Microbrand Monday: Honest Tea

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To read some organic bloggers’ comments last week, you’d think the founders of Honest Tea sold out to the devil.

OK, the Coca Cola Company is no authentic organic brand. But it’s pretty wired on this global distribution thing. Let’s think about this.

More and more consumers want organic products, including beverages. With $27 million in sales last year, Honest Tea was hardly teaching the world to sing in perfect harmony. 

But it was doing pretty well with a homespun story and word-of-mouth, thanks to cause marketing and sales to some consumers who also probably drink Coke guilt-free. In business for a decade, Honest Tea counts about 100 investors in addition to Coca Cola, which now owns a 40% stake. 

Honest Tea is a story much like Tom’s of Maine, a green personal hygiene business that disappointed loyalists when it sold a majority stake in 2006 to Colgate-Palmolive, a $12 billion machine compared to Tom’s $45 million then annual revenues.

Did Tom’s stop being green? Nope.  

Instead, green toothpaste and deordorant are more mainstream than ever now that Tom’s can be found on supermarket shelves, right next to Crest, Aqua Fresh, and Speed Stick. Is that a bad thing?

At my local Henry’s Market (spun off from Windmill Farms in the 1980s), you can buy Honest Tea. And Honest Ade. Honest Tea started diversifying its line way before Coke got involved. It’s a natural thing to do if you are trying to grow. You introduce the brand to a larger audience, including people who hit the concession stands during Washington Nationals games.

Will Coke — and capitalism – ruin the Honest Tea brand and destroy its ethos? I doubt it.

Coke’s hedging bets on organic — even if it will never rival low-cost sugary 12-packs. And anyway, who would be crazy enough to change a marketing story that organic and non-organic consumers can appreciate?

Here’s a glimpse from the label of Honest Ade Cranberry Lemonade: “When the beverage aisle kept handing us lemons, we made lemonade. That’s because we were thirsty and tired of super-sweet drinks filled with stuff we couldn’t pronounce. Introducing Honest Ade. Ours taste fresh-squeezed like what you get from a summer lemonade stand, but with a kick of cranberry. It’s pure organic bliss — just a tad sweet so it gets your taste buds doing the mambo without going into sugar shock. All that’s missing is one of those colorful paper drink umbrellas. Real fruit. Real flavor. Honest.”

It’s good stuff, very well marketed, starting with its name.

Are you an Honest Tea loyalist who feels betrayed by the Coke development? Please weigh in with comments.

And be honest.

photo: Fenchurch! on flickr 

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