2013 Winners & Shortlists

The Brief

Brooke Bond Red label tea, a brand very popular with Indians, wanted to promote tea to Indian expats during one of the world’s most popular shopping events, the Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF). Our objective was to attract our target audience and sample tea. We working on the insight that Indian expats miss everything about home. So we took a non-traditional approach of a stunt that brought the tea experience from India to Dubai.

Describe how the promotion developed from concept to implementation

At a DSF venue, we specially created and placed a mobile tea stall similar to the one Indians see on streets back home. We then got their attention with a typical, Indian tea seller or a Chai Wallah, who called out “Chai..Chai..Chai” and entertained people by doing popular ‘chai/tea stunts’ – pouring tea from one cup into another, which can sometimes be up to a metre long! We even sampled tea in the customary earthen teapots, which had a branded sleeve. Later, we shot this experience and spread the video online.

Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable results

The Chai Wallah took Dubai for a surprise. • Approx. 500 people visited the stand and sampled tea per day • Without any paid media, the video spread organically on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and blogs • In just two weeks, we received 900+ views on the video. This number is increasing by the day.

Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service

The Chai Wallah caught people by surprise and attracted them to our stand, as they had never expected to see something like this in a cosmopolitan city like Dubai. With this stunt, we gave Indian expats an opportunity to re-live an experience they miss from back home. The video, “Chai Wallah Spotted in Dubai”, was an entertaining, fun and shareable video, which was seeded online through key influencers i.e. bloggers.