Introduction:When chain coffee meets a popular gaming IP, how do frontline staff handle the challenges of cross-industry collaboration? This article delves into the operational details behind the Luckin Coffee x Genshin Impact collaboration, from employee assessment content to optimizing player experience. It reveals the practical workings of such brand-IP partnerships and offers baristas practical tips for quickly grasping character traits—helping you understand the key nuances of this crossover marketing campaign.
In early November, the well-known chain coffee brand Luckin Coffee announced via its official social media channels a collaborative partnership with the popular game Genshin Impact. The news quickly sparked heated discussions within the gaming community. Developed by Shanghai-based miHoYo, the open-world adventure game Genshin Impact has accumulated over 300 million global players since its launch in 2020, with monthly active users reaching between 62 million and 150 million in 2024.
Even before the official announcement of the collaboration, social platforms had already leaked details shared by frontline staff, including the campaign period, featured characters, and information about limited-edition drinks. Notably, internal training materials included several quiz questions about the game’s characters, which posed quite a challenge for baristas unfamiliar with the game. Some employees opted to memorize character details by rote, others downloaded the game to experience it firsthand, and some even questioned the relevance of these topics to their daily drink-making tasks.
From the leaked assessment questions, it’s clear that in addition to standard drink preparation procedures, the tests also covered detailed questions about the characters’ backgrounds, nicknames, and other specifics. For seasoned players, these questions were easy to answer; but for employees who had never played the game, memorizing character traits proved even more difficult than mastering the standard drink-making SOPs. One employee revealed that to pass the assessment, in addition to repeatedly reviewing internal materials, they had to seek advice from experienced players on quick ways to identify characters—some even used their break time to play the game in order to familiarize themselves better.
Industry observers point out that a common challenge in such cross-industry collaborations is the frontline staff’s lack of familiarity with the IP. In previous brand-IP collaborations, there have been instances where staff confused characters, leading to incorrect distribution of promotional merchandise or an inability to answer player questions—ultimately affecting customer satisfaction. By requiring employees to grasp basic information about the characters, Luckin’s aim is essentially to reduce the risk of service errors and ensure players receive the consumer experience they expect.
From a practical standpoint, if baristas want to quickly get a handle on the characters in Genshin Impact, it’s recommended to prioritize memorizing key characters that have a strong connection to the limited-edition drinks—for example, the characters’ signature outfit colors, weapon designs, or iconic catchphrases. At the same time, pay attention to the design elements of the collaboration cup sleeves, stickers, and other merchandise, as these typically directly reflect the theme of the characters. For the flavor design of the drinks, observe whether the ingredients used in the recipe (such as specific types of tea or syrup flavors) correspond to the characters’ national backgrounds or personality traits—this can help establish a connection when explaining the drinks to customers.
It’s worth noting that such cross-industry collaborations present both a challenge and a learning opportunity for baristas. By understanding the cultural background of the game IP, they can communicate more deeply with the target audience and improve service quality. For employees unfamiliar with the game, it’s recommended to build a basic understanding through official character introduction videos or graphic materials, rather than relying solely on rote memorization.
In summary, the Luckin Coffee x Genshin Impact collaboration reflects a new challenge faced by modern chain coffee brands in crossover marketing—how to ensure that frontline staff have sufficient knowledge of the IP to deliver high-quality service. Although the assessment content has sparked some discussion among employees, from the perspective of customer experience, being well-prepared in advance indeed helps reduce service mistakes and creates a win-win situation.
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
