DISNEY WONDERLAND TEA
After achieving great success with a line of coffee, Disney was looking to introduce a line of tea into the market. When I was asked to design the packaging, the product had already been launched twice. The previous designs were strong, but sales were not meeting expectations.
The packaging had to be compelling enough to sell the product. After all, Disney was not known for its great tea. My first thought was to have the brand revolve around Alice in Wonderland’s Mad Tea Party of course. It should be the Unbirthday Tea! It would be fun, yet sophisticated, not to mention, full of emotional value, with a classic story our target audience would connect to.
Selling the idea to leadership, however, was not that simple. I was faced with “Alice doesn’t sell” I firmly believed in the concept though, and after several conversations, an agreement was reached to do a test run.
To bring the concept to its full potential, I hired the help of a writer and an illustrator. Greg Ehrbar—Disney whiz and talented writer—wrote instructions on how to make the tea, as if given by the Mad Hatter and the Queen of Hearts, as well as other fun blurbs I was able to include on the back of the tins. Mark Marderosian created the beautiful pastel illustration of Alice and the Mad Hatter for the lids.
Disney Wonderland Tea became the number one selling product within the consumables category. Flavors were added, the brand was expanded into other tea related products, and after 15 years in the market, it is still sold at Disney Parks worldwide.
