Leo Kwan Creating MingCha

Leo Kwan Creating MingCha: A Portfolio of Brand Building
Leo Kwan
Creating
MingCha
A portfolio of
brand building
As statistic studies review, tea will
be the next international trend in
beverage consumption. The idea
of making a Chinese tea brand for
the world came to me somehow
naturally after helping companies
such as Nestl and International
Coffee Organization to enter
China. Between 1999 and 2006,
I created and developed MingCha
and its business operation. The
following are a few images that
represent some of my efforts in
this self-funded project.
MingCha window display in
Pacific Place, Hong Kong, 2003
Leo Kwan
Creating MingCha
A Portfolio of Brand Building
Contents
Mission
The Products
Points of Sales
Market Education
10
Publicity
12
Reaching Out
14
Other Projects
17
Appendixes
19
Mission
Bringing Fine Tea Into the
International Mainstream
In creating the brand and business of
MingCha, I had the personal agenda
of reviving a traditional Chinese trade.
I wanted fine Chinese tea to acquire
as much universal acceptance as
fine Bordeaux wines, and a brand as
aspiring as Ferrari is in cars, or as Apple
is in consumer IT products.
Poster for a joint promotion with Bvlgari Parfum, 2003

Strategic partner: Bvlgari Parfum (HK)
Event coordination: Vivian Mak
Event design support: Fei Li
Creative, art direction and photography: Leo Kwan
MingCha Brand Brochure

Appendix 1
The Products
Students from Tin Ka Ping

Primary School studying
our products during a study
trip to MingCha Tea Bar at
Great Food Hall, 2004
Expression of Quality
Rethinking the pack of tea
I created 6 lines of over 90 packaged
tea products for the brand. A difference
I tried to make in designing the
packaging was to make fine tea more
understandable by beginning to educate
the consumers through the information
given on the labels. This approach has
become one international trend for tea
labels since our launch in 2000.
Because of the nature of Longjin and how it is produced, I thought of the concept of Single Day
Batch retail pack. The graphics was developed around the idea to educate. To be able to deliver
such quality was a showcase of our product management capability.
MingCha Product Guide

Appendix 2
Top priority: Quality
Product Structure
Since we were going to be a new brand,

quality would be a major concern for
the customers. In order to obtain the
best quality-price quotient, I started by
building direct relationships with tea
producers rather than with exporters. To
provide the range of taste and quality,
these relationship had to be quite
close and with an extensive base in key
production areas in various provinces.
When I structured the product lines,

these were the key considerations:
It was a difficult task, but we were

rewarded with a uniquely competitive
range, as well as the ability to create a
number of limited edition products,
which inspired both loyal customers and
trade imitators. This generated continued
press interests, which helped us to anchor
our profile quite early on.
Above: Limited Edition Phoenix Oolong. This is the first
Chinese product ever selected into the Academy Awards
Celebrity Gift Basket, and the first tea. Strategic partner:
Deborah Biber, Blue Moon Promotions Below: No. 705
of the fresh flower scented tea range for our diffusion
brand, Jek Th. These, like a number of products, were
developed for launching at strategic timing.
Price range
What is a range that would allow a
point of entry and yet maintain a brand
prestige? What is easily saleable and
what needs to be pushed?
Quality range
Which are the qualities that the veteran
tea connoisseurs would be impressed?
Which are those the novice would be
attracted to try?
Taste range
Have I offered enough for different
individual preference? Have I kept
too large an inventory? Which are the
tastes that would add up to a cohesive
brand character?
Points of Sales
The first MingCha Tea Bar

prototype in Selfridges, London,
2003. The department store
invited us to set up this brand new
operation concept in an attempt
to promote truly fine quality in the
UK tea market. No rent or labour
charged to us.
Points of Sales
Faade of the Brand

The traditional teashop is intimidating,
especially to those who are not familiar
with tea. In designing the retail points,
my top priority was to demystify and
modernize the image of fine tea, the
same theme as in the package designs.
Top: Interior, MingCha Shop on Star
Street, Hong Kong
Quality of the frontline staff was as
important as the design of the shop itself,
if not more. Together they formed the
face of the brand.
Concept and project direction: Leo Kwan
Site coordination: Joy Wong ; Producers:

Vivian Mak, Leo Kwan; Construction
design: Head Architecture; Construction:
IDC Interiors
Middle: The original tea bar concept
sketch Left: Interior, loft floor, MingCha
Shop on Star Street
Top: MingCha Tea Bar in

Great Food Hall. 2004. Chef
Ishii from Sapporo is seen
here serving at the bar to
finish his qualification test as
a MingCha Tea Evangelist
Middle and below: Teaware
and food service were
two other major product
categories with significant
transaction contribution
and traffic draw.
Objectives: Transactions
& Market Share
A Proven High Efficiency

