The case study belongs to an integrated marketing communication (IMC) plan created for Shahrzad Tea, a popular Iranian brand, by Badkoobeh Creative Communication Solutions.

1. CASESTUDY

2. Brand:ShahrzadTea
Product Category:Drink
Provided Services: Integrated Marketing
Communication (IMC) Plan
Period of Cooperation:2014 till now

3. Tea is one of the world’s oldest and most consumed drinks. Position of this
drink, as one of the popular food products, is defined and secured in family
food baskets of many countries around the world. In Iran as well, tea has
been historically popular amongst all classes of the society.
Tea is not only an agricultural product. Drinking tea has become a kind of
culture, and this culture varies in different parts of our country, depending on
climatic conditions and local traditions.
Iran is a producer and consumer of tea, which procures a major part of its
consumed tea from global markets. In 2005, Iran’s share of producing tea
was 3.3%, while the country has shared only 1.4% of global tea
consumption.
Tea is one of the important agricultural and industrial products of India as well,
and economy of many Indian states depends on planting this product. This
product not only plays an important role in agricultural and industrial
development of India, but also its export is one of the main sources of foreign
currencies for this country.
Iran is one of the main markets for Indian tea, with an estimated volume of
USD 40 million per annum.
HistoryofTea

4. ShahrzadTea Joint Stock Company started to work in early 1960s, aiming to
assure proven quality and promote culture of consuming tea by means of
packaging this product.From the beginning to the moment, Shahrzad’s main
concern has been to maintain constantly quality of the selected tea and take
intensive care of this achievement. For more than half a century, Shahrzad
has been cooperating with international experts to procure products of the
best tea farms of the world and enters them in a variety of packages into the
market.This company is one of the pioneers of Iran’s tea industry, and we can
say that this company has entered the firs packaged tea to the market in
1965.
ShahrzadTea

5. ٥

6. In recent years, despite of more than half of a century of experience in the
field of packaging and distributing tea, considering presence of new
competitors in the market, Shahrzad was not able to preserve the former
relations maintain its place in shopping baskets, although the brand was well
known and trusted by the people. Before referring to Badkoobeh Advertising
Agency, the visual identity of packages, which was based on the original
(1960s) design, was identified as one of the brand weak points, and some
changes were applied to form of the packages and logo as per decided by the
brand owners. By the way, the changes had not helped Shahrzad regain its
place in the market, and low sales of products had become the brand’s main
concern.
WhatWastheChallenge?

7. ShahrzadTea: Indian, Imported, and AuthenticTea
Despite of using 100% high quality authentic Indian tea, due to lack of proper
communication and advertising activities, as well as the Iranian image used
in packaging and communications activities, Shahrzad was known as Iranian
tea by the audience. As a result of this, Shahrzad Tea could not achieve a
good sales volume, proportioned to its potentials, in the atmosphere where
the consumers do not rather Iranian tea.
After investigating about Sharzad tea and performing the market studies, the
solution was identified in deepest layers of the product.
Solution

8. In a market, where all claim about good quality and pleasant taste, Shahrzad had
to introduce herself as a 100% Indian, imported, and authentic tea.This positioning
was first practiced by means of changing visual brand identity. In the next move,
Shahrzad brand entered the communication and advertising phase with an
authentic Indian identity. In this phase, the brand emphasized on its being Indian
and authentic.
The brand story says there are certain moments (certain days of the year) for
harvesting Shahrzad tea leaves, and harvesting exactly on those certain moments
causes the different aroma and taste of Shahrzad Tea. Accordingly, “Pure
Moments” was selected as slogan of the brand for advertising activity, which
implicating both “certain moments of harvesting” and “the special feeling
experienced when drinking tea”.
Indian elements and warm colors were used in all communication activities as well
as design of all characters in order to assure the audience communication with the
foreseen place and advertising activities. In the following chapters we explain the
activities performed in this project.
HowtoIntroduceShahrzadTeaasImportedIndianTea?

