This is a question I always listen to. And not just comparing the two South American countries. New coffee “brands of origin have been strengthened in the world market. Kenya, Ethiopia, Panama, Costa Rica …
I would like to make it clear that I am an expert on brands and I will write about my vision.
Branding is about managing perceptions.
Focusing only on the product is not enough. You can have the best coffee in the world, but if consumers do not perceive it that way, there will be no use in making every effort in the production process.
And how is Brazil perceived? For many years our country has focused on the quantity issue. Pride of being the largest exporter on the planet. Marketing products with different quality levels, some of them, which really do not deserve rave reviews. This has generated an evident negative perception inside several markets, especially the American. “A country that focuses on sales volume, cannot have high quality products”, is a common narrative among American importers, who do not know our country deeply. I listen many Brazilian producers make statements like this: “Without Brazil, the world would not have coffee” a clear allusion to the question of quantity.
This is due to the fact that Brazilian coffee is the basis of most of the blends marketed in the main markets. But in these blends, the manufacturer’s communication focuses mainly on Colombian, Kenyan, Panamanian origin, which may have lesser participation than Brazilian in that specific product.
I have been working with the specialty coffee segment in Brazil for some years. And I realize that product is not everything.
Good perceptions management has a key role. Let us remember the famous phrase: “Caesar’s wife must be above suspicion.”
Bringing to our days, our producers that insist on focusing much of their speech on product quality. Great and necessary for a country that did not excel at cultivating a good image of origin. But quality is a basic condition to enter the game. We have to achieve higher engagement levels and change the current opinions on our grains. In my branding work in the coffee world, I realize that coffee hunters are increasingly looking to buy high quality products, the rare jewels that Brazil has and can offer to the world, but also have a good storytelling to show. Consumers buy brands and not just products.
Colombia has traditionally established a commercial action standard with its focus guided by the Government of Colombia and the creation of the Juan Valdez brand. Clear personification of the peasant who loves and lives by the coffee, taking care of his grains as if he cultivated a garden.
Since the 60s, Colombia has been investing heavily in its the coffee marketing, creating, thus, a highest quality perception in the large consumer markets.
Does Brazil need to copy Colombia and create a Brazilian Juan Valdez?
Not at all. We have the creativity to create our own stories. At the moment of 4.0 marketing, social media values the great ideas and less the big advertising budgets of the past.
Our challenge is to centralize and unite the efforts of the several entities that exist in Brazil to deliver a unique, creative and inspiring message about the reasons for having an excellent coffee. If we don’t join forces to strengthen the perception on the Brazilian coffee brands, we will see other countries gaining market share and adding value to their sales. We have to think about exporting brands and not commodities.
Júlio Moreira has a PhD in Anthropology from PUC-SP and Northwestern University (USA) and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from PUC-SP. He holds a postgraduate degree from Insead (France) and an MBA from BSP and the University of Toronto (Canada). He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from FGV and History from USP. He is also Professor of Marketing and Branding at ESPM and FGV and Managing Partner of Place Branding Consulting. Contact him at his e-mail: julio@placebranding.com.br
