Tazo spills the tea on camping experience with 'Drag Race' star

Dive Brief:

Unilever tea brand Tazo will launch a new campaign, "Brew the Unexpected," that includes an overnight camp experience for adults featuring guest camp director and drag star Alyssa Edwards, according to a company announcement.
Camp Tazo, launching in early 2019, will offer an immersive experience designed to get campers out of their comfort zones. It will feature classic camp activities like hiking, foraging, cooking over a fire, boating and more. Alyssa Edwards, the drag persona of Justin Dwayne Lee Johnson, stars in "RuPaul's Drag Race" and the new Netflix series "Dancing Queen."
People can apply for a chance to join the camp at CampTazo.com and join the conversation on Instagram using the hashtags #BrewTheUnexpected and #CampTazo.

Dive Insight:

With "Brew the Unexpected" and a partnership with Alyssa Edwards, Tazo is tapping into the massive popularity of "RuPaul's Drag Race," which recently hit an all-time ratings high in its 10th season and has a large following of millennials, who have demonstrated a preference for in-person experiences.

Partnering with Edwards could help Tazo expand its social media engagement, as she's one of the show's most successful characters, with more than a million Instagram followers and a new spinoff series on Netflix. A video announcing Camp Tazo had racked up nearly 300,000 views on Edward's Instagram page, compared to just over 7,000 on the Tazo page, as of press time. Edwards also appeared in Diageo vodka brand Smirnoff's "Welcome to the Fun%," which launched in August and featured a diverse case of celebrities highlighting the brand's affordability and accessibility.

Tazo says the upcoming campaign was inspired by a company survey that found three out of four people want to get out of their comfort zones, but don't know where to begin, and 70% regret not trying something new. The immersive camp experience and message urging people to not fear new experiences will likely resonate with younger consumers, who enjoy memorable experiences and expect brands to be more inclusive by featuring more diversity in their marketing.

Unilever, which acquired Tazo in 2017 for $348 million, has touted its commitment to being more inclusive and incorporating more diversity into its marketing. The new Tazo campaign aligns with that mission, and Tazo is the latest brand to focus on being LGBTQ-inclusive. More than a third of consumers say they're more likely to purchase from brands that include LGBTQ themes and people in their advertising, yet 53% of marketers allocate 4% or less of their marketing budgets for LGBTQ consumers each year, according to INTO and Brand Innovators.