SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION
YSP524 INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATION
CAPSTONE PROFESSIONAL PROJECT
TITLE:
RESEARCH ON CUSTOMERS’ BRAND PREFERENCE:
CASE STUDY ON SATURNBIRD COFFEE
NAME:
LI FEILONG
SUPERVISOR:
DR. SURIATI SAAD
Table of Content
1. Executive summary..............................................................................................................................1
2. Brief background of Saturnbird.........................................................................................................3
3. Research information & findings....................................................................................................... 6
3.1 Basic information of Chinese coffee industry............................................................................. 6
3.2 Problem Statement.....................................................................................................................10
3.3 Research Objectives.................................................................................................................. 11
3.4 Hypothesis Development & the diagram...................................................................................12
3.5 Methodology..............................................................................................................................12
3.6 Findings..................................................................................................................................... 12
4. Strategic IMC plan.............................................................................................................................14
4.1 Insights of the content................................................................................................................14
4.2 Target audience..........................................................................................................................18
4.3 Objectives.................................................................................................................................. 18
5. Tactics and Media Plan..................................................................................................................... 19
5.1.1 Weibo......................................................................................................................................19
5.1.2 Xiaohongshu...........................................................................................................................20
5.1.3 Douyin.................................................................................................................................... 21
6. Conclusion...........................................................................................................................................28
Appendix................................................................................................................................................. 31
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1. Executive summary
Established in Changsha in 2015, a young China-made coffee brand, "Saturnbird",
topped T-mall's "Double Eleven" coffee category for two consecutive years,
overwhelming the two coffee giants, Nestle and Starbucks. According to data from
Tian Yan Cha, Saturnbird started financing in early 2019, and there have been six
rounds so far. In September 2020, Saturnbird completed the round B financing of
more than 100 million yuan. The investors Frees Fund, Sequoia Capital, and Tiantu
Capital are all famous investment institutions in the consumer market.
However, the feedback of Analysis Report of Chinese Coffee Industry in 2021 -
Industry Research and Profit Prospect Research, in the domestic market, the
performance of Saturnbird Coffee in brand preference is only 5.1%, far lower than
that of other brands. With the rapid development in coffee industry and the
ever-increasing brand competition, it is of great significance for Saturnbird to
understand consumers' brand preferences and the influencing factors that form brand
preferences.
Firstly, this study analyzed the current situation of China's coffee market and the
reasons for the formation of brand preference. Then, the influence model of brand
preference is constructed on the basis of the previous research model. The original
data were collected through a questionnaire survey, and SPSS software was used for
statistical analysis of the data. The final results showed that five factors, including
product price, quality, brand image, brand reputation and brand value, do have a
positive impact on brand preference. Among them, the correlation between price,
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quality, brand value and brand preference is more significant than brand image and
brand reputation. In addition, the IMC plan will be conducted for Saturnbird to
promote the brand preference.
2. Brief background of Saturnbird
SATURNBIRD COFFEE, established in 2015, is a specialty coffee brand that is
exploring a new life. It hopes to open up a new scene of coffee life by creating
products with superior quality and distinctiveness, and provide a better choice.
All align with Saturnbird’s Vision in its early days, which is “Popularization of
Specialty Coffee” (Saturnbird Coffee, 2022), is the starting point of the brand, and the
brand hopes to realize this simple wish through the cognition and practice of coffee
over the years. In terms of planting, coffee will not be a luxury. Through modern
information dissemination, coffee can also become more life-like. Different from the
traditional way, Saturnbird does not deify coffee, but emphasizes the way of life
between people and coffee. The Saturnbird team is to express and present more
possibilities for specialty coffee through product development and communication
design, so that more newcomers can easily and simply enter the world of coffee, and
specialty coffee can become a daily lifestyle and become more accessible.
The super instant coffee, canned in small cups are numbers & colors-coded to
represent different baking degrees and flavors, is the star product represented by
Saturnbird, with an average price of RMB 5-10 yuan per cup, which is cheaper than
the price of chain coffee shops and specialty coffee.
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Figure 1: Official website of Saturbird Coffee (Saturnbird Coffee, 2022)
Basic information A coffee brand founded in Changsha City in 2015 by Wu Jun
Meaning of the Three meals a day, the brand is going to promote half meal besides the
brand three.
The main super instant coffee to fill the gap between grinding and
Brand positioning instant. The price is about 8 yuan, and the price of small cup is 4-5
yuan. Product design stimulates consumers' desire to share and
discuss, and enhances social attributes.
Female consumers spend more time buying than male consumers;
accounting for more than two-thirds are female consumers.
Female consumers, which are young white-collar workers with high
Target audience education level and high life pressure.
Consumers spend money on their own, 30% of the consumers are
between 25 and 35, followed by those aged 18 to 25 and those younger
than 18
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Regional distribution: mostly super first-tier or first-tier cities,
especially in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen
In 2017, the revenue was about 15 million yuan
In May 2018, T-mall was launched, with monthly sales of over 10
million yuan and annual revenue of about 50 million yuan.
