What you will find in the article:
- History of coffee's origins and global journey
- Significance of coffee in advertising and culture
- Evolution of coffee commercials from the 17th century
- Impact of characters like Juan Valdez in marketing
- Folgers' emotional branding connecting coffee to home life
Before coffee became the drink we now order in cafés or prepare at home without giving it much thought, however, it had to travel a very long way. There are various legends surrounding its discovery, but historical and botanical evidence suggests that it originated in what is now Ethiopia and South Sudan and was probably domesticated and cultivated in Yemen. From the Yemeni port of Mocha, coffee then began its journey around the world – first to India, then to Europe in the 17th century, and later to the Americas. Incidentally, the term mocha, still widely used today, is derived from the name of this port.
From the very beginning, coffee was much more than just a drink. Historically, coffee houses, much like today, were places for meeting, doing business, exchanging information and engaging in political and social debate. The British even began referring to coffee houses as penny universities – for the price of a cup of coffee, visitors could listen to conversations, read newspapers and discuss new ideas. Even then, coffee possessed many of the qualities that advertising continues to draw on today – it was associated with communication, social interaction, inspiration and a particular lifestyle.
From medicinal claims to advertising storytelling
The history of coffee advertising probably dates back to the 17th century. One of the earliest surviving printed advertisements for coffee in English comes from London in 1652. The leaflet, titled The Vertue of the COFFEE Drink, promoted coffee sold by Pasqua Rosée in St. Michael’s Alley. It explained the drink’s origin and preparation and, above all, listed its alleged health benefits – from aiding digestion and relieving headaches to helping people stay awake. These were, of course, advertising claims of their time rather than medical recommendations in the modern sense. Yet more than 370 years ago, advertising was already doing exactly what it still does today: identifying the strongest possible benefit for a product.
As mass media developed, coffee gained a new advertising stage. The collections of the National Museum of American History, for example, include radio advertisements from the Maxwell House Coffee Time programme dating back to 1941.
Coffee and television advertising
Coffee appeared on television screens virtually from the earliest days of commercial television, long before TV advertising became a routine part of everyday household life. In 1946, for example, the promotional film Tropical Treasure presented the journey and production of Chase & Sanborn coffee. In the same year, however, the brand was already experimenting directly with the new medium of television. From May 1946, its coffee was promoted on NBC’s American variety programme Hour Glass, which included live staged advertising segments. Coffee was therefore present at the very beginnings of commercial television communication and gradually became one of the products capable of combining an everyday ritual with emotion, storytelling and lifestyle on screen.
Video: Chase & Sanborn
Just a few years later, Hills Bros. Coffee also began experimenting with television.
Video: Hills Bros. Coffee – Come On Everybody
The Smithsonian, the US public institution dedicated to museums, research and the preservation of historical collections, holds in its archive a collection of Hills Bros. Coffee television commercials dating back to 1951. Ads from the early 1950s feature themes such as dinner, camping, dating and happy married life. Coffee is no longer presented merely as a product, but as part of everyday life and human relationships.
Television advertising for coffee naturally has one major disadvantage: viewers cannot smell its aroma or taste its flavour. Creatives therefore translate these sensory qualities into images and stories – through steam rising from a cup, the sound of coffee being poured, characters’ reactions, or situations we strongly associate with coffee. Sometimes it is about waking up, sometimes coming home, two people meeting, an exotic place of origin or a sense of luxury. It is precisely this ability to fill an ordinary cup with meaning that makes coffee such a rewarding subject for advertising.
Juan Valdez: The origin of coffee
One of the most interesting examples of how television advertising changed the way we think about coffee is Juan Valdez. The National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia created this fictional character in collaboration with an advertising agency to explain to consumers where their coffee came from. Television commercials broadcast in North America as early as the 1960s showed Juan Valdez and his mule among coffee plants, hand-picking ripe coffee cherries. Instead of an anonymous commodity, viewers were presented with a story about the country of origin, the growers and the care involved in harvesting. The example from the 1980s continues this concept.
Video: 100% Colombian Coffee – Juan Valdez
Folgers: Coffee associated with coming home
Folgers took a completely different approach, building a long-term association between coffee, mornings, home and family emotions. In 1984, the brand introduced the slogan and jingle The Best Part of Wakin’ Up Is Folgers in Your Cup. A year later came the Christmas commercial known as “Peter Comes Home”. A young man returns home early in the morning and, together with his little sister, prepares coffee. Its aroma gradually draws the rest of the family into the kitchen. The product itself is essentially a vehicle for telling a simple story about coming home. The surviving recording of the commercial was broadcast on Chicago television on 9 December 1985.