Concept
The initial idea was to setup an open

tea bar so that people could easily
sit down for a drink. In the process
of ordering, watching the tea being
prepared and talking with the bar
attendant, the customer would get
familiarized with the product and
the brand. Purchasing the packaged
products to take home to grow the
beverage habit would then become
much easier. We were to gain not only
the transaction capability of both the
pot of tea and the packaged goods,
but also new market segments.
The prototype in Selfridges London

and the first test model in Great Food
Hall in Hong Kong proved the concept.
In retail terms, we achieved an average
sales record of $1,300 per square foot
(psf) per month in Great, which was
only a market of moderate traffic. The
performance helped us acquire other
locations and consultant jobs.
In three years after we started the
prototype in London, we had created
one shop, 3 tea bars, and anchored
10 hosting caf/teashops/restaurants
and 12 retailers featuring the brand
in Hong Kong, Japan, UK, France and
Switzerland. These were all self-funded.
Market Education
Tea Evangelist Vivien Lee helps a

customer with appreciation technique
in a teguanyin workshop.
Quality Speaks
Creating an environment
for dialogues
To convince the market of our quality, we
first had to empower the consumers and
the trade with the knowledge and ability
to appreciate fine teas. I developed the
proprietary Interactive Tea Selection
Guide; properly structured tea
appreciation courses; and various printed
materials, including Not All Teas Are
Created Equal A MingCha Guide to
Premium Tea, which had seen its 5th
impression in early 2006.
Top: MingCha Guide to Premium Chinese Tea. Not just

helpful, but beautifully written and enticing Wrote
London based tea writer Jane Pettigrew. Japanese version
translation: Kaori Oshima, Yoshiko Osawa, Au Tung Lin
Above left: Why Better Tea display banner. Similar
graphics were extremely useful in getting consumer
attention and telling them one thing or two.

Above middle: Interactive Tea Selection Guide. A
very useful education tool as an alternative to our Tea
Evangelists. Text and design by myself
Above right: Tea tasting presentation in Turin, Italy at the
Slow Food Exposition
A two-week full time training program

was designed for carefully recruited
frontline staff. It was adapted for the staff
of participating clients. I always believe a
better trained sales force helped not only
performance, but also the brand profile.
Publicity
A customer couple
gave testimony in a
RTHK special feature
which focused on our
brand building efforts.
One of the Design in
Progress series
WORD of Mouth, printed

Having set our position as the specialist
of fine tea, and because of our design
orientation, cultural mission and a different
business philosophy, the media continued
to discover new topics in us. We had
been written about in international trade
magazines, and featured in various media in
Korea, Japan, France, Switzerland, UK, PRC
and Hong Kong. Editorial is still one of the
strongest publicity tool.
Targeted Contact
Above: Rebirth of Phoenix, a press
release story that had been published,
copied and extracted (with and without
our knowledge) quite many times in various magazines and the internet. I contributed frequently to the press, some even
with a regular column. This helped quite
effectively to build a close relationship.
Right: Our brand had been written about
in different angles, such as this one from
a macro-economic/cultural view in CUP
Magazine. My own presence had been
used most of the time as an icon of the
spirit behind the brand.
Media strategy: Leo Kwan
Publicity writing: Olivia Lui, Leo Kwan
Press coordination: Olivia Lui
Another effective publicity venue was the

contact database which we grew since
day one. With it, we were able to develop
a growing base of loyal corporate and
individual customers, trade and clients,
locally or overseas. We sometimes got mail
orders from members of royal families for as
many as thousands of packs at a time!
Appendix 3
Reaching Out
Prince Charles at the closing of Terra

Madre, where I was asked to be Head
of Delegation, Traditional Chinese
Tea Makers to talk about how smart
marketing could support small scale
traditional farming. 5,000 joined
this conference for traditional food
producers from around the world.
Sharing with People

What I do and
What I believe in
Reaching out to tell the international
community our mission and experience
helped us gain not only export orders,
exclusive brand features, OEM and
co-branding assignments, but also the
recognition in the trade that we were the
best representation of fine tea and tea
trading practices.
Our international brand profile was not
only a foundation for future growth, but
had proved to impact local attention to
the category and thus turnover, press
coverage and, alas, more imitations.
This is a case showing the benefits of reaching out:
Yuji Wakiya (top & above left) was host to the
famous NHK TV program, Pleasures with Chinese
Tea and the executive chef to the Turandot
group of restaurants. When we met in FoodEx in
Tokyo in 2002, my professional approach to tea,
product quality and brand image convinced him
to come to see me in Hong Kong a few days later
to propose exclusive featuring in his restaurants
(right, taken during a standardization session), an
OEM project (left) and proposed to be one of my
endorsers (top) for free.
Conclusion
Passport to the World
A brand does not strive in a vacuum.
It is through the interactions of all
elements in the operation environment
that a brand can shine. Some are under
ones control, but most are those we
can only influence. A well-designed
brand should be developed riding on
these elements, so that the operation
environment evolves to its advantage.
That is how a brand strives in its home;
that is how it could reach out to turn
the world into its market.
More portfolio pieces in the next pages
Some other Brand Building

