Genshin Impact and Sweet Paradise collaboration
The event took place throughout September and October at several locations of the Sweet Paradise chain in Tokyo. Despite the event being a lengthy one and taking place in several locations at once, this did not prevent people from lining up in huge queues, and the seats were sold out two months in advance. We made a reservation for our table within the first minute of registration opening, however, there was only one time slot left for the desired date. The hype is crazy.
While waiting for the collaboration between HoYoverse and Sweet Paradise to start, we’d been keeping an eye on thousands of posts on social networks, which were eagerly shared by visitors who could not wait for their turn. In addition to the unique gifts for guests and the opportunity to taste game cuisine dishes, the venue had a merch shop where one could buy exclusive souvenirs. Stuff like keychains, toys, and minifigures which had instantly spread across Japanese auctions with prices for some items becoming 5 to 7 times higher than the original ones. It’d be interesting to check how much they will cost in a year, when the opportunity to get them through the official channels will be lost completely.
What was inside the cafe
On X day, we arrived at the cafe. Even though we had a table reserved for a certain time, we still had to stand in a live queue. The staff had offered to place an order in advance. We could choose from eight dishes and eight drinks matching the preferences of the game characters. So we had that opportunity to taste Thoma’s favorite dish and Ayato’s drink of choice.
Our company of three had decided to go for ALL OF IT. We were driven not only by the desire to try the treats, but also by a marketing catch, because for each unit ordered, the guest receives a coaster. I don't know about you personally, but the Japanese are crazy about such things. There were couples ordering 30 servings at once. We were warned by the Sweet Paradise staff that we had to eat everything we ordered or otherwise the coasters would be taken back. We also had our time limited for additional orders and our stay overall.
Genshin Impact merch
We’re not going to get into details regarding the taste of the dishes and the drinks. We’d only like to note that the sweets were at their best, since Sweet Paradise specializes in them, but the main dishes, well, we didn’t want to eat them up. Once you’re done with your meal, you have the opportunity to go to the merch shop and choose souvenirs to your liking. Of the larger items there were tapestries, minifigures, plastic stands, plush toys. Among smaller ones they sold stickers, key chains, adhesive tapes, files and other things the Japanese are crazy about.
Most of the smaller stuff was sold as Mysterious boxes, this approach not only brings gamification into the process, but also allows you to sell more, because almost everyone has their own crush and you want souvenirs of not just anyone, but of your favorite character. Not everyone on our team was lucky. Your humble author shares her catch in the photo below.
What are the benefits of an events?
It really was a lot of fun! We took great photos, got ourselves some souvenirs, and last but not least we’ve got a cool story to share with friends. The organizers, in turn, get way more profit. After all, their game at this moment goes beyond the boundaries of the fictional world and becomes a part of our cities. It’s a cool news hook, lots of mentions on social networks and new fans too! There are people who’d notice cute characters and finally decide to try the game out.
The venue involved in the event gets crazy sales. The benefits and pluses for the business are obvious. Thus, such collaborations between HoYoverse and Sweet Paradise are held regularly (2-3 times a year). And if you take a look at other countries, Genshin Impact also cooperates with coffee shops and restaurants all around the world. One of the hottest events, perhaps, was the collaboration between Genshin Impact and KFC. So take note of the idea of how to promote a game and let the fans interact with the elements of the game world in real life. For those who are not ready for such huge events, we recommend using Drope.me. Create your drops in exchange for user actions.
