Bodega-Born Café Bustelo Coffee Colourfully Celebrates its Latin Roots
Café Bustelo, the legacy espresso-style coffee brand, is making its US national debut in a vibrant new ad campaign, blending modern and traditional Latin imagery and music in a celebration of the brand’s heritage. Since 1928, Café Bustelo’s bold flavour and iconic, colorful packaging have been both known, and loved, in Latin communities across the country. Now, for the first time ever, the brand is available nationwide. The new ad campaign is titled, ‘Café Bustelo Estuvo Aquí’ (Café Bustelo Was Here), and debuts September 2nd on Univision, VH1, Travel Channel, Ion, Nick at Nite, and others, with a spirited 30-second broadcast commercial as the creative centrepiece. Additional campaign elements include online, digital banners, social, OOH, and radio.
The campaign is the first creative work for the Café Bustelo coffee brand from PSOne, the Publicis Groupe’s Power of One team, a bespoke solution for The J.M. Smucker Company.
The Café Bustelo Estuvo Aquí campaign creates a world unique to the legacy barrio-born coffee brand, embracing the vibrancy of its iconic bright yellow and red packaging to reflect the vitality of the Latin culture, from food, art, music and yes, even Café Bustelo coffee. The broadcast commercial brings to life the wonderful feeling that wherever there is a can of Café Bustelo, or a cup of its espresso ground coffee, the world around is transformed, spreading sabor Latino for all to enjoy.
The campaign boasts bold, minimalist illustration-style visuals, with a retro poster feel, in a colourful and creative nod to the authenticity of the brand. Both modern and traditional Latin imagery are used to represent Café Bustelo’s multi-generational appeal. The music featured in the campaign adds to the mix, marrying old and new, by combining traditional Latin rhythms, with modern electronic beats, and was created by HiFi Project. One taste of this bold Latin blend and you’ll understand why it’s always more exciting in the knowledge that ‘Café Bustelo Estuvo Aquí’.
“It’s so exhilarating to see this brilliant work capture the authentic Latin spirit, passion and heritage of Café Bustelo coffee in an artistic way,” stated Liz Mayer, consumer engagement & omnichannel customer marketing lead, The J.M. Smucker Company. “We cannot wait for this work- the first campaign of this nature for the business - to drive awareness of this growing brand that already has such a loyal following. In a crowded category like coffee, this brand definitely holds its own, and this creative created by PSOne further exemplifies this.”
“Cafe Bustelo is a bold espresso-style coffee brand with deep roots in Latin communities,” added Tina Meyer-Hawkes, vice president of marketing on coffee, The J.M. Smucker Company.“This new creative beautifully blends Latin-inspired music and art into an energetic story that is unique to Café Bustelo. I can’t think of a better way to invite new consumers to join our brand tribe.”
“We want to invite you to get a ‘taste’ of our coffee and culture through the vibrancy and energy of our magnetic Café Bustelo Estuvo Aquí national campaign; a first for our brand,” said Eduardo S. Merino, Senior Brand Manager, The J.M. Smucker Company. “We feel very proud to continue with our Latino traditions of inviting and bringing people together over a cup of cafecito, and we want to continue doing so for generations. ¡Están invitados!”
“Coffee is such a cluttered space,” stated Andy Bird, chief creative officer, PSOne. “The Café Bustelo Estuvo Aquí campaign disregards the category tropes and artfully creates a space unique to this very special brand. It’s loud, proud, and incredibly ownable.”
“We felt a real sense of responsibility in creating the first-ever national campaign for Café Bustelo, said Erica Roberts, executive creative director, PSOne. “The brand has been a staple in the Latin community for almost a century; it’s got serious street cred. So whatever we created needed to preserve this and be unapologetically Latin.”
