Sri Lanka to launch global marketing campaign for tea from first week of August
Sri Lankan authorities are reportedly all set to launch the proposed tea global marketing campaign in the first week of August in Russia and Ukraine, with plans to carry out the programme in China and Japan later this year.
The Rs. 4.5 billion marketing campaign targeting 12 countries, which has been in the works for over two years, will utilise the CESS funds and will mostly focus on digital platforms, Tea Board Chairman Lucile Wijewardana has told the Daily FT.
The plan also includes inviting influencers from each country to come to Sri Lanka and have an immersive Ceylon Tea experience in the country, Wijewardana has stated.
“We will have about five to 10 influencers from each country. We plan to have them in Sri Lanka in October,” Wijewardana has said. The dates for launching the campaign in Japan and China are yet to be determined, he has further noted.
According to the media report, the country-specific campaigns are designed to have generic material on Ceylon Tea but will have the flexibility to focus on different communication media depending on the country. In March last year, the Tea Board had signed a Rs. 219 million media contract with Dentsu Grant to promote Ceylon Tea across 12 countries.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s Plantation Industries Minister Navin Dissanayake informed Parliament on Tuesday on the new campaign to be launched in four countries, which is aimed at widening the market for Sri Lanka’s tea.
The Minister had made the statements while moving the Tea Research Board (Amendment) Bill for House approval.
“The global demand for our tea is high. For an example, China is the largest green tea producer in the world but has a big demand for black tea we produce. We think China and Japan will be top buyers of Ceylon Tea within a very short period. Even though we have lost certain markets, new markets are being explored. We have $ 50 million funds which were not released to the Government. Making use of some of it, we will start our marketing campaign,” Dissanayake has added.
OSL take:
The government of Sri Lanka has in the past few months taken several steps to develop the country’s tea industry. Local tea exports have also recorded an increase. Hence the global promotional campaign would further boost the country’s tea industry. Stakeholders in the tea industry have also been given many incentives by the state. All these have increased business/investment opportunities in Sri Lanka’s tea industry.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/10062019/Z_2 |