Design Brief

Koa Coffee

Koa Coffee was established in 1997 and has been owned and operated by the Artukovich family. The plantation is located in the small Hawaiian town of Captain Cook, just below the volcano Mauna Loa. All the family’s hard work paid off in 2001 when they were named by Forbes as the "Best coffee in America ", then again in 2002 as the proud winners of Kona Cupping Contest, and then once more this year (2004) they were named coffee of the year by the PCCA. The small Hawaiian company has done nothing but grow even though their source of business is solely based threw the internet.

Research

The research was all conducted on Koa Coffee’s web site which features not only their products but the company’s family feeling of warmth, down to earth-fullness, and good old fashion customer service. The entire line of products seems to come in the same bag even though there are four different types of coffee, all of which have two or more different flavors or grades. This type of packaging could easily confuse the customer. The packaging itself has a cartoon of a “exotica Hawaiian woman” surrounded by tropical leaves and bushes, in her arms there is a large overflowing bowl of some kind of leaf with berries on them. Not only is the packaging hard to see, but it does not create a mood of lifestyle that the target market is looking for.

How They Sell

Koa Coffee sales are based off the internet. The web site features only one small photo of there coffee bag packaging, so essentially there is only ONE small picture of the main product. For a company that is based off the internet one photo of a product will simply not due. Internet based companies need to create a sense of, the real life shopping experience; because the potential customer cannot pickup the item they are not as comfortable to buy it. This demands that the company provides the customer with enough confidence to spend that cash. This is done not only by providing a secure web environment but also by really showing the product off. A great example of this is allowing the customer to see the product up close by being able to clink on the product to make it more viewable. This is done on all major e-commerce sites such as eBay and amazon.

Analyzation and research of competitors

The store bought coffee industry has two major competitor’s Starbucks and Folgers. Folgers doesn’t even market to Generation Y so they are not much competition. However Starbucks; the leader in the industry does. They are seen as “hip”, “exciting”, and “cool” even when you drink it at home. Because of Starbucks saturation into the market Koa Coffee is going to have to make an effort to supply Generation Y with a better lifestyle then Starbucks could ever offer them.

The Goal

Koa Coffee will need to go through a major corporate identity change. This includes a completely new identity. They must breathe young, youthful life into their packaging. “Grown in Hawaii” will not play a major roll in this new coffee revolution. Rather concentrating on getting the Gen Y’ers to commit to a Koa Coffee lifestyle, of not only coffee drinking but comfort, relaxation, beauty, and original thinking. Tag lines like “bring more than coffee, to the table…” will be used and implied in ads; as well as “step away from the corporate grind” (may need a little work) to imply stepping away from Starbucks. Branding will be original with no gimmicks of coffee beans projected. Proposed fonts for logo and ads are:

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