File photo/Yang Xinyi (NBD)

Cotti Coffee, founded by former CEO of Luckin Coffee Lu Zhengyao, has gained immense popularity within just four months of its launch.

Recently, Cotti Coffee has been drawing even more attention by offering an 8.8 yuan all-drink coupon for its over 70 products on Douyin, a popular Chinese social media platform. The promotion, which started two weeks ago, has resulted in sales of over 1.53 million cups of Cotti Coffee's products.

Despite ties to Luckin Coffee, Cotti Coffee is a completely separate entity. Lu has already started his third business venture since leaving Luckin. This time, he seems determined to take back the coffee market he once lost.

Cotti Coffee is marketing itself in a very similar way to Luckin Coffee which has enlisted celebrities such as Tang Wei and Zhang Zhen to act as its brand ambassadors and has been running ads featuring its signature blue and white colors.

Cotti Coffee has been incentivizing customers to spread the word and get new users to sign up. As the coffee market continues to heat up, Cotti Coffee will have to prove itself if it wants to surpass Luckin Coffee’s success.

To do so, Cotti Coffee must create unique products and come up with new marketing strategies. Overall, with its 8.8 yuan all-drink coupon, Cotti Coffee has created a lot of buzz and is off to a great start. It will be interesting to see how the brand develops in the coming months.