Designing and Marketing Delicious Tea
Aaron Shinn is a former #IDEO design lead and the cofounder of August Uncommon Tea who has been a dear friend for many years. We caught up on the streets of Osaka to discuss #futurism, Japan, and the nuts and bolts of designing and selling #tea.
Links:
https://www.aaronshinn.com/
https://www.instagram.com/ashinn/
https://august.la/
https://www.instagram.com/augustuncommon/
https://www.facebook.com/AugustUncommon/
Listen:
Table of Contents:
00:00 – Start
00:50 – Intro to Aaron Shinn
01:40 – Dontonbori is the Fisherman’s Wharf of Osaka
01:52 – Japan Neon, the 80’s Future, and a Newer Future in Other Places
03:47 – Aaron Shinn is one of Thomas Grové’s Design Mentors
04:40 – KPT Bryce and 90’s Art Tools
06:21 – Realtime Rendering, VJing, Cloaking, Crazy Monkey
08:21 – August Uncommon Tea
09:15 – Availability in Japan
10:16 – The Economics of Running and Scaling A Tea Business
16:01 – Acquiring Customers through Advertising: Retargeting vs Prospecting
19:46 – Why Did Aaron and Gina Get into the Tea Business? And Where August Fits Amongst the Different Types of Tea Markets.
28:36 – The Process of Developing a Tea Flavor and the Link between Taste and Smell
34:06 – How Are People Preparing and Drinking August Tea?
39:35 – Random People Join the Fun pt 1
41:38 – Aaron Shinn’s Role at August
46:27 – This is a Record of This Conversation
47:20 – Neil Stephenson – Cryptonomicon – Tea and Why Oversteaping Tea Makes It Bitter
53:20 – Can You Cold Brew Flavored Teas?
55:27 – The Development Process – What Percentage of New Blends are Failures?
1:00:26 – Customer Service and Dealing with Negative Feedback
1:10:05 – Random People Interaction Pt 3
1:10:54 – Tools for Ecommerce Pt 2
1:12:05 – Aaron Shinn Says Japan is a Different World. And Hiking the Kumonokodo Pilgrimage Trail.
1:14:03 – Outro
