‍Costa Coffe
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The challenge 

The festive period is the busiest time for retail recruitment at Costa Coffee, with the need for a high volume of quality talent across the UK. 
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In 2024, Costa Coffee needed a campaign that would attract 3,000 - 4,000 baristas nationwide. 
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The approach

The core of our approach was to lean on the iconic festive status of the Costa name, and balance it with an element of self-selective reality, all while celebrating our new employer brand ‘We Are What We Craft’.
With the negative narrative surrounding retail work during the festive period, Costa Coffee had the opportunity to tap into what audiences really wanted  — acknowledgement for the hard graft and sacrifice it takes to work at the most magical time of year. 
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The creative 

Centring around the iconic line “It’s not just elves, it’s us”, the Costa Festive creative took a playful approach to recruitment. 
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By reminding audiences that it’s Costa employees who bring the magic to the festive period, the headline emphasised how much hard work (but also reward) it takes to bring the festive joy.

The creative used a hand-drawn illustrative approach, reflecting the care, investment and craft put in by Costa's own Store Team. The full brand palette was also taken advantage of, bringing a bold festive feel to draw the eye, with cosy scenes of cups of joy and tasty treats. And at the centre of it all, a Barista, celebrated as the calm amidst the holiday rush.

Finished with a bold and simple CTA, the work married a celebration of the season with a celebration of the retail staff making the magic happen, forming an effective and beautiful recruitment campaign.
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The results

With a carefully planned ad campaign across digital and physical, Costa Festive smashed the 4,000 application target out of the (coffee) water, with 16.5k applications received over the period. 
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On socials, the ads received 4.86m impressions (target 4.15m) and 90.6k clicks (target 38.9k), well and truly outperforming expectations.