A coffee brand with a shot of inspiration

This is not just coffee. This is Magic Coffee — the Melbourne-born coffee style with a reputation for being “the next flat white”. When M&S first brought Magic Coffee to the UK, we were asked to brand the beverage.

This exciting brief presented a pair of immediate challenges. Aside from serious coffee aficionados, very few people knew what magic coffee was. And the branded sleeve for M&S coffee cups — one of our main deliverables — offered only a small space for explaining the product and showcasing our identity. 

To make the most of our limited canvas, our standout logo wove drama from two contrasting typefaces: a strong, condensed font to create impact, and a more human, flowing script that evokes an authentic, coffee-culture feel. Then, to introduce our product, we distilled the unique taste and texture of Magic Coffee into a tempting tagline: “Silky. Smooth. Perfectly balanced.”

Magic Coffee’s teaser campaign aimed to raise expectations and whet the public’s appetite. Our art direction we conjured mystery by shooting the coffee against velvet backdrops, cloaked in shadow. Then, for the final launch we created a suite of point-of-sale materials and activation ideas for social media, introducing the UK to this enchanting new class of coffee.

One year on from the first pour, M&S Magic Coffee had sold more than 1 million cups. Now, that’s magic!