2023 Annual Inventory 2023 can be said to be a joint year. Co-branded marketing has stimulated the renewal of the market structure, and brands are afraid of falling behind, competing for consumers' limited attention like a beast. However, the flip side of co-branding is the aesthetic fatigue of consumers, which also means that the vast majority of co-branding can only be submerged in the marketing bubble and become the brand's self-congratulation. We are curious, which co-branding will be noticed by consumers in 2023?What kind of co-branding do you like and which IPs are you willing to pay for?To this end, DT Business Observer released a "consumer co-branded survey". Among the 1023 valid questionnaires, 85% are post-95, post-90s, and post-00s, and 75% are women, and more than half of them are from first-tier cities. It should be noted that due to the time lag between the questionnaire and the release of the report, some co-names including Heytea and Jingdezhen, Cudi Coffee and "The Legend of Zhen Huan" were not counted. 1
Most consumers are very casual, and nearly 400 people are more interested in co-branding
On the opposite side of the lively co-brand, it is a calm consumer. As collaborations become more frequent, people continue to disenchant them. Only 331% of consumers say they are more interested in co-branding than before. In the face of the co-branded products they are interested in, most people are very casual, and it doesn't matter if they can't buy it, 3** will actively participate in the rush to buy, but they are unwilling to queue up to buy or buy at a premium. 
The reason is not difficult to analyze, when all brands are doing co-branding, the flood of quantity and uneven quality have depleted the enthusiasm of consumers to a certain extent. One reader said, "Co-branding is not uncommon, and it's a bit numb. It's really insensitive to get some cups and paper bags, and find a ready-made mold to print the dot pattern, and the fashion little garbage cuts leeks." Another consumer wrote more bluntly, "At first glance, it is fresh, and it is a scam after eating and drinking." 
However, co-branding did reach more young people. Nearly 40 percent of the post-00s are more interested in co-branding than before, and the younger the consumer, the more obvious the increase in interest in co-branding. Young people's wallets are not thick, but they are willing to spend for hobbies, and brand co-branding is also looking at this, and they have co-branded with games, two-dimensional, and emojis, striving to resonate with young people at the same frequency. 2
The 2023 Top Ten Collaboration Rankings are released, and the sauce latte has attracted attention from all ages
The brand's efforts were not in vain, even if people's attitudes were very casual, there were still co-branded "runs". Luckin and Kweichow Moutai, Luckin and "Cat and Mouse", Heytea and Fendi have become the most impressive collaborations among consumers in 2023, leading other collaborations in terms of votes. 
Super 7** voted for Luckin and Kweichow Moutai, which is also the only joint name that received more than half of the votes in this survey. When many co-branding was still in the "OEM" stage, Luckin combined coffee and wine to create a new concept of sauce-flavored latte, allowing the two brands to achieve a two-way breakthrough, and sold more than 100 million yuan in sales on the first day of sale. In the current world of co-branding, it is not easy for consumers to remember the product, whose product is the most interesting, who is easier to get out of the circle. The sauce latte just meets the characteristics that consumers value most, such as "creative", "strong contrast", and "easy to play", which has left a deep impression on people. 
However, the co-brand's outing is also accidental. Among the 10 co-branded brands that impress consumers the most, Heytea and Luckin account for 6, and these two brands have always had the title of "co-branded madman". According to the statistics of "DT Business Observer", as of November 28, Luckin has launched 14 co-branded products this year, and the sauce latte can be said to be a successful test on the road of Luckin's crazy co-branding. 
As a phenomenal co-brand, Luckin and Kweichow Moutai have hit people of all ages from the post-00s to the post-80s. Before this joint branding, Luckin, as a refreshing drink for college students and white-collar workers, was difficult to enter the eyes of middle-aged people, and Moutai, as the latter's wine table drink, was too far away from the age. The combination of the two can be said to be the perfect practice of the Medici effect, achieving the effect of 1+1>2. Just like one netizen commented: "Moutai said that there was a lack of young users, and Luckin said that it could not open the market for middle-aged and elderly men, and then, they got the certificate, and all ages came to the gift!."”
