Commercials: Coffee vs Tea

I am increasingly realizing how absurdly outpaced tea ads are by coffee ads. Even in the 1980s (before specialty coffee was popular), there was this Coffee Association Commercial featuring celebrities like David Bowie. More recently, there have been a number of ads in the U.S. and the rest of the Western world featuring coffee as a drug-like substance that is either necessary to function or illicit and (therefore) sexy. Examples:

WNBA coffee commercial makes coffee look like the key to a successful life and links it to skill in sports.

European coffee commercial features coffee as a necessary supplement for daily functioning.

Eastern European (possibly Russian?) Starbucks commercial makes life without coffee absurd and potentially dangerous.

Secret society coffee commercial shows a sexy, exclusive side of coffee.

Cinderella coffee shows coffee as romantic and fated.

How do Western tea ads compete?

Snapple white tea ad portrays tea as simple. (Seriously? Come on...)

Spanish tea commercial shows tea as whimsical. (Meh.)

Lipton ice tea ad makes tea seem like a feel-good, taste-good choice (and is my favorite of the tea Western commercials I've found for that reason).

A different Lipton commercial shows tea as a Zen mind-body-spirit lifter and as an escape from the everyday. (Not bad.)

Lipton also shows tea as refreshing, psychedelic and even sexy, which puts it in competition with coffee. That's important in markets like Portugal (where it was screened and coffee is more prevalent than tea).

From what I can tell, this Pickwick tea ad shows tea as Zen yet urgent. I think it's funny if you know the language (I don't), but it shows a monk grimacing when he sips the tea at the end. (SALES FAIL. ... Or tea and casting fail? Perhaps it's that bad and the guy can't act through the immense badness.)

Of course, there are some cool tea commercials coming out of Asia (notably the weird Mugi-Cha commercial and the cute caterpillar commercial), but these days there are even better Asian coffee ads:

Celebrity coffee ad shows coffee as desirable and more important to reporters than what a famous person has to say.

David Lynch coffee commercial makes coffee mysterious and (seemingly) more important than a missing woman. (There's a whole series of these on YouTube.)

And... Brad Pitt is in not one but TWO Japanese coffee commercials. Need I say more?

Beyond just ads, a popular South Korean drama is based in a coffee shop run by actor/model heartthrob Gong Yoo. (Here, he's in a coffee ad, but re: the show... Talk about product placement!) In Asia, coffee has become hip, edgy, alluringly exotic, cool. Too bad tea hasn't managed to do that on a bigger level here yet!

Tea industry, we have to be able to compete! These ads are WAY better than our ads and (as you can see) they've been around for much longer (in the U.S.) and are way edgier (around the world). Part of the issue is money, as you can learn in somebody's Powerpoint presentation on coffee advertising budgets, but part of it is an issue of cultural identification. We need to finally embrace the idea that tea is cool (at least in the U.S.)! After all, which is the unusual, exotic beverage (in the U.S.)? Which makes you feel better for longer? Which is embraced by tech rock stars like Kevin Rose? Which is the beverage of choice of foodies in-the-know? We can do this, people. I want to see innovation! After all, you weren't attracted to tea because it was the same-old thing, right? Why make commercials that make it seem like something boring that you only drink for health? Or just another goofy ad for another random product?

(Side note one: I'll probably post some weird tea commercials from Asia soon. (There are plenty to choose from.) Look out for it!

Side note two: If you can't do ads, at LEAST do press releases. Don't have time? I write them. Contact me at vee (at) veetea (dot) com for details.)

Lipton Event Photos

Some of you may remember that I did an event with Lipton a few months back. It was a media immersion event that provided tea education to the press with regard to tea and brain activity, tea and health and tea tasting/pairing. I lead a tea tasting and pairing that matched Lipton's newish pyramid bags (which are much more sophisticated blends than their flat bags) and PureLeaf RTDs with tea-based and regular foods. Editors and writers were lead by "Dr. Tea" through four different rooms, each with a different feel -- a Lipton "store" where they could fill bags with Lipton merchandise, a "classroom" where they learned about tea and the brain, a "gym" where they played on a Wii Fit and learned about tea and weight management and a "lounge" where they learned to develop their palates and taste different teas. It was put on with a lovely, creative group of people from Ogilvy, the international PR company. Needless to say, this was a fun event to be a part of. Here are a few photos from the day. I'll be posting more from the event next week.

