Know-How: B2C | Brand Copywriting | Brand Marketing | Copyediting & Proofreading | Content Writing | Cultural Analysis | Research | Verbal Brand Strategy
I’m a lover of tea, but sometimes I prefer a jolt of java. On those days, I head to La Colombe for a smooth, luscious cold brew with a splash of cream.
Decadent coffee and French culture are central themes in this project, so I curated a mini-playlist of suave French tunes for your listening pleasure. Enjoy!
Just a Peek
La Colombe is a coffee retailer headquartered in Philadelphia named after the French word for “dove.” Their tagline is “An Adventure in Every Cup.”
I dissected the inner workings of their tagline to reveal its cultural appeal to American consumers.
The Skinny
Don’t let the brevity of taglines fool you. These concise messages are capable of having a colossal impact on consumers.
l pulled apart La Colombe’s deceptively simple tagline to reveal the subliminal layers of meaning and influence below its surface.
Uncovering Inspiration
I live within walking distance of the chain’s flagship shop in Fishtown, so it would be impossible not to be inspired. The internationalism at this location is palpable, from the savory mini quiche Lorraines and buttery, flaky croissants to the single-origin ready-to-drink cold brews in the fridge.
Putting together this project was a no-brainer.
In the Mood
La Colombe fuses Fishtown’s local artisan vibe with the relaxed, neighborhood atmosphere of a Parisian cafe.
Whether you’re sipping on a glass of Bordeaux, refueling with salami and brie on a fresh baguette, or enjoying a latte brewed with Kenyan beans, your tastebuds will travel to faraway places.
For my mood board, I chose pictures of iconic French cafes and the sleek cans and bottles of La Colombe’s chilled coffees.
Bare Essentials
Before I let my creative juices rip, I decide which topics to concentrate on to anchor my writing, analysis, or strategy.
After doing a bit of research and conducting a handful of semiotic exercises, I chose the following themes for this project:
Escapades
Boring Routine
French Culture
Cosmopolitan
Workaholics
Vacation Time
Fleshed Out
Semiotics opens up another world of comprehension within branding because it reveals the layers of meaning within messaging and design, what they signify, and for whom.
When I began dissecting the tagline, “an adventure in every cup,” I looked beyond the dictionary and thesaurus to explore the cultural significance of “adventure” to an American audience. Below are handwritten sketches and notes that I used in my analysis.
La Colombe: “An Adventure in Every Cup”
Why would an American coffee chain give itself a French name? Paris signifies sophistication, world-renowned cuisine, chic fashion, wine, and snobbery. This choice makes perfect sense if you’re trying to differentiate yourself from a brewing behemoth like Starbucks.
Paris is cosmopolitan, and being cosmopolitan is all about being well-traveled; “an adventure in every cup” is about taking your tastebuds on numerous treks. Adventures mean excitement and exploring the unknown. Boring is a close antonym of adventure and signifies predictability, blandness, and routine.
Adventure within the context of La Colombe’s tagline means exploring the expansiveness of the world. This contrasts exploring America’s vastness, which many USians opt for instead of global travel (The US State Department estimates that only 37% of Americans own a valid passport).
The colossal size of America and numerous opportunities for interstate (and intrastate) escapades are two reasons American passport ownership lags behind citizens in other countries, like the UK—where seven out of every ten people owns a passport.
But the main reason why over 60% of USians don’t own a passport is because of our pervasive workaholic culture. The average American worker receives 14 days off per year, compared to 24 for a European employee. If you only have two weeks a year to unwind from your daily grind, you’re more likely to travel closer to home than hop on a plane for a lengthy intercontinental flight.
An “adventure in every cup” sounds enticing to someone who works 50 out of 52 weeks each year because it allows them to sample the world through taste. It’s a welcome reprieve from the relentless monotony of making a living.
“Every cup” gives consumers multiple opportunities to mentally disengage from work-related stress, even if they’re physically stuck at their job for 10 hours a day.
If La Colombe had European shops, would their tagline have the same impact? Maybe. But the only way to answer that question is to figure out what “adventure” and “work” mean to Europeans. And that’s a conversation for another day.