Projects for clients
These are a few of the brand building
projects I did as a consultant before
committed fully to building MingCha.
More samples from each project can be
shown upon request.
EMSD 1997~2001
KONE Elevators 1995~1999
Having decided to go on the trading fund operation,

Electrical and Mechanical Services Department of the
SAR felt immediate pressure from market competition
and, more importantly, the councils and pressure
groups. To build their brand for an open market and
to communicate a positive image, we had to bridge
a conservative staff culture with the managements
aspiration for a modern, effective organization.
The worlds 3rd largest elevator company wanted to

gain market shares in Asia and particularly Greater
China. I was invited to unify internal views and to
come up with new marketing materials. We ended up
with a re-engineered brand image and key marketing
messages not only for the intended markets, but also as
a benchmark for the global market.
The project involved a gradual build up of an internal

momentum for change of their collective image through
the evolution of key messages and all communication
materials, exhibitions and events, a brand ID system
and applications, and training for middle and senior
management.
Strategic partner: DIYR Communications
Creative and art direction: Leo Kwan
Key message development: Virginia Ng, Leo Kwan
Copywriting: Virginia Ng
Training sessions: Leo Kwan
Chief photographers: Bobby Lee, Sam Wong
Chief designers: Amy Woo, Ben Kwan, Loretta Guiterez,
Raymond Wong, Fei Li
Chief producers: Catherine Lee, Vivian Mak, Leo Kwan
The project involved all corporate and marketing

materials for above and below the line applications; a
major exhibition and an intensive study of the brands
position and operation environment.
Strategic partner: Hill and Knowlton Asia
Key message development: Leo Kwan, Antti Liane
Copywriting: Robert Lee, Antti Liane
Chief photographers: Jackie Wan, Bobby Lee
Chief designers: Linus Ng, Carson Ma, Raymond Wong,
Ben Kwan
Chief producers: Huayi Beijing, David Chan, Harras
Cheung, Leo Kwan
International Coffee Organization 1997~99
Nestl (China) 1996~1997
Norma Johnson 1996~98
As the only coordinator of all coffee producers and

buyers, ICO faced a difficult task of being the umbrella
promoter of the beverage in China without being bias
towards any of the brands. We studied the market
and developed the key selling points and an image of
coffee itself as the brand. The campaign was such a
great success that they came back for a second the next
year. It involved ads, events, premiums, promotions and
market education materials.
When Nestls Tianjing production facilities were

about ready to provide ice-creams and cookies for
the China market, their relationship with distribution
and retail had yet to be resolved. We developed a key
message and text content which benefits were easy to
understand by their Chinese trading prospects, and
images effective enough as a mass media campaign for
the consumers. A few publications thus made were used
as vehicles of communication between the visiting CEO,
Helmut Mulcher and the vice-premier at that time, Li
Rui Huan. Mr Mulcher instructed afterwards that they
be the blueprint for all brand communication in Asia.
Ms Johnson, who developed the non-surgical face-lift

treatment process, wanted to establish a test operation
in Hong Kong aiming at the elitist market segment.
We felt that they needed to maintain a totally import
technology image while suggesting that this process
was equally suitable for the Asian skin. Our scope was
to create their brand ID system and applications, the
ads and all below the line collateral materials. This was
a classic case of study for us even though we did a
great job within our brief to raise consumer and press
responses, the operation failed to turn most of them
into customers or convincing media stories. Professional
requirements in details such as press reception or even
phone answering techniques were way neglected. A
good designs business effectiveness is really limited by
the other operation elements it performs with.
Strategic partner: Hill and Knowlton Shanghai

Key message development: Leo Kwan
Chief photographers: Jackie Wan, Cambo Wong
Chief designers: Rebecca Chan, Ben Kwan, Amy Woo
Producers: Hill and Knowlton Shanghai, Amy Woo,
Vivian Mak

Key message development: Leo Kwan
Copywriting: Sun Li, Leo Kwan
Chief photographer: Leo Kwan
Chief designers: Loretta Guiterez, Amy Woo
Producers: Osbert Lam, Vivian Mak

Copywriting: Robert Lee
Chief photographer: Almond Chu
Chief designers: Carson Ma, Raymond Wong
Media planner: Cindy Lee
Appendixes
MingCha Brand Profile

Appendix 1
MingCha Product Guide

Appendix 2
Selected MingCha Press Portfolio
Appendix 3
With Jane Pettigrew in Selfridges, London
Leo Kwan
e-mail: [email protected]
Tea Hong, Hong Kong

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Leo Kwan Creating MingCha: A Portfolio of Brand Building