Question

Topic: Branding

Tagline For Great Coffee

Posted by johnyj518 on 6/26/2015 at 8:39 AM ET 125 Points
Hi Everyone,

First off, I read a lot of information out there in favor of, and against creating a tag line. I think its a good idea. Any thoughts on that?

My company is a specialty coffee roaster/wholesaler and we focus on finding the best roast for a specific bean in order to preserve its unique flavors, instead of just roasting them out(as most large roasters do)in favor of consistency across coffee origins.

Most specialty coffee is provided by small cafe businesses who roast for themselves, and wholesale on the side. I am positioning myself as a wholesaler first and foremost with my customers' business needs being the primary focus. Our products are roasted and served up in a matter of days, not weeks, and freshness is key here. We will sell products B2C via our website and through some specialty markets, but other than that its all B2B,for now anyway.

My company name evokes a sense of feeling (I don't want to put the name in fear of this popping up in google searches!), a measurement of heart rate...three letters... first letter "B".

I've come up with a few short, clear tags but I feel like I have writers block on this and I can't decide if it actually is good, or if its really stupid and I just can't see it. I was thinking something like "Feel your coffee" but that may be too vague; what is that supposed to mean, anyway? In my mind "feel" means taste -> experience -> enjoy.

Any thoughts on this are very appreciated. Maybe worth a free bag of coffee after I get moving.
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RESPONSES

  • Posted on 6/26/2015 at 9:57 AM Moderator
    The issue is really what you expect the tagline to do for you, and who the target audience is. If your primary target audience is B2B, as you've indicated, then "feel your coffee" might not be so great. It sounds more like a consumer tagline. I'm also not clear on what the company name is ... first letter B doesn't immediately evoke anything to do with heart rate.

    I'd suggest you begin by thinking about the underlying objective. With whom are you hoping to communicate, what do you want them to know, and what role, if any, is the tagline supposed to play?
  • Posted by johnyj518 on 6/26/2015 at 10:18 AM Author
    A measurement of heart rate: Beats Per Minute, BPM

    I agree with you on the B2B end, it doesn't really work.
    I have to rethink it. Thanks for your feedback, I 'll think about it some more.
  • Posted by Gary Bloomer on 6/26/2015 at 10:24 AM Accepted
    Great question. Well thought out, concise, detailed, and thorough. Thank you.

    For B2B you'll probably need a slightly different line than one for B2C. For the time being, let's stick with B2B. I agree that "Feel your coffee" is a little wanting.

    Because you're offering what sounds like short runs of freshly roasted beans to specialists, I suggest you seek their help.

    Although you think you know your customers' wants, needs, and desires, before your do anything else to come up with a tag line I suggest you poll your wholesale clients and ask them to name the top three to five traits they appreciate most about buying from you, dealing with you, and working with you.

    What do they hear most often from the people they resell to in terms of feedback on the beans they get from you?

    I think you're on the right track with the whole feeling and experience thing, because those are the traits that build and propel brands. You're not really selling coffee, first, you're in the list building business, second, you're in the experience business: the more you can define and encapsulate the feeling of the experience, and the more you can expand your list to reach a wider audience of niche specialists, the more market place power and richness your company and brand will create.

    What you think your customers want, desire, and appreciate the most about doing business with you is one thing, what they wan, appreciate, and value most is another. The more your tag line can cater to their needs, the more power that line holds and generates.

    So, I suggest slowing down a little, coming up with your own list of key traits, than asking your customers (perhaps through a secret shopper or other third party, so that your customers do not know they're answering questions about your company—this helps do away with any kind of bias they may have), so as to learn what they look for most in a bean wholesaler.

    You then use those top results to craft your tag line, and you use those phrases in your follow up messaging. This way, your overall messaging and tag line combination resonate far more powerfully with your top buyers, in the same way that a really solid coffee has its aroma, its initial taste, its aftertaste, and its lingering feel, all of which build the experience, which reinforce the feeling, with power the emotions, and that then anchor the brand—YOUR brand—as the best tasting coffee folks will ever drink.

    I hope this helps.
  • Posted by johnyj518 on 6/26/2015 at 10:42 AM Author
    Thank you, Gary. You have given me much more than I had hoped for. I really appreciate your help on this and I am definitely going to act on the advice given. I had engaged some customers about this sort of thing, but I don't think I was asking the right question.
  • Posted by Gary Bloomer on 6/26/2015 at 10:47 AM Member
    Happy to help. Sorry for the typos and the run on sentences.
  • Posted by mdlugozima on 6/28/2015 at 11:35 AM Member
    Beans Per Minute
  • Posted by stadler72 on 6/29/2015 at 11:28 AM Member
    Looks like this is wrapped up, but I completely agree with Gary. Let me add three questions that I've used for the "brief":
    - What is it?
    - Who's it for?
    - Why does it matter?

    The first question--What is it?--has to do with a description of your product and that one thing that will create a benefit to your customer.

    The second defines clearly who your audience is. It has to be a small enough audience to reach with a specific claim and in specific media. If your budget is small, you're looking at a long-tail advertising buy and a specific message that resonates with that specific audience.

    The third--Why does it matter?--answers the question about benefit to the customer. Why will your product matter to them?

    These questions are the basis of the creative brief, which is a strategy document, based on lost of research, that informs creative work (art direction, design, writing (including taglines), production, etc).
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