Social Impact Coffee
Roasting beans, not the planet
Social Impact Coffee is a specialty roastery with a big idea. That every cup of coffee served shouldn’t just taste good, but should do good. With a commitment to using beans from regenerative farms, zero waste cafes, net zero delivery, and donating 65% of profits to social causes, they needed a tone of voice as bold and purposeful as their brew.
The story
Social Impact Coffee launched with one big cupful of ambition: To make corporate coffee taste good and do good, enabling businesses to energise their teams with great coffee and social and environmental impact. To cut through the greenfroth of dominant coffee brands, they needed a voice that was radically transparent, but as bold and purposeful as a double espresso.
We developed a tone of voice to bring the brand idea and values to life in words, giving a taste of what it’s like to work with SIC and what it’s like to drink in their coffee bars. It was defined by four simple values: Clear, Conscience, Coffee and Cup Half Full. The voice needed to work for both the B2B audience, who would choose Social Impact Coffee for their corporate cafes, bars and restaurants, and for the end consumer, for whom a strong catering offer is an important perk of working from the office. Messaging focused on taste, provenance, purpose, social and environmental impact, and transparency around profit donation.
We partnered on: Tone of voice concept, core copy, brand values, packaging, headline writing
Collaborated with: Without Studio, Roly Grant, Philip Koh, Peter Ryan, Narcis Serrats, Lucija Cimas
As seen in: The Brand Identity, Design Week
Tone of voice
Clear
Radically transparent, we are honest, open, straight talkers. Our writing is refreshingly, sometimes entertainingly, blunt. To make a change sometimes we need to break a few rules.
Conscience
Purposeful and principled, we are focused on making a difference. Our writing is impactful, bold and in our mission without being righteous.
Coffee
Obsessive about our brew, we are major experts (but not barista bores) in all things coffee, including sourcing, roasting, brewing, serving and enjoying. Our writing shows our joy, knowledge and craft, without pretension or snobbery.
Cup half full
Positive and optimistic, we are biassed to hope and happiness. Our writing is upbeat, energetic and often comes with a wink. We take the cause seriously, but not ourselves.
Key copy:
“The tone of voice is my favourite part. There were moments in the ideation session where elements of tone came across and that’s when we realised that we had something special. This isn’t about creating another coffee brand, but about creating amazing experiences for our clients in their offices so that they can attract great people with purpose.”
Adrian Evans Founder, Social Impact Coffee
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