Xiaomi turns office joke into viral hit with ice cream launch

Xiaomi, the Chinese technology company best known for its smartphones and smart home devices, has wowed consumers with its newly launched product: Xiaomi ice cream.

The launch took place during Xiaomi’s internal 2026 Values Conference on 9 April. The canteen manager took to the stage and, for entertainment purposes, delivered an ice cream launch presentation closely modelled on founder Lei Jun’s iconic product keynote speeches, featuring formal PowerPoint presentations, development iterations, and repeated emphasis on an “engineering mindset”.

Although the ice cream is sold exclusively in Xiaomi’s internal cafeteria, the presentation quickly went viral online due to its amusing contrast – it adopted the same tone and logic usually used for the brand’s tech product launches. It provides a strong example of how a brand can turn internal humour into external marketing capital.

A key feature of the ice cream is its pricing structure, which directly mirrors Xiaomi’s own tiered product logic. The dessert is offered in three versions: the Standard at 5.99 RMB, the Pro at 6.99 RMB, and the Max at 8.99 RMB. This naming and pricing strategy closely resembles the company’s approach to its smartphones and other hardware.

Meanwhile, the canteen manager’s presentation framed the ice cream’s development process deliberately as an engineering problem. According to the manager, Version 1.0 suffered from severe clumping of millet grains, poor texture and a lack of distinct millet flavour.

Version 2.0 introduced a “low-temperature slow-frying” technique to unlock the grain’s aroma.

The final Version 3.0 drew inspiration from the “cell wall disruption” process used in tofu-making: part of the millet was ground into an ultra-fine paste and blended into the milk base, while the remainder was air-dried and sprinkled on top as a garnish.

The entire narrative followed the familiar arc of technical iteration, problem-solving and engineering rigour, applied not to a smartphone, but to a dessert.

Xiaomi’s founder, Lei Jun, later commented on Weibo, further amplifying the story. He described the ice cream as “a food product developed with an engineering mindset” and said he could imagine that employees had been rushing to the canteen to snap it up.

Online reactions from netizens have been largely positive, according to checks by MARKETING-INERACTIVE. Many observed that Xiaomi “knows marketing, as always,” while others praised the company’s distinctive brand culture and expressed hope that the ice cream might one day be released to the public.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out to Xiaomi for a statement.

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In fact, Xiaomi has already executed a similar marketing initiative before. In 2024, the company triggered widespread discussion with its yogurt fried dough twist (酸奶大麻花). Just like the recent ice cream launch, the canteen team staged a full product launch event in the exact style of Lei Jun’s iconic tech keynotes.

The humorous presentation drew laughter from the internal audience and quickly trended across social platforms, once again demonstrating Xiaomi’s knack for transforming internal lightheartedness into effective external marketing content.

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