The archive · Brand & Identity · Marketing decision · 2024
HEYTEA's 2024 Kusama collab turns boba into dots — 230M+ social exposure
HEYTEA married its boba pearls to 95-year-old Yayoi Kusama's dots — artist-supervised cups, charms, a giant pumpkin and pop-ups reaching ~5M people.
HEYTEA (喜茶)
What it had to solve
By 2024 China's tea chains were locked in homogenised competition and co-branding had become routine — six brands ran 175 IP collabs that year. In September HEYTEA wrote to its partners that it would win through differentiated brands and products; the Kusama link-up in November was that strategy made visible.
How it works
In September 2024 HEYTEA wrote to its franchise partners that China's tea industry had fallen into homogenised competition that was draining customers' enthusiasm, and that the way out was differentiated brands and products. Two months later it unveiled its answer: a collaboration with 95-year-old Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama under the line 'Give the world a little more boba' (给世界加点波波).
The match was conceptual: HEYTEA's signature boba pearls, born in 2018, came from the same visual idea as Kusama's dots. Seven boba drinks returned in artist-supervised packaging alongside metal charms, mugs, a brand film and a naked-eye 3D pumpkin, with 11-city 'BOBO WORLD' pop-ups and theme stores. Kusama's largest-ever pumpkin sculpture made its Asian debut on Shanghai's North Bund from 12 to 17 November.
The industry noticed. Related topics drew over 54M reads and Xiaohongshu users posted 10,000-plus notes in the first week; HEYTEA's annual report puts related social exposure above 230M. The pop-ups recorded about 110K visits reaching more than 3M people (the report counts nearly 5M), and participating drinks sold sharply better — 超多肉芒芒甘露 nearly doubled. The work won Gold at the 2025 金瞳奖 in the PR/brand crossover group.
Why it lands
- The collab connects two things that already look alike — boba pearls and Kusama's dots — so the product itself becomes the artwork rather than a logo stuck on a cup.
- Choosing a 95-year-old contemporary artist lifted HEYTEA out of the 175-collab pile its rivals were stuck in, matching the differentiation strategy its September letter announced.
- One idea stretched across packaging, merch, film, 3D visuals and physical exhibitions, giving users many shareable surfaces and fuelling the 10,000 first-week UGC posts.
- The dated launch and measurable results turned an internal strategy letter into a public proof that the brand could act on its own argument.
What it did
Participating boba drinks sold sharply better — 超多肉芒芒甘露 nearly doubled. Related topics drew over 54M reads with 10,000 Xiaohongshu UGC notes in the first week; the pop-ups logged about 110K visits reaching 3M+ people. HEYTEA's 2024 annual report puts related social exposure above 230M and pop-up reach near 5M.
What you can take
A partnership works harder when the two halves share a visual logic: Kusama's dots and HEYTEA's boba are the same shape, so the collab feels like discovery rather than a logo swap.
Since then
The collaboration ran from 7 November through the exhibition's close on 17 November 2024, and its numbers were still being quoted months later: HEYTEA's January 2025 annual report led with the project's 230M+ social exposure and near-5M pop-up reach, and media debated whether 'buying the box' could keep sustaining tea brands. The case won a 2025 金瞳奖 Gold in PR/brand crossover marketing.
Sources
- 喜茶×草间弥生 联名「给世界加点波波」(HEYTEA × Yayoi Kusama, Give the World a Little More Boba) — 2025 金瞳奖 Gold case
- 喜茶年度报告出炉，差异化策略推动中国新茶饮品牌发展 (HEYTEA 2024 annual report: differentiation strategy)
- 卖奶茶还是卖联名 (Selling tea or selling collabs?) — 齐鲁壹点 on the Kusama collaboration's annual-report numbers
spotted an error? The archive wants to know.
Your turn
You just read one. Describe the brief you are staring at, and see who has been given the same problem.
Free account · 3 free questions · no card