Local café owners say ‘Be Disloyal'

Top Singapore cafes have joined forces to invite patrons to enjoy their coffee and 'Be Disloyal'.Singapore-based cafes Jewel Coffee, Smitten, Jimmy Monkey, Loysel's Toy, Forty Hands, Oriole, Broers Café & SOHO Coffee were brought together by digital creative agency, Antics Studios, to participate in the campaign.Through the disloyalty card that is a part of the campaign, every card holder will earn a stamp for every coffee bought at any of the outlets. The card with the completed number of stamps will entitle the card holder to a free coffee at the first cafe they visited.Erik Posthuma, business development director for Antics Studios, said that the campaign is aimed to increase awareness of independent authentic coffee makers in the respective market and to increase targeted footfall in the respective participating cafes.The campaign targets consumers who are already a part of the coffee scene, as well as those who are active in the food and beverage scene, such as bloggers.When asked by A+M about the campaign's marketing strategy, Posthuma said, "There is not one element of bought media, it's a purely owned and earned media campaign. The campaign leverages on in-store traffic as well as social media traffic. It has been picked up on several blogs, including Honeycombers, and will be featured on The Straits Times."Response has been positive so far. Darren Chang, owner of Smitten Coffee and Tea Bar, says, "It is quite evident that the Be Disloyal programme is widening customers' awareness about specialty coffee in Singapore."The idea for the campaign is stemmed from the 2009 World Barista champion, Gwilym Davies, who initiated the idea in his own cafe in London. The campaign was launched in Singapore in mid-September. Posthuma says he aims to launch it in Malaysia this year-end.