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04.28.2005

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Brand Building In The Early Stages: a Successful Example Of Brand Community & Experience

Will You Run Away and Join the Gypsies?

Imagine that you're a harried shopper shuffling through your local grocery store, trying to find the five things on your After-Work Supplement Shopping Occasion. Suddenly as you round the corner at the prepared foods counter, instead of a giant display of cheese wedges you encounter...a red velvet gypsy tent with belly dancers, palm readers, gypsy music and the intense botanical smells of an aromatherapy shop. Well, don't panic, you've just run into a Gypsy Tea Party hosted by Zhena's Gypsy Tea, and you might just stop and try a cup of highly fragrant tea, relax and dwell on the fact that maybe some distant relative may have been a gypsy. You'll certainly remember this event as a submersion into exotic lands in the context of picking up milk and eggs. Even better, if you're someone with kids (especially little girls), you might find yourself with your children learning how to belly dance at one of these events. According to Zhena Muzyka, Mistress of Ceremonies (and also President and CEO) of Zhena's Gypsy Tea, introducing people to something new and exciting is just one goal of her company:

We like taking our product and bringing an experience to people that's unique. They'll see us in the stores and do a double take, then they'll giggle...
I love watching people's reactions. We take them by surprise, and we delight them. Part of my mission is to cultivate a sense of wonderment, because many people are so overworked, so tired. I've come to realize that people want to connect at the core of their being and be validated by something. When we do these events they just come over and laugh. Particularly women will come over, and I offer them tea. It's maybe one in four women that automatically come over and 'want a piece' of what we're doing, then there's another one or two in the four who are a little more timid, and I have to talk and ask if they've ever belly danced or had tea, and they smell it, our Raspberry Early Grey Tea with Oil of Bergamont...and then they're hooked.

I think...they want to have something new to tell their friends about and have an experience that they can share.

Gypsy Tea is building a Cultural Brand

Zhena's Gypsy Tea is quickly becoming a cultural brand: By listening to Zhena describe what her company seeks to provide to consumers ("an experience they can share...are surprised by...are delighted with") and then looking at the product and the narrative behind it, we can see that this brand is offering many of the components that make up a cultural brand:

Authentic Brand Experience: Zhena's Gypsy Tea grew out of actual events when Zhena Muzyka realized that she could combine her real-life gypsy heritage, an interest in tea blending, and belly dancing to make a powerful statement as a brand. Zhena's company is committed to a core premise that gypsy tea parties are for "opening and relaxing a guest's inhibitions so that they can express their passions." In this sense, and in the connection made between the company's tins of tea and the exotic experience of belly dancing and palm reading encountered in a store, Gypsy Tea is providing an authentic, true brand experience.

Brand Community: Gypsy Tea is spreading. Whereas a year ago most Gypsy Tea parties were held in Whole Foods or Wild Oats or other natural foods or gourmet stores, now Zhena is getting reports of gypsy tea parties thrown by women in their homes in all over the country. Gypsy Tea also creates short-lived but memorable brand communities every time they host a Gypsy Tea party: At a recent event at a Mrs. Green's health food store in Mt. Kisco NY, Zhena recalls,

We had a group of about 35 women with their kids... They were learning to belly dance, laughing and sharing; and while in the beginning they were kind of sitting around, once I started serving them tea by the second or third cup they were all talking to each other, and by the fourth or fifth cup I had to shout to get people's attention. In Mt. Kisco, we had young girls who were really into the dancing...we ended up with two groups of 35 people dancing, learning the hip and shoulder moves."

Cultural Occasion: Gypsy Tea sells to much more than just the occasion of drinking tea at home. In many ways, and where many products fail to deliver, this brand recalls a three-dimensional memory along with each tea occasion. As Zhena comments,

I think when [customers] open our can of tea they remember how fun it was, the goddess like energy of the dancers, they want that. I can't tell you how many women come up to me and say, 'I think I was a gypsy.' It's freedom, passion, authenticity, connecting - its being part of a tribe. Whenever we make a sale, I say, 'Welcome to the tribe...'

Creating a Language and Culture: Gypsy Tea is building a language and culture around its products composed of a tribe of women (and men) who are connected by a similar desire to discover and explore exotic sounds, tastes and smells. In addition, the company is creating a culture of in-store marketing coordinator enthusiasts at chains like Wegmans and Wild Oats. These store personnel are very eager to learn how to host Gypsy Tea Parties since they see how involved their customers are in the events.

Sometimes Small is Beautiful

Gypsy Tea is growing but only at the rate at which the company can provide its gypsy experience on a level appropriate to different channels. Gourmet grocery chains like Wegmans and large natural supermarkets like Wild Oats are receiving both training and the full focus of Gypsy Tea right now, but plans are in place to offer a scaled down version of the Gypsy Tea Party in some conventional grocery stores. While the company is currently quite small in terms of revenues, with just over a million dollars in sales, from a philosophical standpoint, Gypsy Tea is "big" in that the company is associating with significant lifestyle trends in the population that seek products and services that are unique and exotic.

Take Home Lesson

Few brands seem to "intend" to become cultural brands: Instead, cultural brands originate from almost a "happy accident" of original thought, a blending of talent between individuals or through fortuitous timing, a confluence of cultural trends. While some brands try to force their way into trends, seldom do consumers respond positively unless what they are presented with rings true and in turn feeds their desire for things that are new and unique.

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