In 2018, the company launched its main product, super instant small
cans of boutique coffee, and designed a multi-color mini can package,
which quickly exploded on social media with the help of "tap water".
Sales performance In 2019 T-mall Double 11 Promotion, Saturnbird won the No.1
domestic brand in the coffee category of T-mall Double 11, and
continued to make efforts in 2020 Double 11 and 2021 618, ranking
the first in the coffee category.
In the first half of 2021, Saturnbird reached nearly 400 million yuan of
sales, more than the whole year of 2020
The repurchase rate is nearly 50%
Three rounds of funding will be launched in 2019, one in 2020 and
one in 2021. In June 2021, Citic Industry Fund led the investment,
Financing situation
followed by IDG, GGV and Introverted Fund, and Saturnbird has been
valued at RMB 4.5 billion. (Zhang, 2021)
Marketing Internet users of high quality UCG content participate in product
strategies evaluation
KOC "navigator" word-of-mouth marketing
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Building social currency
Cross-border joint
Project Return environmental recovery
Into the Force offline concept store
Figure 2: Introduction of Saturbird Coffee (Saturnbird Coffee, 2022)
3. Research information & findings
3.1 Basic information of Chinese coffee industry
In 1989, Nestle coffee launched "1+2" instant coffee in China, rapidly occupying
the domestic instant coffee market; In 1999, Starbucks opened its first store in China,
bringing boutique coffee into the Chinese market. In 2005, Nestle coffee joined hands
with Coca Cola to enter the ready-to-drink coffee market, integrating the
ready-to-drink coffee and cold drink culture, giving coffee a new fashion concept. In
2010, Xiduoshi began to sell freshly ground coffee at a lower price than boutique
coffee, which greatly expanded the consumers. In 2014, Coffee Box, the
representative of new retail coffee, was established. In 2017, Luckin coffee was
established. The coffee marketing channel was expanded online, and the coffee
culture was rapidly popularized. At the same time, the coffee products launched by
milk tea brands like HEYTEA and NAYUKI were mostly combined with the original
characteristic tea drinks to meet the diversified consumer groups. In 2019, T-mall
double 11 promotion, Saturnbird coffee sold 600,000 cups in the first hour of pre-sale,
beating Nestle, which has been stable for the 10 years, and becoming the first
domestic coffee brand to top the list. During T-mall 618 promotion in 2020,
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Saturnbird Coffee pressed Nestle and Starbucks, ranking first in the sales volume.
Figure 3: Timeline of the development of Chinese coffee market
At present, China's coffee market is entering a stage of rapid development. In
2020, China's per capita coffee consumption exceeded 7.2 cups. Compared with
developed countries, China's per capita coffee consumption is only 1.6% of that of the
United States. With the improvement of people's living standards and the growth of
their awareness of coffee culture, coupled with the huge demographic dividend, it can
stimulate domestic coffee consumption. At present, the average annual growth rate of
coffee consumption in China is 15%, much higher than the world's growth rate of 2%.
In 2020, the market scale of China's coffee industry will be about 90 billion yuan
(INSIDE AND INFO, 2021).
Since the epidemic in 2020, the coffee industry has faced a huge blow. The
number of customers in stores is much lower than before, and the tide of closing
stores under the pressure of reduced revenue has hit.
In June 2020, Starbucks announced that it planned to permanently close about
400 stores in the Americas in the next 18 months and cut the number of new stores
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planned to open this fiscal year by half to about 300. It will also restructure its
operations in Canada in the next two years, including closing 200 stores. According to
CCTV finance and economics, due to the reduction of store passenger flow, Costa, an
old British coffee chain, has now joined the "camp" of closing stores. At present, the
number of Costa stores closed in many cities in China accounts for about 10% of the
stores in China. Among them, all stores were closed in Qingdao and nearly 20 stores
were closed in Beijing. Under this background, the coffee industry turns its attention
to pre-packaged coffee, and the market is gradually hot. The sales of pre-packaged
coffee account for 63.5% of the total coffee sales.
Figure 4: The Ratio of Sales Volume in Chinese Coffee Market
The good market makes the pre-packaged coffee industry attract capital attention.
From January 2020 to October 2021, China's pre-packaged coffee industry generated
19 rounds of financing transactions, of which Saturnbird, SECRE, Yongpu,
TASOGARE, CoffeeBox and S.Engine Coffee all received multiple rounds of
financing (INSIDE AND INFO, 2021) .
