In America's hot beverage market, Brandon Friedman, an Army veteran and CEO of Rakkasan Tea Company, is fighting an uphill battle.
Coffee is still king in the United States, but the USA doesn't need a king, as our Founding Fathers proved. However, tea is starting to catch up to coffee as America's drink of choice.
A new video ad from Rakkasan Tea dips into American history with the help of another veteran entrepreneur.
Tea is one of the more unusual veteran-made products in America, and Rakkasan's advertising choices are also different. The company eschews the expected elements of veteran-related adverts such as flag-waving and gun-toting.
But it still wants to engage and support the military-veteran community. That's why it partnered with Diesel Jack Media, founded by former Ranger Up CEO Nick Palmisciano.
In its advertising, Rakkasan Tea opts for historical references, such as famous warriors who preferred the drink, such as Genghis Khan, "Mad" Jack Churchill and Celtic military leader Boudica, who led a revolt against the Roman Empire.
Not as historically accurate as other ads, the latest offering, called "Tea So Good You Won't Throw It in the Harbor," features American revolutionaries Samuel Adams, John Hancock and Paul Revere, complete with Boston accents.
"In all seriousness, we think this is a great way to get more Americans interested in drinking tea," Friedman said. "And that's what it's all about. We hope it gets a chuckle, even if historians lose their minds."
The video references the 1773 Boston Tea Party, during which patriots, including Adams, Hancock and Revere, boarded a British East India Company ship and dumped 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor.
Rakkasan Tea Company was, of course, founded much later, in 2017. Friedman and fellow Afghanistan veteran Terrence Kamauf started the company to promote peace and economic development by selling loose-leaf tea grown solely in post-conflict countries.
The name "Rakkasan" comes from the nickname of the U.S. Army 101st Airborne Division, 187th Infantry Regiment, which Friedman and Kamauf led in combat.
To see more of Palmisciano's Diesel Jack Media, visit the Diesel Jack website or catch its work on YouTube. To learn more about Rakkasan Tea's offerings from Rwanda to Vietnam and elsewhere, visit its website.
Just don't throw the tea into a harbor.
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