2020 BLK & Bold Case Study
Cap Soc is excited to celebrate #NationalCoffeeDay with our friends at BLK & Bold, the first nationally accessible Black-owned coffee and tea brand.
In February 2020, BLK & Bold Specialty Beverages tapped Cap Soc to provide ongoing digital media management as they prepared to launch in over 350 Target locations across the country. Within six months of working with Cap Soc, BLK & Bold experienced exponential business growth by expanding into new Target locations and launching in Hy-Vee supermarkets and select Whole Foods locations. BLK & Bold leveraged this recent expansion to gain full B Corp certification, allowing them to relocate operations into a new, larger roasting facility that enabled them to bring more customers into their community, produce more products, donate more money, and impact the local job market.
Tactics
Cap Soc utilized several tactics to ensure that BLK & Bold not only met but surpassed its goals.
1. Content Production
We provided blog post development and photo and video shoots for digital media campaigns, e-commerce platforms, and building an asset library. We also captured and created content on the ground for programs such as Target x LAB in Washington, D.C. at the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Cap Soc produced a video highlighting BLK & Bold’s involvement in the program while announcing its national launch in Target stores
2. Creative Content Development
Music has become a staple in the coffee shop experience. Cap Soc created a Spotify profile for BLK & Bold with playlists that help audiences and consumers connect with the brand’s personalities and that of its founders.
3. Leveraging PR and Influencer Seeding
Cap Soc leveraged influencer engagement via social media to facilitate conversation and maximize product visibility to selected influencers’ networks. When Kelly Rowland did a giveaway of BLK & Bold in conjunction with the drop of her song, “Coffee,” a bag of BLK & Bold specialty coffee could be seen in the backdrop of her IG Live series “Coffee with Kelly.” We optimized the resulting engagement by repurposing video, engaging Kelly, and including her single into one of BLK & Bold’s Spotify playlists.
4. Email marketing and Funnels
We further connected with the BLK & Bold audience by developing marketing funnels from social media platforms to blkandbold.com, relevant retail sites, and the brand’s email list. By using that list, we were also able to develop email messaging and scheduling to the full list or segmented lists as necessary.
5. Pivot Strategy and Social Listening
Cap Soc maintained appropriate messaging and developed relevant strategy throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, helping BLK & Bold customers virtually maintain the coffee shop experience. By sharing community, coffee and tea knowledge, music, and art, we helped them find ways to recreate their favorite coffee shop experiences in their own homes. Coronavirus might have temporarily closed their favorite shops, but coffee was still on the agenda. We also stayed current on headlines related to social injustice, aligned content in support for Black lives, supported and highlighted Black-owned businesses, while maximizing increased support and sales.
Performance Metrics for Online Store and Digital Media Platforms from February - July 2020
From engagement to sales, Cap Soc’s work with BLK and Bold saw large increases across the board:
Social media following increase from 6.8k to 40.6k (total)
Gained over 1.3 million impressions across all social media platforms in June and July of 2020 alone
Email list increase from 1k to 33.8k
Direct Shopify store sessions from social media platforms increase by over 134000%
Shopify store sales increase by 7400%
12% of Shopify store sales were directly funneled from social media platforms