These days we are so busy communicating with apps, emojis, mails, we almost forget the most important thing: real conversations.

As a manufacturer of tea, Pickwick knows that tea and a talk are a perfect match.

That’s why we turned the table of our teabags into a unique medium to spark a conversation: the Question Tea Bag!

We printed questions that became conversation starters. But we also gave everyone the chance to put their own question on a tea label. And we sent it to whoever they wanted to have the conversation with. This is how we turned all of our labels into media.

We captured some of these real and very personal questions live and told their stories in mini-documentaries on social media and TV.

Millions of people watched these stories play out and this again inspired even more people to create their own Question Tea Bag.

Our little tea lable has become our strongest owned medium. At the moment we’ve printed 2,1 billion (!) tea bags with questions sparking a conversation. 57,000 personalised Question Tea Bags were sent by post as an invitation for a good talk.

And we also followed the real stories of the real people that co-created the Question Tea Bags. And told these stories in mini-documentaries on TV, pre-rolls, social media and in PR. This meant we could vary from targeted media to mass. And could push the direct-mailing of the Question Tea Bag as strongly or softly as we wanted. If aired on TV, the mini documentaries hit people more at an emotional brand level. And online they were very keen on directly creating their own label and engaging emotionally in that way (10,000 labels were created and sent /per hour in the peak moments).

For the first time in years Pickwick wins Market Share in value on MAT (Total Tea) with +0,1%.

Response rate differed per media type. Conversion from TV to direct mailing of the Question Tea Bag was low though creating brand equity. But conversion from online media to direct mailing of the Question Tea Bag was extremely high (up to 10,000 Questions Tea Bags created and sent per hour).

Viewing of mini-documentaries about the stories resulting from the mini-documentaries were viewed by more than 3 million unique people. (17% of Dutch population).

It shifted Pickwick from people’s head to their hearts (love comments in social media and high conversion). It made Pickwick part of really meaningful talks people had with each other over a cup of tea.

We created our own unique medium...by turning our ordinary tea label into a conversation starter. This might seem small, but it isn't when you've printed 1.2 billion of them...and counting!

The media strategy following up on the Question Tea Bag was also catered to two target audiences (retention&acquisition)

-activating our base through owned media like: our teabag, packaging, own social media.

- reaching and inspiring new Pickwick tea drinkers with real stories that emerged from the Question Tea Bags. Applying them to niche or mass media depending on the story. Varying from blogs to prime-time TV (mini-documentaries).

We began by activating our fan base. They could create their personalised Question Tea Bag on our site. And we sent it to whoever they wanted in a direct mailing with the Question Tea Bag and a card inviting them for tea. Some questions turned out so special that we followed these questions and their stories. Turning them into mini-documentaries on TV, social media and other online media. Teasers for these stories became pre-rolls. So we went from fanbase to mass.

The real people in these 100% real stories became media sweethearts in different niche blogs and media. Depending on the story.

Parallel to this, we printed the labels of our tea with inspiring conversation starters and every packaging and pack contained a teabag with “Write your own question and invite someone for tea…” This is how we activated our existing tea-drinkers too.

Pickwick is the leading tea manufacturer in the Netherlands.

The brief was to make (Pickwick) tea more emotionally relevant to existing Pickwick tea drinkers

…and attract and engage new potential Pickwick tea drinkers.

But how to make tea more emotionally relevant and shift from people’s heads (as a brand they know) to their hearts (as a brand they love)?