After the ultra-long egg tart became a smash hit, the 45cm "extra-long milk tea" has gone viral once again: Could it be that the weirder the product, the better it sells?

"Following the ultra-long egg tart, everything has turned ultra-long."

Recently, Shuyi Burning Herb has launched a limited-time 24cm "ultra-long cup" milk tea at its stores in Sichuan. 45cm "extra extra long milk tea" has appeared in cities including Hangzhou, Zhengzhou, Ningbo and other places. While posting photos online, netizens exclaimed: "The milk tea industry has entered the ultra-long era."

I have found that many brands have achieved widespread popularity through cups that look nothing like conventional cups.

1

The "ultra-long milk tea" drawn by AI has come to real life

Netizens dare to imagine, milk tea shops dare to produce

Back when the ultra-long egg tart became a viral hit, some people online used AI to draw "ultra-long milk tea" as a meme, and major brands also joined in with playful banter on social media, but none of them actually produced the product in reality.

This time, Shuyi has turned a netizen's meme picture into a physical product — the "extra extra long" series, which includes two flavors: strawberry matcha brulee and Niu Mowang black brick milk tea. The cup body is 24cm tall, with a capacity of 850ml and a selling price of 12.9 yuan. It is a limited-time exclusive offering in Sichuan, and the second cup is free of charge.

A regular medium-sized milk tea cup is about 13cm high with a capacity of roughly 500ml, while a large cup is around 18cm high with a capacity of 600 to 700ml. This time Shuyi extended the height of the cup body to 24cm, with the capacity increased by nearly 200ml, creating a strong contrast compared with ordinary milk tea cups.

Netizens hold two polarized opinions: some think it is "super cool to hold in hand" and "perfect for taking photos", while others complain that "the cup is too big to finish the drink, and your hand will get sore after holding it for a long time".

When it comes to making milk tea "long", Zhi Cha, a specialized matcha handmade store in Zhengzhou, has adopted a more extreme approach.

On November 11, it launched extra-long matcha fruit lemon tea and extra-long matcha guava with cheese. It uses a straight slender cylindrical cup, the cup body is 45cm high with a capacity of about 1L, priced at 26.9 yuan.

It looks a bit like an extra-large popsicle when held in hand. The cup body is printed with the words "extra extra extra long good luck / happiness", directly turning the concept of "long" into the product label.

This kind of slender straight cup design is very popular across different regions. "Jiajian Tea Drink" in Hangzhou and "Yi Manfen" in Ningbo have also launched this kind of straight ultra-long cups with multiple flavors.

Consumers shared feedback on social platforms: "The head-turning rate on the street is 100%!" "This is so eye-catching." When purchasing the ultra-long cup, some brands will also give two extra sharing cups for free, so that "you don't have to hold such a long cup and drink it alone".

The milk tea shop "Ninan Cabin" on the campus of Nanjing University also has similar products, and it even equips the cup with a portable paper sleeve, which is playfully called "standing punishment milk tea" by students.

The ultra-long cup is not a new thing in the beverage industry. Earlier, Sichuan local brand "Fufafa" put tiramisu and matcha brulee into ultra-long cups, and netizens commented that "drinking one cup is equivalent to eating three bowls of rice"; the 35cm ultra-long cup of Guangdong brand JEWELTEA Pearl General was described by netizens as "drinking from the start of work to the end of work".

When the flavor of a cup of drink is increasingly difficult to describe clearly through the screen, the container has become the most direct product expression. Nowadays, when emotional value dominates consumption, the packaging of milk tea is becoming more and more competitive and creative.

2

Vision, Culture, Interaction

Three levels of gameplay for packaging to go viral

In addition to exaggerated shapes, some brands are looking for breakthroughs in materials and interactive experience. Sorting out the viral cases in the past year, we can find three common features.

The first level: something "never seen before" in vision.

Whether it is an ultra-long cup or a mini tasting cup, the essence is to create an "abnormal" visual signal. The 45cm-high cup body does not need any text explanation, a single photo can make the comment area full of questions like "What is this?" "Who took the beam of the milk tea shop out to sell?"

The less a cup looks like an ordinary cup, the more people can't help taking photos of it. Happy Sweet Potato once sold 300,000 cups in 3 days, not because of changes in the formula, but because the 8cm higher cup body brought a strong "being noticed" effect.

When it is increasingly difficult to make differences in taste and raw materials, changing the cup shape is the lowest-cost differentiation method. Moreover, compared with ordinary cup shapes, the capacity of the ultra-long cup is indeed increased, making consumers feel that "the money is well spent".

The second level: something "takeaway" in culture.

Guangxi local tea brand "Yuexia Chabai" became viral for its milk tea cups with Miao ethnic silver ornament style. The butterfly, crescent and tassel decorations are particularly eye-catching.

Every holiday, the stores are packed with customers, and tourists queue for hours just for a cup whose tassel will move when you shake it in hand. Many people take off the decorations as souvenirs, make them into fridge magnets, hair clips and bookmarks, and share these works on social platforms.

The packaging here has become a tourist souvenir and a regional cultural business card. What consumers take away is not just a cup of drink, but a memory that can be shared at any time.

The third level: something "with hidden mechanism" in interaction.

The "glow-in-the-dark bag" launched by Bawangchaji in collaboration with Miffy during this year's Mid-Autumn Festival uses luminescent ink. After being illuminated by a flashlight and taken to a dark place, the outline of Miffy and the patterns of stars and moon will emit faint light. Two sets of different illustrations are printed on the inside and outside of the paper bag.

Molly Tea, Shuyi and Ningji have also launched glow-in-the-dark paper bags one after another. Netizens are very fond of these products: "I was already lying in bed, but I got up again after seeing these posts."

The packaging is no longer just a "bag for holding things", it has become a "mini game". This sense of scarcity of "discovering beauty by yourself" makes netizens more willing to share it on social media.

A 24cm-high cup body, an ornament with a wholesale price of 50 cents, and a layer of luminescent ink change consumers' visual attention, rather than the product formula.

3

It could be a "viral hit picture"

It could also be an "embarrassing failure scene"

The story of packaging going viral sounds easy, but it is not simple when implemented at the store level.

The most direct problem is that supporting materials cannot keep up. The ultra-long cup also puts forward new requirements for the length of the matching straw.

Some time ago, some consumers complained that the staff in Shuyi's store took a regular-length straw by mistake, which could not reach the bottom of the cup at all, and finally they could only awkwardly open the lid to drink.

During takeout delivery, anti-tipping and packaging of ultra-long cups are also big problems. The staff of Zhi Cha said: "At present, there is no supporting takeout packaging for ultra-long cups, so they can only be purchased in the store."

For chain brands, launching such products in stores across the country will bring greater challenges to the operation efficiency and error rate of the stores.

A bigger hidden danger is the separation between "packaging" and "product".

Yuexia Chabai went viral on social platforms with its Miao ethnic silver ornament style tassel cups, but doubts also followed: "The drink tastes as light as water, it's not worth more than 20 yuan at all."

When the packaging raises consumers' expectations to a very high level, if the drink cannot meet the expectations brought by this wave of traffic, the curious packaging will accelerate the collapse of public praise instead.

This is also the reason why special-shaped cup packaging has not been widely used so far. By limiting the product in a certain region or a certain package, brands can test the market at a lower cost, and create a sense of scarcity at the same time.

Attracting customers through unique cups is just the first step. What matters more is making sure the straw fits perfectly, and making sure the tea inside the cup is worth the long queue that consumers waited in.

This article comes from WeChat Official Account "Kamen" (ID: KamenClub), author: Xiya, published with authorization from 36Kr.