A new ethical coffee brand has launched “a unique proposition” for the UK coffee category, which will reinvest 50% of its profits back into charitable organisations both at home and abroad.
Cafe+ this week debuted its finished branding and packaging for its new range of coffees, consisting of mild, medium, strong and decaf. The stand-up pouches are differentiated through the use of colourful backgrounds, and through variations in the colour of the mug seen at the centre of each pack.
The ethical brand has partnered in the UK with Smart Networks, which helps empower recovering addicts and those affected by homelessness through art. And in Colombia, where the company sources its coffee, Cafe+ is channelling its profits into community colleges that keep citizens away from guerrilla violence; as well as providing free meals for children of a school in Cali, in southwestern Colombia, and funding ballet projects that allow disadvantaged children to receive grants to go to ballet school.
The brand is designed to capture the attention of ethical consumers, conscious of the impact their purchasing decisions are having on the world, and has worked with London-based branding and packaging agency Slice Design to develop something different for the country’s coffee market.
The objective of the design was to illustrate the superior quality of Cafe+ coffee, combined with the company’s commitment to ethical business. Slice created the design and heavily promoted the social media call to action, #brewchange, which underlined the good that consumers can do by picking up a pack of Cafe+.
Slice Design director Alan Gilbody said: “The design features hands cradling the cups to illustrate the idea of everyday people, coming together to do good with a simple gesture – goodness in every cup they share. With the colours, we tried to capture the bold and vibrant palette of Colombia and build on the positive virtues of the brand.”
Cafe+ founder Simon Ford said: “Before working with Slice, I spoke to a number of other agencies, in the UK and elsewhere, and was impressed by their willingness to listen and to then come up with a wide range of bright, original design ideas and options for discussion. From there we progressed, step by step, to the final design, after including time for comments and feedback from different groups. At no time did I feel I was being rushed into decisions; on the contrary, the aim was always to get it right, whatever the time needed.
“The support Slice has given the project in other ways too has been great – on website structure and design, for instance, on 3D product prototyping, on shelf-ready packaging aspects, as well as providing invaluable advice on overall project development and expansion. As such, they’ve become more of a trusted project partner than simply a design house.”
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