Gearing up for its new brand identity, Nestea aims to be key player in ‘evolution of tea’

This is the first rebranding initiative from Nestea in decades, tea director at Nestlé Waters North America, Cassin Chaisson, told BeverageDaily. “The old Nestea was not delivering on the evolution of tea,” Chaisson said. “Consumers are looking for something that gives them great drinkability and immediate refreshment in that moment,” she said. “It’s not just the product in the bottle, it’s that experience of drinking tea.” Accommodating consumer interest divide According to Chaisson, Nestea interviewed thousands of consumers in order to identify what needs Nestea could better meet in the tea category. The overarching needs voiced by consumers through this research included easy consumption and drinkability. However, there was a divide in terms of flavor preference. “There are consumers really interested in fruit flavors and consumers looking for real tea taste ,” Chaisson said. “We’ve completely rebuilt Nestea to deliver on that.” To meet those two flavor demands, Nestea will be launching two new product lines next year: a fruit-flavored line and a new “real brewed line.” The Nestea fruit-flavored line comes in three flavors (lemon, peach, raspberry) sweetened with sugar and stevia with a suggested retail price of $1.49 per bottle. The real brew line is available in four flavors including an unsweetened and slightly sweet black tea, a slightly sweet black tea and rooibos, and a slightly sweet USDA certified organic green tea for a suggested retail price of $1.79. Both lines will be available in six-packs. The company sources all of its tea from the Nilgiri ( “Blue-Mountain” ) region in India. The bottle design will be made from PET and feature a wide-mouth opening for added drinkability. Leveraging brand history and awareness The benefit of Nestea’s brand relaunch is its 70-year history and 84% brand awareness among consumers, Chaisson said. In order to communicate the new face of Nestea, the company is targeting the millennial generation. According to Mintel research, millennials are more likely to pay more for premium and single-source tea compared to other age groups. “Millennials are really critical to the future growth in the category,” Chaisson said. “With this new proposition we will be targeting the new millennial consumer.”

Gearing up for its new brand identity, Nestea aims to be key player in ‘evolution of tea’

Nestea is in the midst of a major brand overhaul, which will be officially launched in 2017.

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