Area of Interest - Tea and Research Celebitchy, celebrity, Hollyscoop, Jonathan Ross Show, Lady Gaga, Mirror, news values, tea, The Sun 10:41 pm
How to make tea go viral? Just have Lady Gaga promote it!
This story is actually from a while ago, but in terms of my tea topic, this is one of the most widely published (tea) stories in the last couple of years. Let’s take a look…
April 2009: Lady Gaga appears on the Jonathan Ross Show, sipping tea from a cup and saucer.
Area of Interest - Tea and Research facebook, marketing, New York Times, niche sites, social media 8:15 pm
Given that my area of interest IS rather niche, I found it difficult to find some stats and figures on the tea enthusiast population. But I have found some interesting analyses about online news and niche sites in general. Last week, The New York Times stated that online users are shifting to niche sites to get their fill of news, mainly because they are getting exactly what they are looking for.
“as news surges on the Web, giant ocean liners like AOL and Yahoo are being outmaneuvered by the speedboats zipping around them, relatively small sites that have passionate audiences and sharply focused information.”
Nevertheless, it’s hard to ignore the popularity of Facebook. How many of these niche sites employ the marketing effectiveness of Facebook and Twitter, I’m not sure. But the 2009-10 Communications Report from the Australian Communications and Media Authority shows that the use of Facebook is not slowing down.
“In terms of the individual sites identified, Facebook continues to dominate the social networking/UCG market in Australia and also overseas, in markets such as the UK and the US. Collectively, 121.3 million persons accessed Facebook in the US, UK and Australia during June 2010 (6.8 million in Australia).”
Area of Interest - Tea and Research cafes, food and lifestyle, tea, tea blogs 10:32 am
I’ve recently discovered most of the online content available to tea enthusiasts is mainly the blogs I have mentioned in previous posts (A Girl With Tea and Tea and Sympathy). For someone searching for information on tea, many of these kinds of blog posts (especially in the case of A Girl With Tea), are more of an ‘evergreen’ content – meaning it is more along the lines of a feature article that doesn’t rely on timeliness. Aside from the online element, teas and tea houses are often mentioned in food and lifestyle magazines, so think Delicious, Frankie and even Vogue, as more of a review (which is generally a little more reliant on timeliness). Hence, most of these publications are text-based, and are actually not online (this is the part where I say, “Hey! An opening for a niche area of interest! Hurray!”)
Tea? Or wine? Or both!
The reason I think this may be case is that these publications have built up a reputation of having the latest information on cafes, restaurants, nice foods and wines. (as a side note, do you think tea has become a ‘trendy’ beverage lately? Long gone is the question :”Do you have your tea black or white?” Now, it’s all “Would you like a black tea? White tea? Green tea? Flavoured black? Rooibos? Herbal tea? And may I suggest you try this tea without milk? It tends to mask the lovely flavours etc…” Yep, tea is the new wine. I digress…)
Yet there are very few publications that keep tabs on what is happening in the tea world, but do cafe enthusiasts want it? Find out in my next post! 🙂
Area of Interest - Tea and Research tea, tea blogs, tea culture, twitter 2:56 pm
When keeping up to date in the world of tea, perhaps try following these sites/people:
This is a handy little site which basically compiles news and information about tea from various media publications (if you enter in what sort of information and news you’re looking for). This is particularly handy, as it can be difficult to find a tea-only publication that solely and independently produces news on tea, whereas this publication just compiles everythingwritten about tea recently and puts it all in the one spot.
Mentioned this in my previous post, but I enjoy some interesting little tidbits from this blog, whether it’s excited about a celebrity who has gushed how much they love tea, or any events that their shop might be holding in New York. Unfortunately, I don’t live in New York, but if you do and you love tea – have a look at this site! They also have a Twitter account.
This blog is the product of a young woman going through her own ‘tea journey’ – she is exploring the changing culture of tea, and how drinking tea can affect other areas of life, and explaining why tea is back in vogue (because didn’t you hear?Coffee is sooooo…. last season) She also describes her experience with tea and meditation on a day-to-day basis, thereby taking the reader on the journey as well. A fairly easy site to get around, and I’m glad to see she isn’t just preaching hearsay about tea and meditation, and is instead being honest and critical when she needs to be. Like a good online presence, she also has a Twitter.
Area of Interest - Tea and Research critical analysis, market strategy, tea 3:47 pm
For this blog post, I’ve been having some trouble – I’ve been trying to find some critical analysis about what I’m going to refer to as the ‘Tea Movement’. The best I can find is market research on tea consumption, for example, this article discusses Sri Lanka’s tea exports and the market dynamics over the last few years. It explains that in 2008, the supply of tea far exceeded the demand for tea, causing tea manufacturers to prepare for an ‘impending doom’ by creating specific niche markets and private label tea.
This is reflected in the article from Lapis Teahouse, which comments on the surge of sales in private label and specialty teas. It comments that there is a change in consumer’s choice of teas, saying ‘Consumers are snubbing their nose to commodity tea; they desire high quality, tempting flavors brewed from the finest ingredients.’ This sort of information tells me that tea stores and stockists such as Canberra’s Adore Tea and New York’s Tea and Sympathy (see comments from previous post!) are certainly jumping on the bandwagon to provide this high quality tea which consumers now see as a bit of a luxury. Now the line is, ‘Tea is no longer a commoner’s drink! No more plain old black tea, try Creme Brulee Tea! Or Buddha’s Tears tea!’
Basically, tea has become a classy refreshment, and that’s the marketing strategy many of these tea stores are running with.
Area of Interest - Tea and Research tea, tea publications 11:40 am
After some internet searching, I have discovered that there aren’t actually that many blogs out there that focus on the tea culture. One of them that I did find – The Warmth of Tea – is a fairly simple blog connected to the Warmth of Tea website, and contains plenty of information for tea drinkers – about the culture of tea throughout the years, tea party etiquette, and the differences between the many different kinds of tea available.
I found the site/blog reasonably easy to get around, with the help of the navigation panel on the side, and I found it was reasonably easy to leave comments, which are monitored before they are posted on the site. However, the blog does not engage with its audience very much – any questions for the readers are sorely missed, as it is more of an informative blog, rather than a conversational one.
Another publication I found was a magazine (downloadable in PDF format too!) aptly named ‘Tea A Magazine’. This is quite similar to The Warmth of Tea website, in that it gives information about tea, and its cultural significance. But in terms of appealing to this surge of a younger female audience, I feel it is lacking – even looking at the front cover (a white teapot with white and purple flowers inside, with a background of doilies) simply reinforces the stereotype of little old ladies getting out their best china, embroidered flowery tablecloths and doilies for a little gathering with their other little old lady friends. As a young female tea drinker enthusiast, it doesn’t exactly appeal to me. A magazine like Frankie would have exactly the kind of audience to encourage the new tea enthusiasts, I feel! But more on that later…
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