Marketing the coffee that will save coffee.
Direct Access
Not long ago, coffee roasters Colin Seeley of Ironside Roasting Company and Matt Bishop of Café Mulé merged to leverage their expertise and create a new coffee brand called Direct Access. Why? Simply put, the coffee supply chain didn’t provide small growers enough profits to make viable livings. There were just too many hands in the chain from the grower’s farm to store shelves. Colin and Matt envisioned a simplified model where growers themselves could be empowered to earn more profits — all without raising retail and consumer prices.
Direct Access asked Duft Watterson to help them bring this big idea to life, which included creating the brand from scratch with logo development, package design, a pitch deck for grocers, a brand style guide, an e-commerce website and more. We also worked with Direct Access to dial in brand messaging to ensure buyers and customers could fully comprehend the new, and sometimes complicated, business model that supports farmers so they can continue to grow coffee and not switch over to other crops like bananas, etc. And it’s working. Farmers are signing up, and Direct Access is gaining shelf space in major grocery retailers and is ready to roast the competition.
Coffee that directly supports the livelihood of small farmers.
Nicaraguan coffee grower Isidro Salgado recently built a new house with the money he earned from coffee sales and plans to expand his operation.