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Brands Type Time Rounds Financing Amount
WOW Coffee Traditional Instant 2020.02 Strategic investment RMB 35 million
Coffee
SATURNBIRD Super Instant Coffee 2020.03 Series B round RMB 120 million
Coffee Super Instant Coffee 2021.06 Strategic investment Hundreds of millions of RMB
SECRE Super Instant Coffee 2020.05 Series A round Tens of millions of RMB
Super Instant Coffee 2021.02 Series A+ round Tens of millions of RMB
Super Instant Coffee 2020.06 Angel Investment Tens of millions of RMB
YONGPU Super Instant Coffee 2020.12 Series A round Tens of millions of RMB
Super Instant Coffee 2021.06 Series A+ round Tens of millions of RMB
TASOGARE Super Instant Coffee 2020.08 Series A round Tens of millions of RMB
Super Instant Coffee 2021.03 Series B round RMB 300 million
Qianzhan Super Instant Coffee 2020.08 Seed round investment RMB 3 million
CoffeeBox Super Instant Coffee 2020.09 Strategic investment undisclosed
Super Instant Coffee 2021.05 Angel Investment Millions of USD
2020.10 Strategic investment Tens of millions of RMB
Strategic investment undisclosed
Super Instant Pre-A round undisclosed
Series A round undisclosed
S.Engine 2020.12
Coffee
Coffee-Online
2021.06
Fresh-ground-Offline
2021.06
1000 Cranes Super Instant Coffee 2021.07 Angel Investment Millions of RMB
BOOPOOB Ready-to-drink Coffee 2021.07 Pre-A round Tens of millions of RMB
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Figure 5: Capital rushed into the coffee market from Jan.2020 to Oct.2021
In 2020, the market size of China's pre-packaged coffee industry reached 35.07
billion yuan, with a year-on-year growth of 16%. In 2021, the market size of China's
pre-packaged coffee industry reached 41.15 billion yuan, with a year-on-year growth
of 17.3% (INSIDE AND INFO, 2021).
Figure 6: Market size, Growth & Forecast of China’s Pre-packaged coffee industry
from 2016 to 2021
3.2 Problem Statement
Under the background of the continuous improvement of the domestic coffee
market, as a representative brand of instant coffee on the Internet, Saturnbird Coffee
keeps an annual sales growth of 2-3 times online (Zhang, 2021). As an Internet coffee
brand with the property of Internet celebrity, Saturnbird Coffee has won the 2020 Red
Dot Design Award in product design. T-mall has ranked first in the coffee category
for three consecutive years, with a repurchase rate of nearly 50%. At the same time,
the brand is also sought after in the capital market. It started to raise capital for the
first time in January 2019, and has obtained 5 rounds of financing by 2021, with a
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brand valuation of 4.5 billion yuan.
However, from the feedback of Analysis Report of Chinese Coffee Industry in
2021 - Industry Research and Profit Prospect Research, in the domestic market,
compared with Starbucks, Luckin, Nestle and other brands, the performance of
Saturnbird Coffee in customer brand preference is only 5.1%, far lower than that of
other brands (INSIDE AND INFO, 2021) .This study will take Saturnbird Coffee as
an example to study the influencing factors of customers' brand preference when
consuming coffee products.
Figure 7 : Brand Preference in Chinese Mainland (From Analysis report of Chinese
coffee industry in 2021- industry research and profit prospect research), Saturnbird
Got Lower Ratio on Brand Preference in Chinese Mainland Coffee Industry
3.3 Research Objectives
Taking Saturnbird coffee as an example, the study will focus on the brand
preference of consumers' coffee brand choosing. The research puts forward five
hypotheses, including price, quality, brand image, reputation and brand values, to
prove whether the hypothesis is true or not through questionnaire survey, and finally
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forms the IMC strategies for Saturnbird coffee.
3.4 Hypothesis Development & the diagram
Figure 8: Model of the factors that influence brand preference
3.5 Methodology
In order to achieve the purpose of this study, this research finally determines to
use the following research methods:
(1) Literature study and inductive-deductive method
(2) Questionnaire Survey
(3) Quantitative Method
3.6 Findings
3.6.1 Demographic characteristics
It can be seen from the demographic data that the proportion of female customers
among the respondents is higher than that of male customers; Nearly 80% of the
respondents were between 26 and 40 years old (born between 1985 and 1995); 78% of
the respondents have a monthly income of more than RMB 5,000 yuan. Among all the
respondents, 99% have a university degree or above, and more than 85% of the
respondents are concentrated in urban locations in Chinese Mainland. The
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demographic characteristics are basically consistent with the target groups of
Saturnbird’s brand positioning.
3.6.2 Significance between hypotheses and brand preference
For the five hypothetical factors of brand preference, price, quality, image,
reputation and values, there is a significant correlation between the results of
correlation analysis and linear regression analysis and brand preference. The results
show that there is a certain correlation between brand image, reputation and brand
preference, which should be maintained and optimized on the basis of the existing
marketing strategies. In addition, the research results show that the price, quality and
brand values are convenient, and the significance of brand preference is more obvious,
which puts forward higher requirements for product research and development and
brand value building of Saturnbird Coffee. On one hand, it is necessary to
continuously deepen product research and development, continuously optimize the
flavor and taste of super instant coffee, and optimize and adjust the price strategy,
close to the psychological price preference of consumers; On the other hand, in
addition to the "Project Return" activities with the main purpose of environmental
protection and social networking, the brand values should be strengthened in multiple
dimensions.
