Figuring out an identity is a rite of passage for any 10-year-old. It’s a time in life when you ask some pretty big questions about your values, your intentions and how you show up in the world. 

And it’s no different when that 10-year-old is a coffee company. 

Going backwards 

200º Coffee came to us with a milestone birthday approaching. Things had changed a lot in the last decade for their brand – they’d grown from a small independent to a company with double-digit shops, a huge roast house and ambitious plans for expansion. 

Naturally, tensions were beginning to show in the brand’s identity. 

10 years of tweaks here and there had created an organisation with a mixed personality – was it edgy or inclusive?

Was it funny or did it do everything with a wry smile?

Was it a traditional or did it have modern appeal? 

All big questions that needed to be answered to set a clear roadmap for success. 

The answers came by immersing ourselves in everything 200º. We spent time with the founders, held workshops, visited shops and roast houses.

We trained as baristas and walked the streets of Nottingham looking for clues. We spoke to staff and customers, assessed the competition and drank enough coffee to disrupt our sleep patterns.  

Going forwards

All the purposeful digging brought us a sound understanding of the people within the brand and their collective spirit, and led to a set of strategic documents that captured the heart and soul of the organisation.  

We also produced a coffee awareness scale that shone a light on 200º Coffee’s customer base. As with any project, our customer is our customers’ customer, and this scale became a tool to hold our work up against to make sure it would resonate with the people visiting the shops. 

The brand persona, values and verbal identity documents we produced created clear alignment across the organisation, from the baristas on the shop floors to the members of the board plotting the course for growth.

200º Coffee is opening new stores and selling more than ever. Meanwhile, we still can’t pour a decent rosetta in our lattes. Check out our Instagram post about it.