OUGD603 / Extended Practice - Brrrew Iced tea: Tactile tea examples.

OUGD603.

EXTENDED PRACTICE.

Brrrew Iced tea. 

After looking online I found that only a few companies did a range of cold brew teas. Ones that I discovered included Liptons, Celestial tea, Twinings and Whittards. I think a large importance of branding an Ice tea brand will be to make it stand out on the shelf. Ice tea is an undiscovered drink to many in the U.K, and so when placed alongside regular tea it needs to stand out. I felt like the packaging implemented by these companies wasn't particularly eye catching. Although I do enjoy the branding for whittards, this is a chain premium tea shop with a completely different audience to the supermarket tea shopper I will be designing for. 

I also found that whilst looking for examples of tea, there are two types of cold brewing teas you can get, tea bags or loose. More reasonable brands such as Lipton's and Twinings sell their Iced tea in bags, where as Whittards sell their iced tea loose. By selling iced tea loose, this requires the consumers to purchase the relevant equipment to brew and filter the tea. When trying to catch peoples attention with a new brand, I think that it would be off putting to offer a new product that requires the consumer to spend £30 more on equipment to use it. I also think that one of the great things that people love about tea is the convenience, simply popping a teabag in a mug, letting the teabag mash, as some said they enjoyed, and then adding any extras, ready to drink. The great thing about cold brewing ice tea bags is that, they require no use of the kettle, meaning saving on electricity. Some may choose to make larger quantities and place this into the fridge, if they drink tea very regularly, or some may wish to place their cup in the freezer for a few minutes to chill, however both these electrical items are running regardless. 

Equipment sold at Whittards for Ice tea brewing:

Tactile Tea examples.

After coming up with a new idea of creating a range of tea for home brewing, I went out to the super market to look at design that already exists. I found, of the supermarkets I went to, none of the brewing teas on the shelves were meant to be made cold. However I did find looking at the current range of designs useful.

Instead of looking for designs particularly linked with Iced tea, I looked for designs that stood out on the shelf, and caught ones attention. I also kept an eye out for any Yorkshire based teas to look at how they had been branded.  

I picked up on Clippers tea purely due to how welcoming and friendly the tea appreared. The packing makies the brand appear down to earth whilst being informal. This message is due to the hand drawn style that combines both the Illustrations and typography. Because of this Clipper almost appears like the underdog to teas such as Tetley and Yorkshire tea. 

Tea pigs stood out to me as it was different to any other tea packaging on the shelf.  I did however feel that this packaging created a barrier between itself and the others, and offered itself to niche customers. This however could be subject to change the longer that the tea stays on the shelf. However I do nod to the designer whom worked on the product as it does stand out on the shelf, and this is what a new product needs to do. Something to consider is also, do I want the customer to be able to see the product inside? This could be a good idea with a new product that is not readily availinle on the current U.K market, to show people that essentially iced tea bags look just like normal tea bags which may take away any hesitating about purchasing the product. 

Tetley's is the largest Tea company in the U.K, however I don't find the packaging to be very eye catching. The reason it is so popular is not from its ability to attract customers via aesthetic, but because of customer loyalty. Tetley's tea came onto the British Market 61 years ago in 1953, at this point due to the finish of rationing from WW2 there were not many tea brands on the market. It is important that as a completely new product on the market, it is able to attract people aesthetically. 

Pukka was one of my absolute favourite packaging examples on the shelves. I felt that it really stood out due to its simplicity and consistency, which ultimately leads to its effectiveness. Pukka uses a constant illustration pattern, which is altered slightly in form and wholly in colour in order to reflect the change in flavour. This also means that the brand is very recognisable as many shoppers will search for the pattern. The branding also breathes a contemporary and minimalist theme, as although the pattern used is quite hectic, there is a very small pallet of colours used on each box, this thought of minimalism is continued via the logo and type choice which completely disregards any ornament.

The Tesco's finest teas use a similar aesthetic approach to Pukka teas, Using illustrative patterns and small pallets of colour that differentiate due to flavour change. The difference is in the audience, it is easy to see from the logo and the use of the word 'finest' that Tesco are aiming their product at those who are indeed looking for a finer tea, which would not be my audience. I want the ice tea to appear proud, Yorkshire born, friendly and somewhat relatable to traditional tea. However I do applaud the use of colour and form. Using contrasting colours and a well thought out form, allows the packaging to stand out on the shelf, such as the orange and green colour scheme above. 

