Soda Communications Bags Chatime’s PR Account

Chatime has chosen Soda Communications to lead its Australian PR strategy in 2020.

The boutique-sized PR firm packed with big-agency experience, expanded its operations in 2019 to have offices in both Sydney and Melbourne. The Chatime account will be led by the Sydney team under the helm of its managing director, Dani Lombard.

The PR professionals were chosen for their long-standing media relationships, impressive track record, quick-thinking and flexible team structure as well as the team’s penchant for spectacular puns and innate curiosity – values that reflect the Chatime brand itself.

The Taiwanese bubble tea brand, now in its 10th year in Australia, is known for its huge variety of customisable drinks made from fresh teas (fruity or frozen, hot or iced), fresh milk (“milky” tea), and variety of whacky “mix-ins”, including jellies, custard, mousse, red beans and the infamous tapioca pearls which give bubble tea its name. With 128 breweries in Australia, Chatime has seen exponential growth in its Australian customer base and franchise adoption in recent years, with no signs of slowing down.

While honouring its traditional Asian fan base, the group is looking to capitalise on the growing western interest in bubble and bespoke teas and has recruited Soda Communications to spread the word.

Chatime Australia’s head of marketing Tim Paton said: “The Chatime brand has undergone a huge strategic transformation in the past 12 months, and our personality is really beginning to shine through. To amplify this, we wanted an agency that could drive PR-led, innovative and quirky campaigns that would bring the brand to life not only for our loyal customer base, but for the wider market.

“Our brand personality is cheeky, witty, curious and gently provocative. We question convention and choose to make people smile and laugh as we open their minds and question the status quo. We saw a lot of these traits in the Soda Communications team, and there was no doubt from our very first meeting that they were the team to lead us into 2020 and beyond. They completely embraced our brand purpose of “celebrating curiosity” and showed an understanding and enthusiasm for our brand that was unparalleled.”

Soda Sydney’s managing director Dani Lombard said: “Leading the Chatime communication strategy into the fresh decade was an exciting opportunity to showcase the agency’s skills in campaign creativity.

“The Chatime brief is one of the most exciting we’ve ever been given – it’s not often that PR is the channel driving the rest of a client’s marketing strategy but that’s the opportunity and the challenge we’ve been given,” she said.

Dani Lombard said: “We’re delighted and privileged to be part of what will be an incredibly exciting 10th birthday year for Chatime.”

Chatime is the latest of several major Australian brands to join Soda Communication’s roster, including Australia’s largest photographic retail chain, Camera House; American skincare brand, IS Clinical; and high tech skin treatment, Hydrafacial, a celeb-endorsed uber-facial that’s performed every 15 seconds somewhere in the world.

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