GLOBAL OUTLOOK -- 1::

“USE SOCIAL MEDIA TO PROMOTE TEA CONSUMPTION”

BY P S SUNDAR

Innovation, trendy and ethnicity should re-define the policy and strategy for promoting tea, noted a deliberation of representatives from Tea Board, Tea Research institutes and tea industry from different countries.

The deliberations, sponsored by Government of India, were conducted by Kothari Agricultural Management Centre (KAMC) at Coonoor. 

“The delegates are from Indonesia, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Kenya, Nepal and India.   They underlined the need for adopting innovative methods to retain youngsters’ interest in tea consumption”, KAMC Director Dr AVK Iyengar told me. 

“As traditional systems of promotion would not continue to yield desired results, our meeting urged tea industry and Tea Boards to engage newer reach-vehicles like social media, mobile networking, blogs and group messaging for promoting tea.  The United Nations, its relevant bodies including Food and Agricultural Organisation, Governments and corporate heads are using social media like Twitter and Facebook to connect with people on official policies and decisions.     Tea industry should not lag behind”, he said. 

“The meeting observed that players in tea industry and trade as also the Tea Boards of various countries must build tea professional groups in social media and deliberate on real-time basis on developments affecting their business.   There must be closer interaction for pooling of guidance to tide over emerging problems by sharing success stories”, Dr Iyengar noted.

“The thrust on promotion must be on the positive health impact of consuming tea besides its eco-friendly and hospitality characteristics”, he added.

(response can also be sent to: pssundar.coonoor@gmail.com).