Establishing a popular coffee brand is way more challenging than preparing fantastic coffee. The intense competition and consumer preferences like ethically sourced beans make it immensely challenging for newcomers to carve a niche for themselves. Moreover, the fickle trends of the coffee industry make it imperative for brands to consistently innovate. Thankfully, there are brands that have done so and their marketing teams had a major role to play in their success.
So, here are three coffee brands from the APAC region that upcoming coffee brands can take inspiration from.
1. Nescafe Philippines
Nescafe was about to launch its instant coffee, NESCAFÉ Gold, and wanted to build significant traction around it via Instagram.
Their Objectives
Nescafe wanted to understand how partnering with popular Filipino content creators could drive consideration and conversion for NESCAFÉ Gold.
Solution & Approach
Nescafe partnered with multiple Philippines-based lifestyle creators to generate a series of visuals showing how the coffee was a part of their daily lives. It then used the Collaborative Ads conversion objective to turn the creators’ branded content ads into Collaborative Ads that would reach an even wider audience. The ads were clearly marked as a “paid partnership” and included a Shop Now call-to-action button that directed people to the brand’s Shopee and Lazada stores to make a purchase.
To reach as many people as possible, Nescafe served both campaigns to a broad audience of people aged 18–65 in the Philippines. To learn how content creators helped boost consideration for its coffee, Nescafe added the “view content” event to its Facebook pixel code and discovered more than a 50% boost in meaningful online customer conversions.
The Result
Nescafe’s Instagram campaign was a resounding success and led to a 25% increase in incremental conversions. Also, there was a 40% increase in incremental add-to-cart actions.
2. Starbucks Indonesia
Starbucks has been part of the Indonesian community since 2002, serving an array of coffee and food, and serving as a “third place,” after home and office.
Their Objectives
Starbucks Indonesia was looking for innovative ways to boost in-store traffic and wanted to encourage more people who reside in Greater Jakarta to visit its outlets, especially new customers.
Solution & Approach
Starbucks Indonesia ran ads that clicked to Instagram Direct in feed and in Stories, featuring a range of its drinks along with a promotional offer. The photo ads were optimized for messages, which generated the Send Message call-to-action. When people clicked, the ads opened an Instagram message prompting them to choose one of the promotional offers or an offer to join the Starbucks Rewards program.
Once people chose an option, Starbucks Indonesia sent an automated response in the message thread that contained either a non-unique coupon or a link to sign up for Starbucks Rewards. To focus on new customers in the wider Jakarta area and ensure that no one received more than one promotional coupon, Starbucks specifically excluded people who had previously visited its Instagram and Facebook Pages.
The Result
Starbucks Indonesia’s Instagram campaign performed exceptionally well and generated a 6X return on ad spend. Also, the brand saw a 4.7-point lift in ad recall and a one-point lift in intent-to-visit-store.
3. Country Bean
Based in Kolkata, India, Country Bean is a coffee brand that aims to provide customers with a café-like experience at home.
Their Objectives
Country Bean hoped to boost online sales and customer engagement, as well as deliver a smooth online ordering experience.
Solution & Approach
To encourage more customers to contact the brand and order its products, Country Bean ran a campaign of photo ads that clicked to Instagram Direct, marked as “Sponsored.” The ads featured images of Country Bean’s products and had a “Send Message” button that opened an automated Instagram Direct Messenger conversation window when people clicked on it.
An Instagram-powered digital assistant facilitated quick responses and smooth conversations and made it easier for people to contact the Country Bean team at any time. The coffee brand integrated the Instagram Messaging API’s quick replies feature, which allows people to converse by choosing from among a set of pre-defined queries about Country Bean’s products. If they wanted to purchase, customers could select products on the chat and their payment on Country Bean’s website via a link shared on the chat.
The Result
The Instagram campaign performed much better than Country Bean’s expectations and helped the coffee brand register a 16% increase in sales.
Bottom Line
Building a loyal customer base in the coffee business takes time, marketing finesse, and consistent quality. Branding, location, and customer experience also play pivotal roles. Overall, the coffee business demands persistence, adaptability, and a unique value proposition to stand out in this crowded field. However, a well-crafted marketing campaign can certainly help ease things as these coffee brands have demonstrated.