Inside Folgers' effort to embrace its 'bad reputation'

A campaign breaking today for Folgers aims to perk up a stale reputation for the 172-year-old coffee brand by switching its focus from the emotional benefits that have long been a part of its marketing story to the product itself—an asset that officials confess has been neglected over the years. A 30-second spot kicking off the campaign begins in a grocery store coffee aisle where a woman examining the selection draws a quizzical look from a young couple. The Folgers’ jingle, “The Best Part of Waking Up,” plays faintly in the background. The work comes from Publicis’ PSOne agency, which has worked with Folgers since 2019. The woman shoots back a defiant glance before emptying the Folgers shelves into her shopping cart as Joan Jett’s punk anthem “Bad Reputation” plays. The ad then gallops through snippets that show the coffee and a wide range of its drinkers in their homes and businesses including a diner, a barber shop and a factory before arriving in the streets of New Orleans, where a brass street band led by jazz star Trombone Shorty performs a Dixieland countermelody. “Allow us to reintroduce ourselves,” a graphic reads. “Proudly roasted in our hometown of New Orleans.” Get the latest Ad Age Super Bowl 2022 news here. According to Erica Roberts, chief creative officer of Publicis NY, the ad doesn’t represent a comeback so much as a “double click” on elements of the brand its fans appreciate without necessarily having known. “We’ve always talked about the best part of waking up, but we never talked about the best parts of the best parts of waking up,” said Roberts. “That’s things like what goes into the coffee itself, how it’s made, the farmers, the roasters, the master cuppers, and the 35 million Americans who don’t give a shit what people think and drink it every day nonetheless.” In that sense, the campaign seeks new converts and reconsideration from those that may have left the franchise. Folgers has a colorful advertising history including its signature jingle—ironically, a few years younger than Jett’s defiant “Bad Reputation.” In 2009, a Saatchi & Saatchi remake of a 1980s ad known as “Peter Comes Home for Christmas” took on a life of its own behind R- and X-rated parodies that read sexual tension between its leading players. In late 2019, Folgers revived the “Best Part” jingle—and winked to its holiday history—in ads using a chorus in red pajamas singing the anthem as various calamities played out behind them. Although Folgers remains the top-selling U.S. coffee brand, the influence of Starbucks and other specialty rivals in recent years has presented a challenge to legacy names. “It’s safe to say there are other brands out there, including the one on every corner, that has shifted the way we think about coffee. It’s not just a commodity anymore,” Roberts said. “When we were younger, we just drank whatever was in the pot. Today we know what mountains the beans were grown on. It’s definitely become a more craft-focused, artisanal experience, even at the mass level, even at a McCafé level. Our vocabulary has expanded so much when it comes to coffee.” Register for Ad Age Next: Health & Wellness at AdAge.com/NextWellness. Folgers can speak this language too, Roberts argued. “We have master cuppers, and best-in-class craft as far as how the coffee is prepared, but we’d never shared that part of the story before.” At the same time, the company’s research indicated that consumers feel 'Folgers is not for me,’” Geoff Tanner, chief commercial and marketing officer Smucker, said in a release. “In a competitive category that has dismissed the brand and labeled Folgers as their grandma’s coffee, we’re shaking things up by boldly choosing to overtly acknowledge any negative misperceptions and then loudly and proudly challenge them.” A series of four 15-second spots directly address various misconceptions about the brand—including that it’s strictly for older consumers. “Think of us as your grandma’s coffee? Heck, yes we are,” a voiceover says as cameras reveal a hip grandma in red-framed eyeglasses and a worn denim jacket, “and 35 million more with equally excellent taste.” The campaign will be deployed across TV, online video and streaming audio channels and supported with a social media campaign that will involve influencers and a hashtag, #Damnrightitsfolgers, that officials are confident will garner attention. The J.M. Smucker Co. has been in charge Folgers' marketing for more than a dozen years, having paid $3 billion to buy it from Procter & Gamble in 2008. Sales of Smucker's retail coffee brands, which include the Café Bustelo and Dunkin’ brands, rose 2% to nearly $1.19 billion in the first six months of fiscal 2022. It was Smucker’s most profitable business segment, though profit for the unit declined 7% in the first half of the fiscal year. PSOne is a division of Publicis that works exclusively with Smucker’s brands including kitchen stalwarts like Jif and Meow Mix that have also exhibited ambitions to market beyond choosy moms under new campaigns. One key to making it work is a tight bond between the brand and its marketers, Roberts said. “You can’t tell where one of our company ends and the other begins.” Don’t miss the latest news. Sign up for Ad Age newsletters here.

Inside Folgers' effort to embrace its 'bad reputation'

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