Starting December 22, HEYTEA and POP MART’s popular IP Twinkle Twinkle officially launched their global co-branded campaign across HEYTEA stores worldwide. Timed to the Christmas and New Year season, the collaboration is built around the theme “Twinkle Twinkle for Winter.” Centered on the warm and comforting Twinkle Twinkle characters, the campaign introduces a multi-dimensional experience that includes custom character designs, co-branded drinks, themed merchandise, themed stores, and the Inspiration Bus pop-up activation.
This marks HEYTEA’s first globally synchronized co-branded launch. Even before the official rollout, the partnership generated strong attention across social platforms. With the campaign spanning Mainland China, Hong Kong SAR and Macao SAR, as well as more than 100 HEYTEA stores across the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and other overseas markets, the collaboration brings a shared winter moment to cities around the world.
Beyond its festive appeal, the campaign offers a glimpse into HEYTEA’s approach to international markets. While character-led collaborations help create seasonal resonance, HEYTEA’s broader focus lies in building meaningful, locally grounded brand experiences that feel relevant in different cultural contexts.
Localized campaigns, shaped by local culture
Across overseas markets, HEYTEA has consistently used collaborations and pop-up activations as a way to connect with younger audiences and spark cultural conversation. Over the past year, the brand has partnered with names spanning fashion, art, and entertainment, including alexanderwang, Sandy Liang, Wicked, and Yayoi Kusama. Each collaboration is paired with limited products and immersive offline experiences, encouraging consumers to engage, explore, and share.
Rather than applying a single formula across regions, HEYTEA selects creative partners with strong local or cultural relevance, develops visually distinctive concepts, and designs in-store experiences that naturally translate into social moments. This approach allows the brand to build local presence while maintaining a coherent global identity rooted in inspiration and creativity.
Product creativity as a shared language
Product creation remains central to how HEYTEA expresses its brand globally. As the originator of “new-style tea,” the brand views innovation as a way to continuously reinterpret tea culture for contemporary consumers, both in China and overseas.
Internationally, HEYTEA has introduced more than 20 localized drinks designed to reflect regional taste preferences while staying true to the brand’s emphasis on natural ingredients and modern tea aesthetics. Examples include Cloud Coconut Blue, Cloud Longjing Tea Latte, and Ocean’s Glow, which incorporate lighter flavor profiles, lower sugar options, and plant-forward elements to better align with local expectations.
This philosophy is reflected in the Twinkle Twinkle collaboration itself. Alongside HEYTEA’s globally available classics, the campaign introduces two exclusive drinks, Tiramisu Milk Tea and Tiramisu Rich Chocolate, marking the brand’s first globally synchronized seasonal product release. For HEYTEA, seasonal storytelling is less about promotion and more about creating moments of comfort, warmth, and shared experience across markets.
The U.S. as a key stage for cultural connection
The United States continues to play an important role in HEYTEA’s overseas presence. Since opening its first U.S. store at the end of 2023, the brand has expanded into cities including New York, Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, Houston, Seattle, and Boston. HEYTEA now operates 36 stores across the country.
For HEYTEA, the appeal of the U.S. lies not only in market scale, but also in its openness to new tastes and ideas. The brand sees tea as a cultural medium, one that can create connection through shared sensory experiences. This perspective has shaped both store design and product development, encouraging exploration rather than simple adaptation.
In New York’s Times Square, HEYTEA opened its overseas flagship TEA LAB store, a space designed to reinterpret Chinese tea culture through an inspiration-driven lens. Featuring exclusive drinks and a carefully curated environment, the flagship serves as a creative showcase for how tea can be experienced in a modern, global city.
Supporting experiences behind the scenes
As HEYTEA expands internationally, it continues to refine the systems that support consistent experiences across markets. The brand has extended its HEYTEA GO digital platform overseas and introduced a self-operated delivery model in the U.S., helping ensure a more seamless and reliable customer journey. These behind-the-scenes capabilities allow HEYTEA to focus on what consumers see and feel, while maintaining quality and coherence across regions.
About HEYTEA
Founded in 2012 in Jiangmen, Guangdong, China, HEYTEA is widely recognized as the originator of new-style tea beverages. The brand created the world’s first cheese tea using real tea and real milk, setting a new standard for the industry. HEYTEA is committed to using real ingredients, including real tea, real milk, real fruit, and real sugar, while continuously reimagining tea culture through products and experiences that resonate with young consumers. Today, HEYTEA operates around 4,000 stores worldwide, including more than 100 overseas locations across Asia, North America, Europe, and Oceania.
