As social networks turn out to be extra necessary for organizations of all types, typically the important thing query is find out how to combine them into an general advertising technique. Ani Sanyal, CEO of Kolkata Chai Co., makes use of Instagram and an internet site to develop the enterprise he co-founded together with his brother Ayan.
Having a coordinated technique that features social networking, an awesome web site, retail cafes, and offline advertising is important when the services or products is breaking new floor. Kolkata Chai Co. goals to turn out to be the go-to identify for chai in North America, specializing in genuine Masala chai and Indian avenue meals obtainable in its personal Manhattan and Brooklyn cafés, grocery shops, and through ecommerce.
Ani says chai has been repeatedly bastardized and appropriated within the Western world. He has steered Kolkata Chai Co. to make sure the tradition and traditions are represented precisely and actually. “Chai on this nation has at all times been informed by way of a really Western lens,” he informed me. “A bunch of hippies went to the east and the Eighties and got here again with their model of chai, and that was picked up by the main chains. Sadly, what you usually get is a really skinny, sugary, syrupy form of latte model of what genuine chai is meant to be. It is by no means been correctly represented. Our mission is to reclaim the narrative of what genuine chai is and to share with individuals the true Masala chai taste: a spicy, candy, very black tea with a cardamom-heavy method.”
And sure, Kolkata Chai Co. chai within the cafes or through mail order is scrumptious!
The brothers began the enterprise in 2018 at a farmer’s market and opened their first café in Manhattan the following 12 months. Quickly afterward they began promoting chai and provides through their ecommerce retailer and web site. Rising up as first-generation Indian Individuals of fogeys who left Kolkata in 1987, Ani and Ayan listened to hip hop, ate pizza, and begged their dad and mom for Vans sneakers. The household repeatedly returned to Kolkata for a number of months at a time, the place Ani and Ayan would leap in monsoon puddles, play cricket within the streets, and drink chai daily. It was younger individuals like themselves, first era grownup youngsters of immigrant dad and mom, who turned the first goal market of their new enterprise.
“There is a sure narrative—Gen Z and Millennial youngsters of immigrant dad and mom making an attempt to construct a bridge between cultures that they have been raised in and the tradition they grew up in—that we communicate to,” Ani says.
How Instagram drives chai fandom
The Kolkata Chai Co. Instagram, @kolkatachaico, has practically 100,000 followers. The brothers’ private Instagram feeds, the place they incessantly put up concerning the enterprise, are @anihustles (greater than 13,000 followers) and @ayanisdreaming (practically 3,000 followers). All three accounts have been a vital a part of their advertising technique.
“Instagram has been a core driver of progress and model consciousness for us,” Ani says. “The important thing for us on that platform is to inform significant, relatable tales about what we have been going by way of whereas constructing this enterprise. Earlier than we opened our first café in 2019, we created a documentary, a real-time video journey of what we have been going by way of as entrepreneurs. It coated us sitting down with our dad and mom and speaking to them concerning the first time they went on a date and my mother spilled tea on my dad. We shared that with our neighborhood, saying ‘Now we have awkward dad and mom, and that is the way it pertains to our firm. This is the way it pertains to our mission, our story.’ These sorts of tales have been just like what our neighborhood was going by way of and served as an invite to individuals to work together with us.”
The corporate additionally used Instagram Tales to create, as Ani calls it, an ongoing “actuality TV” view of what’s going on with the enterprise. “If there was a large line to get into one of many cafés, we’d have somebody from our staff present individuals what was taking place on the café in that given second,” he says. “If there was a celeb sighting in a café we’d go forward and put up about it. One time we received damaged into, and we posted and stated, ‘We’ll open two hours late right now, as a result of we received damaged into.’ That is very sincere, real-time reflection of what was taking place, and I feel it created a really credible, plausible firm and story for individuals who do not belief firms and do not belief manufacturers from the large conglomerates. I feel that basically received individuals to purchase into the story, and so they need to play an energetic position in our success.”
Kolkata Chai Co. doesn’t pay for influencer advertising and doesn’t make use of a publicist. But they’ve constructed natural relationships with celebrities like Hasan Minhaj, Chris Rock, Mindy Kaling, and Keanu Reeves, people who find themselves followers of the model. That provides credibility as nicely. Ani, as CEO, personally oversees the content material technique and calendar, coordinating with others who create social media and web site content material. The technique includes creating diversified content material buckets together with community-oriented tales, informational content material about chai (Current put up: “Chai has much less caffeine than espresso, however continues to be lengthy lasting — and positively wholesome for you and your nervous system.”), and entertaining posts (a current on-line debate: “The query to finish all questions — and right here’s what New Yorkers needed to say. OAT MILK or WHOLE MILK in your chai?”).
The corporate makes use of Linktree—a technique to share extra content material—for his or her Instagram URL hyperlink. The hyperlink checklist typically contains ecommerce promotions, invaluable academic content material, and essays on their website. A current favourite: “The problematic alarm: South Asian restaurant tropes we’ve to keep away from.” These sorts of hyperlinks drive individuals from Instagram to the positioning and result in ecommerce gross sales. And as soon as they’re on the positioning, they’ll be a part of an electronic mail e-newsletter or SMS textual content checklist.
As a result of Kolkata Chai Co. maintains a cohesive picture and method throughout Instagram, the cafés, and their web site, they’re making certain that every contact authentically represents the model. “Now we have deliberately tried to create a bridge, so what you see anyplace you come throughout us feels genuine,” Ani says. “Instagram might be a bit of bit extra playful. And the web site must be informational and transactional, however we have tried to make that have really feel very related. So, whether or not somebody discovers us on the Net or on Instagram or on the road, they’ll really feel like they know who the model is.”
The identical is true of the brothers’ private Instagram feeds. “Very early on, my private Instagram created a ton of discovery for the enterprise as a result of I used to be telling a narrative of a first-generation immigrant entrepreneur who was constructing one thing in entrance of everyone,” Ani says. “For 5 years I had a telephone in entrance of my face documenting on a regular basis issues like speaking to my lawyer, working with the contractor, coping with a difficulty with the plumbing, and the time we received denied by town for a allow. It drove credibility in a time the place I feel individuals are on the lookout for that and was a conduit to individuals discovering our enterprise.”
Ranging from a dream only a few brief years in the past, Ani and Ayan are nicely on the best way to their purpose of being the middle of the chai universe in North America. They’ve loved speedy progress fueled by Instagram and word-of-mouth. By the tip of 2024, they count on income to high $10 million, with ecommerce accounting for about 80 % and with the 4 cafés serving because the anchor of their branding technique. As prospects speak about Kolkata Chai on Instagram and different social networks, new individuals be taught concerning the firm. It positive beats conventional (learn: costly) promoting to get the phrase out. And it really works as a result of they’ve a plan for the way all of the items match collectively. Click on over or cease in to see what I imply.
This put up is an tailored excerpt of the brand new ninth version of The New Guidelines of Advertising and PR which was printed in August, 2024.
Disclosure: I’m an investor in Kolkata Chai Co.
