PG Tips

With tea of such a huge importance to the everyday life of consumers, manufacturers such as Unilever UK are responding to a variety of consumer trends including health, environment, convenience and enjoyment, according to Adrian Adams, senior category manager for tea at Unilever UK.

In 2007, Unilever re-launched PG Tips. The evolution of the PG Tips brand involved an £18m campaign in 2007 with TV ads featuring “Monkey & Al”, new packaging and a variety of promotional initiatives.

Under the banner of “reasons to put the kettle on”, PG Tips provided consumers with “positive reasons” to re-engage with the category, and to feel good about drinking tea.

“The packaging was changed to communicate a 100% natural message, which was also featured via TV advertising,” says Adams.

The re-launch also included a greater emphasis on communicating the benefits of theanine, the naturally occurring amino acid in black tea that offers “alertness properties” to consumers.

The premium tea segments of the category (fruit and herbal, green and speciality teas) continue to add good growth into the overall tea category. Most notable in this are fruit and herbal teas and green tea, which are growing significantly in terms of both volume and value.

Adams says: “While penetration and volume in these areas remains small compared to that of normal tea, there remains a huge opportunity to drive category value by encouraging mainstream shoppers to trade up into these sectors.

“Unlocking this growth potential requires shoppers to have an accessible entry point into the segment and brands that they know and trust. Unilever will be addressing this with the launch of a new PG green tea range in March 2008,” he says.

2007 £135.5m
2006 £128.6m
yoy change 5.4%