The "Store" Window














Cool Fruit and Spice Display













The "Store" Interior






































Peter Goggi, who is Lipton's buyer, a professionally-trained tea taster and a writer for Tea, A Magazine, at the tasting bar in the "Store"














The Lipton Tea Bar














More next week!

NYU on Tea

NYU's paper, Washington Square News, recently published an article on tea spots near their campus, and included my top picks for a quick cuppa in the area. Excerpt:

"As The New York Times recently reported, tea shops are on the rise and have become increasingly popular places to wind down. We chose some of our favorites and asked Lindsey 'Vee' Goodwin, owner of VeeTea and licensed New York 'tea tour' guide, to help us compile a list of the best tea spots near NYU."

They go on to talk about Tea & Sympathy (which I recently blogged about), The Adore (which I reviewed a few months ago for TeaMuse), and Tea Spot, and to list some other "Vee-recommended" tearooms for tea near NYU. Read the full article here.

NYC Coffee & Tea Festival Interview and World Tea Expo Press

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Lynda Calimano of The NYC Coffee & Tea Festival. Here's the full tea interview. Excerpt:

"We could have easily designed a show around either coffee or tea but found that there is a tremendous cross over between coffee and tea lovers. Sure, you have some purists that love either coffee or tea, but we’ve seen many sophisticated consumers who really appreciate the quality of specialty coffees and teas. We design the show, and its programming, to appeal to both."

Read more about the festival's history, this year's festivities, and Lynda's love of tea on VeeTea, or learn more about The Coffee & Tea Festival on their site. Don't forget that you can get half-price tickets by entering the promo code "VEETEA" at checkout!

Also, while I was away at SXSW enjoying music and tea, I received some mail of note. The World Tea Expo included my photo in their new press release. I'm the one in red. What a nice thing to come home to!

Vee Tea Mention

I recently got to visit Amai Bakehouse for some wonderful tea, sweets, and conversation with the owner, Kelli. Christine Rillo of Adagio covered our tasty and fun visit. Check it out!

VeeTea Press/Event

"Urbana to Hightlight Teas of India"

excerpt:

Guest speaker Lindsey Goodwin, owner of Vee Tea in New York City, will present teas she learned about during a three-week tour of plantations in India. She will give a video presentation of images from her trip.

The 7:30 p.m. event will be in Urbana's teabar.

Urbàna serves more than 100 teas from China, Japan, India, Sri Lanka, Africa and South America. About 15 percent are from India, including black, white and green teas, as well as chai.


The event is tonight. I'll be serving six Indian teas, talking about tea in India, and showing video footage (in the form of projected video eye candy). If you're in NC, call 704.543.1700 to reserve a seat. (They're almost full!)

11:11 Tearoom

You may remember that I visited 11:11 Tearoom a while back when I was in Atlanta for last year's World Tea Expo. Christine Rillo of TeaMuse just published her own take on the place, from the very same visit. Check it out!

In totally unrelated news, I got the apartment I wanted! Yay! Very exciting. I'll begin my move on Friday.

Vee on "teh World-Wide Interweb"

I was browsing through the World Tea Expo site today and saw that I'm on it. My picture ended up in the 2007 photo collection. I'm the one in the bright red on the right, looking very focused. It's at a tea tasting (the Sri Lankan one, perhaps?).

Vee Tea in the News

TeaMuse just published an article about Vee Tea! Cool. Check it out to learn more about my tea tours and classes, and about Vee Tea in general. Enjoy!

Interview

I had a lovely interview with someone from a major tea newsletter today. We talked about tea & health, history (of tea and of me and tea), my business/tours, politics, crafts, and all kinds of other fun things. I let you know when the article comes out!