Melitta
Immersion:
Melitta's history began in 1908 with the invention of the coffee filter by Melitta Benz, a 35 year old housewife in Dresden, Germany. Today it is a respected global brand of premium quality coffee. However in 2003, there was little awareness among Canadian consumers of Melitta, other than for their cone shaped filters and filter paper. The time was right to grow brand awareness in Canada with the ultimate goal of doubling their market share here in five years. This called for an aggressive marketing strategy that would differentiate the Melitta Brand and stimulate trial of new users.
Insight:
The fact that all premium coffees deliver a satisfying taste experience meant taste alone was not a strong enough differentiator for Melitta. So we turned to the global positioning for the Melitta brand, which is "Coffee Indulgence", and set about determining what "indulgence" meant to our primary target audience - Canadian women. Through focus groups we discovered one universal truth. Without exception, the greatest indulgence for every woman was taking time for herself - time that is commonly referred to as "me time". For instance, the time they give themselves to enjoy a cup of coffee - that is their moment of indulgence. And that would be our point of differentiation - "Me time is Melitta time"
Ideas:
"Me time is Melitta time" elevated the coffee lover's expectations by implying that Melitta could turn an everyday coffee moment into something special - a "me time" moment. We created a highly memorable mnemonic, taking the "Me" directly from the Melitta logo and applying it to a large red coffee mug, which we then used to illustrate the many ways and reasons to enjoy "Me time" with Melitta coffee.
The concept was fully integrated across a range of communication materials, including print, out-of-home, contesting, promotions, online, television, in-store and PR activity.
To stimulate trial we developed a direct-to-home and street sampling program in key markets. We also created a comprehensive promotion program generating over 30,000 names in an effort to build a database for a Melitta e-newsletter.
And finally, Melittametime.ca is a site devoted to our newsletter subscribers who visit regularly when they have some time for themselves. Here they find articles of interest, recipes and food pairings with coffee, special offers and promotions. The popularity of the site and quarterly Me Times e-newsletter has soared and the number of subscribers now stands at over 27,000.
Impact:
Results have been nothing short of astounding given the relatively small budget allocated to building brand equity in the highly competitive packaged goods sector. Unaided brand awareness tripled, aided awareness increased 21% and sales volumes jumped 12% year over year.
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