Keurig is a company that produces single-serve coffee brewing systems and K-Cup coffee pods. It was founded in 1981 as Green Mountain Coffee Roasters and began investing in Keurig in the late 1990s, eventually acquiring the whole company. Keurig aims to put a brewing system in every home and offer a beverage for every occasion. Their products allow users to brew single servings of coffee or other drinks quickly and with minimal cleanup. Keurig advertises mainly on television in the mornings to target early risers, and also uses newspapers and social media. They emphasize qualities like speed, convenience, and variety to appeal to different demographics. Keurig also has social responsibility programs around

1. ADV 3320 - Advertising and Society:
Gracy Del Valle - History & Social Responsibility, Paper.
Bryson Riley - History & Who, Paper.
Aaron Ellyson - Where, Paper.
Ed Delgado - What, Social Responsibility, Paper.
Tyler Fields - When, Paper.
Keurig

2. History
Green Mountain Coffee Roaster Company was founded in 1981. They started as a
little café in Waitsfield, Vermont. After going public, they invested in Keurig. Then later
acquiring the rest of the company in which they combined both companies. The
headquarters was then moved to Waterbury, Vermont , where they operate a 90,000
square foot roasting facility and have additional distribution centers in New York,
Massachusetts and Connecticut. The name Keurig was derived from a Dutch word
meaning excellence. They’ve oriented their entire business– innovative line of coffee
machines, customer service, and reputation– around the word excellence. They are the
leaders in single cup brewing in North America. Coffee lovers invented Keurig to
recreate the quality and consistency they experience in their local coffee shop.
Keurig’s vision is to revolutionize the way our world brews coffee, tea, fruit-
based drinks, and other beverages. Their hope is that brewed beverage consumers all over
the world would experience the passion infused into each of their products. Keurig is
famous for the K-Cup. This product, released in 1998, established Keurig’s footing as a
company with something to offer individual consumers and corporate companies in
America and the United Kingdom. Keurig beverage machines are revolutionary. They
heat water to temperatures that reach 200 degrees– when the most flavors are released
giving the ultimate coffee experience. The Keurig system gives the customer the freedom
to brew one cup of coffee at a time, then turn around, and brew a cup of tea with just the
switch of a pod. Their commercial version has an added feature that self cleans by

3. throwing out the pod after it gets done brewing. Keurig has taken enormous steps since
its revitalization in 1996. The future looks bright for them.
Who
Keurig is known for collaboration and innovation. They’re defined by ambition and
business savvy. The global, culturally diverse nature of Keurig’s marketing strategy suggests
they have lofty goals. Their aim isn’t merely to put a hot beverage in the hands of everyone on
the planet, but to transform our world’s understanding of business. Keurig’s mission statement
reveals the broad market they’re targeting. It says the following: “A Keurig brewer on every
counter and a beverage for every occasion.” Thus, Keurig hopes to aim all their promotional and
advertising efforts at a planet full of people who drink coffee and tea and anything in between.
However, at this time, we will be focusing our strategies toward American men and women who
know the successes and struggles of everyday life. We’ll key in on the small victories in life. The
college student who makes it to class on time and the single mom whose kids dressed themselves
now have much more in common than ever before. Our promotional goal is to connect seemingly
unrelatable walks of life through the magic of a Keurig home brewing system. Keurig is college.
Keurig is clutch. We’ll strive to reach families and business men with our vast array of products.
Our advertising efforts will be concentrated in a few notable areas: young parents with double
incomes, parents of college-aged children, and empty nesters (those with grown adult children).
Because Keurig offers so many brewing combinations and variations, it is important to note the
capability we have to market to ethnicities and groups who may not like a certain category of
Keurig products but would enjoy another.
What

4. Quick and mess free. Using Keurig over a traditional coffee maker. Time was a
traditional coffee maker takes around 8 minutes to brew while a Keurig take around 60 seconds
to brew a cup of coffee. While still having all the traditional perks a standard coffee maker has
such as timer and temperature option the Keurig goes above and beyond by giving option such as
built in water filter. The signature k-cups that hold the coffee allow for an easy and clean start to
your day. When making a cup in the Keurig you will not have to measure how much coffee,
simply load the k-cup in the cartridge holder and 60 seconds later a cup of coffee is waiting. The
K-cups allow for no filters to clean up, just pull the k-cup out of the Keurig and throw it away.
Most people believe you need to buy the expensive k-cups to use a Keurig, luckily Keurig has
created a plastic reusable coffee filter that you can put loose coffee grounds in and will brew a
cup of coffee from there. Using the reusable coffee filter you can brew coffee that is not made in
k-cups or of you created your own brew it allows brewing for all coffee types. Not only does the
speed of Keurig benefit people in a hurry, the cleanup process is minimal compared to a
traditional coffee maker. When using a traditional coffee maker, you must add a filter then coffee
grains and finally the water. After the coffee is made you must throw away the filter, hoping it
does not break on the way to the trashcan causing a big mess and then washing out the leftover
coffee. With the Keurig, you simply only need to have water in the container and a K-cup in the
dispenser. Then choose which size coffee mug you are using, wait around 60 seconds for the
coffee to brew, and after it is done take the k-cup out of the dispenser and toss it in the trash.
Now the Keurig is ready to use for your next time.
When

5. Coffee is typically a drink that is consumed in the morning hours. With Keurig being a
product that produces coffee, it is only appropriate that its advertisements are shown in the
morning. It would be best to show them during morning news programs because more
consumers are watching television at this time. The ideal time to advertise our product would be
between 6 and 9 o’clock a.m. because that is when most people are waking up for school or
work. Most people have weekends off, therefore it would be more efficient if we advertised more
during the week versus weekends. Coffee is a drink that not only provides one with an energy
boost, but also keeps one warm. Since winters are colder than summers, more people are
drinking coffee during the winter, meaning it should be seasonally advertised more.
Where/Why:
The Keurig would be promoted on a few different avenues. One mode of communication
would be to use a traditional advertising approach by assembling together a television ad. This
mode of communication would appeal to the masses and would air in both the morning and late
at night. By airing the ad at these times would access the early risers and the working class that
works throughout the night into the early morning. One of the other traditional advertisements
we would like to incorporate into our campaign would be to advertise in newspapers. It would go
perfect when drinking that morning coffee and attract new consumers. It’s not only cheap but
would also expand our audience demographics. Typically older adults still read the written paper
and go hand and hand with a “hot cup of Joe”. The last mode of communication would be a non-
traditional approach by advertising through various accounts of social media such as Facebook
and Twitter. We would create a page that would have our history and mission statement on it, as
well as promote our product by offering promotional discounts and updates on the latest pods
that hit the open market. This method would essentially draw in our younger customers that are

6. more online friendly than those who use the newspaper. By using these three modes of
communication, we are able to stretch our reach to grab those who are younger, older, and all
ages in between.
Social Responsibility
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters offsets 100% direct greenhouse gas emission. The
company also gives 5% pre-tax profit to social and environmental projects. They also purchase
their coffee from fair trade certified coffee distributors and according to reports they are the
leading coffee purchasers.

7. A Brief History of Keurig. (n.d.). RetrievedApril 6, 2015, from http://www.coffee.org/a-
brief-history-of-keurig
Investors. (n.d.). RetrievedApril 11, 2015, from
http://investor.keuriggreenmountain.com/background.cfm