9. The tea brand named “Shahrzad” was born in 1965. Bagher Dariani, the originator
of Shahrzad brand says: after producing packaged tea, we decided to register a
brand name for our tea products. One day I was reading Hafez’s book of poetry,
when a miniature painting attracted my attention. It was figure of a woman in a cup
next to Hafez’s lyric saying “we have seen image of the beloved’s face in the cup…”
The cup was somehow related to tea and drinks, and on the other hand it was not
like any of our competitors’logos.I used that beautiful painting as logo of “Shahrzad
Tea”, and I named the brand “Shahrzad” considering figure of that mythical woman
in the cup, and as this name was semantically related to the image as well.
VisualBrandIdentityDesign
Visual Brand Identity Redesign Project
PhilosophyofLogo

10. Logo or sign of the brand was redesigned using the image created in 1980s,
which had found its place amongst the audiences. In the new logo, face and
costume of the woman figure was changed and warm colors were used to give
Shahrzad logo an Indian identity, and its character changed from Iranian to
Indian. Also, the phrase “1965” was added to the logo to show long history and
experience of ShahrzadTea
RedesigningtheLogo
Old Logo
Designed in 1980s New Logo

11. ElementsUsedinShahrzadLogoDesign
Indian Lady with Indian Costume
to show Indian Character
Use of Red Color (Indian and Warm)
Using a Cup of Tea to Emphasize on
Authenticity
Phrase “1965” to Show Long History
and Experience of Brand

12. In accordance with the advertising regulations of the country for national
and outdoor media (TV, radio, billboards), the logo figure is designed and
used with a shawl. In media such as printed media (newspapers and
magazines) which are less limited, the logo figure is designed and used
with the shawl covering hairs partially.
UsingShahrzadLogoattheBrandContactPoints

13. VisualBrandIdentityDesign
Old Packaging New Packaging
Packaging

14. Considering design of the visual brand identity, and the adopted strategy, many
of the packages were collected from sales points as they did not comply with the
adopted strategy, and were repackaged in accordance with the particular
harmonized visual identity and resent to the market, aiming to regain place of
Indian tea. All packages contain information such as methods of making tea
and type of the consumed tea.

15. CalcuttaTea
EarlGrayTea
JasmineGreenTea
PackagingDesign

16. PureCTCTeaofKenya
CeylonTea
DarjeelingTea

17. Devises like Shelf Talker and Dangler are designed and developed to introduced Shahrzad
Tea with Indian Identity
PointofSales(POS)Devices

18. “Pure Moments” photography competition was held from 12/22/2014 to 01/09/2015
on Instagram. In this competition, the participants were asked to share their pictures
of pure moments with tea with #lahzehayenab hashtag.The judges shortlisted 60 top
pictures, out of 1500 submitted pictures, which matched the subject the most, and
contained visual aesthetic and creativity factors, for public voting. The shortlisted
pictures were shared on Instagram page of Shahrzad Tea, and finally the 4 pictures
with more likes, and one picture selected by the judging panel were announced
winners.
ShahrzadPhotographyCompetition
“PureMoments”
SocialNetworksCampaign

19. #LahzehayeNab
All winners of this competition received a
complete Debenhamz winter set, including hat,
gloves, and ascot. Also, all participants of the
competition received a pack of Shahrzad Tea.
Public notice and promotions of this competition
were published through popular Iranian
accounts, and most viewed Persian websites.
Exclusive micro-site of the campaign, addressed
“lahzehayenab.shahrzadtea.com” in addition to
covering rules and news of the competition was
linked to Instagram to show updated status of
public likes. Also, the participants could refer to
this micro-site to enter their address for receiving
a pack of ShahrzadTea.
Share your pure moments on Instagram
ShahrzadPhotographyCompetition

20. Content marketing for Shahrzad Tea was performed in two phases aiming to
promote Shahrzad Tea brand in digital environment. The main subjects to achieve
this goal were:
Long history of Shahrzad Tea, high quality products, introducing India as land of the
best tea farms of the world, advantages of tea and practical tips, and pure moments
created by tea.
In the first phase, content marketing was started in Instagram and Facebook. In
second phase, after launching new versions of Shahrzad Tea website and weblog,
content marketing was started in web environment as well, and all activities were
integrated.
ContentMarketingforShahrzadTea
ContentMarketingandWebsiteDesign

