Why is this work relevant for Media?

Tao Ti’s "Spirit of Perseverance" campaign demonstrates how we honed in on a local cultural insight to inspire an original media campaign that successfully carved out a distinct and ownable role for Tao Ti and Hong Kong in Olympic conversation. Tao Ti used contextually relevant media placement to outwit and outplay bigger international players in our local market despite a limited budget and minimal SOV compared to the competition. By owning Hong Kong Olympic competing events with a distinct and culturally significant anthem, Tao Ti was victorious in uniting Hong Kong to celebrate the perseverance of their ‘underdog’ Olympians.

Background

Tao Ti, an independently owned RTD tea is a beloved local favourite that holds its own in a highly competitive category saturated by international conglomerates like Coca-Cola. 2021, was an Olympic year which meant Coca-Cola had the added benefit of official Olympic sponsorship, strengthening its SOV and posing a risk to Tao Ti’s saliency. Launching the new Tao Ti Supreme Meta Oolong Tea flavour into its sugar-free tea series, Tao Ti's objective was to reinforce Tao Ti Meta Tea as the perfect summer refreshment. As the most anticipated event over the summer period, Toa Ti's goal was to stand out against major sponsors at the Olympics Games through a media campaign that celebrated Tao Ti’s distinction as a home-grown hero.

Describe the creative idea / insights (30% of vote)

Hong Konger’s readily identify with the underdog. The current social climate of Hong Kong has seen an increase towards actively supporting and championing local heroes with 43% regularly choosing local brands over foreign owned when shopping. And the 2021 Tokyo Olympics would only heighten the celebration of Hong Kong’s underdog identity. When it comes to the Olympics, Hong Kong is the quintessential underdog, having only won six medals (and a single gold) across 32 Olympiads, but who determinedly continue to show up against the odds. Our opportunity was clear. To create distinction and win the hearts and mouths of Hong Kong, we would reinforce Tao Ti’s homegrown roots, not by following convention and associating with guaranteed winning Olympic glory, but by celebrating and backing Hong Kong’s underdog Olympians.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

Enter Dear Jane, Hong Kong’s hottest Canto pop band who’d released 'Heart of San Marino', a stirring anthem about a football team that never won but never gave up. The song’s precise articulation of the spirit of perseverance gave us our golden opportunity – a Tao Ti x Dear Jane partnership that would propel this underdog anthem into Hong Kong’s Olympic anthem. Coca-cola may be the Olympics official drink sponsor, but Tao Ti would become the cheer squad and unofficial sponsor of the Hong Kong team! We produced a bespoke Dear Jane x Tao Ti 'Heart of San Marino' music video featuring the band. Deployment of this music video was single-minded. We needed to scale quickly to capitalize on our Olympic window, but with a limited budget we had to be strategic with our investment, dedicating efforts to the most contextually relevant moments – Hong Kong’s Olympic campaign.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

Through this Hong Kong-centred Olympic campaign, we ensured that the Tao Ti x Dear Jane underdog anthem was there cheering on every Hong Kong athlete who was competing. Tao Ti was there during official live television broadcast of Hong Kong events, as well as OOH MTR Train stations which digitally broadcasted Hong Kong medal contention live. Our underdog anthem was front and centre when Hong Kong won its historic second gold in fencing, quickly followed by two silvers in the pool. As Hong Konger's basked in unexpected Olympic glory, programmatic deployment ensured Tao Ti was top-of-mind as people watched and re-watched instant replays and highlights. And, as Hong Kongers shared their excitement and pride of their Olympians rousing success, boosted social posts from Tao Ti's owned social pages ensured the Tao Ti x Dear Jane anthem was an integral and celebratory note in conversation.

List the results (30% of vote)

All underdogs came out on top. Over 3 million+ Hong Kongers (nearly half the population!) viewed the anthem. Its presence in moments of Hong Kong’s Olympic perseverance (and surprising glory) saw the song adopted as Hong Kong’s local Olympic anthem with ‘Heart of San Marino’ jumping back up the charts a massive 10 spots in 24 hours after Long’s historic gold medal win! The approach for Tao Ti proved distinctive and salient with a 20% increase in brand recall, 192% increase in brand searches and 477% product keyword searches during the campaign. The campaign proved to be one of the driving forces of Tao Ti's tea product sales growth, with sales outperforming business targets.

Please tell us about the brand in relation to the locality or market where the product / service is distributed

Tao Ti was the first to market a natural brew ready-to-drink tea beverage in Hong Kong in 1996. Through effort and expertise, the Tao Ti brand became a popular natural tea brand in Hong Kong and continues to be a favourite amongst locals. In 2020, Tao Ti ranked 2nd in the natural, healthy, and functional soft beverage market in Hong Kong, and 3rd and 4th in import international spirits market in Hong Kong and mainland China, respectively, in terms of retail sales value, according to Frost & Sullivan. Tao Ti is distributed at all the major supermarkets, convenient stores, vendors, and local restaurants around Hong Kong.