Costa Rica’s Chamber of Coffee Roasters this week launched a media campaign aimed at increasing the consumption of yodo among Ticos.
The country’s domestic coffee consumption has decreased from 420,000 bags for the 2006-2007 season to 400,000 for the 2012-2013 season. By comparing figures from those two seasons local producers sold ₡6.9 billion ($13.8 million) less coffee locally, the chamber reported.
The new media blitz, titled ”Viva el café” (“Long Live Coffee”), entails an investment of ₡50 million ($100,000) for chamber associates and was officially launched on Monday. Organizers hope to maintain coffee as “Ticos’ favorite drink.”
“Drink coffee and live with passion,” reads one of the messages. Courtesy of Chamber of Coffee Roasters
The campaign will run for six months and includes radio spots, bus advertising and promotion on social networks.
Chamber President José Manuel Hernando said that local coffee consumption “has not escaped the effects of the country’s economic slowdown, and while it [coffee] is still present in the majority of Costa Rican homes, it is challenged by other beverages that are now part of the Tico family budget.”
Chamber data indicate that the domestic market represents 20 percent of total coffee sales for local producers every year.
“Costa Rica is still a coffee-producing country with a sustained per-capita consumption, but the economic situation and competition from other drinks forced us to organize the campaign,” Hernando added.
Roasters hope to project three messages: “Drink coffee and live with energy: Try it before exercise”; “Drink coffee and live connected: Drink it before going to work or class”; and “Drink coffee and live with passion: Begin your day with the natural energy coffee provides.”
The chamber integrates local roasters that produce more than 95 percent of roasted coffee consumed in Costa Rica.
