Caffe Vita

With new leadership in place, Caffé Vita needed help rearticulating their brand story. We used the Belief Process to clarify their core truth—“Meaningful connections make life better”—then translated it into messaging, design, and a refreshed e-commerce experience. The result modernized the brand while staying grounded in the history and beliefs that put Caffé Vita on the map.

The CHallenge

Caffe Vita has been as synonymous with Seattle as Nirvana and the Mariners since the roastery planted its roots on Capitol Hill in 1995. Since then, they’ve opened satellite roasteries in Portland, Ore., and New York City, and expanded their business channels through a national wholesale distribution program serving businesses ranging from Fortune 500s to neighborhood bakeries.

But in 2020, Vita ushered in a new leadership team—and along with it, an opportune challenge: rearticulate the brand’s story and bring forth the history and beliefs that put Caffe Vita on the map in the first place.

We emerged from our Belief Process with the core truth that holds Vita’s past, present, and future together: Meaningful connections make life better. That belief became the cornerstone upon which we structured and designed the brand story, both verbally and visually. The capstone to the process was a brand new e-commerce site—a complex project made swift and straightforward, all by starting with belief.
Like so many coffee roaster brands, Vita’s existing color palette relied heavily on black and white. Taking inspiration from their belief in human connection, we utilized the warm palette in their logo and applied it across the website, accompanying illustrations, and conceptual assets.
The coffee experts behind Caffe Vita were clear on one thing: Coffee is for everyone. With that in mind, we designed a custom illustration library to make the world of coffee less intimidating and more inviting.
An audit of Caffe Vita’s digital presence revealed an untapped opportunity to advertise Vita’s coffee subscription program. Preliminary keyword research helped us contextualize the brand’s value to their primary audience: daily coffee drinkers.
Content strategy is its best when it serves customers. With meaningful connections as our focus, we created engaging, educational content to provide useful information and start a dialogue with new coffee drinkers.
To keep the notion of personal connection alive via Caffe Vita’s mail-order coffee subscription service, we found tactile ways to connect customers to the people behind the product.
The capstone to the project was a new website: a stage for introducing Caffe Vita’s belief-driven story and brand expression.
“Belief Agency helped our team sort out our deep understanding of our organization into a simplified, organized, and inspiring discovery of who we are at our core; then, they seamlessly translated those discoveries into a brand-new website that reflects our beliefs as a company.”
Max McLoughlin | Creative Director, Caffe vita
We reimagined Caffe Vita’s e-commerce site with a focus on creating connection through product callouts, dynamic colors, and UX copy. The result is engaging and accessible product information that brings Vita’s personality to life.
“Our Belief Session excavated the deepest beliefs, values, and passions of Vita. We’re a transparent and heart-forward culture, and this process accentuated the truest values and amplified our drive: and why we do the work we do, why we show up every day, and what we hope we bring forward for each of our customers.”
Genessa Krasnow | Brand Strategist, caffe vita

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