Ocha - Japanese Green Tea website - JFOODO/JETRO

In the summer of 2020, JETRO launched a campaign to promote Ocha (Japanese Green Tea) in the US. Under the banner “A journey to simplify you”, the campaign celebrated how Japanese Green Tea can help remove the complexities of life. The core target audience was a young generation that had developed an interest in tea and had heard of Japanese Green Tea, but never really dug into the subject. Actual knowledge of its specific benefits, the available varieties and the production process was lacking. While the media campaign, led by Dentsu and starring Japanese lifestyle celebrity Marie Kondo, established Japanese Green Tea as a way of simplifying life, the role of the website was to provide deeper information for those curious to learn more.

We took inspiration into the colorful look of well-being Californian brands to brand Japanese Green Tea in a new light. We wanted to get away from the traditional representation of Japanese Green Tea which can feel alienating to foreign audiences and instead give it a more unexpected look, more modern and optimistic that feels intriguing and more accessible. By still keeping inspiration from the traditions, it was a very exciting way to picture great quality tea. The positioning being all about “simplifying your life”, we used negative spaces, pastel colors and icons to create this easy and relaxing experience.

To truly show Japanese Green Tea in a new light, we decided to shoot bespoke photography for the website. We looked to create the overlap between millennial visual culture and Japanese mindfulness. For each tea variety we shot a still life portrait. Intricate set design and prop selection allowed us to show the mood that each tea creates. We also captured a series of model shots, showing the effects of Japanese Green Tea firsthand and communicating the idea that Japanese Green Tea helps you simplify life.

We designed the homepage as a one-page entry point to Japanese Green Tea, directing people on to specific pages to discover more about the range, the production process and the Green Tea farmers. Each page also links out to a bespoke Amazon store where the full range of Japanese Green Teas is available for US visitors.

A lot of attention went into simplifying and clarifying the different varieties of Japanese Green Tea available. Each variety has its own qualities and evokes different moods when drinking it. Matcha for example provides a calm focus, making it a great alternative to coffee. Hojicha on the other hand is perfect for relaxation, with its toasted flavours. Since the general art direction plays with different tints of green, every tea was assigned a hue that could represent it's specific effects.

The stars of Japanese Green Tea are without a doubt the farmers that produce it. Often building on decades or even centuries of knowledge within the family, they keep evolving the craft and keep innovating on what it means to produce Japanese Green Tea. A full page is dedicated to the farmers and their stories.

The Japanese Green Tea campaign is set to run for an entire year, with updates planned for every wave of activity. To keep the website dynamic, we built a journal page where fresh articles can be uploaded every month.