This Kenco Ad is Like No Other Coffee Campaign You've Ever Seen

Forget intoxicating swirls, luxuriating women and suave celebrities, Tattoos is a coffee commercials with a difference. Mondelēz International-owned Kenco coffee is launching an innovative new multimedia campaign to raise awareness of its Coffee vs Gangs pilot project in Honduras.

Honduras produces some of the world’s best coffee but is also home to many dangerous gangs. The ‘Coffee vs Gangs’ project will target 20 young people who are at a crossroads in their life and at risk of entering a gang, creating opportunities for them to choose a positive future through education and training. This enable them to be coffee entrepreneurs and enjoy a sustainable future. By supporting the young people with the skills and support they need to become successful entrepreneurs, Kenco is hoping to help develop the next generation of coffee growers.

JWT London devised the creative for this hard-hitting campaign. The TV spot tells the story of life in Honduras through a mix of live action and animation via the medium of tattoos, the central representation of gang culture in Central America. A young man on the brink of becoming involved in violent gang activity changes his path, thanks to the Coffee vs Gangs project.

Directed by the award-winning Johnny Hardstaff, most of the actors were street-cast from the locations where shooting took place in order to ensure authenticity.  The main character is from Anonos - the town in which the advert was filmed - and had no acting experience prior to filming.

The gritty visual style is accompanied by an equally authentic soundtrack from Eclectic Music and Greek Street Studios, who worked on the music, mix and sound.

Eclectic co-founder Simon Elms says “We knew this was going to be good from the start but getting the right people involved is key. The whole project is in Honduras, so we listened to a lot of South American rap, folk and traditional music in order to discover the right elements for the track. For us it was about trying to make it sound like a proper record and that’s what helped us to keep the sound authentic.”

The key to keeping things real was Honduran rapper Socio, a musician who has previously avoided the advertising world but was tempted to get involved because of the worthy cause. “The whole track is original. When they gave Socio the storyboard he took one look and nailed it. The track’s really good, really authentic, and that’s because he was exactly the right person for the job,” explains fellow Eclectic co-founder, Colin Smith

The team was so convinced by the power of the collaboration that they only sent one track; usually they’d send at least three demos.

And their conviction paid off. “We were all sat here – creative team, director, editor – and all just went ‘we’ve done a good one here’. It was a brave thing for Kenco to break tradition, but they let people get on with their jobs and everybody clicked at the same time. We’re really pleased, this was such an enjoyable project to be a part of,” says Simon.

The campaign will launch on Monday 18th August across TV and cinema outlets as well as extensive use of digital video, PR, media partnerships, and a bespoke digital hub to allow users to interact and view specific project content.