3.6.3 Characteristics of favored marketing strategies selecting
From the descriptive analysis of the marketing strategies selecting, it can be seen
that the respondents' feedback did not give high priority to the increased exposure of
advertising promotion and joint activity. In contrast, consumers' keen demand for
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offline coffee stores is the highest priority. Especially after the pandemic, in addition
to the product experience, more demands for consumption scenarios and social
scenarios are put forward. Brands should respond more quickly to the expansion of
offline stores or pop-up stores. Secondly, consumers also have high feedback on price
promotions and public welfare activities. They hope that they can buy high-quality
and cost-effective products, and that the brand they support can assume more social
responsibilities.
4. Strategic IMC plan
4.1 Insights of the content
4.1.1 Strong tour demand in the post-pandemic era
Under the influence of the pandemic, cross-border tour and outbound tour have
been greatly restricted. Short-distance tour and suburban vacations have become the
mainstream of the market. For young people who attach importance to the sense of
travel experience and pursue exquisite and fashionable lifestyles, it has become a rigid
need to explore niche scenic spots around the city and explore new tricks (picnics,
camping, pulp board, etc.). According to the survey data, 69.7% and 50.9% of users
choose to camp in parks and suburban areas respectively. The main purpose of the
public choosing camping is to relax, get close to nature, follow the trend and meet
social needs (Analysys.cn, 2022). Under the general trend of lifestyle change, users'
tour activity pursues socialization and trendiness. Pandemic factors guide users to
shorten the travel radius. Among them, glamping has become an integrator that meets
the objective reality and the needs of users at the same time.
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Figure 9:Comparison of tour types of Chinese consumers
before and under the pandemic
4.1.2 In the post pandemic era, people have high demand of offline experience,
and the desire for communication increases
Due to the continuous outbreak of the pandemic, after a long period of isolation,
people's demand for real and sensible offline social networking has become extremely
strong in the medium and short term. For example, people recognize that real
face-to-face social networking is irreplaceable than before the pandemic. 81% of
young men aged 18 to 29 from third and fourth tier cities prefer to spend more time
offline with relatives and friends than before the pandemic, and tend to go to physical
stores to experience product details and excellent services (Qin, 2020). At the same
time, in the third and fourth tier cities with closer acquaintances, workers engaged in
production and sales who need interpersonal connection are more eager to return to
face-to-face interpersonal communication than in the past. On the other hand, in
addition to physical contact, the sense of belonging can also be obtained by finding
communities with similar values to gain a sense of resonance. 60% of the young
people aged 19 to 29 from the first tier cities and the new first tier cities, especially
those who are engaged in occupations that require face-to-face contact with others,
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such as teachers, consultants, and marketing public relations personnel, are more
eager to participate in more art, fashion, and cultural community activities after the
pandemic has restarted their lives, and are more willing to buy products with
community labels (Qin, 2020). Based on the actual needs of customers and the data of
investigation and research, it is an effective means to promote the link between brands
and customers to quickly developing offline pop-up stores with great characteristics.
4.1.3 According to demographic statistical analysis, the target customer base is
expanded
The main customer group of the Saturnbird’s brand positioning is aged 25-35
years old, and female consumers account for a relatively high proportion. According
to the data of this questionnaire, nearly 80% of the responses were aged 26 and 40
years old (born from 1985 to 1995); and the respondents aged 36-40 accounted for
19.5%, those who have a good education background, higher income and a high
acceptance of new things, so they can be used as the opportunity target audience of
this campaign.
4.1.4 Based on AISAS model, strengthen customer sharing and communication
on social content platforms
Santurnbird’s little can was the reddot winner 2020, which wined original patent
design. Wu Jun, founder of Saturnbird Coffee, once said that if the product design is
good-looking, it will be easier for everyone to take a good-looking photo.
Communication on social media is always accompanied by breakthroughs in
self-expression. In this way, the efficiency of communication has also become higher
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(Li, 2022). Among the main online channels for users to obtain consumption
information, social content platforms and life service platforms have become the main
types of platforms, among which social content platforms represented by Weibo,
Xiaohongshu, Douyin etc. take the lead, accounting for 86% (Analysys.cn, 2022).
Social content platforms have good interactivity, timeliness of information and
multiple presentation forms of graphics, text and short video, which have won the
favor of users. The social content platforms can not only provide users with
professional information from senior KOLs, but also share the real experience of
massive UGC content.
Figure 10:AISAS Model
Therefore, this campaign will use the communication model of AISAS, combined
with the Link and Loop Theory of Founder Wu Jun, to focus on the sharing link of
users on the social content platforms, strengthen the communication of more
high-quality graphics and short videos, arouse the attention and interest of target
customers, establish effective links, trigger the conversion of search and consumption,
and trigger a circular communication effect in the sharing of social media, to improve
users' brand preferences.
Based on the insights of the content above, the Big idea of strategic IMC plan is
as followed:
Big Idea!Best Companion, Anywher e and Anytime
The strategy emphasizes the accompanying attribute of Saturnbird. Under the
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circumstance of working or studying, friends gathering, traveling, or daily life,
Saturnbird can become the best companion anytime and anywhere. This strategy will
run through the campaign, and take the elements of the tour as the core marketing
point, making the brand more viscous with customers, highlighting the accompanying
attribute.
4.2 Target audience
a. Main target audience: Aged 25-35, same with the original target audience.
Especially female consumers, young white-collars with high education level and
high life pressure, who spend more time buying than male consumers; accounting for
more than two-thirds are female consumers.
b. Opportunity target audience: Aged 36-40, customers in particular with high
income and good educational background, also have high acceptance of new things,
high consumption ability, high demand for leisure and vacation, and hope to be
satisfied with social needs.
4.3 Objectives
4.3.1 Business Objectives:
Increase sales and win marketing share, by: a. Attracting new main target
customers aged 19-35, and the opportunity customers aged 35-40;
b. Reducing the reliance on promotions.
4.2.2 Campaign Objectives:
a. Strengthen the long life cycle of customers, such as connecting emotionally
with the main target customers and earn a position as a life companion;
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b. Strengthening the brand preference.
5. Tactics and Media Plan
5.1 Social media platforms
In this campaign, three platforms with the best performance in content marketing,
Weibo, Xiaohongshu and Douyin, were selected to interact and share topics with
consumers through the information release of official accounts in the form of graphics,
short videos and topic interaction, resulting in link and loop. The specific tactical
implementation of the three platforms is as follows.
5.1.1 Weibo
By the end of 2022 Q1, Weibo had 582 million MAU, 252 million DAU, and a
year-on-year net increase of 22million (Tencent News, 2022). Weibo hot search users
are mainly young and middle-aged groups, representing the backbone of consumption.
According to the data disclosed by Weibo, the users aged 19-29 account for 76%,
those over 30 account for 18%, and those under 18 account for 6% (GF Securities,
2022). The open information dissemination and feedback mechanism of Weibo square
is conducive to the rapid dissemination of information. At the same time, the user's
feedback mechanism can widely collect relevant information and form an open
information acquisition pool. Users can not only obtain information, but also produce
information. Focus on topic marketing on Weibo, and post topics #best companion,
anywhere and anytime#.
The official account publishes posts on the topics of travel, gathering, study and
work, and accompany in four stages. See Appendix 1 for the material sample. By
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publishing the content with topics and giving surprise gifts to the top 10 posts with the
most likes, netizens are stimulated to participate in the interaction. Script sample:
During travel / gathering with friends / heavy study life / companionship in life,
Saturnbird is best companion. Post pictures related to Saturnbird + words on the
Weibo, with topics #Best Companion, anywhere and anytime#,also
@Saturnbird official account, the top ten followers will receive a surprise gifts.
5.1.2 Xiaohongshu
According to the official 2022 Xiaohongshu business status meeting, the MAU
has reached 200million. Among them, 72% are post-90s, more than 50% are from the
first and second tier cities, and the number of male users also increased by 30%,
which is also showing a trend of development towards male users (Chen, 2021).
Xiaohongshu has the functional attribute of "live encyclopedia" among many users. In
the station, users can help them with the relevant strategies and proposal information
required by them through a large amount of high-quality content of sharers. The
platform attribute of Xiaohongshu naturally has the advantage of better understanding
users and lifestyle, which will continue to help the brand approach users and meet
users' new needs for longing for life.
Xiaohongshu focuses on content marketing and further strengthens the
communication quality of graphics and text or short videos. Taking the company of
Saturnbird during the trip as an example, the official account publishes multi picture
notes, a main picture + six exquisite photos, shares the wonderful moments during the
trip, and the company of Saturnbird. At the same time, it introduces topics #best
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companion, anywhere and anytime #, and see Appendix 2 for the material sample.
High quality graphics and texts lead to the recommend for customers to accompany
Saturnbird during travel, so that Saturnbird accompany customers in more scenes.
For high-quality note content, the official account of Saturnbird will be forwarded
and the ID of creative creators. On the one hand, the content will be spread, and at the
same time, the flow of high-quality content creators will be reversed to meet the
creators' personal IP creation and social needs, and stimulate the creation and sharing
of more high-quality content.
5.1.3 Douyin
At present, short video has become an important tool for people to record their
daily lives. In recent years, China's short video market has shown explosive growth.
In December 2021, the number of short video users in China reached 934 million, an
increase of 61 million over the same period in 2020, with a year-on-year increase of
6.96%. Short video has become the second-largest network application only after
instant messaging. The survey results show that male users use short videos slightly
higher than female; The post-80s (30-39 years old) and post-90s (20-29 years old)
users' utilization rate of short videos is more than 4% higher than that of the whole
(Market Insight, 2022). As an important representative of the short video platform,
Douyin is currently a short video platform with 600 million active users, covering all
kinds of life scenes of users and occupying all kinds of fragment time of users
(Douyin, 2022).
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Therefore, the implementation strategy of Douyin is to launch the topic #Best
companion, anywhere and anytime#. At the same time, users aged 36-40 are also
important users of the short video platform, so the promotion of Saturnbird on the
Douyin can also attract visitors to know and enjoy Saturnbird.
