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Snapple White Tea Launch

In 2006, Snapple, part of Cadbury Schweppes Americas Beverages, asked Ruder Finn to help launch the first product in a new super premium line of ready-to-drink (RTD) teas– Snapple White Teas, “The Lightest Tasting Teas on Earth.”  The new product line boasted lighter taste, was naturally decaffeinated and high in anti-oxidants, had 30 percent less sugar and carbohydrates and was 100 percent natural. Company executives sought an eye-(and taste bud-!) catching kick off that showcased the premium qualities of the product -crisp, light taste– while retaining the Snapple brand personality -fresh, fun, unexpected and approachable. To kick off the launch, Ruder Finn developed a visually stunning nine-city event tour that drove media coverage at a national and local level, while raising consumer awareness through direct interaction in each local market.

 

 

OBJECTIVES

• To stimulate trial and purchase of Snapple White Teas
• To increase brand awareness of Snapple White Teas.

PROGRAM

• Ruder Finn introduced the product with the Snapple “White Tea High Tea Tour” in New York City. Taking the product’s refreshing, light taste to the air with 22-foot Snapple-branded Parabounce balloons, Ruder Finn created a never-before-seen “High Tea” – Snapple-style – in New York’s Bryant Park. These one-person, helium-filled balloons designed to embody the lightness of the product in a once-in-a-lifetime experience, would whisk consumers 100 feet into the air, bringing light taste and flight adventure together.
• Following the kickoff, Ruder Finn took the Snapple “White Tea High Tea Tour” to the skies of Hartford, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland and Seattle.  Much of the media success was due to site selection. Snapple White Tea balloons were spotted among the nation’s most famous cityscapes such as the Space Needle and Sears Tower.  Each event included celebrated tea experts, TeaMeisters, who were also used extensively in media interviews, providing reporters with needed background information and personality-filled sound bites.
• Ruder Finn conduced media outreach prior to, during and after each event, creating a comprehensive media effort that included theme-oriented product announcement mailers, deskside briefings with key long-lead publications and targeted local print and broadcast outreach in each of the tour market cities, resulting in new product stories and roundups.

RESULTS

• More than 32,000 consumers attended the nine tour events and more than 21,000 samples of Snapple White Tea were distributed. More than 1,350 consumers took to the air in the Snapple-branded Parabounce balloon.
• Coverage of the Snapple “White Tea High Tea Tour” included The New York Times, “Fox and Friends,” Metro NewYork, AM New York and major daily newspapers and TV network affiliates across the nine markets.  Product reviews resulting from ongoing media outreach included Today’s Health & Wellness, Star Tribune, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Total impressions are estimated at 33.5 million.
• Snapple considered this one of their largest product launches ever, and one of their most successful.  The company’s research has tracked sales spikes in tour cities, and overall product sales are now exceeding expectation.