
Roast & Ritual
Brewing M&S’s new specialty coffee brand
Our challenge: create an M&S specialty coffee brand with artisanal credentials, serious stand-out and timeless appeal.
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Marks & Spencer approached us with a new specialty coffee house blend to launch in Café and Foodhall. Our challenge was to dial up M&S’s coffee credentials and turn it into a destination for specialty coffee – all without overshadowing M&S’s established premium ‘Collection’ line.
Challenge accepted.




Our approach: Artisanal for everyone
1. Researching what really matters to coffee lovers
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We explored how the M&S tone could flex for ‘speciality coffee for all’ – while honouring M&S’s core identity. Then we packaged everything into comprehensive guidelines covering logo-usage, design and packaging, along with voice and messaging.
2. Creating an accessible identity with artisanal vibes and trusted quality
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Roast & Ritual now had its reason for being: to wake Britain up to better cups, by democratising speciality coffee for all. To maximise stand-out, we created a clean modern logo and distinctive colour palette.
3. Telling a consistent story
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We explored how the M&S tone could flex for ‘speciality coffee for all’ – while honouring M&S’s core identity. Then we packaged everything into comprehensive guidelines covering logo-usage, design and packaging, along with voice and messaging.


The solution: accessible quality with artisanal innovation.
Name: Roast & Ritual – a stand-alone name that can exist within the M&S master brand. Modern and artisanal, yet warm and approachable.
Logo design: a clean and modern logo with the quietly confident strapline: For real coffee lovers. Paired with a “Crafted by M&S Food” lock-up to bring it into the brand family.
Visual identity: a duck egg colour palette – and a swirling pattern inspired by latte art – gave the brand a gentle but distinctive artisanal look.
Packaging: we designed the packaging to highlight the quality of the coffee, dialling up M&S’s coffee credentials – this included both cups and reusable cups.
Photography: the photography style was all about telling a story of deliciousness, versatility and accessibility – whether it’s coffee sipped in an M&S Café or at home.
Tone of voice: the verbal identity and messaging are confident and down-to-earth, with carefully placed moments of wit. This all played out across a suite of launch POS for café in both print and digital, supporting the Roast & Ritual launch merchandise.



The results: an inclusive specialty coffee brand for anyone who wants an artisanal blend.
More people in M&S Café
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Roast & Ritual boosted customer engagement across M&S Cafés. People liked the elevated quality and trusted familiarity of this new house blend.
Reaching new audiences
By offering Roast & Ritual in more formats – beans, ground, and pods – we captured the attention of new audiences and got people excited about enjoying speciality coffee at home.
Coffee lovers loved it
The brand resonated with key audiences: they appreciated both the modern, trend-driven feel and the trusted M&S quality.


“Whippet helped us create something very special with Roast & Ritual. They took our vision for a specialty coffee brand and turned it into something truly standout—artisanal yet approachable, and perfectly aligned with the M&S identity. The results speak for themselves—it's a hit with our customers and a real boost to our coffee offering.”​
Sophie Miller, Brand & Marketing Manager, M&S Food