Monday Mashups: Less Is More with Nestea

Over the last decade, minimalists have been able to follow their dreams when it comes to comfortable living at a condensed rate with the boom in tiny houses. This movement has shown the world how less can be so much more for people across the globe. Many companies have been inspired by this change, especially those in the food and beverage industry; utilizing only natural ingredients and keeping product recipes as simple and transparent as possible. Recently, Nestlé Water used a tiny-house activation to launch a line of Nestea drinks, emphasizing the idea of paring down to the bare essentials. The event supported the company’s new “less is more” slogan behind a group of reformulated teas that have been stripped of artificial ingredients.

Held Wednesday, May 17 in Herald Square Park, directly across the street from the flagship location of Macy’s, the event was expected to draw more than 10,000 passersby but attracted an additional 2,000 visitors thanks to free tea on the city’s hottest day of the year to date. Thank you Mother Nature! The tiny house included brand messaging such as Nestea’s logo on the doors and welcome mat, along with paintings of the tea-purveyor’s simplistic bottle design. The activation also included carts that held iced-tea bottles, large Adirondack chairs, and a topiary rendering of the Nestea name.

To design the house, Nestlé enlisted the help of personalities behind the lifestyle blogs Inspired By Charm, Southern Bite, and Hapa Time, which all exemplify the message of living a simpler life. We support the inclusion of these bloggers 100%! Brand activations become so much more successful when consumers can vouch for the product.

The event was staffed by a dozen brand ambassadors and featured an appearance by actress Anna Camp, whom Karen Ress, Vice President and General Manager of tea brands for Nestlé Waters, described as having a “less is more” lifestyle. Best known for her role in the movie Pitch Perfect, Camp “grew up in Georgia and drank iced tea on the porch with her mother and grandmother,” Ress said. Camp is also married to Pitch Perfect co-star Skylar Astin, whom we adore. We can totally picture this perfect couple indulging in Nestea's new ice teas this summer just as Camp did when she was growing up!

This brand activation was the first creation of its kind for Nestea but Manhattan won't be the only place you'll see their tiny house popping up. That's right! They're taking the portable space on the road and making stops in cities such as Boston and Chicago in the coming months. Keep your eyes peeled this summer for Nestea's reformulated beverages and stop by to devour the details of their minimalist experience in a city near you!