea production enterprises, with over 100 listed brands and nearly 50 product categories. "Under the current consumption context, young consumers have more accurate and comprehensive health awareness and higher quality requirements for ready-to-drink tea. In addition to packaging, they have higher requirements for content and production processes," Zhu Danpeng said. "If companies only compete on packaging, they can only gain temporary attention. If the ingredient list contains many additives, it may be difficult to gain sustained consumer favor." It is understood that Nongfu Spring not only changed Tea π's packaging but also upgraded its flavors, strengthening the tea taste by using richer tea leaves, with tea leaf usage increased by 1.6 times. Among them, Ceylon black tea is used in the lemon black tea, and lemon juice usage is increased, making the tea color and taste richer. Xiaoming Classmate uses a cold-brew process to fully release theanine in tea leaves, making the tea refreshing, sweet, and non-bitter. Beijing Business Today reporters noted that most ready-to-drink tea packaging currently aims to establish high-stickiness relationships with new-generation consumers through creativity and strengthen brand recognition. However, the effectiveness depends on brand operations. Regarding Uni-President's sales expectations for the ready-to-drink tea peak season this year, a Uni-President spokesperson responded that since it involves specific operational data, reference can be made to the 2018 annual report and future interim report information. In this regard, an insider who previously worked in ready-to-drink tea sales said, "Packaging changes are mostly just promotional means. In fact, the effect of spreading the brand is the core of the product. Packaging upgrades, formula improvements, and process enhancements—companies adjust from various levels to gain consumer favor. Each company has its own advantages and fans. Currently, it is unpredictable who will stand out in this ready-to-drink tea battle, but the market will give the answer." The insider frankly stated. -END-