Ocean Park teams up with Circle K to launch panda-themed coffee

Ocean Park has partnered with convenience chain Circle K to extend the reach of its Panda Friends intellectual property (IP) by offering limited-edition panda-themed ground coffee at their stores.

Available until 11 February, the “Circle K Hong Kong × Ocean Park ‘Panda Friends’ limited coffee” initiative is done in collaboration with local digital agency Zlashy.

Debuting in late 2024, the Panda Friends intellectual property features new pandas An An and Ke Ke, introduced in December 2024, followed by twins Jia Jia and De De in February 2025. To expand the brand's reach and enhance top-of-mind awareness beyond the park, Circle K is chosen for its extensive citywide presence, allowing the pandas to appear in high-frequency, everyday contexts.

The collaboration aims to promote trial and repeat purchases of freshly ground coffee, increase unit sales and attachment rates, and recruit new app users. It seeks to funnel fans between the two brands by encouraging Circle K coffee drinkers to discover and connect with Ocean Park's IP, while also inviting Ocean Park fans to try Circle K coffee. Additionally, the collaboration seeks to create photo-worthy, limited-edition cup moments that can be shared on social media.

The collaboration targets urban coffee consumers, including commuters, office workers, students, and locals on platforms such as Instagram, Threads, and Xiaohongshu, as well as panda enthusiasts and collectors of souvenirs.

Through various Panda Friends artworks on hot and iced cups, customers are encouraged to collect them all, maximising street-level impressions with each carry. Meanwhile, specific hashtags and user-generated content challenges are designed to enhance brand recall of the intellectual property.

The collaboration is promoted through lifestyle and food and beverage pages, local newspapers, in-store promotions at Circle K, website and app customer relationship management, as well as user-generated content and posts from creators.

The return on investment for the collaboration is measured through various metrics, including incremental sales of coffee units compared to the previous period and last year; the number of stamp card joins; active member participation; redemptions; repeat purchase frequency; reach; word of mouth; the volume of user-generated content; usage of hashtags; engagement rate; and view-through metrics.

Fred Yeung, director, marketing and procurement, Circle K Convenience Stores in Hong Kong, said: “By partnering with Ocean Park’s Panda Friends, we’re bringing together fun character designs, coffee culture, and Hong Kong’s community vibes. Together, we’ve created a set of special, limited-time cup designs and store decorations just for Hong Kong—making your everyday coffee break more fun, share-worthy, and meaningful.”

Ivon Tsang, head of commercial operations, Ocean Park Corporation, said: “Panda Friends has always championed warmth, connection, and playful creativity. By teaming up with Circle K and Zlashy, we extend that spirit from the Park into daily city life, one cup at a time. It’s a celebration of local creativity and character craftsmanship.”

Don't miss: Ocean Park invites HKers to donate toys ahead of Children's Day

Back in April, Ocean Park invited citizens to donate toys and celebrate with the giant panda twin cubs, Jia Jia and De De ahead of Children's Day.

Available from 4 to 6 April 2025, between 10 am and 5:30 pm, the toy donation drive aligned with the first Children's Day celebration for the two pandas. Citizens were encouraged to bring their children to Ocean Park over the long weekend to donate toys for a good cause. These toys were be passed on by Ocean Park to "Community living rooms" (社區客廳), ensuring that children in need can have fun and play.

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