Keep beloved coffee chain Dutch Bros culturally relevant by activating a social-first, buzz-worthy campaign that resonates with their chronically online target audience.
Dutch Bros has a dedicated cult following, but they wanted to find a way to break through the For You Page and connect with female Gen Z and Gen Alpha coffee drinkers. Our promotion needed to grab hold of their audience and generate brand awareness and excitement while also encouraging Dutch Bros store traffic. Dutch Bros’ strong dedication to the drive-thru experience opened up an opportunity that its direct competitors couldn’t fully own: the crossover between coffee culture and car culture, something their core audience is passionate about.
We leveraged this unique differentiator by celebrating the world’s loud, proud, and highly social passenger princesses, a growing social media trend with nearly 200,000 Passenger Princess posts.
Dutch Bros celebrated National Princess Day on November 18, 2024, and invited everyone to channel their inner passenger princess. Audiences were encouraged to visit store locations and share their experience to receive a special Crown Straw Topper with any drink purchased at more than 950 locations.
We partnered with three popular Gen Z influencers to help tell their own Passenger Princess story, kicking off the activation and encouraging people to join along and celebrate at a location near them. We also engaged with over 50 additional top passenger princess creators by sending them a PR Box with all of the essentials to turn their car into a Passenger Princess Café. Our PR Box included Dutch Bros.-themed passenger princess staples like a neck pillow, phone holder, and air freshener. We also included something show-stoppingly unique – custom “Passenger Princess” car slippers.
Additionally, fans were prompted to enter a giveaway on Dutch Bros' Instagram during the activation, for a chance to win the ultimate Passenger Princess experience, which included a branded travel pillow, air freshener, phone holder, tumbler, Dutch Bros gift card, and more. They were also encouraged to share their Passenger Princess experience on social media using #PassengerPrincessDay and tagging @DutchBrosCoffee for a chance to be featured on the official page.
The Passenger Princess merch drop was Dutch Bros’ most successful ever on socials, and they saw positive traffic the day of. Other key results included:
