世界杯进入“早餐档”，瑞幸、库迪纷纷入局 咖啡茶饮品牌能把流量变成订单吗？Can coffee and tea brands such as Luckin Coffee and Kudi turn traffic into orders as the World Cup enters the "breakfast slot"?

When the alarm clock rang in the morning, Mr. Cheng had already played half of the game he was following. Due to the time difference, nearly half of the matches in this year's US Canada Mexico World Cup are held during the daytime Beijing time.

The night owl audience, who used to stay up late to watch football, started waking up early. And coffee and breakfast, instead of barbecue beer, have become the "match for watching football".

Co branding and marketing have always been one of the means for tea and coffee drinks to increase sales, and the natural traffic field of the World Cup has made brands flock to it. Kudi Coffee, Luckin Coffee, and Little Coffee have all entered the game and secured sponsorship rights with popular football stars and national teams. In addition, tea drink brands such as Jasmine Milk White and Bawang Tea Lady have also launched "World Cup elements" to attract customers.

Coffee brands are at home, and milk tea, convenience stores, and fast food breakfast are not idle. A secret battle around "watching the game in the morning" has already begun ahead of schedule.

Spending a lot of money on marketing also carries risks, such as teams being eliminated early or performing poorly, resulting in almost no marketing expenses. Therefore, for tea and coffee brands to achieve long-term stable development, 'heavy marketing and light research and development' cannot be the norm, "Lin Yue, Chief Consultant of Lingyan Management Consulting, told Daily Economic News.

Beer barbecue doesn't work, 'wake up early to watch the game' makes coffee and milk tea stand in the C position

The obvious change that Chinese audiences can feel in this World Cup is that the viewing time is different from before. Based on the public schedule converted to Beijing time, the 104 matches are mostly concentrated between 0:00 and 12:00. Among them, more than half of the matches are held from 5pm to 12pm.

In the past, I used to stay up late to watch the game, but now I wake up early to watch it, "Mr. Cheng told reporters. In order to watch the game, his schedule is more regular than before. The 3 o'clock game requires a cup of coffee to wake up; At 6 o'clock, we order breakfast and watch while eating.

In order to attract a lot of traffic for the World Cup, coffee brands have already prepared the battlefield in advance. Kudi signed with the Argentine national team as early as 2022 and later became a global sponsor of the team. Before this World Cup, Kudi continued to increase its efforts and obtained the relevant qualifications for the official authorized product retailer of the World Cup. Kudi also became one of the few brands in the coffee industry with FIFA's official IP qualifications. Coupled with the dual identity of the global sponsor of the Argentine national team, Kudi attempted to bind Argentina, Messi, and World Cup related businesses together and comprehensively layout the marketing cycle of the World Cup.

Luckin Coffee connects its coffee consumption scene with the traffic of European powerhouses and top football stars. Prior to the start of the World Cup, the official brand became a sponsor for the Spanish and Portuguese teams in the China region. On the poster, Yamal and Cristiano Ronaldo are standing in position C.

Image source: Daily reporter Wang Ziwei

Xiaoka Coffee did not compete for the current popular team, but signed Brazilian legendary football star Kaka. Kaka is no longer standing in the center of the field, but he still has emotional appeal to fans born in the 1980s and 1990s. Compared to current players and teams, retired veterans have lower risks and are more likely to carry nostalgic emotions.

The coffee brands that once dominated the 9.9 coffee market have once again become embroiled in the football narrative of the World Cup.

Compared to coffee brands, milk tea brands have less involvement, but they also put in a lot of effort. Grandfather does not brew tea and has launched the "Good Apple Friends World Cup Bottle Opener Refrigerator Patch" around the World Cup scene, while Jasmine Milk White has launched a new matcha series in the UK and introduced football merchandise. Bawang Tea Lady has launched both refrigerator stickers and themed lucky stickers through the Shake Sand series.

An industry insider told reporters that marketing and subsidies have become one of the most direct ways to drive orders for coffee milk tea after entering the era of stock. The World Cup, whether it's events, emotions, or topics, is a natural flow field.

It's understandable for brands to seek growth, but is this valuable sponsorship worth it?

What are the marketing benefits of the World Cup?

Industry insiders told reporters that it is much cheaper to sign the rights of the top star's national team in China than to sign the star himself. According to a previous report by Caijing, the sponsorship cost for the Argentina national team in China is approximately 700000 to 800000 US dollars, equivalent to about 5 to 6 million Chinese yuan.

However, even so, for new consumer brands, it is still a significant annual marketing budget.

Compare the commonly used IP collaborations for new tea drinks and coffee. Industry estimates show that mild or moderate cooperation between mid to low tier gaming IPs may cost tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of yuan; The deep collaboration of top game IPs may result in a budget ranging from 1.5 million to 3 million yuan, or even higher. In total, the sponsorship of a national team in China is equivalent to the budget for two or three deep collaborations with top IPs.

It is not new for new tea and coffee brands to rely on marketing to drive growth, but frequent co branding expenses have become a burden on brand profits. For example, coffee brand Luckin Coffee saw a year-on-year increase of 47.5% in sales and marketing expenses in the first quarter of 2026, higher than the revenue growth rate of the same period; In the same quarter, the same store sales growth of its self operated stores stalled, and the operating profit margin also declined.

At the same time, many brands have found that co branding is not as effective as expected. According to media statistics, by 2025, the cumulative number of joint ventures of seven newly listed tea beverage companies in China, including Luckin Coffee and Meixue Bingcheng, will decrease from 156 in 2024 to 83 in 2025. HEYTEA has only collaborated twice throughout the year, and top brands have started to put the brakes on collaborations.

An industry insider said that event marketing can indeed help brands gain popularity in a short period of time, especially in mass sports events such as the World Cup, where brands can easily use topics such as star players, teams, and scores to create communication. But for coffee and tea beverage brands, marketing usually has limited impact on actual business operations.

It can bring attention and short-term orders, but ultimately it depends on repeat purchases, same store purchases, and profit margins. If you just spend more money to buy excitement, it may not necessarily precipitate into real growth

The World Cup can amplify the brand's stage voice, but it is not the answer to the growth of coffee and tea beverage brands. Can we convert this gust of wind into orders, memberships, and repeat purchases? This is the true ledger that brands need to calculate clearly.

Daily Economic News