• by Larissa Faw , November 24, 2015

Peet's Coffee and Tea has regularly introduced special holiday blends to celebrate the season, and this year the specialty coffee brand is introducing its first advertising campaign to promote this season's three special blends: Peet’s annual Holiday Blend coffee, Salted Caramel Macchiato and Cinnamon Hazelnut Latte. 

Developed by creative AOR Cutwater, the multi-faceted campaign includes TV, digital, and social media and targets a new demographic for the brand – so-called “Millennial Connoisseurs”– who are trend setters, knowledgeable influencers and modern coffee aficionados, according to the agency. 

Peet's is celebrating the holidays with traditional Christmas and other holiday images. (Competing brand Starbucks caused a big stir when it removed such images from its cups this year.) The digital component of the Peet’s campaign features  images created with Peet’s coffee beans including Santa Claus, a reindeer and a penguin. 

The images were chosen to have a broad appeal and to not support any specific religions. Instead of entirely eliminating all holiday pictures, Peet's is going in the opposite direction by providing guests with options. 

"It's celebrating holidays.I think that people love the holiday season," says Christian Hughes, principal and president, San Francisco-based Cutwater.  

Meanwhile, each of the three blends receives its own creative executions. The three TV spots were shot at the Peet’s coffee bean roastery in Alameda, CA, in keeping with the spirit of the brand’s authentic ethos and will air in the San Francisco/Bay Area market. 

In order to generate social media chatter, Peet's is holding its Free Coffee Day on December 24. Digital banners showcase a holiday cup with a gift tag that invites the reader to "have a free holiday blend on us" with a location finder to identify the nearest shop.  

The Peet's holiday campaign follows a summer campaign—the first from recently appointed AOR Cutwater that showcased the brand’s cold-brewed coffees as well as its "black tie" beverage.