Is a Tea War Brewing?
A few months ago, while shopping at a grocery store, I was shocked to see a new tea product named Ayataka, using the same font and packaging design as the existing Heaven and Earth Ayataka Green Tea drink.
"Wow", I thought, "Authentic Tea House sure has guts for copying the Japanese sounding brand name owned by the legally-invincible Coca Cola."
The Ayataka brand name sure is a catchy one, and having Japanese geisha claim that it tastes closest to teapot brewed tea only made mefacepalm more aware of the brand.
 |
| The nerve! (Source) |
The Ayataka brand name sure is a catchy one, and having Japanese geisha claim that it tastes closest to teapot brewed tea only made me
I looked up this dubious brand online and found out that Authentic Tea House was actually a new brand created by Coca Cola. This new line of drinks, led by none other than Ayataka Green Tea, surprised me as it never crossed my mind that Ayataka would undergo a rebranding of sorts. However, as you read on, you'll be able to see why.
Romance of the 3 Tea Kingdoms
Interestingly, Coca Cola's ready-to-drink (RTD) tea competition in Singapore doesn't come from its largest rival PepsiCo (it is focusing on selling teabags under the Lipton brand). Instead, brands which originated from Asia such as Pokka and F&N are the main players in the industry. To give you a sense of what Authentic Tea House is up against, here are some of the RTD tea products sold by Pokka and F&N.
Pokka's tea range is simple enough; a range of asian and western tea products under the Pokka umbrella. Premium items are labelled premium (shocker), while asian teas (green, oolong, chrysanthemum) get their own unique packaging. The only way to see the connection between the asian teas is the Pokka logo on the top of the packaging.
F&N's tea products are more organised, with special sub-brands created for specific drinks. Seasons, arguably its most successful tea brand so far, sells western tea such as iced lemon tea and iced peach tea.
F&N's asian tea brand is called Oishi, which carries a variety of green tea flavours. And all this while I thought Oishi was some RTD tea industry newcomer.
Oishi even has a sub-brand which is more atas because of the Japanese words on the packaging. Kabusecha green tea also has a brand origin story which explains the heavy Japanese imagery.
Pokka's tea range is simple enough; a range of asian and western tea products under the Pokka umbrella. Premium items are labelled premium (shocker), while asian teas (green, oolong, chrysanthemum) get their own unique packaging. The only way to see the connection between the asian teas is the Pokka logo on the top of the packaging.
F&N's tea products are more organised, with special sub-brands created for specific drinks. Seasons, arguably its most successful tea brand so far, sells western tea such as iced lemon tea and iced peach tea.
F&N's asian tea brand is called Oishi, which carries a variety of green tea flavours. And all this while I thought Oishi was some RTD tea industry newcomer.
Oishi even has a sub-brand which is more atas because of the Japanese words on the packaging. Kabusecha green tea also has a brand origin story which explains the heavy Japanese imagery.
The Authentic Art of War
As you can probably already tell, Coca Cola is trying to model its tea range like how F&N is currently doing it. With Authentic Tea House, it is trying to appear as premium as possible, while Heaven & Earth continues to appeal to the masses.
To date, Authentic Tea House has 3 flavours, each with very cheem sounding names. If you are a millennial, chances are you would need to Google what 'Da Hong Pao' and 'Jin Ban' means. Apparently, they are herbs to make premium oolong and chrysanthemum tea respectively.
Clever use of naming here - if Authentic Tea House succeeds, people will request these drinks using the herbs' names (and Ayataka) instead of needing to state the brand to differentiate from a Pokka or F&N tea beverage. The names also play into the idea of authenticity.
Clever use of naming here - if Authentic Tea House succeeds, people will request these drinks using the herbs' names (and Ayataka) instead of needing to state the brand to differentiate from a Pokka or F&N tea beverage. The names also play into the idea of authenticity.
The packaging for Authentic Tea House products are clean and straight to the point, with the logo being the main attraction and a teapot graphic (which they trademarked) supporting it. For the Jin Bao and Da Hong Pao teas, they limited the motif pattern to the top of the can's packaging, but I feel that full can patterns would be more instagram-able.
Nonetheless, we can thank the wonderful team at Dragon Rouge for these royal designs.
The Authentic Tea House logo is definitely more asian than Heaven & Earth. This Chinese character-looking logo complements the brand name of producing no-frills, no-nonsense teas.
Although Heaven & Earth launched new packaging designs recently, they still contain lots of graphic fluff such as flowers, leaves and the actual ingredients. Da Hong Pao, which literally looks like thick, long seaweed, would not good if used as a design element. Do you see why Coca Cola needed to create a whole new tea brand?
 |
| These patterns are delightful |
Nonetheless, we can thank the wonderful team at Dragon Rouge for these royal designs.
The Authentic Tea House logo is definitely more asian than Heaven & Earth. This Chinese character-looking logo complements the brand name of producing no-frills, no-nonsense teas.
Although Heaven & Earth launched new packaging designs recently, they still contain lots of graphic fluff such as flowers, leaves and the actual ingredients. Da Hong Pao, which literally looks like thick, long seaweed, would not good if used as a design element. Do you see why Coca Cola needed to create a whole new tea brand?
 |
| The bottle even has a leaf shaped extrusion |
It's Authentic, Read the Name!
Something about calling a product "authentic" just rub me the wrong way. I don't mean to throw copywriters under the bus, but saying that product x is 100% made by natural ingredients and other similar claims just don't work anymore. Scandals have permanently destroyed food and beverage empires, so authenticity isn't as believable as before.
Ironically, clever marketing, creating an interesting brand personality - things which basically have nothing to do with the product itself but the perception of the product - contribute to authenticity.
Here's why I didn't think of Authentic Tea House as a Coca Cola brand - I simply thought they would come up with a catchier sounding name. Surely there's a better word which reflects authenticity, or they could have just made up a name like they did with Ayataka. In fact, don't tea houses have a general reputation for being traditional, genuine already?
At least the logo and aesthetic of the brand is sleek and consistent, and yes, authentic enough.
Ironically, clever marketing, creating an interesting brand personality - things which basically have nothing to do with the product itself but the perception of the product - contribute to authenticity.
Here's why I didn't think of Authentic Tea House as a Coca Cola brand - I simply thought they would come up with a catchier sounding name. Surely there's a better word which reflects authenticity, or they could have just made up a name like they did with Ayataka. In fact, don't tea houses have a general reputation for being traditional, genuine already?
At least the logo and aesthetic of the brand is sleek and consistent, and yes, authentic enough.
Bonus: Bring back the Ayataka Maiko
Let's take a look back at how Ayataka was marketed under the Heaven & Earth brand.
 |
| Yeah they were quite proud of the survey results |
I would love to see the Ayataka Maiko again. Other than the geisha tea preference survey, the maiko's pose turned into a genius contest which promoted the tea online. This elevated the maiko status to almost mascot-like status, unlike the Oishi Japanese ladies featured earlier, who are simply there to serve as props.
Of course this was a success - it was a fun activity to do and the reward was attractive enough for people to participate in.
CONVERSATION