Video: Folgers – Peter Comes Home
Jihlavanka: “Smells Good”
Czech advertising has its own textbook example of how to work with the aroma of coffee. Jihlavanka launched its first advertising campaign in 1996, but the commercial that probably made the strongest impression on viewers was the 2001 spot “Pekař” (“Baker”). A simple slogan – “Voní hezky” (“Smells Good”) – was enough to make aroma the central theme of the entire ad. Jihlavanka itself now describes the commercial featuring the baker as legendary in the brand’s history.
Video: Jihlavanka – “Voní hezky” (“Smells Good”) (2001)
Jihlavanka successfully continued along its advertising journey. In 2004, it launched the popular “Cukrář” (“Pastry Chef”) commercial, while in 2014 a television ad featured an innovative shoemaker who decides to give classic leather shoes a new twist by tattooing them. The brand followed up the story with the message “We at Jihlavanka also enjoy bringing new ideas” and subsequently launched the digital campaign “A Cup of Ideas”. In 2017 came the campaign “Traditionally or in a New Way, Always Honestly Made”, accompanied by a commercial set in a carpenter’s workshop. In 2019, Jihlavanka introduced a new communication concept represented by the advertising spot “A Break for a Proper Coffee”. In 2021, the brand shifted its focus to coffee preparation with the commercials “What Type Are You: Automatic or Manual?” and “How Easy Is Coffee from a Moka Pot?”
Nespresso: George Clooney
While Jihlavanka builds on a familiar domestic environment, Nespresso has created a world of elegance, confidence and celebrity around coffee. George Clooney became the face of the brand in 2006, and the question “What else?” became firmly associated with the campaign. The very first commercial is based on a simple joke: Clooney overhears two women using words such as intense, mysterious and seductive and assumes they are talking about him. In fact, they are describing an espresso. The celebrity therefore comes second – the real star is meant to be the coffee. Nespresso’s partnership with Clooney subsequently continued for two decades and became one of the most recognisable elements of the brand’s communication.
Video: Nespresso – George Clooney
Nespresso’s collaboration with George Clooney gradually expanded to include other major figures from international cinema. One of the most prominent was French actor Jean Dujardin, whose comedic energy complemented Clooney’s self-deprecating style particularly well. Their joint appearances shifted Nespresso advertising away from straightforward product messaging towards short cinematic stories built around humour, rivalry and the desire to secure a cup of exceptional coffee. Eight years after their first on-screen encounter, the brand launched a humorous action-packed television commercial built around the concept “How far would you go for a cup of Nespresso coffee?” This time, the dynamic duo was joined by Dujardin’s talented fellow actor Camille Cottin. In the entertaining comedy commercial, the stars demonstrate that the taste of Nespresso coffee is so exceptional they would do anything for it, inevitably leading to the question: how far would you go for the unforgettable taste of Nespresso coffee?
Video: Nespresso – How Far Would You Go for a Cup of Nespresso Coffee?
In March this year, Nespresso’s communication entered a new phase. British-Albanian singer Dua Lipa became the brand’s new global ambassador, bringing themes of creativity, discovery and new taste experiences to its communication. In doing so, Nespresso is building on its long-standing advertising tradition associated primarily with George Clooney while also moving its communication towards a younger generation and contemporary pop culture. Clooney has not disappeared from the campaign entirely – in the new global “Vertuo World” campaign, he appears in a brief cameo, symbolically connecting the brand’s advertising legacy with its new face.
Video: Nespresso – Explore Vertuo World
Coffee vs Gangs: When coffee advertising has a social dimension
Coffee advertising does not have to sell only taste, aroma or lifestyle. Between 2014 and 2016, British brand Kenco introduced the “Coffee vs Gangs” initiative, which provided education and opportunities for young people from coffee-growing communities in Honduras affected by local gang violence. The brand launched the programme through a high-profile television campaign. Advertising thus shifted attention away from the consumer and back to the beginning of the coffee supply chain – to the people and communities where coffee originates. In 2016, the campaign won bronze at the IPA Effectiveness Awards. According to the IPA case study, the television element of the campaign achieved a return on investment more than three times higher than the FMCG average at the time.
Video: Kenco – Coffee vs Gangs
Contemporary coffee advertising is also increasingly returning to where the story begins – to growers, origins and production conditions. This year’s global campaign by the International Coffee Organization carries the message “Coffee is Part of the Solution” and highlights the importance of the sector to approximately 12.5 million coffee-farming families. International Coffee Day is therefore not only an opportunity to enjoy one extra cup. It is also a fitting moment to remember how many people, countries, traditions – and, of course, advertising stories – are hidden behind an ordinary cup of coffee.