The archive · Marketing & Growth · Marketing decision · 2024
Luckin Coffee rides Black Myth: Wukong's launch — merch sells out, app nearly crashes
A day before China's first 3A game shipped, Luckin's Tengyun Americano sold out nationally and made gamers its new customers.
Luckin Coffee (瑞幸咖啡)
What it had to solve
By mid-2024 Luckin was squeezed by a yuan-price war and two quarters of falling same-store sales, and its playbook of co-branding hits — from the Moutai sauce latte to Father's Day stunts — needed a new audience. China's first global 3A game, Black Myth: Wukong, was about to release, and its mostly male, highly engaged fanbase was exactly the segment coffee brands ignored.
How it works
Black Myth: Wukong was not just a game release — it was China's proof that domestic studios could make a world-class 3A title, and its launch date was circled by millions of mostly male players. Luckin Coffee, fighting a price war and slowing store sales, bet that this audience would buy coffee if the cup carried the game's magic.
One day before the game shipped on 20 August 2024, Luckin released 'Black Myth Tengyun Americano' with themed cups and bags, plus a lenticular 3D poster for customers who bought a two-drink combo. Select stores were decorated as Wukong outposts, and social feeds filled with fans showing off their loot.
Demand overwhelmed supply: posters sold out nationally within hours, the ordering system nearly collapsed, and complaints about unredeemable vouchers reached hot search. Luckin responded with a public restock plan for the 3D posters, which needed about 15 days to manufacture. The brand declined to release first-day sales figures.
For Luckin's growth chief Yang Fei the result was validation of an untapped segment: a collab aimed at men outperformed its benchmark family occasions, and he told his circle it was 'more reliable than ten Father's Days'. The stunt showed how co-branding could reach beyond coffee's usual female-skewing audience.
Why it lands
- The game's launch gave the brand a fixed, high-emotion date to build around — releasing a day early captured the anticipation itself.
- A scarce 3D collectible turned a cup of coffee into fan memorabilia, motivating buyers who had never queued for a drink.
- The collaboration courted the male gaming segment that coffee marketing typically overlooked, giving Luckin genuinely new customers.
- Decorating stores and packaging made the moment immersive rather than a logo swap, so fans spread the campaign themselves.
What it did
The national merch sell-out happened within hours and Luckin's ordering system nearly crashed. Chief growth officer Yang Fei called the result 'more reliable than ten Father's Days', saying male purchasing power had upended the team's assumptions. The frenzy even produced a hot-search complaint over unredeemable vouchers, answered with a roughly 15-day restock plan; Luckin did not disclose first-day cup sales.
What you can take
When a cultural moment has a fanbase your category ignores, show up inside the moment itself: a limited collectible turns the fan's identity into your product — and their rush becomes your marketing.
Since then
The sell-out, system strain and voucher complaints all became part of the story, and Luckin's quick restock promise kept goodwill intact. The case reinforced Luckin's co-branding machine as its answer to margin pressure, following the Moutai sauce latte's 5.42 million first-day cups with a hit aimed at an entirely different audience.
Sources
- 瑞幸和游戏《黑神话：悟空》联名，高层说“比10个父亲节靠谱” (Luckin x Black Myth: Wukong — its exec says it beat ten Father's Days)
- 瑞幸咖啡与《黑神话：悟空》联名活动火爆 (Luckin Coffee and Black Myth: Wukong collaboration takes off)
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