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Specialty Coffee
Ember Roasters
Existing creative was acquiring price-shoppers who churned after the second bag.
Project Overview
The brief, in context.
Product Category
Single-origin specialty coffee subscription
Brand Positioning
A third-wave roaster that ships the cafe morning — not a discount commodity bag.
Campaign Objective
Replace discount-led acquisition with creative that attracts retain-able subscribers.
Creative Challenge
Existing creative was acquiring price-shoppers who churned after the second bag.
Audience Analysis
Who the work was actually built for.
Primary Audience
Specialty-coffee drinkers who own a grinder and treat brewing as craft
Age 28 – 50
Motivations
- Recreating a beloved cafe experience at home
- Discovering single-origin roasts they couldn't find locally
- Treating the morning as a small daily ritual
Purchase Triggers
- A cafe they love closing or being too far to visit
- A barista on social naming their favourite roaster
- Buying or upgrading a grinder
Pain Points
- Supermarket coffee that tastes flat by day three
- Subscriptions that ship the same roast every month
- Subscription cadence that piles up bags they can't drink in time
Market Positioning
Where the brand actually sits in the feed.
Competitor Landscape
Mass-market subscriptions competing on first-bag discounts and big-box brands competing on shelf presence.
Market Opportunity
A premium subscription that competes on sensory memory and roaster credibility, not price.
Positioning Strategy
Lead with the cafe morning. Make the bag the supporting actor in the frame.
Marketing Angle
Stop selling coffee — sell the cafe morning. Lead with origin storytelling and a sensory cue rather than a promo.
Why this angle
Promo-led creative wins the click and loses the customer; sensory-led creative loses the cheapest click and keeps the right one.
Copy Breakdown
Hook and headline, dissected.
The two lines that earn the spend — and the reasoning behind each.
Hook
“Tastes like the cafe I miss most.”
Reasoning
Triggers a specific sensory memory in the first 1.2 seconds, which is more durable than any feature claim.
Expected Reaction
Smile, soften, scroll back to read the bag name.
Headline
Bright, single-origin, brewed slowly.
Purpose
Set the post-tap expectation: this is a craft purchase, not a commodity one.
Messaging Objective
Frame the subscription as a ritual upgrade.
Creative Direction
The visual language of the campaign.
Visual Style
Warm tabletop in natural morning light — steam, denim, ceramic.
Mood
Slow, considered, quietly aspirational. No urgency stamps.
Brand Perception
A roaster that takes the brew as seriously as the buyer does.
Creative Goal
Create envy of the morning, not the price.
Creative Gallery
The four-asset variant matrix.
Every campaign ships with four roles covered — so we can isolate which lever actually drove the lift.
Creative 01
Hero Creative
Pour-over ambient hero against morning window light.
Creative 02
Benefit Creative
Bag-on-counter benefit cut with cupping notes annotated.
Creative 03
PRODUCT IMAGE
Creative 04
PRODUCT IMAGE
Alternative Concepts
The four directions we explored before locking the hero.
Each carried a distinct angle, hook, headline and creative direction. The ones we held back are still in the test queue.
The Origin Story
A- Angle
- Mini-documentary from the producing farm.
- Hook
- “Where this bag started — and why the price reflects it.”
- Headline
- From the farm. To your French press.
- Creative Direction
- Farm-to-cup documentary cut with cinematic landscape and roaster narration.
Cupping Notes
B- Angle
- Tasting-led concept with on-screen flavor wheel.
- Hook
- “Stone fruit, brown sugar, a finish like dark chocolate.”
- Headline
- Tasting notes, brewed at home.
- Creative Direction
- Macro pour-over with animated flavor-wheel typography.
The Subscriber Diary
C- Angle
- Real subscriber unboxing and brew.
- Hook
- “My fourth bag. Still better than the cafe down the road.”
- Headline
- A monthly ritual, not a monthly bill.
- Creative Direction
- Handheld POV unboxing with natural-light kitchen scenes.
The Grind Upgrade
D- Angle
- Speak directly to buyers who just bought a grinder.
- Hook
- “The bag worth opening up your new grinder for.”
- Headline
- Built for the brew you've been waiting to try.
- Creative Direction
- Tight equipment macros, soft daylight, copy-led titles.
Why This Campaign Works
The strategic argument, in four parts.
Psychology
Sensory memory beats discount in any category where the buyer already self-identifies as a craft consumer.
Positioning
Selling the cafe morning re-prices the bag against an experience the buyer already values.
Customer Motivation
The buyer wants to be the kind of person who has a great morning, not the kind who saves on coffee.
Creative Strategy
Use the ambient hero cold, then retarget with origin and cupping cuts to deepen the relationship.
Key Learnings
What this project taught us.
- Removing discount stamps lifted LTV per acquired subscriber, even at a higher CAC.
- Ambient sound-design openers outperformed voiceover hooks in this audience.
- Sensory hooks aged more slowly than feature claims, extending creative shelf life.