21. Redesign project of Shahrzad Tea new and responsive website was done in 2014,
aiming to make the best presentation on all type of desktop, tablet, and mobile
screens.In design of the new website important factors like utility, supporting all types
of text, image, and video contents, being user friendly, and aesthetics of design were
taken to consideration.This site supports online sales of Shahrzad Tea Products as
well.
ShahrzadTeaWebsiteRedesign

22. In this project, promoters wearing Indian customs were sent to chain stores of Tehran as
Indian ambassadors to promote and increase sales of Shahrzad IndianTea.
IndianAmbassadorsinChainStores
SalesPromotion

23. IndianAmbassadorsinChainStores

24. Considering the long history and experience of the brand, and its being the first packages
tea, strategy ofTV and radio advertisement was introducing ShahrzadTea as the pioneer of
this industry. In accordance with this strategy, Shahrzad Tea, as an old and experienced
brand, suggested correct ways of making tea in the advertisements.
TVAdvertisement
MakingTV,Radio,andPrintedAdvertisements

25. Due to the long history of Shahrzad Tea, a documentary movie was made and distributed
amongst the target audiences, aiming to introduce the distributors to history of the brand,
beginning of activities, the firs packaged tea in Iran, and process of producing this tea.
MakingShahrzadDocumentary

26. Design of Outdoor and Printed Advertisement Based on New Indian Identity of
ShahrzadTea
PrintedAdvertisement
MakingTV,Radio,andPrintedAdvertisements
What is Authentic is Concealed
High Quality BlackTea with Bergamot
Extract in ShahrzadTea Packages

27. I wait for tea to be brewed well in the pot and get a shiny color.I am waiting for
my guest to arrive, to have the thin-waisted cups of tea wear their tea-colored
costumes and sit before the guests. I am waiting for them to ask again about
the fantastic taste of the tea; to tell them eagerly about my favorite tea; to tell
them how long the tea has waited, and counted sunny days and moony nights
of India to be harvested on the most productive moment, and said goodbye to
that unique farm and travel a subcontinent to reach me.Then I eagerly look at
the guest to see how a pleasant and authentic cup of tea makes them happy in
a lovely afternoon, and say to myself what a pure moment… it was worth
waiting.
PleasantTeaTime…

28. After implementing the integrated marketing communication plan, sales of products increased by
minimum 25% compared to the same period of the last year.
According to the results related to consumption of tea, ShahrzadTea advertisements have had a
direct effect on consumption volume.
Based on these results consumption of ShahrzadTea was increased by 44% for bulk tea and by
36% for teabag in autumn 2014, compared to the previous season.
Considering the statistics remarked by Shahrzad teabag consumers, consumption of this product
has been as per usual during the first three months of the year, but decreased by 33% in summer
time.
In autumn, after starting the advertising activities, the consumption volume increased by 47%,
and this trend continued in winter as well.
Winter
Autumn
Summer
Spring
WhatWastheResutl?

29. In this page trend of tea consumption is shown for different brands in first half and
second half of 2014.
41.5% of the consumption in 2014 is related to first half, and 58.5% of it is related to
the second half of the year. Considering the frequency ratio, each group has
increased by 36%.
A
A
B
B
C
C
D
D
E
E
F
F
G
G
H
H
I
I
Shahrzad
Shahrzad
Autumn,Winter
Spring,Summer
Autumn,Winter
Spring,Summer

30. Extensive and creative advertisements for
Shahrzad Tea in its beautiful and attractive
packages started in 1965, introduced Shahrzad
Tea as one of the most credible tea brands of
Iran to the people minds, and inevitably became
a pattern for other Iranian tea brands. Why
Shahrzad Tea did not manage to maintain its
place in people’s shopping basket in recent
years? In this case study we investigate this
issue.