May 24, 2012

Industry News | February 10, 2012

Seattle's Best Wants to Know, What is 'Delicious' to You?

Cream and sugar are common additives to coffee, but cayenne pepper and gummy bears? These aren’t so common, especially in national coffee concepts like Starbucks and Seattle’s Best Coffee.

But coffee drinkers across the U.S. have different preferences for what, if anything, goes into their coffee, as Seattle’s Best recently discovered. The brand conducted a survey through Wakefield Research and found that 83 percent of people add something to their coffee. And for some people, its unusual things like cayenne, balsamic vinegar, or grape soda.

Seattle’s Best is hoping to leverage these findings with its new “Create Your Deliciousness” campaign.

“We say this campaign is inspired by our customer and also kind of shines a light on them and what they’re doing,” says Jenny McCabe, director of communication and public relations for Seattle’s Best Coffee.

The campaign launched this week with an invitation for customers to “like” Seattle’s Best on Facebook and use a special application to create their own “Deliciousness.” The app lets fans experiment with different blends and toppings, which include salted toffee, candy canes, and cotton candy. Every day through February 17, 100 random fans who use the application will win a free 12-ounce bag of Seattle’s Best.

The “Create Your Deliciousness” campaign will be multifaceted and will extend through the year. “You’re going to see us continue to push the envelope on what delicious means when it comes to coffee and our brand all year long,” McCabe says.

McCabe says initiatives like the Facebook application show that coffee is a category open to a lot of innovation, something she says Seattle’s Best will continue to take advantage of.

“It’s really important that as we continue to develop coffee options in all of our channels, they will be inspired by these kinds of things,” she says. “They will be really tasty, and they will be an everyday kind of education.”

But don’t expect to see gummy bears showing up at Seattle’s Best any time soon; McCabe says the company doesn’t want to be known as an “over-indulgent, crazy place with weird drinks.”

“But things you haven’t seen before?” she says. “Definitely.”

By Sam Oches

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