The co-branding of Luckin and "Cat and Mouse", Heytea and Fendi has also penetrated consumers of all ages. One is an enduring childhood cartoon, and the other is an Italian luxury brand, so that consumers of different ages, identities and statuses are willing to pay for it. In addition, the younger the consumer, the more interested they are in the collaboration between Luckin and Line PuppyThe older I get, the more impressed I am by the collaboration between Nayuki's tea and the thin box (Fantesi ** Universe). 3
Most people have spent money on co-branding, and IP marketing is the highlight of co-branding
The contemporary people's concept of co-branded consumption is that they can be bought, but they can't be bought indiscriminately. Of the surveyed consumers, 86% have spent money on a co-branding this year. Super 6** fancy "the product itself is delicious, fun and easy to use", super 5** "want to give away peripherals", most people buy co-branded focus on the goods and derivatives themselves. Less than 20% of people pay money to join the crowd or get social currency. As a post-85 reader said, "Food, drink and fun are naturally the most important, and if all the co-branding has only one image and affects the most important foundation, it will be of no interest." 
In addition to the product itself, IP plays an important role in influencing consumer decisions. Super 7** spends money on favorite IPs, which is more than 20 percentage points higher than the proportion of people attracted by brands. This can also be seen from the impressive collaborations of all age groups above. As an emoji IP, the line puppy is popular among young people, and its co-branding with Luckin is more popular among the post-00s and post-95s. As a witness of the post-80s and post-90s youth, Jay Chou's audience is relatively old, so Nai Xue's tea and thin box are co-branded, which can hit this part of consumers more. In "The Birth of Flexible Individualism," the Japanese scholar Masakazu Yamazaki writes that consumption is the consumption and regeneration of goods as a superficial purpose, while in fact the pursuit is to spend time to the fullest. Spending money for your favorite IP is actually concretizing your love, making the consumption process enjoyable and worth looking forward to, and prolonging the satisfaction of consumption by getting giveaways and merchandise. As a post-00s interviewee said, "When I buy around at a low price, I can basically rush it, mainly depending on the attractiveness of the co-branded IP to me, if it is a niche IP I like, it is better, I may buy it at a premium (the second yuan is like this)". 4
More than half of the people have bought animation IP co-branding, and Line Puppy has become the most potential IP
People's interest in IP greatly affects the popularity and sales of co-branding. So, what kind of IP is easier for consumers to pay?The survey data shows that among the IP co-branding purchased by consumers,Animation IPs are the most popular (51.)4%), followed by IP (42.).1%) and film and television drama IP (372%）
Whether it is animated characters such as cat and mouse, Minions, or ** images such as Xiao Liu Duck and Line Puppy, behind their popularity, they all convey the consumption psychology of people spending money for cuteness. "I really love the Loopy co-brand, and the pink mouse has a charm that can't be seen when you see it", post-00s reader Hai Zeqiu (pseudonym) told us. "I will buy anything related to Disney, and the Barbie series is also a childhood feeling, in fact, I still pay for cute IP", Liu Shishi (pseudonym), who was born in 95, said. The popularity of film and television drama IP is inseparable from the audience's enthusiasm and nostalgia for chasing dramas, "Sauvignon Blanc", "Canglan Jue" and other popular new dramas in the past two years, "The Legend of Zhen Huan", "Wulin Gaiden" and other classic film and television dramas, are all frequent visitors to IP co-branding. 
Each generation has several animated works growing up, it may be "SpongeBob SquarePants" or "Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf", so no matter how old they are, people are full of interest in animation IP. In addition, the **IP, represented by Xiaolan and Xiaoliu Ya, has become popular in the form of emojis and has greater appeal to young people;Cultural and museum IPs such as the Palace Museum and Dunhuang murals are more attractive to older consumers. However, after the end of this research, Heytea and Jingdezhen Chinese Ceramics Museum jointly launched the "Buddha Hey Tea Latte", which printed the popular "Speechless Bodhisattva" on the milk tea cup, which was also sought after by young people. This also shows that without "aging" IP, whether co-branded marketing can hit young people still depends on whether it can step on the high points of young people. In the questionnaire, we also asked everyone to fill in the IPs that are willing to spend money to buy co-branded IPs, and summarized a "ranking of the most potential IPs". 
