Super Coffee Calls Out Starbucks and Dunkin' Over Sugar in Ad

Bottled coffee brand Super Coffee is looking to revolutionize the caffeinated beverage industry with a call to cut sugar from coffee recipes. On National Coffee Day, the challenger brand figured why not be bold? Super Coffee took out ads in The Boston Globe and The Seattle Times today, asking Dunkin' Donuts, Keurig, Pepsi, Coca-Cola and Starbucks to "steal" its recipe for healthier coffee. "It all starts with our brand," Jim DeCicco, CEO of Super Coffee, told Adweek. "We call it adding something positive, and although we're speaking directly to our competitors, the spirit of the ad is to share the good stuff with more people, even if that means giving our recipe to our competitors." Super Coffee is placing an open call to the beverage industry to stop using added sugar in their products. "We feel like we cracked the code on how to create a better-for-you latte," Super Coffee chief creative officer Chad Portas said. "It has all the flavor of a Frappuccino without having to pay the sugar penalty." Selective ad placement The ad is running in just two newspapers, but its placement is clever. Based in Seattle, Starbucks dominates the Pacific-Northwest while the Quincy, Mass.-originating Dunkin' rules the East Coast. By placing ads in the most popular daily newspapers of its two competitors' hometowns (The Seattle Times and Boston Globe), Super Coffee is making a statement, challenging the beverage leaders on their respective home turfs. "As you know, 'America runs on Dunkin' has been the longest-lasting line in the history of the brand," Portas said. "Coming in that territory and starting to have the conversations, we wanted to do it in a polite and honest way." The ads feature a QR code that leads viewers to an open-source site with a video about how Super Coffee is made that includes tongue-in-cheek instructions as well. A business on the rise Started by three brothers, Jim, Jordan and Jake DeCicco, Super Coffee was founded in 2015. The brand has grown with celebrities including Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez investing in the company. Super Coffee had $4 million in sales in 2018, then rocketed up to $56 million during 2020, up 115% compared to 2019. According to Super Coffee, it's on pace to double sales again this year. The brand was recently valued at $506 million. Super Coffee is the No. 3 bottled coffee brand in the U.S. behind Starbucks and Dunkin'. Currently distributed by Anheuser-Busch, the brand still has some work to do and get out to potential customers. "We're only available in about 40% of U.S. [retailers]," DeCicco said. "We're in every state, but we still have a lot of build out to do in terms of getting into more stores." Here's the full ad copy: Our mom always taught us to share. Especially the good stuff. So when we invented an iced latte that’s loaded with creamy flavor and absent of added sugar, we realized that this healthy hack was, well, too good to keep to ourselves. So we’re pulling back the curtain on our coffee creation. We’re releasing the world's first open source coffee code. Yes, we're giving away the secret to our sauce. Yes, it’s positively not proprietary. And yes, the world will benefit from more positivity and less sugar. But only if you join us. That’s why we’re revealing everything, from our all-natural ingredients, to the mysteries of how tocopycraft our sweet sips. (Heck, we'll even help you source it.) So scan the QR code and join us in the smart coffee movement. Because together, we can change the way the world enjoys coffee. Together, we can bring positive energy to everyone. And together, we can all make our moms proud. (Hi, Mom.) Optimistically,Jimmy, Jordan & Jake DeCicco Like to Hum That Folgers Jingle? How’d You Like to Own a Piece of It, Too?