The Spanish moderate Zara surprises with a collaborative capsule collection. This is only available in selected international markets. At the same time, a pop-up store opened in Shanghai. Both actions revolve around the latest viral phenomenon from Asia: butterbear. The company’s dynamic market approach is shown here again. Zara proves his ability to create ‘value propositions’ that directly address a specific global target group. The collection was created in collaboration with Nong Noy, the mascot of the Thai coffee chain butterbear. Nong Noy is currently a viral phenomenon in Asia. In the heart of China’s financial center, Zara opened an immersive pop-up store in parallel.
Nong Noy was presented in June 2024 as an advertising material for the opening of the first branch of the Butterbear coffee chain. The new brand of the Thai entrepreneur Thanawan Vongcharoenrat, inheritance of the coffee chain Coffee Beans by Dao, started in 2021 the confance brand -specialized Skinylicious conference brand. Nong Noy appeared in the exclusive shopping center Emsphere in Bangkok. Fashion brands such as Chanel, Marc Jacobs and Saint Laurent are represented there. The friendly mascot from Butterbear, an lovable bear young, quickly interacted with the visiting. It applied to the sweets of the cafeteria, including through dance performances. A Chinese tourist filmed one of these performances and divided them into Douyin, the Chinese version of Tiktok. The contribution quickly reached over 16 million views and five million ‘likes’. Nong Noey became a viral phenomenon and attracted visitors: inside who wanted to experience and photograph it live.
Contrary to Warhol’s thesis of the ’15 minutes of fame ‘, Nong Noy developed into a continuing viral phenomenon from Asia. The Thai government appointed Nong Noy as an unofficial tourism ambassador. In August 2024, the bear boy was a protagonist of a campaign by the Thai tourism authority. It visited sights such as the temple of the dawn and the Song-Wat-Straße in Bangkok. This was followed by music videos on YouTube with millions and a successful merchandising line. Collaborations with brands such as Kentucky Fried Chicken, Colgate, Gucci and McM joined. Now the collaboration with Zara Nong Noy’s role as a new viral phenomenon from Asia confirms, similar to Hello Kitty or the labubu, which made their debut with the Chinese luxury brand Pronounce in January 2024 in Milan.
In just one year, the mascot of a coffee chain became an important ambassador of western brands in Asia. Cooperation with Zara underlines this. The Spanish fashion chain launched a capsule collection and opened an impressive immersive pop-up store in China to consolidate the popularity of the bear boy from Thailand.
Zara prepares the way for the ‘start of school’ in September. The capsule collection with butterbear comprises fashion and accessories for women, men, children aged four to 14 years. T-shirts, sweatshirts, jogging pants, polo shirts and cardigans are decorated with Nong Noy’s face. The graphics show the name butterbear, sometimes without the bear boy. The capsule collection ‘Butterbear for Zara’ will only be available in selected markets such as China, Japan and Thailand.
As a special point of sale, Zara opened an immersive pop-up store in Shanghai, China’s financial center: the ‘Butterbear Academy-Zara’. According to Zara, the pop-up store is “a unique place to discover our capsule collection inspired by the beginning of school”. The temporary store, which is still open until the end of August, is reminiscent of a school with corridors, lockers, classrooms, changing rooms and a sports hall. It is located in the Middle Huaihai Road 988 in the Xuhui district. In addition to the pop-up store and the online shop, the collection is sold in selected Zara branches on the Chinese mainland as well as in Macao, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, South Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand and Cambodia.
This article was used with digital tools translated.
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