Campaign: The Naked Espresso

Client: Breville Australia

Agency: Reborn

 

Background

Breville’s newly launched BES900 espresso machine is the only domestic dual boiler on the market giving everyday consumers the ability to achieve café grade results, in the comfort of their own homes and without a commercial price tag attached. Designed with Breville’s core design ethos ‘Simple moments of brilliance’ in mind, the dual boiler espresso machine had to be seen to be believed.

Objectives

Our primary objective was to challenge consumer perceptions of the brand in general and strategically position Breville and its dual boiler espresso machine in the highly competitive premium espresso market. To do this successfully, our aim was to showcase its technical brilliance with a focus on demonstrating the espresso machine’s precision and consistency when brewing an espresso.

Strategy

To drive awareness about Breville’s BES900 espresso machine with a focus to grow its credentials as a brand that takes innovation and espresso extremely seriously, we started the process by analysing the premium espresso market in detail and understanding what drove them towards brand loyalty.

We conducted an extensive research piece that told us that the premium espresso consumer is complex and opinionated. Our research revealed these increasingly vocal enthusiasts, influential trendsetters and consumers were constantly seeking advice, making comparisons and discussing the intricacies of the different espresso machine specifications.

To engage with the espresso community and showcase the BES900 points of difference, we developed our approach to truly showcase the machine’s brilliance via a personalised experience that would ignite conversation with espresso enthusiasts.

Espresso for the ‘espresso snob’ is more than a cup of coffee, it is an art form and we needed to showcase this state of mind in the same light.

 

Execution

Creative

We decided to launch our idea through a live activation at the Aroma Festival Sydney in August 2012, Australia’s biggest coffee event attracting over 100,000 coffee lovers. With over 100 exhibitors at the event, we knew that we needed to engage with and stand out from the others.

The idea of stripping back the espresso machine and exposing its features for all to see was where we drew our inspiration. We planned to showcase how technology and innovation contributes to the ‘art’ of the espresso and the science behind making the perfect cup off coffee.

With this in mind, we launched ‘The Naked Espresso’ at the festival where passers-by were given a live demonstration of the BES900 espresso machine, and watched on as the science from the espresso machine was displayed in real time. The live data from the BES900 espresso installation then generated one-of-a-kind generative artwork that represented the individual characteristics of each espresso made live at the Breville stand.

Once completed, each unique piece of art was then printed immediately onto the individual’s espresso cup accompanied with information printed onto it covering the science of the machine prompting the consumer to download their artwork and sign up for more information about the BES900 espresso machine.

By printing the data and individual art pieces onto each espresso cup, it extended the activation even further by generating exposure at the event with festival-goers sharing and discussing their artwork from the installation with friends and passers-by throughout the day.

During the activation, we filmed the installation and consumer reactions and then released a video online targeting influential espresso, innovation, creative and lifestyle blogs with no paid media.

 

Technical

To showcase the BES900, we re-engineered the espresso machine to lay bare its commercial-grade features and internal science in a live interactive visual experience.

‘The Naked Espresso’ installation was created by hacking the BES900 interface with Arduino and by doing this we were able to output both analogue and digital signals from the machine, uncovering the science and innovation that was previously hidden to consumers.

These outputs included:

• two flow meters allowing us to access the espresso flow rate through the group head
• a steam LED to indicate when the steamer was activated on the machine, and
• three different temperature sensors covering the espresso boiler, steam boiler and group head.

 

We also integrated a pressure transmitter to display water pressure during the important ‘pre-infusion’ and ‘extraction’ phases.

These signals were converted from voltage to the relevant units and were displayed through a processing application.

The speed of the generative art animation was based on a careful combination of the pressure and flow rate, with the colour palette, frequency and variety of shapes created all based on the temperature and steam used to make the espresso.

This unique product demonstration allowed Breville to demonstrate the innovation and precision of its espresso appliance that would usually be invisible to everyday consumers. The activation also allowed consumers at the festival to take the information away with them, as they tasted the difference.

 

Results

The premium espresso market is a complex and opinionated landscape of increasingly vocal enthusiasts, influential trendsetters and consumers seeking advice. Laying bare the internal specifications of the dual boiler, its commercial features and consistency, the ‘needs’ of our target were fuelled in a personal, engaging and inspiring way, unseen before in the premium espresso market. Promoting Breville and the BES900 Dual Boiler in this way not only set the bar high for its competitors, but also placed Breville at the forefront of espresso consumers.

• $300,000 of new sales leads were generated on the day,
• 2.8 million estimated impressions (the campaign had no media spend and all impressions were generated through PR and earned media),
• reached number one viewed video for Breville Australia YouTube Channel with over 50,000 views,
• 6987 recruited to Breville’s premium espresso database,
• more than 2000 cups were made on the day for coffee lovers,
• the campaign was featured by Google’s Art Copy Code initiative at SXSW 2013 as one of 2012’s most innovative campaigns,
• Breville Australia decided to patent the idea globally due to the success of the campaign, and
• ‘The Naked Espresso’ project has now been localised for South Korea with appearances set for the Canadian, UK and US markets.