Work

THE BACKGROUND

THINKHOUSE has worked with Frank & Honest since 2018, finding new ways to bring the best quality coffee experience to Irish coffee-lovers in a way that is truly sustainable. And now, in 2022, entering our 4th year of partnership, according to the brand's most recent Red C’s 2021 Brand Tracker we know that Frank & Honest is 'Ireland's most sustainable coffee brand' while also being the biggest takeaway coffee brand in Ireland. This is some achievement; a demonstration of the team's commitment to sustainable action - even before it became the popular thing to do.

THE JOURNEY

When THINKHOUSE began working with Frank & Honest we inherited a young brand, with a developing tone of voice that was cheeky and irrelevant. As Frank & Honest is a Musgrave brand, Ireland's biggest retail company, its OTG coffee business had a deep grounding in best-in-class customer experience and savvy marketing to this new brand.

When we started to work on the brand to evolve and grow its positioning, we were struck by 3 key dynamics brewing:

1. OUR COFFEE-DRINKER WAS DEMANDING SUSTAINABLE CHANGE: Young people across the world were voicing out - declaring a climate crisis and demanding awareness, accountability and action. They wanted change and brands (and governments) weren't listening
2. THE COMPANY WITH A SUSTAINABLE REPUTATION: As one of the Irish Government's Sustainability Champions, the practices of the team at Musgrave's in developing the Frank & Honest brand, were inherently sustainable - it was a new brand launching open to and encouraged to adopt new, sustainable practices.
3. THE CATEGORY WAS IN INERTIA: OTG coffee/hot drinks consumption was increasing in Ireland but innovation in terms of easy, accessible and sustainable solutions for consumers was slow to market.

And so we listened. And we wanted action too.

We worked in partnership with Frank & Honest to reposition the brand and ensure it benefitted from its sustainability credentials, something we recognised as an advantage over its competitors and something we believed would resonate with the new, emerging coffee consumer. Time has proven this to be a solid strategy and it has allowed us keep at pace with the ever changing coffee landscape.

THE WORK

Over 3 years, we developed the brand's creative - delivering on its cheeky tone of voice and communicating its sustainability credentials in a way that is truly frank and honest. We’ve used a 3 stage approach to our comms evolution channelling the Fame model, keeping the brand top of mind and engaged with by consumers throughout:

Launching our comms platform in year 1 with ‘you can’t fake great-tasting coffee’ which set out our stall as the no-nonsense coffee brand that tastes great – using our fully compostable cup as our hero.

In our next phase in 2019, we drove real sustainability conversation by taking on stereotypes of ‘sustainable advertising’.

In 2020/2021 we brought in our local connection and showed the important connection between sustainability and local production.

THE FUTURE

We’re really proud of the work and the success our partnership with Frank & Honest has achieved, and we’re only getting started….Following consistent, double-digit growth and awareness year-on-year, we hit an incredible milestone in 2021 when Red C research reported that Frank & Honest is 'Ireland's most sustainable coffee brand.'

We know that's both an achievement and a challenge. Now, in 2022, we're working in partnership with the team at Frank & Honest to ensure we stay ahead of the competition and maintain Frank & Honest's unique position within a cluttered and competitive OTG coffee marketplace – whilst leading sustainable solutions for Irish coffee lovers.