Nearly four years ago, Maxwell House donated a large portion of its television ad budget to charities across the country as part of its “Brew Some Good” marketing campaign. For the latest iteration of the feel-good campaign, the Kraft Canada coffee brand now hopes to spread some optimism from coast-to-coast.
Maxwell House is encouraging consumers to take an optimism break, turning two user-made YouTube videos into 30-second television commercials. The videos have also been posted at BrewSomeGood.ca and on the brand’s YouTube channel.
Rena Nickerson, senior brand manager on Maxwell House, said her team continues to search the internet for inspirational stories and videos to be featured in additional television commercials that will launch throughout the summer.
BrewSomeGood.ca also now features a top 10 list of the most optimistic movies, a series of short online videos and a section that highlights the various charities that have been helped throughout the campaign.
Next month, Maxwell House will project the image of a coffee cup alongside an optimism meter on buildings in downtown Toronto and Montreal. Passersby will be able to vote online as to whether the cup is half-full or half-empty and watch the meter change.
The Maxwell House “Brew Some Good” tag line originated out of the U.S. in 2007 when Kraft was looking to promote its switch to 100% Arabica coffee beans.
While the U.S. campaign relied on traditional television spots as the primary marketing vehicle, the Canadian effort leaned heavily on sampling, grassroots initiatives and a partnership with Habitat for Humanity. At one event in downtown Toronto, Maxwell House representatives handed out more than 10,000 free cups of coffee and subway tokens.
The campaign did, however, include a simply made television ad from Ogilvy & Mather Toronto that showed a cup of coffee against a blue background with the copy: “The average TV ad costs $245,000… This one cost $19,000.″
The remaining ad budget was up for grabs. Canadians were directed to BrewSomeGood.ca where they could submit the names of charities deserving of financial contributions.
Later that year two more television ads showed that Kraft had donated to help train guide dogs and fund an inner city music program for kids. Since launching the campaign, Kraft has received over 4,000 nominations and helped over 21 charities.
“Brew Some Good” was based on the insight that the Maxwell House consumer is unpretentious and authentic, and looking for reasons to be optimistic, said Nickerson. “We wanted to give them reasons to be authentic, we wanted to inspire Canadians to brew some good and we were determined to lead by example,” she said.
