Blog: 3 Ridiculous Coffee Marketing Ideas That May Actually Work

So much of marketing is starting a buzz – creating a conversation. Don’t discount ways to make the mundane anything but. Here are three “over the top” ideas to share via social media that will get people thinking about coffee. And if consumers think about something long enough, it often turns into sales.

1. Edible art! Providing coffee in the office may not mean hiring a barista with artistic skill, but that doesn’t mean consumers stuck at their desk can’t be inspired by it. There are a number of YouTube clips of amazing designs being carved into the foam atop hot drinks. Watching some put me in the mood to drink something hot and frothy. We have cappuccino in our breakroom and it gave me that afternoon pick up I needed and wanted after watching this video. Inspire your captive audience to buy via social media. They probably need a laugh by 3 p.m… and a snack.
2. Animal coffee is priceless. Okay, so it actually has a price, $600 per pound – Kopi Luwak or civet coffee comes from the coffee beans excreted by a Sumatran wild cat and is worth $30 a cup. After the civet eats the berry, the animal’s digestive tract ferments the coffee. Harvesters wash the beans and sell them for big profits despite experts such as the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) declaring the coffee as not tasting very good. More recent on the scene is Black Ivory Coffee (video here) from elephant dung which sells for $50 a cup. Introduced by a Canadian businessman, elephants on a sanctuary are fed coffee beans, which are then extracted from their feces after traveling through the pachyderm digestive tract. Supposedly, the process gives the coffee a smooth and earthy flavor.
3. Coffee might be the secret to upstanding citizens. This one is geared toward the location manager as yet another perk for the workplace to add coffee. It may lower internal theft. A recent study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology found that a large cup of coffee could help tired employees better control behavior and resist unethical temptation that result from being sleep deprived.

You might think of social media as something kids do. However, it can serve a similar function as the old customer newsletter. It is a perfect way to have a little fun and give workers a reason to smile. By focusing on the humorous messages, but also about the products you sell in the breakroom, the concept can be a win-win for everyone.