Self-initiated concept · our own brief, our own brand
Seven Winters 七冬: a white tea that counts its winters
Naming and identity for a Fuding aged white tea going abroad, where price follows the winters it was kept.
The brief
The problem
Abroad, "aged" reads as stale. Chinese tea on a Western shelf is either dragons and gold or borrowed Japanese zen, and neither explains why a seven-year white tea should cost three times a fresh one.
The insight
Fujian growers say white tea is tea in year one, medicine in year three and treasure in year seven. Wine and specialty-coffee drinkers already pay for vintage. The brand only has to make the winters visible.
The idea
A leaf mark with seven veins. One vein lights up in amber for every winter a lot has been stored, on the tin, the cake wrap, the app and the receipt. The name, the mark and the price ladder all state one fact: how many winters.
What we would make
- Research · W1–3
Farm and storage visit in Fuding, 12 buyer interviews in London and Berlin, shelf audit of 40 tea brands abroad. - Strategy · W3–5
Positioning as a vintage counted in winters; 1/3/5/7-winter price ladder; audience and channel map. - Naming · W5–7
140 names to 24 to 5; native-speaker checks in EN, DE, Mandarin and Cantonese; trademark screening. - Identity · W7–11
Leaf mark and winter count, tin and cake wrap, palette, type, frost-strata pattern, tinplate print tests. - Rollout · W11–14
Shop-in-shop kit, site and cellar-app screens, launch content and press kit.
What we would measure
- Target: 30% of first orders at the 5- or 7-winter tier
- Target: 35% of customers reorder within 12 months
- Target: 40% aided recall of the name after tasting events
- Target: hold a price premium of 2.5× or more over comparable fresh white tea