Anytime, anywhere work patterns have had a profound impact on the coffee industry in recent years. Coffee Shops are now that third space between home and office, a unique environment where business and leisure naturally coincide. They are the ideal environment for the Surface Pro 4 as Coffee Shops are exactly the kind of space where we might be found using our laptop or tablet to get work done on the go.
Over the last few years, we’ve seen a number of campaigns in Coffee Shops for Microsoft, but this is by far the most innovative of all. As part of their campaign to promote the Surface Pro 4 to consumers ahead of the key Christmas retail period, Microsoft are using a combination of Window Vinyl and Coffee Cups in 20 premium artisan type outlets in London, as well as a further 172 outlets in key cities across the country with Coffee Cups.
Window Vinyl is an intuitive, impactful, native advertising format that allows brands to capitalise on huge pedestrian footfall as local consumers go about their daily journey. All the sites are located in busy, trendy locations across London. Where the window media grabs attention, when it comes to the coffee consumer in-store, Coffee Cups give brands the opportunity to deliver a more complex message in a relevant space at a relevant time. We spend 21mins with our daily takeaway coffee, it’s also a time of day we’re relaxed and receptive which means a message delivered this way tends to resonate. When you consider that half of all takeaway coffee ends up on a desk in the office, you see why this is an ideal way for brands like Microsoft to immerse themselves into the everyday consumer journey.
The windows aren’t the only innovative addition to this campaign. There is something unique about the cups too. The design has a blank space for the barista to write the customer’s name as if they were writing on the Surface screen. Pretty apt when you consider the Surface Pro comes with a Pen that does just that! And there’s more. Microsoft is also driving engagement through social media by geo-targeting 2 cafés in central London offering free coffee giveaways to consumers nearby. All they have to do is show their retweet or share to staff in-store to claim their free cup of coffee. This is a great way to create a buzz on social media and reward consumers for engaging with the brand. We’ve already seen loads of pics posted online showing Surface branded Coffee Cups out and about.
Lydia Osborne from Posterscope said, “Our branded coffee cups and window vinyls in selected coffee shops across London have allowed us to become more targeted in capturing mobile professionals. This is the thinnest, fastest and most versatile Surface Pro ever and we can now ensure that our presence is in the right place at the right time with the right audience. Adding to this an integrated social campaign to give back to our consumers with free coffees, shows how collaborative our approach has been with Table Talk.”
The campaign was planned and booked by Empower Media and Posterscope.
