UsTwoTea
UsTwo Tea is an Asian-owned tea company with a strong mission and brand personality. They were looking for new product ideas to increase consumer engagement, and ultimately sales.
UsTwo sells more than just tea. They sell culture and tradition.
In order to increase consumer engagement, we needed to attract the right kind of consumers, customers who care about more than simply a fantastic product. UsTwo cares about the story, the dreams they are helping to make come true, the lives they are impacting with their sales. The ideal UsTwo consumer does too.
Meet Eleanor, a perfect UsTwo Tea customer.
Eleanor purchases tea from UsTwo not only because the product is great, but because she feels a cultural connection that aligns with her personal story.
Our new limited edition teas are not just flavors. They're experiences. They're stories.
Our first variety is centered around Women's History Month, something UsTwo has made a point to emphasize in previous years through various social media campaigns.
Our second variety is a White Peony Summer Tea created to carry tea-drinking into the hot months, as an iced-tea.
Lastly, our Lover's Lane variety is designed to emphasize UsTwo's focus on togetherness.
We don't just want influencers with millions of followers. We want influencers who are mission driven, who have a purpose, who have followers who care, want to learn and want to teach.
Pages like these are not just influencers but a meaningful part of the Asian community.
A physical pop-up store or truck at Smorgasburg would be great exposure to attract that young group of individuals who want instagram worth experiences and stories.
This presentation was pitched to the owners of UsTwo Tea.
UsTwo Tea is More Than Tea
Finding the UsTwo Story
UsTwo Tea wants to educate their consumers, want to create an “UsTwo” culture, and wants to highlight the beauty of different Asian cultures through a quality product that is traditional, yet exciting. UsTwoTea customers are fun, unique, open to new ideas, curious about culture and tradition (maybe not even just Asian cultures). They want to feel good about their purchases, but they also want to get something more out of them than just a product.
Meet Eleanor. She is a recent college graduate, early on in her career. Eleanor is active in her community and speaks out for what she believes in. She is a third generation Asian-American who has struggled connecting with her roots and Chinese heritage, as she has grown up in American suburbs and gone to American schools since childhood. Her grandmother was born in Beijing and taught Eleanor about her culture and traditions. Eleanor grew up drinking Chinese Oolong tea, but now only does on occasion with her mom or grandma. She is a family woman, who wants to know more about where her grandma came from, but in a new and exciting way. Eleanor wants UsTwo Tea. She just doesn’t know it yet.
Eleanor needs to fully understand the essence of UsTwo Tea. UsTwo’s product is already differentiated in quality, but that simply is not enough. To transform the online purchase into a memorable experience, UsTwo Tea needs to give Eleanor motivation through four aspects: connection, education, community, and excitement. When paying more for a product than one would normally, the customer needs to feel connected to the product and the brand on a personal level.
Providing stories in the product description and on the physical packaging can achieve this. Eleanor will find information about the region, the farmers, the historical or cultural context of that specific tea, and perhaps a personal story about a family who grows it. She is now not only directly involved in the process, but is also educating herself on her culture and is feeling connected to her community and heritage.
When offering a new variety of tea, it is crucial to implement these stories for Eleanor to have an exciting experience where she can constantly learn and educate her friends. Therefore, we are introducing a limited-edition series of tea that will be available a few times a year in accordance with holidays or seasons. This will create a dynamic culture for UsTwo Tea that will incentivize Eleanor to come back to the website and find exciting news and stories. She will see the edition, click on the product, and find a whole new story behind the tea. The names of the teas will have translations with special meanings for the American customer and will allow Eleanor to tell her friends about her new adventure and have them join in.
Creating The UsTwo Story
The recommended limited-edition teas include an Iron Goddess Oolong tea for Women’s History Month, a White Peony tea for summer, and a spin on Lovers’ Lane tea for Valentine’s Day. First, UsTwo’s target market consists predominantly of millennials dedicated to social causes and equality, making Women’s History Month the perfect occasion to introduce a strong and distinctive limited-edition “Iron Goddess,” or tieguanyin, tea. We love the recognition already paid to strong Asian women on UsTwo’s Instagram page, and think that introducing Iron Goddess for Women’s History Month will allow UsTwo to capitalize on their target market’s appreciation for Asian heritage and women’s equality even further. Both UsTwo’s website and the packaging for the Iron Goddess tea should tell stories of strong Asian women, a uniquely-UsTwo aspect that will attract knowledge-seeking consumers like Eleanor.