Yorkshire tea has a very recognisable aesthetic that has grown with the tea over the past 140 years. Yorkshire tea uses true to life illustrations of picturesque Yorkshire itself.  The packaging appears welcoming and friendly and is a faithful go to for many tea consumers, in which when drinking the tea can imagine themselves sitting with the rolling hills of Yorkshire. Yorkshire tea also uses a colour code to distinguish between different blends, whilst the original uses bright orange as its striking colour, the gold blend uses gold foil, and hard water edition uses green. The illustration behind is also swapped out on each different blend to reveal a piece of Yorkshires stunning scenery.

OUGD603 / Extended practice - Brrrew Iced tea: Tea drinking culture.

OUGD603.

EXTENDED PRACTICE.

Brrrew Iced tea. 

Today I started to look at Tea drinking culture and came across this great website the tea spot, Not only did it speak of the culture of tea in a great deal of countries, It also had lots of information on how to brew tea, different types of tea from black to green to milky, assortments of flavours and hot to cold. 

I started by looking at the culture of tea drinking in the U.K as obviously, this is where the tea will be distributed. Here I learnt that Tea drinking is an important ritual in english culture, and was once a feature in which a special time was put aside to enjoy tea. Hence the modern day act of Afternoon tea. This spurred a new thought about tea... In terms of british culture, Is tea more likely to be consumed at home or on the go? Is tea drinking something bigger than just purchasing a bottle on the go? As I don't drink tea these are questions I don't quite know the answer to. I think the best way to gather information about the tea drinking ritual would be to ask other tea drinkers. 

Beneath the U.K was a description of the culture of tea drinking in the U.S which I read purely out of interest. I found here that Iced tea was original made popular in the U.S. This has been done by a number of different brands, such as Snapple shown in previous research. The trick is, how do I get iced tea, to fit into the systems already set out in the british tea drinking culture?

I came up with a selection of questions, that I will ask current tea drinkers about the way they drink tea, so I could better get information on how to sell Brrrew Ice tea to my audience:

Where do you most often drink tea?

a) At home.

b) On the go. 

c) from a tea/coffee house.

How often do you drink tea?

a) 1-3 times a day.

b) a few times a week.
c) Once a week. 

Do you enjoy making a cup of tea?

a) Yes.
b) No.

If yes, what Is it about making a cup of tea you enjoy?

Is there a particular ritual you have when you drink tea? 

eg. Do you watch a certain program, dunk a particular biscuit?

How do you like your tea?

(Choose as many as are relevant to you)

a) Tea with milk. 

b) Black tea.
c) Fruity tea. 

d) Green tea. 

Do you like to brew your own flavours of tea?

Have you ever tried Ice tea?

If yes, when is it you drink it?

The questions above will allow me to analyse where tea drinkers drink tea, allowing me to know If it is a product I should produce only for home drinking, on the go drinking or a mixture of both. The frequency at which the demographic audience drink tea will determine the price, how much of the product you get in one serving etc. It will also allow me to know what flavours of tea, one would like, and if they have tried ice tea and where it is they drink this. 

I uploaded my questionnaire to survey monkey, I am hoping to recieve around 15-20 responses in a short space of time, so that I can evaluate this information and move on with my research. 

Someone that I spoke to in person spoke of how they automatically assumed that Iced tea was something on sold in the seasons it was 'needed'. Meaning that they thought Iced tea was only sold in warmer months, and that during autumn/winter, Ice tea is non existent. Ice tea is sold all year round, however few brands are stocked. How can I fix this problem? How can I bring Iced tea into the culture of drinking tea in Britain?

When I closed the survey I had received 26 responses, which I believe is enough of a reply to base good development from. Below is the data summarised from my survey on surveymonkey.com:

From the survey I found that 96% of the 26 people who responded, drink tea mostly at home, the remaining one person drinks tea on the go. Bottles of ice tea are generally drank on the go, and so a transportable bottle of tea, might actually be something that wouldn't fit into english culture. The question going forward might to instead be, to discover how Ice tea can be brought into the home. 