The short video released by the official account will be proposed with eight
scenes. See Appendix 3 for the materials:
Scene 1: Saturnbird logo
Scene 2: Long shot, Saturnbird in canyon
Scene 3: Close up, Saturnbird & bottle
Scene 4: Long shot, Saturnbird & SUV
Scene 5: Long shot, Saturnbird & wildness
Scene 6: Extreme long shot, Protagonist in canyon
Scene 7: Close up, Waiting for a good coffee
Scene 8: Ending #Best Companion Anywhere and Anytime##on my way#
BGM: The Road To Ordinary, by Chinese singer Pu Shu
https://y.music.163.com/m/song?app_version=8.7.85&id=500665346&uct=6UrC2QD
ci4GPkQ6NRH76UQ%3D%3D&dlt=0846
For the creators of short videos on the Douyin, the top ten videos with the largest
number of views and likes will be selected from the four scenes of travel, party,
family companionship, work and learning, and their creators will be awarded the
medal of the Star Photographer of the Saturnbird planet, and the clips will be shared
and disseminated on Weibo, Xiaohongshu, Douyin to accumulate more popularity for
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these creators.
5.2 OOH ad at subway stations of super-tier cities
Today's outdoor advertising starts the practice of scene construction with the
empowerment of various technologies. Scene construction not only helps outdoor
advertising form a breakthrough in form, thinking and technology, but also gives the
audience a more multidimensional and rich experience. The audience has also become
the producer and feedback of information in the scene construction. Subway station,
as a public transportation mode with greater mobility in cities, is an important
transportation mode for the passengers. In various cities in China, office workers in
the four cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen are facing the greatest
pressure from work and life. Their yearning for freedom and desire for travel are
unprecedented after the pandemic. Therefore, this OOH ad is mainly arranged in the
important subway stations in these four cities, which will make the hurried office
workers see the brand launch in their daily rush. This campaign is to build a life scene
and highlight the company of the brand all the time. See Appendix 4 for the materials.
Due to the high cost of OOH ad, the launch is concentrated in August to October,
a suitable period for holidays and travailing, which not only facilitate the link with
customers, but also hope to promote customers' travel plans, generate more
transformation and sharing, and generate a cycle of scene co-construction and content
sharing.
5.3 Offline pop-ups developing -- Creative strategy
Brands need to be offline, and use more offline scenes to contact customers.
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Authentic links, emotions, and content need to rely on offline. Therefore, more than
200 coffee shops across the country based on the Project Return of Saturnbird. On this
basis, cooperating with these coffee shops to develop more pop-up stores with
characteristics and communication effects is an important means and method for the
rapid offline developing.
Based on different urban characteristics and offline coffee shops, for example, in
most cities, coffee shops in alleys and hutongs can be made into cycle cafes in
different forms ( sample as Appendix 5). Cycle cafe is convenient for coffee
producing process, also easy to and communication, and has its own influencing
effect. In shopping malls, tourist attractions, camping bases, etc., Van Cafe ( sample
as Appendix 6) with distinctive decorative effects is more suitable. It can not only
conduct business more regularly, but also have more space to enrich products. In
these leisure activity gathering places, customers have higher demand for photos,
which provides real and rich materials for the dissemination of products. Customers
who post on the three social media platforms of Weibo, Xiaohongshu and Douyin will
get a 10% discount coupon for the purchasing products.
5.4 Collaboration with Glamping Base -- Creative strategy
In the post pandemic era, people's travel demand has increased, but due to
various travel restrictions, camping has become an important short-distance travel
way to meet people's needs. At present, glamping, which is popular in China, is a
camping method that is deeply combined with life aesthetics. It pursues a mild
outdoor experience and enjoys leisure fun and social experience in the comfortable
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camping process. Most of the participants are young people in the city, but it pays
attention to the refinement and fashion of camping equipment. It has not only
Saturnbird’s main target customers, but also a high proportion of opportunity target
customers. Therefore, in cities with pop-ups, collaborating with glamping bases is an
important tactic of this campaign.
On the one hand, Van Cafe could go into the glamping camp and directly
promoted the brand and products. Customers who post the three social media
platforms of Weibo, Xiaohongshu and Douyin will use a 10% discount coupon for the
purchasing products. On the other hand, in the campaign, the implementation of the
environmental protection concept of Saturnbird was implemented. For tourists in the
glamping base, who bought coffee with their own cups, every order will give an extra
souvenir of Saturnbird, which became another topic of content marketing
communication
5.5 Timeline and Budget
The campaign will be launched from July 2022 to March 2023, which covers 9
months. The total budget will be RMB 10,300,000 ( Nearly USD 1,540,000), the most
large portion of the budget is OOH ad, for which will be launched at the core subway
stations at the 4 super-tier cities in Chinese mainland (Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou
and Shenzhen), which also the cities cover the most main target audiences.
25
Figure 11: Timeline and budget of the campaign
5.6 Evaluation
Platforms Measurement Improvement
▪ Number of new posts. For the 4 scenes prepared of this
Weibo ▪ Number of likes, comments & repost. campaign, monitoring the trends
▪ Number of views, posts of the topic. on the platform, and leasing the
new material in time.
