Marketing budgets – or rather, the shrinking state of many of them – continue to be a burning topic of discussion among marketers. Yet, the need to achieve results for a client, deliver a return on investment and create a memorable experience for the consumer remains paramount. 

In an exclusive piece for Marketing Mag, Media Words founder and media director Elise Hedley Dale walks us through Coffex Coffee Roaster’s recent audience-first campaign, highlighting that a limited budget doesn’t mean it’s impossible to achieve cut-through and return on investment (ROI).

“In today’s digital-first world, it’s tempting to pour limited budgets entirely into online channels,” Hedley Dale says. “While digital plays a crucial role, we’ve found that true impact comes from understanding all possible consumer connections and then strategically selecting the most powerful combinations.” 

Read on to take a deep dive into Hedley Dale’s multiple touchpoint strategy for Coffex Coffee Roasters, which demonstrates how an audience-first mindset can unlock powerful opportunities for brand connection and turn a modest budget into a high-impact campaign.

The backstory

Founded in 1959, Coffex Coffee Roasters has been a pioneer in the Australian coffee industry for more than  60 years. Hitting hard times in 2023, local roaster Bean Alliance took over the brand, and Coffex moved from its original location to a state-of-the-art roasting facility. Today, the brand is known for its timeless coffee blends, such as Superbar, which are sourced from coffee-growing regions around the world and roasted to perfection in Melbourne.

1. The challenge:
   • Small budget
   • Need to stand out in high-traffic areas
   • Connect with audiences at multiple touchpoints 
2. The strategy:
   • Identified key physical consumer journeys (train station to the Marvel Stadium)
   • Leveraged cultural moments (Coldplay concerts with “PLAY COLD” creative)
   • Used mobile targeting at Supercars Championship racing events, including the Sandown 500, Bathurst 1000, Gold Coast 500 and Adelaide 500, to build frequency with passionate audiences and synergise with sponsorship. 
3. Why it worked:
   • Smart channel integration
   • Context-aware creative (“PLAY COLD” at concerts)
   • Understanding audience movement patterns
   • Building frequency through passion points

Articulating the ‘For Generations’ campaign in tangible form

The Coffex brand has an enduring heritage in Melbourne, particularly in the inner northern districts where it has always been roasted. Looking to its future, Coffex was entering a new era with a new logo, fresh design and distinguished pack presence. The time was right to launch the brand’s new, sleek, graphic positioning at the iconic Melbourne Southern Cross Station.

The coffee roaster client, Bean Alliance’s CMO Susan Castle, provides context: “The creative detail in the pack refresh extends to mid-century styling, industrial-looking lighting and steam, moody and dark, even in the selection of the type and style of cup [– all ]intended to be reminiscent of its originating decade in the 1950s. The ‘generations’ – or target demographic – this campaign speaks to are both original, passionate, and engaged Italian-Melbourne natives and youthful generations looking for comfort and know-how with traditional Italian coffee.”

Using geo-targeting for digital ads, focusing on key Melbourne events and locations, the campaign’s tagline ‘For Generations’ emphasises Coffex’s unique place in the hearts and minds of the Melbourne community and its longevity in an ever-changing category.

The ‘PLAY COLD’ campaign is a double entendre promoting the summer beverage of choice and welcoming Coldplay fans to Melbourne, the capital of coffee.

A deep-dive into the strategy:

Leveraging physical journeys through new partnerships

We saw Coffex Coffee’s secure position as the official coffee supplier at Marvel Stadium in 2024 as more than just a distribution win. Mapping how Coffex’s target audiences moved through their day, we noticed a crucial detail: most attendees arrived at the stadium via a connected train station walkway. 

This presented a unique opportunity, particularly in Melbourne, where coffee culture is deeply woven into the city’s identity and daily routines. We understood that coffee consumption naturally aligns with transit moments – whether it’s grabbing a cup before the morning commute, after arriving at a destination or heading to an event. Rather than waiting for audiences to discover Coffex inside or competing in crowded digital spaces, we created a connection that began at their first step of the journey. 

By capitalising on the high foot traffic between the train station and the stadium, we turned a necessary journey into a brand moment, meeting Melburnians at the intersection of their coffee habits and event attendance. This early touchpoint primed audiences to experience Coffex Coffee once inside.

Cultural moment integration

We aligned the Coffex creative with major stadium events, particularly the Coldplay concerts, developing the ‘PLAY COLD’ campaign to visually inspire icy cold Coffex Coffee. The creative resonated because it spoke to both the product benefit and usage occasion and the cultural moment attendees were about to experience.

Amplifying sponsorships through digital integration

The brief to Media Words revealed that Coffex was the official coffee sponsor of one of the racing car teams. We immediately wanted to investigate how we could pull that association into the digital space as another touchpoint. 

Rather than treating this as a standalone sponsorship, we saw the potential to create a connected experience across the racing calendar. Understanding that racing enthusiasts are a passionate community who travel between major events like Bathurst and the Gold Coast, we theorised that we could build meaningful frequency by reaching them at multiple races.

While the high-impact mobile activity was great in theory, we faced some real challenges in execution. It proved harder than anticipated to find and effectively target these audiences to drive the results we were after. 

This was disappointing initially, but the real value emerged in the overall learning. It reinforced that it’s crucial to test and learn. While this can be challenging with smaller budgets, it’s often where the most valuable lessons come from. Sometimes the strategies that look perfect on paper need real-world validation, and those learnings become invaluable for future campaigns.

Results and insights

While there were other factors concurrent with the campaign spend (brand and product redesign), the creative resonated with the intended target customer, resulting in incredible ROI with a 3.1 percent increase in the cost of business (COB%) incremental sales.

The integrated approach to this campaign also delivered several key learnings:

• Understand your audience and leave your biases behind. 
• Physical journey mapping can reveal unique opportunities.
• Cultural relevance amplifies impact without requiring additional spend.
• Understanding audience movement patterns helps build natural frequency.
• Small budgets can work harder when channels are strategically integrated.

Broader application and key takeaways

These principles can be applied across various industries and budget levels. The key is shifting from a channel-first to an audience-first mindset. Ask yourself:

• Where do your audiences naturally gather?
• What cultural moments matter to them?
• How can you turn their movement patterns into opportunities?
• Which touchpoints offer natural integration possibilities?

The takeaways

• Think beyond digital defaults. Limited budgets demand smarter, not just safer choices.
• Map physical journeys. Understanding how audiences move through their day reveals unique opportunities.
• Connect cultural moments to media choices. Authentic alignment creates impact without additional spend.
• Build natural frequency. Follow audience movement patterns across locations and events.
• Test and learn with purpose. Even when tactics don’t perform as expected, the insights are invaluable.
• Start with the audience, not channels. Shifting from channel-first to audience-first thinking opens up powerful opportunities.
• Create connected experiences. Integrating sponsorships and media touchpoints amplifies impact.
• Accept and share learnings. Sometimes the strategies that look perfect on paper don’t always translate as expected in the real world.

Elise Hedley Dale has worked in the media industry for more than 25 years in some of Australia’s biggest agencies, with A-list clients, large household brands and small start-ups. In 2016, she founded Media Words, an independent media consultancy that offers tailored, results-driven solutions, customised to each client’s unique needs. As one of Australia’s most experienced media planners, Hedley Dale has developed strong, real connections and a client-focused approach, leading to many long-standing client relationships, including with Ocean Spray, BIC, The Bean Alliance Group, Peninsula Hot Springs and Sonos.