The National Coffee Association of USA wanted to raise its profile and celebrate its 100th anniversary. It created National Coffee Break Day on January 20, 2011 to promote coffee production and consumption. The association developed a logo, website, mobile app and collateral materials to spread awareness of the event through social media, blogs, media outreach and retail promotions. On the day of the event, the campaign attracted over 10,000 website visitors and trended on Twitter with over 20,000 mentions, exceeding its goals.

1. National Coffee Association of U.S.A. and
National Coffee Break Day
Case Study
Prepared by Hamilton Public Relations
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2. Situation
> National Coffee Association of U.S.A. (NCA) was celebrating it’s
Centennial in 2011 and wanted to raise the profile of the
Association and its members while encouraging the entire
industry serve to join forces and celebrate coffee production and
consumption in the U.S.
Challenge
> Campaign would need to promote all areas of membership from
“bean to cup” and merit member investment
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3. Strategy
> Create “National Coffee Break Day” on January 20, 2011 to
celebrate the NCA Centennial
> Invite the whole country to join the NCA and its members to share
in this time-honored tradition.
Tactics
> Use mainstream and social media to spread the word about the
event
> Use a consumer-focused Web site, nationalcoffeebreak.org and
blog to serve as the communication hub for the day
> Ask industry members to support the event through social media
activities, media outreach and retail promotions
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4. Program Elements
> Logo
– Developed a nostalgic logo that would appeal to all members
as well as consumers
> Website
– Consumer focused Web site celebrated history and culture of
coffee and allowed visitors to design own mug and add it to
the virtual cabinet shelves.
> Mobile Coffee Shop Locator App
– Created and launched a web app that allowed users to find a
retail location where coffee was sold near their location
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5. Program Elements
> Sales Kits
– To develop a cohesive campaign for the participating
companies, a collateral sales kit was created and loaded onto
the Web site for easy downloading. The kit included:
• POP poster, display banner, table top, product label, email
signature, web button and print ad
> Social Media
– Used Twitter and Facebook accounts to develop a community
of coffee industry members and fans to share best practices
and event news
> Blogging
– Ran a daily blog during the 45 day run-up to the day sharing
promotion ideas for industry members before shifting to
coffee trivia, facts, preparation methods and pop culture for
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consumers

6. Program Elements
> Media Relations
– Reached out to coffee trade media, pop culture media as well
as broadcast news with info on the day and where events
would take place in their market.
> Events
– Staged three events in New York City and supported
hundreds more events across the country
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7. Program Elements (Clockwise from top left): Web site Coffee &Culture page,
Web site Design a Mug Gallery, Collateral Materials, Mobile App, Twitter
7 account, Facebook page

8. Results
> Attracted four Web site sponsors that covered total budget for the
campaign
> Reached estimated media audience of more than 11 million
> Television coverage in 17 of top 20 markets including New York
and Los Angeles
> More than 70 companies hosted more than 550 verified events
across the country
> More than 10,000 web site unique visitors on day of event
> Trending topic on Twitter with more than 20,000 mentions that
day
January 29, 2010
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