Posted on: Tuesday, October 12, 2004

Wake up and smell that coffee nostalgia

By Theresa Howard
USA Today

NEW YORK — A pair of venerable coffee brands are being dusted off to take on Starbucks for more of the premium coffee dollar at the supermarket.

On Monday, No. 5 brand Eight O'Clock Coffee, one of the original whole-roasted bean brands, begins its first TV advertising in its 145 years.

And Sara Lee is looking to rejuvenate its No. 7 Chock full o'Nuts Coffee, a 70-year-old brand that originated in New York City, with national advertising.

Both are trying to take advantage of the coffee culture sparked by Starbucks in the past decade.

Brand watcher Allen Adamson of image agency Landor says the revived marketing "makes perfect sense." The iconic brands "can reach deep into their authenticity. They have the opportunity to become retro hip or chic. They've just been sleepy or comatose."

Eight O'Clock Coffee says the Starbucks phenomenon has helped perk up the ground-bean business — a $2.6 billion market, according to tracking firm Information Resources.

"Starbucks has helped make coffee cool and contemporary again," says David Allen, director of marketing for Eight O'Clock. Cool and contemporary has translated into a premium price at supermarkets, where 13-ounce bags of Starbucks varieties sell for about $8.

Next to Starbucks, the old-time brands are a bargain at about $3.99 for a 13-ounce bag, even though that is about a dollar more for 13 ounces than major brands in cans. Eight O'Clock can command a premium thanks to the upscale image Starbucks helped create, but its ads will tout its mainstream roots.

"The perception is that a bag of coffee is a luxury," says Allen. "We're trying to represent the common person and real coffee — a genuine, good, solid, everyday cup of coffee."

New ads by the Kaplan Thaler Group will promote that image in 30 markets.

Under new owner Gryphon Investors, a San Francisco equity firm that bought the brand last year from the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., the ad budget is up 200 percent this year. The first ad features whistling champion Steve Herbst, who can't whistle before Eight O'Clock. In another ad, WNBA player Diana Taurasi can't land a shot until her first cup.

Chock full o'Nuts, bought by Sara Lee in 2000, is looking at its first national marketing push after ads in its New York home market earlier this year helped boost volume by double digits, says Stefan Ennals, senior brand manager. "We want to broaden beyond New York and grow the brand further a field," he says.

Meanwhile, the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia is using Juan Valdez, its 60-year-old brand symbol for Colombian-grown coffee, for its Juan Valdez Cafes to try to rival Starbucks coffee shops. The cooperative of 560,000 coffee farmers last month opened the first two outlets in a planned chain of 50 in the United States by the end of 2005.