Conventional & Specific Tools

A well-designed program to increase coffee consumption should consider the use of promotional tools not only in its own institutional campaigns but also in the marketing efforts of participating companies. The program should be designed to facilitate its identification with the marketing activities carried out by individual brands.

Any Program to increase domestic coffee consumption must incorporate all three stages above.  

The Customer Becomes Aware of the Product or Concept 

The activities involved here will be a function of whether or not the producing country has a coffee drinking culture. The message to be delivered and the tool selected for delivery will be dictated by what the potential consumer needs to know and what is the best medium for imparting the information.  Where there is need for a more informational approach, example where a coffee drinking culture needs to be encouraged through the dispelling of misconceptions, or changing of perceptions, the  conventional tools employable would include

  • Public Relations
  • Publicity
  • Special Events

The Customer Develops Interest for and a Potential Intension or Desire to Purchase

Once the potential customer is at this phase, the communication can move to less informational tools to encourage purchase.  These can include 

  • Advertising
  • Sampling
  • Direct Marketing
  • Soft Selling Techniques
  • Coupons

The Customer Decides to Buy the Product

At this stage, once the decision is made to buy, the customer will be interested in selecting which brand to buy.  At this stage brand differentiation is of utmost importance and any of the conventional tools listed above can be used to reinforce the brand or promote selection.

Although the tools listed above have been assigned to different stages, it may be found that particular tools may be useful across different stages.  It is important therefore to assess the communication needs, based on the market conditions and select the best tool for delivering the message.

Other Specialized tools which can be used in the building of domestic consumption are

  • Quality and Purity seals – when there is need to address a quality or purity concern 
  • Coffee Competitions
  • Coffee festivals

The above list does not proport to be comprehensive, but gives a list of tools which may be utilized in concert, or by themselves and along with other initiatives not listed,  as dictated by the needs of the target market. 

Purity, Quality & Other Seals

Any campaign to promote an increase In domestic consumption of coffee must be intricately linked to quality.  The approach taken throughout this toolkit has been a consumer focused one.  Demand is generated when the customer has reached stage 3 in their response to the promotional activities as illustrated above. The consumer decides to buy.  Repeat purchase and sustained demand will follow when the product delivers according to, or above consumer expectations.  In countries where coffee quality has a reputation of being compromised, it may be instructive to introduce quality programs backed by a seal as a guarantee that a particular product has met stated quality standards

Purity Seals

Purity programs can be considered a sub-program of a quality program and is relevant in jurisdictions where there is a practice of undesirable additions to the coffee beans.  These additions may  include corn, barley and coffee husks among other impurities.  The implementation of a purity program backed by a seal of approval communicates an adherence to standards which will deliver a quality  product to the consumer.
Quality programs when designed must feature rigorous monitoring and enforcement facilities to bring credibility to the program.  It is worthwhile considering partnering with  local quality and standards agencies in this endeavour. 

Other Seals

There is an innumerable number of seals that can be designed in any market.  The determination of the uses of a seal, and which seal to be used ,is driven by whatever parameter or message needs to be affirmed in the particular market.  Identifying this parameter is usually done through surveys of consumer perception of the product.  The seal program would then be designed to address the perceptions identified.  Seals are meant to solicit trust, as such seal programs must be designed with elements of considerable rigour for any product that will bear the seal.  For success, seal programs need to adequately publicized and promoted. 

Other Conventional Tools

Other conventional tools which can be used in campaigns to increase domestic consumption of coffee in producing countries include:

  1. Sampling programs
  2. Coupons
  3. Merchandising
  4. Festivals and competitions
  5. Sponsorships

It is recommended that expert help be sought from marketing professionals to design programs tailormade to the producing country and their target audiences.  

Competitions

Coffee completions are an excellent tool to support coffee quality programs.  Through competitions, coffee value chain actors are enticed to do more than meet the minimum standards set by the quality programs and compete for an enviable bragging right of being the “best”.  Competitions can serve the dual purpose of driving quality while increasing consumption through the buzz and media exposure surrounding the event.

Coffee Festivals

Coffee festivals including Barista festivals, can be a major marketing tool to drive domestic consumption.  It can be particularly successful in countries without a coffee drinking culture in introducing the “Coffee Experience”.  Successful festivals  will seek to include as many coffee value chain actors as possible, from “source to sip” and be adequately publicized and promoted.  Festivals will differ across producing countries dependent on the stage of development of the coffee consumer market.  As with any promotional tool, the decision to employ the use of festivals should be data driven with clear and measurable objectives.

Financial Considerations

Special Markets

Delivery Modalities

Coffee Considerations

Country Experiences