Family-owned tea company Birchall is investing £1 million in its first-ever television campaign as it seeks to drive interest in premium tea and encourage consumers to pay greater attention to provenance.
The campaign, launching this month, will promote Birchall’s Great Rift Breakfast Tea across television, digital, social media and retail, with activity planned in Waitrose and Ocado throughout September.
The investment comes as new research commissioned by Birchall suggests tea purchasing remains heavily driven by habit, despite taste being the biggest consideration for consumers.
According to YouGov research among 2,091 UK adults, 60 per cent said taste influences their choice of tea – the same proportion as for coffee. However, 41 per cent of tea buyers said they usually buy the same tea they have always bought or choose the brand they grew up with or their family drank.
Only 6 per cent said they actively seek out higher-quality tea, while 2 per cent primarily choose their brew based on where it was grown or produced.
Birchall said the findings highlighted an opportunity to encourage tea drinkers to think about provenance and quality in the same way many consumers now approach speciality coffee.
Its 30-second television advert will air on ITV1 and focus on Great Rift Breakfast Tea, which this year became the first tea brand in the history of the Great Taste Awards to secure 16 consecutive awards. Birchall’s wider range has received 101 Great Taste Awards since 2011.
The campaign will also feature a six-part film series filmed earlier this year in Rwanda and Kenya. Each approximately two-minute episode follows fifth-generation tea expert Dan Graham alongside conservation leaders supported by African wildlife charity Tusk.
The films explore the people and production behind East African tea, including tea-growing conditions, harvesting and the influence of altitude, climate and soil on flavour.
Birchall said the series would also highlight the relationship between healthy ecosystems, biodiversity and tea-growing communities.
The company has a long-standing partnership with Tusk, contributing to its conservation work through sales of every pack of Great Rift Tea.
Dan Graham, founder and managing director of Birchall Tea, said tea had traditionally been bought “out of habit”, but consumers should be encouraged to consider what creates its taste.
“Great tea has an incredible story to tell, and we think it's time more people discovered it,” he said.
Graham added that the company wanted to see tea develop the same level of consumer interest in origin and production that coffee has experienced.
The YouGov research also points to differences in tea-buying behaviour between age groups. Among tea buyers aged over 55, 40 per cent said they usually buy the same tea they have always bought, compared with 21 per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds.
Younger consumers were, however, more likely to choose a brand they grew up with or their family drank, with 21 per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds citing this factor, compared with 6 per cent of over-55s.
Meanwhile, 10 per cent of 25 to 34-year-old tea buyers said they regularly try different teas or brands, against just 2 per cent of those aged 45 to 54.
Birchall said the campaign represented a significant milestone for the family-owned business as it seeks to build a broader appreciation for premium tea and differentiate its brands through taste, provenance and sustainability.