Snapple Hosts Teatime in Bryant Park

Visitors to Bryant Park couldn’t take their lunches on the lawn on June 29, but they could ride up into the sky in hot air balloons. Snapple used the greensward as the site of a fun publicity stunt to promote its new white tea beverages. Snapple promoted its self-touted “lightest tea on Earth,” with the aptly dubbed High Tea Tour, the kickoff of a nine-city tour.Jessica Schoen, Cadbury Schweppes’ associate PR manager, worked with the Ruder Finn agency to plan the event; Eventage helped produce the stunt. (This effort was considerably more successful—and less messy—than the beverage company's summertime stunt last year: the infamous giant frozen ice pop that melted in Union Square.)

For those who wanted to take a ride high above the grassy lawn, Los Angeles-based One Giant Leap was on hand to maneuver its Parabounce balloons; each was equipped with harnesses for the rider and ascended 100 feet over the park. Snapple created an educational area called TeaMeisters under a tent, complete with potted tea plants and tea sommelier James Labe on hand to answer questions. The tour heads to Hartford, Connecticut, today, Philadelphia on Wednesday, and Baltimore on Friday, before traveling to Chicago; Los Angeles; Oakland, California; Portland, Oregon; and Seattle in the coming weeks.

—Mark Mavrigian

Posted 07.10.06

Photos: Diane Bondareff (sommelier, riders in line)

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