Tetley Canada (Tata)

The herbal tea segment was on the decline at a rate of 2% per year – a disturbing trend to tea category leader, Tetley Canada.

Research showed that when consumers (mostly women) buy, they approach the category with a desired need state in mind – i.e., “I want to feel calm, soothed or uplifted.” But the category approached her by ingredient first – peppermint, chamomile, passionflower.

The insight was that since people often use colour to describe their emotions and moods (green with envy, seeing red, feeling blue), colour could be used to help women match their mood with the right tea.

Traditional media such as TV and OOH would support digital and social media.

Based on a feed of status comments from Facebook and Twitter, the agency prescribed Colour Therapy for all of Canada through a real-time map on a digital hub that visualized the recommended colour of herbal tea at that moment. Consumers could interact with the site to get their own personalized Colour Therapy prescription that featured different coloured mood scales.

Contextually placed online banners, pre-roll and traditional TV billboards and transit shared an observation about its surrounding environment/content and told the consumer about the ideal colour to complement that placement. (“Gossip goes well with yellow” for the Cleanse variety promoted on LaineyGossip.com, for example.)

Tetley volume grew +17% in a flat market by the end of the campaign, and achieved its goal of becoming number one in tonnage volume (against previous leader Celestial Seasonings). Household penetration grew at twice the rate of the category while the competitor’s eroded.

Engagement measures exceeded objectives with a microsite bounce rate of half the industry average of 50% and time per visit was over four minutes.