Line Puppy has received the most nominations and has become one of the potential IPs with the highest fan stickiness. The line puppy is from Korean illustrator Moonlab Studio, which includes a Maltese dog and a little golden retriever, and because of its cute appearance, it is used as a meme by young people and amassed the next group of fans. In addition, film and television works such as "Harry Potter" and "The Legend of Zhen Huan" that make the audience feel deeply, as well as animated images such as "Cat and Mouse" and "Detective Conan" that accompany everyone through childhood are also on the list. "The last time I spent money on "Cat and Mouse", because it was a childhood IP, I still want to watch it when I see it, and I can chat with many people when I post it on my mobile phone;If there is a joint name of "Wulin Gaiden", I should also buy it, sad and determined. A post-90s reader said. However, even if they pay for their favorite IP, people are very concerned about whether the product itself is worth buying. "The premise is that it's really good-looking, and if it's just bad money, I'll be black. One consumer wrote. 4
Lightweight categories are easier to "effectively co-brand", and Luckin and Heytea are crazy to "attract gold".
At the moment when consumption is downgraded, consumers buy co-branding, mostly to spend a small amount of money to have fun. Therefore, the goods that can be bought at hand are easier to reach consumers. In this survey, more than 8** have bought coffee drinks and nearly 7** have bought catering food co-branding.
From the perspective of brands, consumers buy the most co-branded brands, and most of them are coffee and tea. Luckin and Heytea, two "joint big households", won 565% and 49With a purchase rate of 7%, Nayuki's tea, tea Baidao, and ancient tea also entered the TOP10 list. Other brands on the list, such as Uniqlo, KFC, McDonald's, Miniso, and Hollyland, have been working on the road of co-branding for a long time.
Co-branding can indeed play a positive role in opening up the market in the short term, and MINISO and Hollyland have verified the feasibility of this style of play, and attracted a group of imitators to join this melee. But in the final analysis, co-branding is more of a long-term strategy, and brands that just want to "cut leeks" are easily identified by consumers and pulled into the blacklist. "The difference is that Hollyland, Heytea, and Luckin use co-branding to add buffs to themselves, while most other brands are more like an i person who has been holding back for a long time and has to form a bureau to consume users. The user can perceive it. Reader Ryeo Kuri (pseudonym) said. From the point of view of the joint operation, the problem of products and derivatives is the biggest minefield for consumers, followed by deceptive behaviors such as "using joint names to raise the ** standard", "using peripheral hunger marketing" and "using joint names to deal with hoarding". Therefore, brands should treat every co-branding activity as part of long-termism, and must not make mistakes in the product or have obvious "leek-cutting" behavior.
Even with the well-received collaboration, there are sometimes problems, such as reader Tangtang (pseudonym) feedback, "Luckin's "Cat and Mouse" collaboration is always missing arms and legs, and it is very offensive to be less than that." Not to mention the brand co-branding that overturned from the source: Tangerine Duo co-branded with "Book of Undetermined Events", changing the packaging of conventional goods and selling them at a higher price, causing dissatisfaction among fans;Overlord Chaji co-branded "Tomb Robbery Notes", buy two cups before giving away the peripherals, and the peripheral design was complained about ugly, and was scolded for being the first in the hot search;Aunt Shanghai co-branded with "Love of Light and Night", because the clerk called the latter a "widow fraud game", which hurt the feelings of players, and the co-branding was stopped. When brand co-branding falls into the misunderstanding of making quick money, consumers will quickly bow down and form a negative reputation in the circle, and the brand will eventually be eaten up by the huge traffic brought by IP. 5
Conclusion
The above are all the findings of this survey, which can be briefly summarized into several points: 1. People are very rational about co-branding, and they are also very casual in the face of interested co-branding, and it is difficult for brands to "grasp" consumers through co-branding. 2. Co-branding with innovative ability is more likely to impress consumers, and the sauce latte is a good example. 3. When consumers buy co-branding, they pay more attention to the value of the product itself, and the influence of IP is higher than that of the brand. 4. Lightweight categories are easier to achieve "effective co-branding", and milk tea and coffee are the most bought. 5. The co-branding can not be brilliant, but it must not be wrong, and the product problem is the biggest minefield for consumers.