The story: As a leading maker of organic ready-to-drink tea, Honest Tea has developed varieties that introduce consumers to the world of better tasting beverages that are “just a tad sweet”. Coming off its 10th anniversary—and the recent announcement of a 40 percent investment by The Coca-Cola Company—the brand finds itself poised to capture a much broader audience.

 

The challenge: Honest Tea planned to launch a new lineup of USDA Certified Organic teas, including Citrus Green Energy Tea, Honey Green Tea, Lemon Black Tea, Peach White Tea and Pomegranate White Tea with Açaí.

 

The goal: The brand turned to NY-based brand design and development firm Moxie™ Inc. to design packaging that communicates its health and taste benefits.

 

The solution: “Because we wanted to distinguish the brand from the sea of color that appears in the category, we started with a clean white canvas,” says Tammy Vaserstein, creative and principal at Moxie. “In addition, white has the most impact on shelf within this category, while communicating freshness and simplicity.” Too much color, she explains, says “artificial” rather than “organic”.

 

Next the team looked at which brand equities would make the transition—and first on the list was the black border around the label incorporating the Honest Tea brand mark and the signature “T”. Designers added luscious illustrations of fruit within each “T” to communicate the fresh and organic appeal of each variety.

 

“The black border creates an anchor across all of Honest Tea’s product lines, and we used the white area within the black frame as a clean palette where we could tell their story in a modern and fresh way,” says Vaserstein.

 

A sliding bar graphic was also added to the front panel to serve as a visual icon to help consumers understand how much EGCG—the key antioxidant found in tea—is in each variety. Previous labels did not draw attention to the high levels of EGCG in Honest Tea drinks. Both green teas have 250mg of EGCG per bottle, and both white teas each have 150mg per bottle.

 

“After 70 percent growth in 2007, it’s time to take Honest Tea to a wider audience, and this new tea line is the perfect package to do it,” says Seth Goldman, president and TeaEO of Honest Tea.

 

The new varieties and packaging will be available nationwide, including the brand’s top two markets of New York and Los Angeles. BP