Channel 4

Brewing up the perfect campaign with Taylor's

A coffee revolution kickstarted with Channel 4's very own food expert, Jimmy Doherty

The Big Idea

We began by asking ourselves ‘why do people tune into Channel 4?’ They watch Channel 4 for its fantastic programming, so we wanted to use the blueprint of how to make the perfect programme and bring it into the commercial world, to create credible content that stood out to our viewers. Like all great programming we needed a story, and a hook to get our viewers interested, which was simple given Taylor’s incredible attention to detail on how they carefully source and produce their coffee to give it that unique Taylor’s taste. Taylor’s also have a great relationship with farmers and their families, which gave an extra layer of emotional engagement for our viewers - showing them this was more than a bean to cup story.

So we had the story; next step: credible talent. Step in Channel 4’s food expert Jimmy Doherty whose passion for ethically sourced produce made him the perfect match for Taylor’s and our campaign. His familiarity with the Channel 4 audience transformed this idea from an education piece to a genuinely entertaining piece of content. Finally, location. The foothill of the Andes provided the perfect backdrop for our campaign, showing the lengths Taylor’s goes to in order to get the best possible coffee for British customers.

Making it Happen

Incorporating the ambition of Taylor’s and the caution of our commissioning team was no mean feat, especially given the unmovable shoot date in Columbia. Channel 4, Goodstuff, Taylor’s and The Outfit all had to come together to make this idea happen with the theme of partnership being sown early, to ensure that any problems we might encounter were tackled as a collective group. Countless meetings were held with commissioning, legal, The Outfit, and of course the client, to ensure that from a Channel 4 point of view Jimmy’s journalistic integrity was upheld in accordance with his reputation on the channel. Of course, crucially, we also had to deliver on Taylor’s key messaging… a fine line to tread indeed, but given the openness and ease of communication with all stakeholders we were able to all come together to create the best possible campaign for everyone.

Once we had all agreed on creative ambition, the next hurdle was location. This was one of 4 Sales’ most ambitious shoots - taking us to Columbia in order to tell the true story of Taylor’s, and the lengths they go to to create the best possible cup of coffee. We had to battle with the Amazon’s unpredictable weather with most of the shoot achieved within two hours of dry weather across the 5 day shoot. But going that extra mile was essential to telling this story, and the results speak for themselves…

The Results

The campaign was brilliant at recruiting new shoppers. Claimed trial of Taylors went up 22% over the course of the campaign and sales data supported this, as 4-week penetration increased 0.35% between October and December equating to 93k new shoppers (versus our target of 75k).

52-week penetration hit a record 7.6%, the highest ever (up from 6.8% year on year).

Econometrics showed the campaign delivering a 5.9% uplift on sales per 100 TVRs. This was three times more effective than their previous airtime campaign. The overall campaign gave an ROI of £1.25 per £1 spent. Media, even with 60” only, provided an ROI of £0.94 in the short-term beating FMCG benchmarks. Spontaneous awareness of Taylor’s rose by 3% during the campaign period. 25% of the sample recalled seeing the television advert (from a 4 Sales only deal this beat Taylor’s previous campaign of 13% which ran on all terrestrial stations with 900TVRs!). Of those who recalled it 63% would definitely consider trying Taylor’s in the future with an additional 7% of them claiming to have trialled Taylor’s during the campaign period (from 31% to 38%).