Photo: Death Wish Coffee Co.
Death Wish Coffee goes from small roastery to Amazon’s ‘most wished for’ brand
In 2012, on the cusp of the so-called “retail apocalypse,” Death Wish Coffee Co. was founded in a small coffee shop in Saratoga Springs, New York. With the goal of creating the world’s strongest coffee, Death Wish Coffee’s owner, Mike Brown, experimented with Fair Trade, USDA certified organic Arabica and Robusta beans to create a high-caffeine blend 200 percent stronger than the average cup of joe.
Today, Death Wish is Amazon.com’s “Most Wished For” coffee brand. It is also stocked in supermarkets across the country, including Price Chopper, Hannaford and Shop Rite, as well as being offered in 282 Safeway locations. Third-quarter projections show Death Wish being stocked in an additional 550 stores, from Northern California to New York City. On top of all this, Death Wish K-Cups will be rolling out in 900 Walmart stores beginning June 9, 2018.
How did a small, local start-up grow such a cult following in just six years? According to owner and founder, Mike Brown, “Death Wish has an underground-like vibe, which has resonated with our fan base from the start. It has become more than just a beverage that fuels a person’s day — it has become a lifestyle. Throughout the years, our local New York following has branched out across the nation as well as internationally. Like all businesses that have followed a grassroots approach, word of mouth has been key to our growth. We leveraged social media — like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and recently Twitch — to connect with our fan base and grow the Death Wish community.”
In 2015, the Death Wish team won Intuit’s “Small Business Big Game” competition for the “Best Commercial Ever.” The prize was a 30-second commercial aired during Super Bowl 50.
Death Wish Coffee’s marketing team isn’t afraid to implement a bit of creative merchandising or philanthropy. Most recently, Death Wish partnered with Celtic rock band Dropkick Murphys in a St. Patrick’s Day mug collaboration for charity. The company donated $10 for every mug sold to the Claddagh Fund non-profit, contributing a total of $41,500.
When asked if he has any advice for young start-ups hoping to follow in Death Wish’s footsteps, Mr. Browns said, “I believe the only way to gain a large following is by being consistent. You can’t over deliver one day and then drop the ball the next and expect your customer to count on you in the future. Something I tell my team regularly is that when we find a system that works well, try to simplify it as much as possible, write out the exact procedure, and then find a way to automate it. After that, you need to prove to [customers] that you’re what they’re looking for, ‘wow’ them, and then consistently do that for the rest of eternity.”
- Welcome to Death Wish – Death Wish Coffee
- Brown, Mike, Personal Interview, March 29, 2018
- Fueled By Death Podcast – Death Wish Coffee Co.
Discussion Questions
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: What other advice would you add for owners launching new brands? Is waning consumer interest in chain stores creating an opening for hip young brands like Death Wish Coffee to take center stage?
Poll
BrainTrust
Neil Saunders
Managing Director, GlobalData
Ryan Mathews
Founder, CEO, Black Monk Consulting
Death Wish marketing certainly helped fuel their growth. When combined with their unique product — while not the only high-octane coffee on the market, they were one of a select few — their marketing helped carve a niche that allowed them capitalize on their position as the leader in a very small category. And yes, I do think they are the beneficiaries of consumer sentiment that is migrating away from big chains, and hence worry about placing K-Cups in Walmart stores. That seems counter to their brand ethos.
You make a great point here, Dave. At what point does underground become mainstream and suffer the resulting loss of cult followers?
A new brand needs to be different from other products offered in the marketplace, and it needs to have a creative way to explain that differentiation to consumers. With retailers becoming more formulaic, new brands need to perfect their own ways to reach consumers. There’s a reason why more than 90 percent of all food start-ups fail.
Success seems to be a combination of quality (how good the product is, how it tastes), brand personality (the image and style of the product), functionality (what the product does — i.e., coffee that keeps you alert), marketing (how the product is discovered), and distribution (how people can get hold of the product). And of course, the price has to be optimal.
Getting all those elements right, challenging though it is, provides a good chance of success. These days, small CPG brands are helped along by the fact that consumers are looking for new, unique and interesting products.
First, a great provocative name clearly helps. In today’s market you you need to be differentiated from your competitors not just in actual product attributes but in a host of “softer” elements — style, association, image, values, partners, etc. And of course you need to know the customer. As someone who has enjoyed many Dropkick Murphys St. Patrick’s Day shows I can see how the association with Death Wish is a natural. Fans of both the coffee and the the band see themselves as bold, aggressive, maybe a little loud, independent and edgy. In short, a perfect pairing. When it comes to the decline of chains and the rise of independent brands it’s hard to say which is the chicken and which is the egg, i.e., are chain and national brands proving less popular because people value hipster brands more or are hipster brands benefiting from a general lack of innovation in the mass-brander community? In the end it doesn’t matter. It used to be having a Starbucks was making a statement. Today you make a greater statement by announcing you have a Death Wish.
Names matter. Brilliant from the start — compared to Bad Ass Coffee. Passionate owner, clear vision, knows who they are and aren’t. They didn’t need AI or predictive technology to grow as much as connecting authentically with their customers. Boutique and specialty retail is the way forward because a clear focus can cut through the clutter and noise of trying to be everyone to everyone.
Daring to be different and being true to well considered convictions will always take retailers and brands where others fear to tread. When support for the innovator or underdog is high, use that wind beneath the wings to fly higher than expected.
Death Wish Coffee, what a great name. It’s a catchy, double take, word-of-mouth builder. Nurturing a grassroots connection with customers through social media these days is so important. Too many start out strong and then lose steam; there is real power there when it’s done consistently well.
I wonder if the company is living up to its name by choosing to sell coffee in chains and big box stores. I remember how exciting it was to visit a state that sold Krispy Kreme donuts. But when they became readily available at my local grocer the thrill was gone. I look forward to seeing how Death Wish heads this off.
Great name, optimum price, excellent storytelling and the message will develop legs. Then it’s about listening to customers as well as employees to move it the rest of the way. For my 2 cents.
This is a nice story, assuming of course it’s what the founders wanted — not everyone wants to be big — but it sounds like a lot of its success is due to traditional “old school” methods: a Super Bowl ad and mass distribution in stores like Safeway can’t hurt … right?
Of course you have to have the right idea to begin with, and DWC obviously tapped into an unmet need … whether or not it’s long-term or just a fad, only time will tell.
It’s interesting to see emerging brands gaining traction in a crowded CPG world. Albertsons is launching a digital marketplace for emerging brands. The Food Marketing Institute is launching an initiative to create awareness of emerging brands. Big Food is in the cross-hairs nowadays.
With platforms like Jungle Scout and Viral Launch, it’s much easier for people to create a niche brand by re-engineering consumer pain points from generically mass-produced competitors.
With so many “brandless products” existing today on Amazon and chain stores becoming obsolete, a strong brand with thoughtful positioning is sometimes all you need to differentiate.
New brands need to find a way to stick out. For the retailers that carry them, they are providing something new and exciting for their shoppers. When everyone carries the same brand of Folgers, it becomes a race to the bottom. Instead, when retailers seek out innovative new brands, they can complete on new experiences instead of price.
Specific product categories are more associated with grassroots viral marketing than others. Brands that are more hipster or countercultural appeal to Millennials and as a result, are more supported across social media and events. When you combine hipster categories with aggressive naming and supporting branding, you have the elements of success. Being authentic is a requirement as well.
Millennials indeed are responsible for some of the decline in chain stores and that makes the environment especially fertile for brands such as these.