Of the 26 people whom responded 77% responded that they drink tea at least everyday and can sometimes drink a few cups. 4 people drink tea a few times a week and 2 drink it occasionally. This would probably mean that a bottle of ice tea wouldn't be enough to satisfy those who drink tea on such a regular basis. How can you make larger quantities of Ice tea, to suit the frequent drinker?  

I also found that more so than not consumers liked the process of making a cup of tea, with 30% more of the vote. How could I include the process of brewing tea? What is it about brewing tea that people enjoy?

Of the 17 people who answered the previous question, 16 gave reasons as why they enjoy making a cups of tea. A lot of the asnwers proved that people like to make their own cup of tea to get it, just the way they like it. This is evidenced by answers such as letting tea mash and stew, putting in the correct amount of milk and making it just the way I like. Other answers proved that people found some sense of relaxation in brewing a cup of tea. 

This question informed me of at what occasions people drink tea, helping me to focus on how I would market tea. This question also backed up information I had gained earlier, about how people like to mostly be at home when enjoying a brew. Many people stated this via, wanting to drink tea in a specific mug, watching television whilst drinking or enjoying a cup of tea before bed. 

When it comes to flavours of tea, most respondents by a large amount preferred the taste of a traditional milky brew, which is almost a given in tea culture. However 5 respondents showed an interest in fruit flavoured infused teas, meaning that marketing not only a traditional tea flavoured ice tea, but a fruit range could be welcomed by consumers. 

I found that 84.6% of people preffered the flavours of their tea to be ready made, this is unsuprising in the current day culture where we want products to work for us, being fast and easy. 

The most surprising result in the questionnaire was that there was almost a 50/50 outcome on the question on whether the respondents have tried ice or not, 14 answered yes, and 12 no. How do I get these 12 people to try ice tea?

As assumed many of the people who answered yes to the previous question had tried Ice tea on holiday, and again, one responded that they had tried it on the summer when the shops sell it, however they do sell it all year around. Others commented on the taste of Ice tea commenting that it is much too sweet than what they are used to. The way to attract these consumers would be to make an ice tea that hasn't been given extra sweeteners.

CONCLUSION:

It occurred to me that If I was going to brand and promote a product that my audience were not particularly familiar with, I needed them to want it, and to do this, the product needs to be something that fits better into the tea culture that already exists. 

This is where I cam across a new idea, Instead of branding a bottled ice tea, I should create a range of ice tea that can be brewed at home, like regular tea. This means that consumers can indeed enjoy the process of brewing tea once again, and also that they can brew / drink the tea in their favourite place, there own home. If necessary the consumer can then still go on with their tea ritual of drinking out of their favourite mug or watching their favourite program. It is clear in terms of flavour choice, that an original flavour may swell well among consumers, however a selection of fruit cold brew tea would also be desirable. In terms of the tea formulae, it would seemingly be more attractive if the line of ice tea was unsweetened as this is what put some off drinking Iced tea. 

OUGD603 / Extended Practice - Brrrew Iced tea: Looking at precedents.

OUGD603.

EXTENDED PRACTICE.

Brrrew Iced tea. 

LIPTONS ICE TEA:


Design is bright with a combination of photograph and illustration. The design is very minimalist, appears energetic and exhilarating. There is not much content to the packaging other than logo, Image of fruit and background information such as ingredients. Something special about the bottle is the embossment of the plastic, adhering the logo to the bottle and not just the wrap around. Bottle is clear so the product is viewable, and slim in the middle for easy hand grip. An aspect I do not enjoy about Lipton's Ice tea, is the logo and also the colour scheme when used on other platforms such as their website is red and yellow. When used on the logo it appears to look like the crisp giant Walkers, and then the yellow and red doesn't really communicate anything refreshing, which is confusing as why the designers have chosen this colour scheme.

Liptons massive selling point is the idea of 'Be more tea' more so, telling consumers to choose tea over coffee. In recent work Lipton's have use kermit the frog as a company mascot to add uniqueness, meaning that the demographic customer must be of the older age group, whom will have knowledge of Kermit. The first Lipton's tea was curated in 1880 by Sir Thomas Lipton, who wanted to make and expensive drink accessible for a large range of people. Lipton's ice tea is now the leading Ice tea brand across the world and graces the shelves of retail developments in more than 150 countries. 

