G.A takes its Resonance philosophy to consumer branding

In early 2019 The Coca-Cola Company bought Costa, we are very excited to announce that G.A Kuala Lumpur has recently secured Costa Express as a client. G.A’s insight driven approach looked into the brand and the market to create a strategic concept that won over the client.

What is Costa Express?

Costa Express is the on-the-go section of the Costa Coffee business and features barista grade coffee machines with a friendly and easy user-interface. Costa Coffee was launched in 2017 in Malaysia initially through the Costa Express.

Costa and the G.A Group

The G.A KL Brand team delivered an insight-driven approach that won over the client. Part of the G.A Group’s Resonance process means that we arrive at solutions which fuse people, place and culture effortlessly, strike an emotional chord in the audience and bring a sense of unexpected relevance and harmony.

We build brands from the business outwards and believe that all brands need to be experienced to be believed. And that all experiences should build brands. From retail spaces, to advertising, to customer service, the essence and values of the brand should be holistic and consistent.

The first step in G.A’s action plan was researching the brand in relation to the location. Costa is a well-known brand internationally, but the introduction of Costa Express to Malaysia saw Costa in a new format. The coffee shop barista experience has been replaced by a unique proposition around quality and service – Costa Express coffee machines. These machines already feature in 260 Shell stations, LRT stations as well as 6 office buildings in Kuala Lumpur.

Part of G.A’s research looked deep into the Malaysian market. Key findings were that 70% of the population live in cities and 70% of the population are under 40 years old. With the second highest social media network penetration in Southeast Asia and a 22% increase in E-commerce; Malaysia is home to a lot of digitally savvy millennial’s – a key finding!

The Malaysian market looks to global culture and lifestyle as aspirational but takes immense pride in their own culture, particularly with food. People in Malaysia are willing to try new things, they pick up global cultural influences but they give it a local flavour, personalise and make it authentically Malaysian.

From here the KL team pitched a series of exciting and engaging sampling and activation ideas rooted in G.A’s Resonance process. A philosophy of listening and learning, of understanding the surroundings, cultures and narratives of our environments. In doing so we won over the client, and so we can happily announce that the G.A Group has signed The Coca-Cola Company!