Stok Cold Brew
Stok Cold Brew
Acting like a start-up inside a large CPG company is no easy task. Through the courage to create a new model for innovation alongside the talented Eric Winslow, we asked ourselves "what if?" and showed how big can do small.
Innovation
Strategy
Identity
Packaging
Portfolio Architecture
Making coffee shop exclusivity available to all.
Inside Danone, a mega-CPG corporation focused primarily on the dairy category, a passion project was ignited by a lone R&D scientist. He had stumbled upon a cold-brew coffee recipe that was slowly generating buzz throughout the organization.
Management agreed to take a chance on launching a single-serve version of the java but was treating the line almost like a start-up, supporting the brand with a barebones budget and nominal resources. We needed to build a differentiated brand -- having no coffee credibility and no real story -- just the name STōK.
Chasing a giant green mermaid
We spent time analyzing our biggest competitor, the giant green mermaid, and were able to unearth a significant opportunity. This brand didn’t have a strong connection with a core group of caffeine guzzlers -- young males. And brilliantly, these same guys were also the primary target of convenience stores, the optimal channel for a single serve drink.
When it came to positioning, we knew that our soon-to-be tribe wouldn’t resonate with the idea of the product being hero; we would need to carve out a differentiated space in the coffee category that was uniquely about them.
