Eager to position Caribou Coffee as the place to connect over two new and delicious beverage platforms last summer, Caribou broke through the sea-of-coffeehouse-marketing sameness by meeting the important yet elusive Gen Z target audience where they were at: reality dating shows and TikTok.
Many first dates start at Caribou, so we created Dream Date: A Sip at Love—a lively six-episode social-first dating show that paired Gen Z singles on blind dates bonding over truths, dares, and non-coffee forward drinks.
Hosted by the award-winning comedian Hannah Berner, Influencers also jumped on board equipped with Dream Date kits to dish over the new drinks, rate and boost each episode, while paid, owned, shared, and earned media drove guests to their nearest Caribou Coffee. It was the perfect runway to release these tasty new drinks.
And the response? Absolutely dreamy. Gen Z fell head over heels in love with the show, exclaiming, "This is the best ad I've seen." “Love this for ‘Bou” “OMG i love caribou.” and "I hate commercials, and I watched this twice."
In the first 10 days, 80% of views came from new social media fans, adding up to 23.1 million views and 764.7 million earned media impressions and counting. The episodes were shared more than 2,500 times. In all, the program generated 34,000 total engagements with 99.9% positive sentiment.
The campaign created loyal Caribou Coffee fans who not only tuned in to watch but headed to their local Caribou Coffee to try the drinks. Energy drink sales exceeded goal by +170%, making it the most successful launch in Caribou’s recent history.
So.... how did it perform?
23.1M views and 742.5M earned media impressions
80% of views came from non-followers
Contributed to 29% YTD social follower growth
34k+ engagements with 99.9% positive sentiment
22.2% Lift in Ad Recall, 2x higher than TikTok’s Dining & QSR benchmark.
3.8% Lift in Favorability and 3.5% Lift in Purchase Intent.
Role: Associate Creative Director
Executive Creative Director: Jason Strong
Copywriting: Kristi Batterbee