▪ Number of new posts. For the 4 scenes prepared of this
▪ Number of likes, comments & campaign, monitoring the trends
Xiaohongshu
collects. on the platform, and leasing the
new material in time.
▪ Number of new videos. For the 4 scenes prepared of this
Douyin
▪ Number of likes, comments & campaign, monitoring the trends
26
collects. on the platform, and leasing the
new material in time.
Number of QR code scans. According to the dynamic
OOH ad changes of the number of QR
code scanning on advertising ad
▪ Number of the pop-ups. The sales volume is only for
▪ Sales volume of the pop-ups. reference. The number of Posts
▪ Number of posts on Weibo, and comments on Weibo,
Xiaohongshu and Douyin for xiaohongshu and Douyin are
Pop-ups
pop-ups. dynamically monitored in real
time, and the shape and location
of the pop-ups are continuously
improved as the tipping point.
▪ Number of the collaborating glamping The sales volume is only for
base. reference. The number of Posts
▪ Sales volume of the pop-ups in the and comments on Weibo,
Collaboration
glamping base. Xiaohongshu and Douyin are
with glamping
▪ Number of posts on Weibo, dynamically monitored in real
Xiaohongshu and Douyin for time, constantly improve the
glamping base. activities in the glamping base.
Figure 12 : Evaluation of the tactics
27
6. Conclusion
The main purpose of this IMC plan is to improve the brand preference of
Saturnbird. Throughout the design and implementation of the campaign, we have
always followed the basic tone of the brand, and the founder Mr. Wu Jun’s Link and
Loop Theory, linked with customers with high-quality content sharing, and attracted
more customers through the re-sharing of new customers, At the same time, we
should implement the concept of environmental protection and sustainability in our
products and pop-ups. This time, IMC plan explored the opportunity target
customers aged 36-40, and carried out collaboration in the popular glamping at the
same time; In the case of unable to rapidly expand more offline stores, using the
cooperation foundation of the Project Return and more than 200 coffee shops
cooperating across the country, the campaign cooperated with these coffee shops for
pop-ups, and supplemented the offline scenes with various forms of Cycle Cafe and
Van Cafe, which are very popular. This is a rapid promotion of Saturnbird’s omni
channel layout. Mr. Wu Jun said that the brand is a ubiquitous texture, which is to
present the value you create everywhere in the most textural way (Li, 2022). China's
coffee market is still in its relatively early stage, with huge consumption potential. It
is estimated that the retail scale of China's overall coffee market will be about 82
billion yuan in 2020, and it is expected to reach 219 billion yuan in 2025 (Analysys.cn,
2022). Saturnbird will work with other new brands to promote coffee culture and
break through tradition to create new demand.
28
References
Analysys.cn. (2022, 1 19). 2021 White Paper on the Industry Development Trend of
China's Freshly Ground Coffee Market. Analysys.cn.
https://www.analysys.cn/article/detail/20020362
Analysys.cn. (2022, 6 16). Special Insights Into China's Camping Market 2022.
Analysys.cn. https://www.analysys.cn/article/detail/20020563
Chen, M. (2021, 12 23). Xiaohongshu Held the 2022 Business Ecology Conference
and Released A New Commercialization Vision. ADQUAN.
https://www.adquan.com/post-7-309960.html
Douyin. (2022). Douyin. https://www.douyin.com/
GF SECURITIES. (2022, 6 23). Comparative Analysis of Weibo and Twitter in Social
Media Industry in 2022. GF SECURITIES.
https://www.vzkoo.com/read/20220623213815fd03ecbc9f6477425e.html
INSIDE AND INFO. (2021). Analysis report of Chinese coffee industry in 2021-
industry research and profit prospect research.
Li, X. (2022). The Long Interview:Wu Jun. New Star Press.
Marketing Insight. (2022, 6 8). Analysis on the Scale of Short Video Users and
Leading Enterprises in China in 2021. NETEASE.
https://www.163.com/dy/article/H9BTSUV6055360RU.html
Qin, X. (2020). UNIQLO: Insight into the Five Changes of Consumers and Restart A
Healthy and Vibrant New Life. China Advertising, Z2, 56-58.
29
Tencent News. (2022, 6 2). Weibo Announced the Financial Report of 2022 Q1, with
a Revenue of $484.6 Million. Tencent News.
https://new.qq.com/omn/20220602/20220602A08Z9H00.html
Saturnbird Coffee. (2022). Official Website of Saturnbird. https://en.saturnbird.com/
Zhang Qin, (2021). Saturnbird Semi New Financing Valued at 4.5 Billion Yuan and
New Offline Store Will Launch in Shanghai on August.
https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1703443077842750512&wfr=spider&for=pc
30
Appendix
Appendix 1: Weibo advertising
31
Appendix 2: Xiaohongshu advertising
Appendix 3: Douyin advertising
32
Appendix 4: OOH ad
Appendix 5: Pop-up
Cycle Cafe
33
Appendix 7: Pop-up
Van Cafe
Appendix 7: Collaboration with ABC Glamping Base
34
Appendix 8:Research Instruments
I am a postgraduate student in Integrated Marketing Communication from
Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM). In this survey, I would like to study consumers’
brand preference on super instant coffee brand SATURNBIRD Coffee.
