Hälssen & Lyon is one of the world‘s leading tea trading houses. The company is known beyond the industry for innovative highlights and product ideas - and also for their exclusive mailings to important business clients with unusual inspirations and extraordinary tea concepts.

Not seldom the business contacts that were refreshed over these mailings and the related responses set the agenda for future business and resulted in actual orders.

But then came 2020 – and with it a worldwide pandemic that was overshadowing everything.

How does a 140-year-old traditional company from Germany respond to a year that left everyone in shock? For the notoriously out of the box thinking Hälssen & Lyon the answer was quite clear:

By shocking the viruses that scare us. Perfectly timed on Halloween and the beginning “infection season”. With the first tea even viruses are afraid of: The Angstea.

The Plan: Commenting on the pandemic with a humorous touch was supposed to make it a lot easier to get in contact and stood out of the usual concerned conversations this year.

Beyond this conversation starter, that addressed the elephant in the room right away Hälssen & Lyon had a product dealing with the topic everyone had in mind and an actual proof for their innovative power concerning tea and packaging.

Business Partners from Hong Kong to San Francisco received a mysterious package. The contents are not for the easily scared. Angstea – the first tea that even viruses are afraid of.

Inside, three sinister tea diffusers shaped like iconic horror heads, specially

designed with heat-resistant and food-safe materials in a complex 3D sintering process.

Plus a mélange of three blood-red fruit-tea blends composed of exceptional, delicious ingredients

like ginger, chili, thyme and St. John's wort, all chosen to strengthen the immune system

and scare off illness.

The specially treated surface makes the horror head tea diffusers look even more

frightening after each use.

Customers were thrilled. But not only them. The idea went viral, creating a buzz

throughout the spooky Halloween season and beyond.

And so, even in 2020, Hälssen & Lyon created countless opportunities for new business conversation in a highly competitive market with a great response rate of over 30 Percent. The Exchange over the mailing was one important pillar for the successful business year, strengthened the relationships with the international key customers – and not at least their immune systems!