Hi! Matcha
Telling the story of an upcoming tea brand through strategy and design
Tools
Role
Overview
Hi! Matcha is an up-and-coming e-commerce matcha tea brand founded by singer Amanda Lee Peers. Peers started the company after switching to matcha from coffee while on NBC's The Voice. Hi! Matcha offers ceremonial-grade matcha green tea as well as teaware for preparing matcha.
The Problem
Peers launched Hi! Matcha in 2022 without a strategy in place. The demographic wasn't clear and neither was the messaging which made it difficult to create consistent branding.
The Solution
I developed a brand strategy that clearly represented the "Why" and created consistent identity and messaging that told the story of Hi! Matcha so that it connected with the right audience.
The Process
Brand Discovery
Since there was no brand strategy in place, that's where I started. During the initial Discovery Workshop I uncovered the brand's "Why", and formed the brand mission statement and values.
Market Research
Once we had a strong idea of who Hi! Matcha was, we researched the wellness drink landscape to determine their competitors, core audience and their brand positioning.
Target Audience
With the data we gathered, we created personas to help narrow down our target audience. We discovered the biggest audience was in the wellness space.
Messaging
Initially the messaging was focused on energy, but then discovered it was much deeper than that. It was about living each day with intention. America runs on "fast"—fast food, energy drinks, hustle culture, fast money, etc. This leads to living on auto-pilot, unhealthy eating and burnout.
We wanted people to start slowing down and creating a life on purpose, instead working to keep up with the status quo. We wanted the messaging of the brand to be positive but disruptive.
Identity
The logo was creative to reflect the two major benefits of matcha—caffeine and l-theanine. Caffeine energizes and l-theanine calms, so you get a calm, focused energy. The off-center green represents "coloring outside the lines" attitude.
For the packaging, I decided to go against the standard matcha tin and create what looks like a mini cereal box. Matcha is usually drank in the morning to get the caffeine user are looking for to get their day started. Inside you'll find the foil pouch of matcha. This type of packaging allowed for more information to be added to the box.
To stand out from the boring white and green branding matcha usually has we used bright colors and fun graphics.
E-commerce Website
After reviewing multiple e-commerce platforms, we decided Shopify would be the best platform to use for an e-commerce website. We created a site that would not only showcase their products but tell the story of what Hi! Matcha was about consistent with the messaging and identity.
The Results
Hi! Matcha experienced not only an increase in sales but they attracted the attention of major grocery retailers and two of Hi! Matcha products are now sold on the shelves at Whole Foods.
Key Takeaways:
- Building a great brand strategy is vital in creating a brand that connects with the right audience and builds loyal fans over time
- Brand strategy is the filter by which all decision should be passed through first
- Starting a business without a brand strategy in place will result in a loss in time and money lost
- Great packaging and identity design can make or break a sale