Tetley

Not your grandmother's tea, by any stretch -- that's where Tetley needed to live, to wake up the staid tea category.  We started with a new overarching theme, Brew Up Something Brilliant, to speak to tea drinkers, after research showed that a brand which engages mind, body and spirit resonates best. 

To embody this message of "brilliance" -- part British, part inspiration, at the same time introducing Tetley's new 'best of both worlds' tea in Black and Green, we created this campaign.

The campaign was recognized by AdWeek for its breakthrough approach, making a subtle nod to tradition without taking itself too seriously.

Award winner: 2015 Internet Advertising Competition - Best Beverage Online Campaign

Tetley wanted to stand out in a sea of tea, and engage tea drinkers in a relevant, unstuffy way, to build awareness and brand engagement.

Our insight: Manners are having a moment that's decidedly unstuffy. Today, everyone loves weighing in on what's proper.

The idea: Proper or Not? Consumers got to vote "pinkies up/pinkies down" on a series of social dilemmas, with the results appearing in real time. Whatever the outcome, one thing was sure: Tetley is always a proper cup of tea.

The campaign was deployed with user-targeted animated banners, mobile banners, sponsored content and integrated social media with a vote-with-sweepstakes. All media drove traffic to a dedicated, interactive, Proper or Not? microsite.

Performance scored a pinkies up: exceeding both industry norms and Tetley's prior benchmarks, in clickthrus and actions completed; adding thousands of new likes for Tetley's Facebook page, and outdoing all previous Tetley social campaigns in shares, comments and entries.

Short, sweet and sticky, that’s how we like ‘em.

Beyond 140 Characters:

From my early years in the magazine business, writer's curiosity has lead me in unexpected directions, from topless beach etiquette to the nuances of non-foods merchandising.  More recently, I've ghost-written for celebrity bloggers, romanced chocolate indulgences and woven the backstory for a floral event business. 

It has been my pleasure to create copy for some very special websites.  Credit for those featured here goes to these agencies:

kdjbotanica.com - Social alchemy

greenfieldpartners.com - Madison|Mott

LUbiscuits microsite - Madison|Mott

Sella&Mosca website - Madison|Mott

Good Earth

Rebooting a niche-y West Coast brand with a small budget can mean moving out of the typical tea comfort zone into some decidedly new spaces. For this wildly flavorful tea, whose brand mantra is Tea Untamed, we proposed 'walking the walk', by sampling to Good Earth's Millennial target in some very offbeat places.  Under the call to action, "Take Your Tea to a New Place" we planned a guerrilla sampling campaign where brand ambassadors on bikes showed up at hip/chic venues such as tattoo parlors, galleries and street fairs. 

To achieve 360 activation for this experiential campaign, the 'take your tea to a new place' tagline was integrated into a UGC campaign and digital sweeps, inviting consumers to share their own untamed moments. Tagline was also integrated into POS and in-store promotion.

Good POS should live in the magic intersection of making an impression and making the sale. Our work does just that.

The Good Earth shelf talker shown here, for example, lifted sales by 17.6% in a matched panel test.

Wine and spirits never fail to inspire us, whether we're naming a signature cocktail, adding romance to some tasting notes or stealing the spotlight in store. Small surprise that some of our favorite creative work has been in honor of our favorite libations.

We've had the delightful task of naming some pretty luscious products.  How many cookies must be consumed on the way to the perfect name? We'll never tell.

Indulge me as I share a few campaigns that never got a chance to shine, except in our hearts.