Submitted by Jellybean

TRU Holborn Café Launch Influencer and Sampling Campaign

Influencer Marketing

Jellybean launched TRU, a feel good food and specialty coffee café in London's Holborn district, through an integrated campaign that reports PR coverage reach in excess of 1M.

1MPR Coverage Reach

Case in 60 seconds

TRU was a new feel good food and specialty coffee café entering a crowded food to go and café market in Holborn, where time-poor consumers switch outlets freely, so the launch had to win trial quickly.

The campaign turns on proximity rather than reach, because commuters, office workers and students on food-to-go and coffee missions choose among outlets close to where they already are, so Jellybean treated the launch as a local habit to interrupt.

Jellybean built an integrated consumer launch around people on food-to-go and coffee missions close to the café, using multiple consumer touchpoints to disrupt habits, drive trial and encourage repeat visits rather than relying on one channel.

Brand ambassadors carried out outreach and sampling for the Holborn café while PR, social media and influencer marketing ran alongside, and 13 high profile foodie influencers visited TRU and reviewed it positively.

Jellybean reports direct engagement with over 10,000 consumers in the first week of launch and geo-targeted social reach of over 200,000, with the influencer visits reaching an additional 190,000 consumers and PR coverage reach in excess of 1 million.

Strategy Breakdown

Commuters, office workers and students in London's Holborn district, specifically consumers on food-to-go and coffee missions in close proximity to the café.
The food to go and café market in central London is crowded and its consumers are time-poor and promiscuous, so a new café holds no guaranteed place in the daily coffee and lunch routine.
TRU presents itself as a feel good food and specialty coffee café, so the launch set out to make it a destination in a daily routine rather than an occasional stop.
Commuters, office workers and students buy food and coffee on missions close to where they already are, so the campaign concentrated contact around the café rather than spreading it across London.

Creative & Execution System

Assets & channels

  • Other

Partners

  • Jellybean

Results & Evidence

MetricValue
Direct Consumer Engagementover 10K consumers
Geo-Targeted Social Reachover 200K reach
PR Coverage Reach1M reach

Why Jellybean's strategy worked

  1. 1

    Sampling by brand ambassadors suits a café launch because trial is the first barrier for a new outlet, so putting product in hands near the site turns proximity into a first visit rather than an intention.

  2. 2

    Geo-targeting social reach to the area around a single site keeps effort on people who can actually walk in, which matters more to one café than awareness spread across a whole city.

  3. 3

    Inviting foodie influencers to visit and review a new café gives it outside endorsement at opening, while their reviews carry the venue to consumers the ambassadors could not meet in person.

Related Case studies