Smucker Positions Coffee Brand As So Good It Ought To Be Illegal

The J.M Smucker Company is out with a new campaign for its 1850 Coffee that features a film-like cop dramedy spot that treats the coffee like an illegal contraband.

The work is from Publicis Groupe’s PSOne, a bespoke unit for The J.M. Smucker Company.

The spot tracks men in ascots hiding steamy hot mugs in their blazer pockets, stockbrokers pouring it from carafes on street corners, and Hollywood “it” stars getting cuffed for possession.

Sample the work here.

“We’re still growing awareness with the 1850 Coffee brand,” says Tina Meyer-Hawkes, vice president of marketing for coffee, The J.M. Smucker Company. “I can’t imagine a more highly charged narrative to position the brand front and center in people’s minds and funny bones.”

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 “Five months ago, we had a completely different campaign," explains Erica Roberts, executive creative officer, PSOne. "It was solid and smart, but it was safe. And there was no way that it’d breakthrough in the way we needed."

It was only while on set during a different J.M. Smucker Company production, both teams sat down and decided to "blow up" the current work and start over, she says. Drector Andreas Nilsson from Biscuit Filmworks is credited with developing the unique neo-noir-meets-cop-dramedy genre. "It meant walking away from months of creative development and consumer testing, and that we’d only have three weeks to land on a new campaign. It paid off.”

The "Quality That’s Criminal" campaign includes a two-minute anthem film, TV spots of varying length, online video and social activations.

Smucker announced last month that it is consolidating the majority of its marketing business with Publicis Groupe as it undertakes a major business transformation.

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