Kenco had established a significant presence in the instant coffee market dominated by leaders Nescafé and General Foods. In 2007 sales of instant coffee had started to decline as consumers became more demanding, influenced by the quality of coffees available from the increasing numbers of specialist coffee shops such as Starbucks, Costa and Caffè Nero. Sales of ground and roast coffee for home consumption were increasing. Kenco’s positioning had emphasised the brand as the next best thing to ‘real’ coffee and to date had been successful. The changing market environment was putting pressure on instant coffee suppliers with little evidence of brand differentiation. In addition to promoting the taste aspects of the coffee, Kenco had also incorporated the sources of their coffee in their advertising, filming on location on coffee bean farms. Although taste had been the main positioning platform, the advertising production had created some positive association between Kenco and the provenance of their supply chain. With consumers showing more general interest in buying brands based on ethical criteria, this gave Kenco something of a start in their new efforts to establish the brand’s sustainability credentials. Fairtrade supply policies had already helped establish brands such as Café Direct and Percol into the instant coffee market. Segmentation analysis had identified five stages of consumer involvement when it came to purchasing sustainable products: 1. Principled Pioneers (4%) 2. Vocal Activists (4%) 3. Positive Choosers (31%) 4. Conveniently Conscious (35%) 5. Onlookers (26%) Those most heavily involved, the Principled Pioneers and Vocal Activists, were already significant buyers of specialist ethical brands. More mainstream segments, the Positive Choosers and Conveniently Conscious, accounted for 66% of the market and did not have a sustainable option that matched their price and quality requirements. Kenco wanted to provide a sustainable brand that would be acceptable to everyone, not just the most interested minority. Kenco’s new vision was to become the mainstream sustainable coffee brand. The first stage of the positioning development was to partner with the Rainforest Alliance, a certification body that defines a system of sustainable farming designed to protect and improve the environment and ecology of farms in the developing world and the lives and livelihoods of the people that work on them. This centred on three areas: environmental, economic and social. Further research identified that sustainable brands had to be able to demonstrate to consumers that they could relate them to their own worlds. Kenco decided to try and achieve this by focusing on issues which consumers could relate to ‘emotionally’ – clean water, education and housing – so that by purchasing Kenco coffee they would be improving lives in communities in those countries producing the coffee beans. Advertising then focused on TV, press and digital banners to establish national reach with single-minded messaging. PR and direct marketing activity was then used for more in-depth communication around the sustainability theme. The main creative idea centred on Kenco’s heritage. The new partnership with the Rainforest Alliance represented an evolution of the brand’s beliefs that extended that care to farm workers and their communities. As well as growing great coffee, Kenco was now helping to grow communities. This ‘Growing communities’ idea allowed Kenco to explain the aspects of certification that consumers could relate to. Reassurance was achieved by showing farm workers hand-picking beans and the campaign strapline, ‘Growing great coffee and more’. Over the course of two campaigns consumer perceptions of Kenco were transformed, with 1.2 million new households buying the brand. Analysis showed that £3.7 million incremental revenue was directly attributable to the advertising and support communications. Sustainability was working. Source: Murphy (2010); www.kenco.co.uk

Question What are the potential dangers for a brand promoting CSR as a positioning strategy?

Task Write a short case study relating to a brand of your choice that has developed a successful alliance with a group similar to the Rainforest Alliance in developing a CSR-based advertising strategy.