Café Coffee Day

In a country where tea being the most consumed beverage, starting off a café designated only
for the varieties of coffee, the Café Coffee Day or fondly called as CCD has bagged a
remarkable market share among Indian youths and middle aged. The reign of coffee in India
began when an Indian pilgrimage smuggled seven coffee beans from Yemen. In the initial
days coffee was restricted to intellectuals. Slowly the culture began to change and became an
everyday morning drink in Indian households. CCD began their first café at Koramangala,
Bangalore and now have over 572 outlets. During the financial year 2008-09, Bidisha
Nagaraj read the year’s report and realized “brand rejuvenation” was the need of the hour.
This case talks about how Landor, a Global consulting brand helped the brand in their
restoration process.
1. Brand Rejuvenation

Bidisha Nagaraj, the head of marketing at CCD, found that their market wasn’t
recognised among the public as the way they wished for. There was a gap between
their brand identity and brad image. Competitors around them grew and it was an
alarm for the brand to consider a brand rejuvenation. Leaving the process to Landor, a
Global consulting brand, they underwent certain processes to restore the brand

First Landor conducted an audit where it was found that people did not find ccd as
any different from their competitors like barista, Starbucks etc, the brands archetype
of regular boy/girl did not serve its purpose. Customers saw ccd as a cool, attractive
and affordable place for hanging out with friends. It was a go-to place for youngsters,
similarly the elderly also felt young and carefree in that ambience. Though the
customer’s point spoke about the other things the management believed their brand
stood out only because of their authentic, quality coffee brewing. This created a gap
between the management and the customers.

With all the collected information Landor proposed a new archetype “explorer”.
Rather than buying only coffee, customers wanted/ felt a connect with CCD. Hence
this archetype of Landor promoted an environment of new possibilities and outcomes
where it helped individuals develop friendship, creating a sense of aspiration, and an
experience that is uplifting, energizing and youthful.

As a final step, he proposed three positioning formats keeping in mind the above-
mentioned characteristics. They are; Good company, Real Coffee-Real moments, and
Social Hub. From these three they had to finalise one format that will best suit the
brand

2. Core Values

The core values of CCD were comfort, accessibility and value for money. CCD’s
tagline was “a lot can happen over a coffee”. CCD believed in creating a space for
 growth, interaction, fun over coffee. They aimed to sell experiences along with coffee
and not only coffee. Customers also saw the brand this way, a place to hang out with
friends, relax or conduct professional meetings and hence the repositioning process
also was done in a way that these core values were not changed.

3. SWOT analysis

Strength:
 From sowing to coffee in a cup, all the processes in between did not
involve other brands or vendor. It was CCD doing it all, even the
brewing machines were manufactured by them. Hence the quality of
the product was guaranteed. They even customised flavours to Indian
taste buds.
 They covered all the youngsters in India. It became a common hang
spot for the youth after college. They are a high potent population and
grabbing their attention is a hit.
 Their Unique selling point with affordability was an eyecatcher. Their
products were affordable and people were let to sit to how much ever
time they wished for.
Weakness
 High competition
 Lack of loyalty since lot of competitors
Opportunities
 Introducing cheaper versions of coffee and adding additional
items to the menu
 Starting small café centres in colleges, public stations
 A place where formal meetings are held
 Going international
Threat
 Growing competitors

4. Re-Positioning

Logo: The old logo depicted CCD as a place for one spot shop for
entertainment. Whereas the new one was incorporated to depict CCD
as a social Hub.
 Interiors: The inteririors were painted red and black in attrative colours,
since the red alone would create a heat effect it was added with black
colour for cooling effect.
New Outlets:
- CCD lounge is positioned between premium cafes to square format
as an expressive, explorative space for affluent coffee drinkers.
CCD square. Coffee can be brewed at the customers table and
that’s their USP. The price is 20-25% higher than normal CCD.
Apart from fast food gourmet cuisine is also provided.
- CCD square is set as a premium brand that sells exotics coffee.
Serves single origin coffees sourced from single estate. The price is
doubled than the normal products. It is promoted to corporates who
books for parties. Only 4 outlets available.
Brand Legacy
- Brand legacy is something what the brand stands for, it can be a
product or service.
- Here, CCD wanted to Change the perception of people and create a
difference and did not want any change in their legacy, i.e., selling
coffee.

Benefits and Drawbacks of three positioning position

Good Company
Pros: It was for a place that had unlimited fun
Prioritised the quality of coffee
A space to break from mundane
Cons: Its bottom line was only “fun”
Limited to a specific age group
Real Coffee, Real Moments
Pros: Indianized café culture
Gives “coffee experience”
Feeling of belonginess
Cons: Not an attractive environment
Social Hub
Pros: A place of aspirations
 Priorities to “experience”
Cons: Not suitable for professional meetings and those who did want to socialise0
Good company was a fun-loving, friendly and interactive place. But Landor wanted to
position CCD without breaking down their core values of comfort, accessibility and
value for money. He wanted to position the brand in a way that people will find it
more involving, meaningful and enriching place for interactions. All of these were
included in the Social Hub format and that became the positioning framework of the
brand in the rejuvenation process.
Reference
Banerjee, R. (2008, July 16). Most trusted chain of Cafe Coffee Day. The Economic Times.

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/most-trusted-chain-of-cafe-coffee-day/

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