A few things on my radar #30
Dreame's bold marketing, Huawei's price drop, Insta360 vs. DJI, bubble tea wars, Pop Mart's...
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Dreame × Spring Festival Gala 🇨🇳 + Super Bowl 🇺🇸
Dreame Technology (founded in 2017) is a rapidly growing global tech company specializing in high-performance smart home cleaning devices, including robot vacuums, wet/dry vacuums, and hair dryers.
The brand has become a strategic partner of the 2026 CCTV Spring Festival Gala and will also appear at the Super Bowl. It's seizing both of the biggest annual galas in China and the U.S. for maximum exposure—likely the first and only brand in the world to do so.
To me, Dreame is a company full of imagination — their products are cool. Its founder aspires to be “China’s Elon Musk” and a superhero, but many employees think he’s just dreaming and talk shit.
Huawei
From January 29 to February 28, Huawei is running a promotion on smartphones, tablets, and wearables, with discounts of up to 4,000 RMB on certain products. This is clearly a counterattack against Apple's CNY "price war”.
Apple's aggressive pricing in China is a serious test for domestic brands. Don't assume only Chinese brands excel at price wars—Apple's global supply chain and cost control give it more flexibility and lower marginal costs.
Insta360
In an interview with Luo Yonghao (老罗), Insta360's founder said that without DJI pioneering the consumer drone category, Insta360 would not exist—DJI's strength surpasses what most people imagine. But this is a warning, not praise: "Don't encroach on our territory."
Insta360 and DJI are already competing across multiple fronts — last July DJI released a 360° camera, officially stepping into Insta360’s territory, and just 15 days later Insta360 struck back with a 360° drone aimed at DJI. (I’m not sure who truly initiated the move — it’s unlikely Insta360 developed a drone from scratch in just 15 days;
JK Liu claims he will be DJI’s competitor for the rest of his life.
TIIANLALA (甜拉拉)
TIIANLALA has over 8,000 stores nationwide, focusing on lower-tier markets as a bubble tea chain and is perhaps a rival to Mixue.
It launched two new drinks, “Juicy Fresh Orange Jasmine” and “Juicy Fresh Orange Passionfruit,” building out a “fresh fruit, fresh tea” product matrix. It seems that “freshness” and “ is the core positioning in its contest with Mixue.
HEYTEA
HEYTEA released a year-end review of its differentiated achievements: the “tea mixology” series became a best-selling product line, and the brand opened over 100 stores in 32 overseas cities.
What is the essence of tea mixology?—using a limited vessel to create unlimited possibilities—breaking through the constraints of beverage categories by endlessly incorporating different ingredients to achieve the goal of stunning the palate.
The tea mixology is just as magic as coffee mixology—perhaps this category wasn’t invented in China, but it has certainly flourished here—because in such a fiercely competitive market, without constantl innovation, survival is impossible.
Pop Mart
Pop Mart is currently testing dessert/bakery offline stores or pop-up formats centered around its proprietary IPs in select cities, with products including cakes, desserts, and beverages, emphasizing IP imagery + visual design + photo-worthy attributes, rather than traditional dessert chain logic.
What truly matters here is not “desserts” but the monetization boundaries of IP continue to expand—from blind boxes → home goods → theme parks → desserts, Pop Mart is essentially testing: can IP, like Disney, become a form of “edible emotional consumption”?
ANTA
Anta has become a strategic partner of the Hellenic Olympic Committee, creating professional competition apparel for the national sports delegation.
Bosideng (Down Jackets)
Bosideng partnered with designer Kim Jones to launch its premium line AREAL, which made its overseas debut with a pop-up store at Galeries Lafayette in Paris.
