Café de Coral leans into viral Hong Kong internet moments in new dentsu campaign

Hong Kong – Café de Coral has launched a new campaign tapping into Hong Kong’s social culture trends, drawing on viral slang and online moments to promote its new baked seafood rice with lobster sauce.

Titled “Go All In on Freshness—It’s a Must”, the campaign is shaped by viral phrases and shared online moments among Hong Kong netizens, using internet culture as a creative lens for its baked series.

Developed with dentsu Hong Kong, the campaign features a series of social-native videos starring local content collective JFFT, known for their humour and widely circulated Cantonese phrases.

“Culture today moves at the speed of social, shaped by creators and the communities around them. By collaborating with the internet sensation behind the trend and embracing the language they’ve helped popularise, Café de Coral is able to connect with audiences in a way that feels more immediate and relevant today,” said Diana Tam, Managing Partner & Director of Operations at dentsu Hong Kong.

Featuring BedGo, MicFu and HumGorGor, the content places the trio in a livestream-style gaming environment, where they appear as lobster-inspired characters diving underwater to “catch” seafood ingredients, blending gaming formats with food storytelling.

Moving away from Café de Coral’s traditional commercial approach, the videos are designed to feel more interactive, reflecting how audiences engage with content on social platforms.

Built around Cantonese wordplay, the campaign uses a phonetic twist where “lobster sauce” sounds similar to “lobster picking”, which is extended into social spin-offs referencing the viral “$1 lobster grab” moment. The content also includes the line “Your claw is broken” and depicts the trio bypassing claws to grab lobsters by hand, echoing the original viral scene within broader online conversation.

Angel Tam, Director (Marketing), Café de Coral, said, “We’re reimagining how our iconic baked series connects with today’s diners. With our new Baked Seafood Rice with Lobster Sauce, we’re bringing a vibrant, social-led approach that refreshes the experience with a new tone of voice. By spotlighting the richness of our premium sauces and the abundance of seafood through playful, everyday-inspired moments, we aim to make the offering feel both engaging and relevant—while reinforcing its strong value.”