Lyons Tetley Canada will launch a $1-million iced tea campaign to introduce flavored iced teas and relaunch rejuvenated versions of its other iced tea products.

The campaign, breaking at the end of this month, will be a combination of tv, outdoor and some other media options, as well as sampling and promotions activities.

Geoffrey B. Roche & Partners Advertising, of Toronto, will handle creative for Tetley on a project basis.

Tetley and its agency of more than 20 years, Foster Advertising, parted amicably last month because of a conflict with Nestea, a worldwide account of McCann-Erickson, Foster’s parent company with which it has now been assimilated.

Tetley says there will be no agency review to replace Foster. A media placement agency has not yet been named.

Nick Kilby, Tetley marketing manager, says there will be an announcement in late summer or early fall on how advertising for Tetley will be handled.

Tetley, which has instant iced tea in tetra pack and refrigerated pure pack available mainly in supermarkets, has linked up with Everfresh Juices, which will distribute Tetley’s iced tea to non-supermarket outlets such as corner stores and gas stations.

Kilby says Tetley is the No. 1 instant iced tea in supermarkets after about six years on the market, but adds, ‘we need to get outside the supermarkets as well.’

As well, Tetley is introducing wide-mouthed bottles and cans, a reformulated product in its established and new flavored iced teas, and a package redesign by Shikatani Lacroix of Toronto.

Kilby says the foodservice aspect of iced tea in Canada is underdeveloped, unlike the u.s.

Eighty per cent of tea from tea bags is consumed hot in Canada, while, in the u.s., 80% consumed is cold.

‘We see the ready-to-drink iced tea category as quite distinct from hot tea, as an alternative to colas, but not carbonated, and with a natural, healthy image and perception,’ Kilby says.

‘People are looking for alternatives, and iced teas are one of the biggest areas they’re looking at now,’ he says.

According to Kilby, the new advertising campaign for iced tea will have a different feel than that for hot tea because the company views it as a separate category and a different target market.

The iced tea target is much younger – late teens and early 20s – while hot tea has traditionally appealed to the 45-plus group.

Kilby says the Tetley Tea Folk will probably continue to be used in the hot tea advertising, but, he adds, ‘we never know, we always come up with surprises.

‘I think our approach, we’re a small unit in Canada consisting of a small sales and marketing team, will be to work with the best senior talent in town and look at all the alternatives,’ he says.