Coke gets real for natural tea launch

Hong Kong - Coca Cola is supporting the launch of its line of "natural" tea beverages with a HK$40 million campaign from McCann Erickson, targeting sophisticated males and females aged between 30 and 39 years.

The TVC features local artist Karena Lam as well as real panda bears shot in Szechuan to highlight the theme of "back to basics" in line with the new series of Chinese tea, golden oolong, yulu green tea and shuixian tea, to communicate the product's preservative- free attributes.

"The core creative idea is 'back to the original', which best fits the uniqueness of our product - 'no addictive'," Clint Tsui, associate account director for McCann Erickson Hong Kong said.

"Drinking tea is something that Hong Kong people have always loved and enjoyed. Yet the hectic pace of city life has made tea-drinking something of a luxury for most people,"  Karen So, region manager, Coca-Cola China, Hong Kong & Macau, added.

"To this end, Coca-Cola has launched the latest series of 'Pure Tea House' to allow consumers to experience the pure taste and enjoyment of drinking quality tea.

The campaign pre-launched with three five-seconds teaser ads last week and will formally launch today with a 45 seconds TVC. The entire campaign supported by print, POS and outdoor in MTR will run for the rest of the year.

Starcom handled media buying and planning for the campaign.