As marketers, we deal with brands all day long. So when a rebrand comes along that stays with me and makes me think about it, that is pure genius from that marketing team. This specific rebrand that I’m writing about actually changed my perception of their product. It is that powerful. Again, pure genius.
Growing up, my parents drank Folgers coffee, two cups in the morning and two cups at night. (Who drinks coffee at night?) I would “gunk” my dad’s coffee with copious amounts of sugar and milk and that’s how I drink mine now. But when I’d sneak a taste, I would wrinkle my nose in disgust. It was so strong and bitter to my childhood taste buds.
That little vignette leads me to this…if you haven’t seen it yet - check out the new Folgers commercials on YouTube.
With coffee retailers like Starbucks, Dunkin, and Peet’s coffee dominating grocery store shelves, Folgers had to do something drastic to stay competitive. They had to counteract perceptions from my generation that said “my parent’s drank Folgers so it’s not for me.” Their rebrand is bold, and fun.
Set to engaging music, the commercial that launched the rebrand has a powerful yet simple tagline: “Let us reintroduce ourselves.” They show a grandma with short gray hair, bold red glasses, wearing a denim jacket with modern, colorful jewelry…someone that I can identify with as I’m in the grandma phase of my life now and I still feel young and groovy, similar to a lot of people in traditional and non-traditional roles. It’s so fun. But what really grabbed me, is that they capitalized on the fact that Folgers is made in New Orleans. Who doesn’t love New Orleans?
In this campaign, I learned that I needed to try Folgers again based on the genius of the campaign. It wasn’t bad. I now have a can of Folgers in the cupboard as the emergency can for when we run out of Dunkin. I also learned that a major coffee company is headquartered in New Orleans - fun fact.
Take 63 seconds and have some fun: