Innovation with cold beverages
The Challenge
We identified a gap for Costa Coffee in the ‘indulgent cold drinks’ demand space. So we set about designing a new range which satisfies consumer desires to indulge and personalise their drinks, suitable to launch across 21 markets, from UK to UAE, Europe, Africa and Middle East.
The Approach
The success of this new range of customisable drinks hinged on resolving 3 things.
- A prioritised range of toppings and inclusions which would enable consumers to customise their drinks, communicated simply, clearly and without cluttering the main header board menu or barista preparation space.
- The barista’s preparation of the drinks must not slow down their overall output or cause longer queue time for customers.
- The drinks needed to appeal all-year-round, regardless of climate or season, and across markets, reflecting local nuances and palates.
The Solution
3 stages of qualitative consumer research in focus groups, to explore, co-create, blind taste test and refine product concepts, conducted in UK, Poland and UAE. The winning concepts were re-visualised to develop header board and table menus.
In stage 3, we tested the drinks in situ, with real customers, at Costa venues in UAE, using table card menus, monadic taste and appearance scoring, visual impact measures and measuring barista preparation times.
The Result – Frostino
The Frostino range of customisable cold drinks was successfully rolled out globally across Costa Coffee outlets and has continued to evolve, with local seasonal themes and flavours.
Other Innovation Project Examples