In terms of tone of voice Lipton's seems to send mixed signals, the informational sections on the website about tea, the company and in addition product pages appear very formal, however this is contradicted via the use of Kermit the frog for advertising reasons. It may be useful to try and keep the branding consistent. 

RUBRO:



Rubro is an iced tea that I learned of on a trip to Nando's where it is in fact stocked. As latte/mocha person I never really liked tea. However I was pushed to try ice tea, by all my tea fanatic buddies. Rubro is something I tried and really enjoyed. The taste is very sweet and fruity, compared to others that are more 'tea tasting' which Is what I think attracted me to the product. The packaging is very colourful as a reflection of the fruity/sweet taste and in turn is very eye catching. The difference I noticed with this product was not only the printed design, but the fact that It is solely sold in a can. I think this is probably the case as it is not a mobile drink, It is not meant to be picked up and carried around all day, put in your bag, in the fridge and saved for the next day, It is to be drank there and then in a Nandos restaurant. Therefore it is important to consider where the iced tea will be stocked as this will impact the type of packaging. In a retail or dining environment.  
The packaging also seems to be reflective of a younger audience, using bright colours and a very minimalist aesthetic make using only vector illustration and type, it screams contemporary culture, and therefore would appeal to a younger audience. This is also evident as most people whom dine at Nando's on a regular basis are usually between 16-25 years and usually with friends. 

It can also be determined from banners on their Facebook page that the audience is younger than most sue to bright and almost child like illustrations. If I want to connect with a younger audience, Social media such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are platforms I should consider.

The tone of voice appears quite 'hip' very informal, and almost approaching alike to how people would address friends. 

SNAPPLE:


Snapple is a really interesting and punchy ice tea brand born out of Texas in 1972. It is one of my favourite brands that I have come across. I have had the brand in the U.S, but I haven't seen it overseas in the U.K, as far as I can find, Snapple is only distributed in the U.S. Snapple as a brand is very friendly, puts to use colloquial language and is very appealing to the young fun consumer. I feel that this brand has the biggest and unique selling point and personality so far. I feel that so far this brand is most relatable to the brand I am designing for, as it's punchy, friendly, down to earth, cheery and really cares for its roots. I feel so far that this would be Brrrew's largest competitor, however being in the U.S, Brrrew could be the Snapple equivalent in terms of tone of voice and promotion.
Snapple is for mobile use, it is distributed in the retail environment, which is confusing, as not only is it bought in a glass bottle. It also has a pop cap, pop caps are not the easiest and most functional caps to use on bottles as the can be difficult to open and close. Seemingly from platforms such as Snapple commercials, this brand of Ice tea is brewed for young adults, this is evident from the language used and also other indicators such as music.  

HONEST TEA:



Honest tea almost seems as though it is the 'proper' brew of the Ice tea world. its founders were worried that much tea in the U.S was made using the remnants of tea leaves. They wanted to create a tea that used real tea leaves, that was honest, thus founding Honest tea in 1998. Honest by name, Honest by nature, the tea brand aims to be all natural. 
Something I noticed about the aesthetic of the brand is the type, and how many differentiation's of type there were on one bottle. I feel this makes the design look somewhat all over the place. This thought is continued when viewing the illustrations. On the ice tea bottles the illustrations appear inconsistent using a mix of bold outlined illustration and photograph like. The merging of the two is uneasy on the eye, especially when combined with type. 
This tea brand thrive on their honest approach, and do a lot in order to be recognised as a sustainable brand, with a great product. The people who buy honest tea are those who are more motivated by green consuming, or prefer the product for personal preferences such as health benefits.  


SWEET LEAF:






STOLEN RECIPE:





GOLD PEAK:







NESTEA:



Nestea has been in production for approximately 20 years and so it would appear its audience are of the older catergory, possibly 30-50 whom have been loyal Nestea drinkers for a while.
Nestea is distributed in many locations including Australia, Europe, South America, United states and Asia. 
Nestea has a very friendly tone of voice, welcoming, energetic and upbeat. One thing I noticed about Nestea is its popularity however one could assume that this is due to the amount of attention it has had, and how long it has been established. I find that Nestea lacks any unique selling point, or personality, meaning consumers don't particularly pick it up for the brand.



TAZO:






FUZE TEA:





TEA BREAK:





SPRING LEAF:






TI: