Usable Clicks

Case Study: Joffrey’s Coffee 2.0

Several months ago I read on a blog about an opportunity to test a new brand of coffee and give feedback on it before it went into market.  As a mild coffee addict and increasing coffee snob, I jumped on the opportunity.  I took a survey of my coffee drinking habits, gave over my address, and eventually received a packet of coffee in the mail: Joffrey’s Java Beta Test.  At the time I thought of it as a random taste testing opportunity, ignoring all the signs that I was part of an elaborate and precise marketing scheme to spread the name of a relatively unknown coffee brand.  Now, long after I burned through the coffee I stumbled across the very interesting story behind Joffrey’s Java Beta Test:

A presentation by Adam Singer reveals the team’s marketing strategy from head to toe – and sheds light on some compelling lessons:

• Identify the right target for your brand.  Joffrey’s wanted to target coffee enthusiasts, but that wasn’t enough – they wanted to target enthusiasts who would evangelize the brand.  And who better to do that than bloggers, the kings of sharing?  If engaged correctly, bloggers would be ready and willing to act as brand advocates for Jofrrey’s Coffee.
• Have a compelling reason for potential consumers to get involved.  Joffrey’s offered their audience not only free coffee, but publicity – be part of the java beta test and your blog article would be linked from right on the Joffrey website (linkage is something every blogger seeks).  Also, blogger feedback would be directly incorporated in the creation of the new Joffrey’s Coffee product.
• Speak to the audience in the right voice.  Regardless of the offer, it was important that Joffrey’s spoke to bloggers through messaging that meant something to them, made them feel understood, and respected.  Joffrey’s keyed on this by replicating the blogger experience – offering their audience a “closed beta test” and offering to incorporate insight in future upgrades.   And Joffrey’s didn’t look for bloggers through traditional means.  They put the word out on blogs, Twitter, and other social media vehicles to attract their audience.
• Show that you are listening to your audience.  All of this wouldn’t have been worth anything in the long run if Joffrey’s hadn’t shown that they were paying attention to the feedback.  But they listened diligently to their audience, engaged the community, and relaunched their product as Coffee 2.0, a nod to the web community that helped them grow.

All said and done, Joffrey’s developed and executed a marketing campaign that showed a complete understanding and respect for the community they were engaging to spread the word about their product, and ultimately to purchase it.

Below is an embedded version of Adam Singer’s Coffee 2.0 presentation.  Despite it’s length, Its a very quick and interesting read: