Costa Coffee – Retail Launch Transformation
The Challenge
Costa was facing a relevance gap. New Store Openings comms were uniform, brand-led and failing to drive the store owner and customer response needed.
At the same time, High Street retail was under pressure. Competitors were winning share by responding to changing service expectations with modern technology.
Phase 1 – New Store Openings
The Strategy
Leading the strategic direction, I defined channel roles, sequencing and messaging frameworks to build a deployable launch architecture.
Planning supported this by cross-referencing supplied audience segmentation across formats with growth priorities, identifying clear behavioural opportunities.
Creative Direction
Translating this into a creative brief, I supported design as they crafted a new, ownable suite of lifestyle imagery, copy and graphic devices.
This now forms a modular toolkit guiding nationwide rollout across Drive Thru Store & Lane Only, High Street, Travel, Concession and Retail formats.
Phase 2 – High Street 2.0
The Challenge
To tackle the diverging needs of two core customer journeys – sit-in and takeaway – Costa were piloting two new stores with digital kiosks and app ordering.
Off the back of our successful store opening strategy, we were asked to guide the adoption of new pathways, without alienating loyal, high-frequency customers.
The Strategy & Platform
I led the behavioural architecture, mapping customer flows to floorplans, zoning and wayfinding, and defining the comms platform A New Way To Costa.
Planning supported by benchmarking naming conventions, ensuring terms such as “Order at Table” and “Touch Screen Ordering” were familiar and intuitive.
The creative followed the New Store Opening look and feel.
Work that Works
New Store Opening
Now the national launch standard across the UK, transforming Costa’s approach.
High Street 2.0
Achieved c.25% average sales uplift across pilot stores with the approach now rolling out.
