Coffee Kids

Design Statement

Our Creative Director Boris says:

Melting Signals created a positive new campaign for Coffee Kids, to support young coffee farmers and their entrepreneurship. While older generations are ageing out of production, younger farmers are moving to the big cities, leaving their own communities behind. What they often don’t see: there are opportunities right on their doorstep! Coffee Kids provides young farmers with training, mentoring and seed capital so that they can follow their dreams while supporting their own communities. The campaign created awareness in the industry in order to support the futures of young coffee farmers and secure the future of coffee.

Criteria

Idea

Everyone in the supply chain is alike in their love of coffee. It is time that we all worked together to secure the future of the fruit we all love. Instead of asking for donations however, we asked for time - 3 minutes. Why? Because with a „positive first“ messaging approach, Coffee Kids was able to touch hearts in an inspiring way that got people on board without asking for donations and help straight away. The resulting donations were thus a result of the positive hope and willingness to contribute to our vision, instead of guilt.

Form

With its clean and simple shots along with an inspiring Voice over, the Coffee Kids video campaign managed to speak the language of small roasters and neighbourhood cafes. Visually, this is not the poverty stricken charity ad we have come accustomed to, but rather a positive moment captured on a hopeful road into a prosperous future. This enabled Coffee Kids to get their target audience onboard in a collaborative manner, making them realise that we are all much more alike than we are different in the pursuit of amazing coffee.

Function

Especially in times of COVID-19 it has been difficult to activate communities around the world to care for issues outside of their own country. The Coffee Kids campaign video however, provides hope and positivity that was for many hard to come by during the pandemic. Through this refreshing approach used to ask for donations, along with support packages that go to projects that make a real difference (e.g. coffee seminars or training on sustainable farming methods), people within the global coffee community were compelled to donate and support the dreams of young farmers.

Differentiation

The positive approach to asking for donations defines Coffee Kids as a brand, and assists in upholding the positive vision the young farmers own futures. By working towards a partnership oriented approach, teaching coffee farmers how to diversify their income for off-seasons for example, Coffee Kids has had a longer lasting effect on communities than their competitors. This honest and holistic method of helping young coffee farmers needed to come across within the campaign, while still convincing small cafes that their help was needed to secure the future of coffee.

Impact

The real impact of the Coffee Kids video was felt on the ground by the communities affected by climate change, seasonal crop cycles and a decreasing amount of youths passionate about staying in their own communities. This year, COVID-19 was another challenge these communities had to face. With the help of Coffee Kids, young farmers are better equipped to handle current and future challenges coming their way, while providing for their families and supporting their own communities.