• by Danielle Oster , September 26, 2025

Alluding to the sad realities of rising consumer costs, and a difficult housing market with a lack of affordable homes, even Maxwell House is downgrading. 

The Kraft Heinz instant coffee brand launched a fall campaign, rebranding for the first time in its 133-year history to “Maxwell Apartment,” if only temporarily.

“Maxwell Apartment” is running across online video, and social media, including paid social content on Meta and TikTok, as well as influencer partnerships.

As part of the “Maxwell Apartment” campaign, the brand is introducing a promotional offer on National Coffee Day, Sept. 29, for a 12-month “lease” to save on coffee for the next year with an Amazon subscription. With the cost of the deal coming in under $40, the brand claims it can save consumers more than $1,000 annually, or an average of around $90 per month, over daily cafe orders, citing 2023 data from Craft Coffee Spot.

The campaign follows a surge in coffee prices last month, in the wake of the implementation of tariffs on countries the U.S. imports coffee from, including a 50% tariff on Brazil, the largest exporter of coffee to the U.S. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics, the average cost of roasted coffee increased 21.7% for August, compared to August of 2024, and a seasonally adjusted 4.1% over the preceding month. The average cost of instant coffee also rose, jumping 20.1% year-over-year. So it’s easy to see the appeal of locking in a one year “lease” on coffee prices.

“We saw something fun hiding in plain sight—our brand has the word ‘house’ in it. But at a time when daily life has become more expensive, a lot of people are living that apartment life,” Zachary Bautista, group creative director at Rethink, the brand’s agency partner for the campaign, said in a statement . “Maxwell Apartment is our way of showing that great coffee doesn’t have to come with a premium price tag.”

The effort is one of two value-focused campaigns the brand is running this fall as an extension of its “Good To The Last Drop” brand platform. An upcoming “Max Your Savings” campaign will launch on YouTube Oct. 27.