The questionnaire would take no more than 10 minutes to complete. It would be
greatly appreciated for your cooperation and time participating in this survey.
1.Please select the gender that identifies you as the closest.
( ) Male
( ) Female
2.Please select your age range.
( ) 0-18
( ) 19-25
( ) 26-30
( ) 31-35
( ) 35-40
( ) 40+
3. Please select the monthly income range.
( ) RMB3,000 and below
( ) RMB3,001-RMB5,000
( ) RMB5,001-RMB10,000
( ) RMB10,001-RMB15,000
( ) RMB15,001-RMB20,000
35
( ) RMB20,001-RMB50,000
( ) RMB50,000 and above
4. Please select your education background.
( ) High school(Secondary School) and below
( ) University (Undergraduate and junior college)
( ) Graduate (Master and above)
5. Please select your location.
( ) Central Cities (Beijing,Shanghai,Guangzhou,Shenzhen)
( ) First-tier Cities ( Provincial cities and prefecture-level cities)
( ) Other regions (county-level cities and other regions, towns and rural areas)
( ) Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan
6. Have you ever experienced Saturnbird Coffee products?
( ) Yes
( ) No
7. Compared with other coffee brands, you prefer Saturnbird Coffee. (1= strongly
disagree, 5= strongly agree)
()1
()2
()3
()4
()5
8.Compared with other coffee brands, you pay special attention to all kinds of
36
information about Saturnbird Coffee. (1= strongly disagree, 5= strongly agree)
()1
()2
()3
()4
()5
9. You will firstly think of Saturnbird Coffee once you are buying super instant coffee.
(1= strongly disagree, 5= strongly agree)
()1
()2
()3
()4
()5
10. What is the price you can accept for a single cup of coffee?
( ) RMB 6 - RMB 12
( ) RMB 13 - RMB 18
( ) RMB 19 - RMB 25
( ) RMB 26 - RMB 35
( ) RMB 36 and above
11. How much do you spend on coffee every month?
( ) RMB 50 and below
( ) RMB 51 - RMB 100
37
( ) RMB 101 - RMB 300
( ) RMB 300 - RMB 500
( ) RMB 500 and above
12. Saturnbird Coffee is cost-effective. (1= strongly disagree, 5= strongly agree)
()1
()2
()3
()4
()5
13. You think the taste of super instant coffee from Saturnbird is very similar to hand
brewed coffee. (1= strongly disagree, 5= strongly agree)
()1
()2
()3
()4
()5
14. You are satisfied with the quality of Saturnbird coffee.(1= strongly disagree, 5=
strongly agree)
()1
()2
()3
()4
38
()5
15. In your opinion, the quality of Saturnbird coffee has been continuously improved
and kept improving. (1= strongly disagree, 5= strongly agree)
()1
()2
()3
()4
()5
16. You really like the Saturnbird coffee’s colored canned packaging. (1= strongly
disagree, 5= strongly agree)
()1
()2
()3
()4
()5
17. You enjoy the content sharing about Saturnbird coffee on social media platforms
(such as Weibo, Xiaohongshu, etc.). (1= strongly disagree, 5= strongly agree)
()1
()2
()3
()4
()5
39
18. You often browse and enjoy the information on the Saturnbird coffee’s official
website, official WeChat official account, official Weibo and other channels.(1=
strongly disagree, 5= strongly agree)
()1
()2
()3
()4
()5
19. You trust in the advertising of Saturnbird coffee (including official advertising,
KOL recommendation). (1= strongly disagree, 5= strongly agree)
()1
()2
()3
()4
()5
20. You trust more in the recommendation of amateurs, relatives, friends and
colleagues for Saturnbird coffee. (1= strongly disagree, 5= strongly agree)
()1
()2
()3
()4
()5
40
21. You will recommend Saturnbird Coffee to your friends and family.(1= strongly
disagree, 5= strongly agree)
()1
()2
()3
()4
()5
22. The "Return Project" focusing on environmental protection Saturnbird Coffee will
increase your favorable impression on the brand. (1= strongly disagree, 5= strongly
agree)
()1
()2
()3
()4
()5
23. The joint branding activities of Saturnbird Coffee and other brands or IP (such as
ChaYanYueSe ) will promote you to buy the products. (1= strongly disagree, 5=
strongly agree)
()1
()2
()3
()4
41
()5
24. If Saturnbird Coffee adopts the following marketing strategies, how much will
you favor the impression of the brand?
Items 1= big drop in favorability, 3= neutral,
5= big increase in favorability
Increasing advertising, for both online
and offline exposure 12 345
Joint activity with other brands or IP
Expanding offline stores
Lower prices appropriately
Holding public welfare activities
42