Building a team through a pandemic and launching Costa coffee to our Western Europe Region is all in a days work for our team in Berlin.aa
Meet Maja our Brand Manager for FMCG, Daniela our Head of Marketing for Western Europe and Doro our Brand manager for Away from Home in Germany.
Based out of our Berlin, together they make up part of our new team setting up Costa in Western Europe. Lets get to know them a little more.
What's you’re favourite Costa drink?
Daniela: I like cappuccino, espresso and our new RTD Americano
Doro: Oat Cappuccino, Espresso or Cold Brew with Coconut Rice Milk (I’ll dare you to try it before judging)
Maja: Depending on the Occasion, Doppio to start my day, Oat Cappuccino as a pick me up in the afternoon and iced coffee on hot days
What do you love about Costa?
Maja: The passion for our brand and for growing it that I see everybody demonstrating every day. Working at Costa equals working in a positive, uplifting, and supportive culture.
How long has Costa Coffee been in Berlin?
Doro: We soft launched Proud to Serve & Express in October 2020 and Ready to Drink in April this year.
How does your role impact the day to day of ‘Costa’?
Daniela: As head of marketing I am responsible to build a consumer centric, locally relevant, and commercially viable Masterbrand in Western Europe, including all countries and platforms. It is our ambition to become Western Europe’s favourite coffee brand with compelling brand edge. Day to day I am ensuring strong collaboration with our bottling partners and enabling my team to perform at their best as well as preparing our market entry into more countries.
What did you know about Costa before you joined?
Maja: I knew the brand from travelling and I enjoyed the great taste.
Daniela: I knew the great tasting coffee from an internship in Ireland where passing by
the Costa Store on my way to work was a daily ritual.
Doro: I knew the great coffee
quality and the impressive density of Costa stores from my London trips – can’t wait to go back
What attracted you to Costa?
Doro: The mix of hands-on start-up mindset when it comes to launching in Germany paired with the expertise of an established company celebrating its 50th birthday this year
Here are a few facts about coffee and customers in Berlin that might differ to the UK.
Daniela: In Germany we have basically no brand awareness yet, if you ask a person on the street, they might not even know that Costa is a fantastic coffee brand so we are starting with our Proud to serve, express and ready to drink offerings before considering stores.
- Germans love their café crema; we must ensure that we deliver on the expectations for the consumers
There is a luxury tax on coffee in Germany - Germans drink more coffee than bottled water, this is a highly important category but unfortunately most coffees the German consumers drink, are low value and low quality, especially in the workplace
- In Berlin there is a certain tendency to dislike big corporations and chains and support small start-ups instead. We must ensure that we transport the warm, passionate, trusting, playful identity of Costa to make sure we are appealing to our Berlin consumers.
What big projects/activations have you been involved with?
Maja: The regional RTD launch campaign incl. Out of Home, Social, Sampling, and disruptive POP material (e.g. secondary placements in cup design).
What was it like joining Costa during a pandemic?
Maja: In one way it felt like the new normal but on the other hand I missed a live onboarding, coffee chats and lunch dates and not meeting face to face makes building a new network from zero a bit more challenging but definitely not impossible. It will be great to finally meet all the colleagues in person and to be able to travel to the UK and experience the power of the Costa brand live.
How is it working with a remote team?
Doro: Of course, I’d prefer to see my team members regularly face-to-face. However, despite the remoteness I feel very close to my team and fully integrated which is I think a great achievement for such a newly established team.
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