Tetley sheds old garb; turns into an international tea bag brand

Conceptualised by the London-based design boutique Ziggurat Brands, the brand now has a uniform look across 70 countries. The new look has been supported with a new global positioning, 'Free your mind…That's Tetley'.

In an effort to give a uniform look and feel to its tea bag brand around the globe, Tata Tea has revamped Tetley with a new positioning, new logo and packaging.

Speaking about the new look, Sushant Dash, vice-president, marketing, Tata Global Beverages, says, "Tetley has been present across many countries in the world for years now. However, the brand had a look and positioning that was local and was different for every market. Therefore, we decided to bring uniformity. The refreshed Tetley brand creates a bolder presence on shelves and allows shoppers to explore our range of products with greater ease."

Conceptualised by the London-based design boutique Ziggurat Brands, the new design focusses on building stronger emotional appeal to consumers. As part of the brief, the agency was asked to retain the colour blue, as historically, this has been the one element uniting the brand around the globe.

Describing the new look, Adrian Collins, managing director, Ziggurat Brands, says, "The main principle behind the new logo that shows tea leaves swirling around is about a person enjoying the stirring motion of a cup of tea. The stir further emanates from the 'Y' within the logo and then acts as a canvas for the product elements of the design. We went for this kind of look in order to emphasise the fact that drinking tea involves more than simple re-hydration."

Furthermore, for the new logo, the agency has used a softer typeface which it claims is modern, approachable and welcoming. The range is differentiated using background colours on the packs. For example, for black tea, blue colour is used, while the green tea has green colour.

The design boutique, apart from creating a new look, has also worked on the position, 'Free your mind…That's Tetley!'. The earlier positioning of the brand in India said, 'Chai mein twist. Life mein twist'. According to Dash, the new design brings the new positioning to life and demonstrates to both current and new consumers the extent of the Tetley range, making it more relevant to today's tea-drinking consumer.

In India, the creative duties for Tetley are managed by Lowe. The company has no immediate plans to roll out a national campaign, rather it is promoting the new look through retail marketing such as displays at point of purchase. Dash opines that the tea bag category is a niche section, which needs to be promoted only at places where its consumers are to be found.