For summer, we recommend UsTwo introduce a limited-edition White Peony tea, which we also recommend they call “Poolside.” White tea is light, fresh, and sweet, making it a perfect blend for summer. UsTwo does not offer a white tea yet, and we believe offering their own Taiwanese-grown White Peony tea for summer will differentiate UsTwo from competitors by increasing word of mouth as well as increase the usage situation. Tea is not typically considered a summer beverage in the US, but with our recommended marketing strategy, UsTwo could turn its white tea into one. Packaging and online promotions should tell stories of Asian or Taiwanese summer traditions to appeal to their target market. The company might even consider offering an iced-tea tumbler gift set with the Poolside sachets. Furthermore, “Poolside” and its uniqueness will prove valuable to UsTwo’s existing partnerships with hotels, where many people might be encouraged to actually drink the tea poolside and enjoy this new summer tea experience.
For Valentine’s Day, or for Winter, a Taiwanese spin on the Lovers’ Lane tea will really allow UsTwo to capitalize on the togetherness aspect of the company. Lovers’ Lane is usually a black tea with rose petals or lavender incorporated, so UsTwo can utilize their farmer’s knowledge of black tea cultivation to produce a uniquely Taiwanese Lovers’ Lane tea. Lovers’ Lane is perfect for UsTwo to introduce for Valentine’s Day, as they have the unique mission of bringing people together – it’s us two. Web promotion and packaging should tell love stories of UsTwo farmers. Additionally, we recommend offering limited-edition gift sets with the Lovers’ Lane tea, which will make for the perfect Valentine’s Day gift for UsTwo’s target market and their loved ones.
Telling the UsTwo Story
To market these new products, UsTwo can certainly take advantage of social media and seek influencers who have the audience of their target consumers. Influencers on Youtube, Instagram, and TikTok that make lifestyle videos and posts on Instagram should be considered.. UsTwo can collaborate with influencers who match their brand image and audience by sponsoring their videos and posts and asking them to involve the products on their social media.
To get these products the attention they deserve, we also recommend UsTwo partnering with reputable and passionate pages on instagram. Beyond the typical “aesthetic” influencer, UsTwo can seek out pages on instagram like @weareaanow, @dearasianyouth, @nextshark, pages that Eleanor would follow (see exhibit 1). These accounts were created to inform all, and inspire asian youth to make a difference in their community. Their followers are individuals who care about both the Asian community, but also Asian culture, traditions, and most importantly, Asian-owned small businesses. UsTwo genuinely cares about its impact in the world, and partnering with like-minded pages for campaigns like #StopAsianHate by allocating a certain portion of profits to the campaign or non-profits like the Asian-American Advocacy Fund will allow UsTwo to reach the audience they desire. The Iron Goddess Tea released for Women’s History Month would be a great product for influencers like @aafc.nyc (Asian American Feminist Collective), pages with a mission to inspire and to teach (see exhibit 2). A portion of proceeds from this collection could even be donated to AAFC or other organizations like Asian Women in Business or The Center for Asian Pacific American Women.
Beyond social media, UsTwo Tea has a great opportunity to incorporate their sleak, trendy aesthetic and quality product together to create a physical location. Smorgasburg in Brooklyn attracts consumers like Eleanor, who want instagram worthy food pictures, and story worthy vendors. UsTwo Tea can create just that, with a stand highlighting their newest seasonal flavor and telling their story. A step up from a place in Smorgasburg could even be a pop-up store opened in partnership with a specific mission driven page, raising money or awareness for a certain social cause, whether that be #StopAsianHate or #WomeninHistory. This also of course gives consumers the chance to smell the raw tea-leaves or brew a cup of tea themselves and enjoy the aroma and experience of UsTwo Tea.