Iris Experience wins product launch brief for Lavazza

Iris Experience has been appointed by Italian coffee company Lavazza to spearhead marketing activity around new product launches in September this year.

The experiential arm of integrated agency Iris won the business following a pitch against Haygarth, Toggle and Spinnaker. The account had no incumbent agency.

David Rogers, home sales and marketing director for Lavazza, says it has previously created a lot of its below-the-line work in house, but made the decision to appoint an agency to cope with rapid expansion.

Iris Experience will initially focus on supporting the launch of Lavazza’s products in the coffee and coffee machine categories in September and October. However, it will also work on the brand as a whole, to help drive consumer take up.

Rogers says/ “Iris will help teach UK consumers how to drink Italian coffee. Lavazza has a strong brand identity, so it’s about getting people to try it.” He would not be drawn on details of the product launch, but says it is a “new product concept altogether”.

He adds that it will also be launching an above-the-line campaign in October this year, as part of its £1.3m main media spend for 2008, created by Armando Testa in Italy and adapted for the UK by the agency’s office here.