The Nabob Coffee Company is a small Canadian coffee campaign that was falling out of favour as coffee culture moved beyond the simplicity of coffee. Instead of following the trends, Nabob outright rejected them. Nabob decided it was time to remind consumers to “Respect the Bean” with an integrated campaign pitting Nabob squarely against out-of-control coffee culture.

The campaign used real Colombian coffee farmers to respond to the ever-changing absurdity of North American coffee culture. In a series of TV spots and online videos they tasted frappuccinos, were introduced to pumpkin spice, and learned about hipster mustaches. They weren't impressed.

The campaign continued with strategically-placed out-of-home and always-on social responded to every frou-frou coffee trend.

The campaign was a resounding success as Nabob’s Respect the Bean messaging resonated with Canadian coffee drinkers and translated into increased sales at grocery stores.

The Respect the Bean campaign started in the coffee fields of Colombia with a TV campaign featuring hard-working coffee farmers responding to the ever-changing absurdity of North American coffee culture. They tasted frappuccinos, were introduced to pumpkin spice, and learned about hipster mustaches. They weren't impressed.

The campaign continued with responsive online videos. When someone set the record for most expensive Starbucks drink our farmers responded that day. When coffee shops released their holiday cups, we were there. Whenever coffee culture changed, Nabob was there with another video.

Next came out-of-home with creative that directly went up against the giants of coffee culture. The executions were strategically placed as close as possible to corner coffee shops.

Always on social media continued Nabob’s anti-coffee culture stance with daily tweets lampooning coffee culture and reminding consumers to Respect the Bean.

To date Nabob is seeing tremendous success nationally across key brand health metrics. Without any paid search activity whatsoever online video views are exceeding 1.5 million and counting. Nabob also saw an outpouring of positive sentiment online as consumers commiserated with the brand at the ridiculousness of coffee culture. Celebrities like William Shatner even joined in to announce that they “Respect the Bean.” This sentiment is driving increased velocity, consumption, and household penetration growth. Household penetration increased 3 points and share was up nearly a full share point. In a category that grew only 4%, Nabob’s total grocery sales are up a stunning 18% versus last year. Nabob’s Respect the Bean campaign made an almost forgotten brand relevant again to Canadian coffee drinkers.