Mother works on new Costa merchandise

Costa Coffee is working with Mother to design a range of merchandise from T-shirts to piggy banks, which will be sold in coffee shops throughout the UK.

Costa, owned by Whitbread, is developing the merchandise as it attempts to reposition itself against its competitors as an Italian-style coffee chain.

The chain plans to sell items such as T-shirts and Babygros featuring Italian slogans. It may also sell more bizarre items such as piggy banks and no smoking signs. Costa already sells coffee, cafetières and mugs.

Marketing director Laurie Morgan appointed Mother to handle Costa’s creative work and Rocket to handle the media account earlier this year.

The company recently launched a press, poster and radio campaign alongside its in-store advertising.

Costa has about 200 stores in the UK and plans to open a further 70 this year. It is also refitting existing stores to provide a more Italian atmosphere.

“We want to make anything that’s bright and exciting in-store available to our customers,” says Morgan.