American Dream

Conquering North America’s drip coffee world – Mediaplus’ & De’Longhi’s “TrueBrew” best case

When it comes to coffee, Americans love it rich but without much fuss. It was up to Mediaplus to convince them of De'Longhi's Italian coffee culture. Mediaplus Group holds the brand’s media account in 38 markets, including North America since June 2022. Tamara Alesi, CEO of Mediaplus North America, and Maria Colón, Head of Marketing and Consumer Experience, De'Longhi NA, explain how their team increased awareness of De’Longhi’s True Brew coffee machine from 0 to 68%.

America’s coffee culture is booming between iced lattes, cold brew and ready to drink. Most coffee lovers consume espresso-based beverages away from home. Thirty million coffee machines were sold nationwide last year, but only 1.5 million were espresso machines: Only 7% of consumers own an espresso machine. The conclusion: Americans might not be aware of making good espresso at home, at the touch of a button.

How to deal with this issue?

“Brand awareness is key", says Maria Colón, De'Longhi North America. “As a global leader in over 30 countries, our goal was to educate the people about De’Longhi products and the functionalities of brewing high-quality coffee at home. At the same time, we needed to defend our market share and be aware of everything that was happening in the American market.”

To defend that market share, Mediaplus North America and De’Longhi launched their first joint campaign, with an integrated approach, in autumn 2022. Its goal was to democratize coffee that’s not only good, but perfect.

The results of the collaboration delivered a record-breaking Q4 for De’Longhi including a 74% increase in sales of fully automatic machines, 67% increase in sales of manual espresso machines and a 50% increase in conversion. Results were as perfect as De’Longhi coffee.

The TrueBrew Launch

March 2023 saw the first launch of the TrueBrew coffee machine in North America, a fully-automatic, bean-to-cup drip coffee machine – designed for the North American audience. Despite drinking lattes away from home, most Americans still drink drip coffee at home. Current options in the market force coffee drinkers to choose between quality (freshly ground beans, precision brewing) and convenience (pods). De’Longhi was determined to change that, bringing both quality and convenience into home with TrueBrew.

Launched around the Oscars, with a national push in all media, consumers saw the De’Longhi campaign everywhere. The holistic strategy, which went beyond media measures, had an enormous impact on the market. It was a huge success. Within two months, the awareness of TrueBrew increased from 0 to 68% – an amazing feat for a new product. Additionally, the brand saw an uptick in awareness of 13 percentage points. More so, De’Longhi couldn’t keep the product on the virtual or in-store shelf – being at sold out capacity multiple times following the launch.

For Tamara Alesi, Mediaplus North America, data has played a major role in the success story: “We take a data-led approach and ensure we’re being accountable for not only media metrics and business results, but also for truly inspiring consumers in their coffee moments, whether they’re watching their favorite show or walking by their favorite shop. Our campaign was built to inspire throughout the day and evoke purchase.”

The secret of success

That increase was achieved through a lot of research, a lot of planning and above all: a lot of teamwork. There was strong collaboration not only between agency and marketing team, but also between PR, sales and product teams. This holistic, integrated approach created greater reach, frequency and brand visibility along the entire consumer path than any single marketing function could achieve on its own.

“Our Mediaplus method of working with business metrics along with media metrics was the main reason why De’Longhi wanted to work with us. And I think the huge success around TrueBrew is a great example for our special partnership. It’s important to be not just an agency, but also a true partner, who understands the brand’s visions, goals, and its challenges”, explains Tamara Alesi. Colón adds another success factor: accountability and adaptability. Adaptability, both in terms of working models to suit client needs, and in terms of adjusting media plans in real time.

Mediaplus North America and De’Longhi began their relationship with the same expectations of how they wanted to work together and what they wanted to achieve. “With Mediaplus, we found a partner on our side that would immerse itself in the De’Longhi business while being respectful and accountable. We are always communicating in an open and transparent manner”, says Colón.