$4BN+
Forecasts project the global cold coffee category to exceed USD $4 billion by 2030.
Shaping the future of machine-free coffee
STARBUCKS
Coffee at home is changing. Consumers still want quality and moments that feel personal, but they also want formats that fit more easily into everyday life.
For Starbucks, this raised an important strategic question: how could the brand play a stronger role in machine-free coffee, across concentrates, soluble and other convenient formats, while staying true to what people expect from Starbucks?
We helped Starbucks build the consumer and category understanding needed to move forward with clarity and confidence.
UNDERSTANDING THE OPPORTUNITY BEYOND CONVENIENCE
Starbucks wanted to develop a consumer-led view of the machine-free coffee landscape; exploring the role different formats could play, the occasions they support and where the brand had the strongest opportunity to win.
From the outset, we were careful not to reduce “convenient coffee” to speed alone. Instead, we explored the broader emotional and behavioural role these formats play in people’s lives – from quick weekday rituals to more considered at-home moments.
We designed a multi-market research programme across the UK, Turkey and South Korea, combining ethnography, discussion groups and product experience sessions to uncover deeper motivations around taste, preparation, packaging and overall experience.
Alongside this, we brought in learning from adjacent categories to help Starbucks look beyond coffee conventions and reframe how convenient formats could still feel premium, personal and emotionally meaningful.
3 MARKETS
Multi-market research programme delivered across the UK, Turkey and South Korea.
THE RESULTS
The work gave Starbucks a clearer understanding of how consumers relate to machine-free coffee, where the brand had permission to play and how future propositions could feel useful, credible and brand-right in the home.
That clarity helped inform momentum behind Starbucks® Coffee Craft; a premium coffee concentrate designed to help consumers create personalised iced Starbucks drinks at home.
The product is launching across Japan, Korea and the UK, with wider expansion planned across Europe and Asia from 2027.
For TVE, the project demonstrates the role innovation strategy can play at its best: helping brands understand fast-moving opportunities, sharpen decision-making and move forward with confidence.
BANG & OLUFSEN
Defining luxury in premium audio
As competition intensified, Bang & Olufsen sought to move beyond premium and establish a clearer position in luxury audio.
We uncovered the needs, expectations and codes of the luxury consumer – redefining what drives value at the high end. These insights shaped a more focused portfolio strategy, enabling B&O to sharpen its positioning, align its offer and build a more distinctive, future-facing presence in the luxury space.
CARLSBERG
Unlocking growth in hard seltzers
With hard seltzers booming, Carlsberg needed to define where and how to win globally.
We identified the key consumer drivers shaping adoption and translated them into clear, market-specific opportunities. This enabled Carlsberg to prioritise launches and focus investment; starting with targeted trials in Norway and Singapore before scaling into a broader global rollout.
The result was a more focused, insight-led entry into a fast-growing category.
BRITTANY FERRIES
Brand repositioning beyond core offer
As competition from low-cost, sun-focused holidays intensified, Brittany Ferries needed to evolve beyond its core ferry crossing offer and reposition itself as a provider of richer, end-to-end holiday experiences. We helped redefine the brand around what makes it truly distinctive: travelling by sea as part of the holiday itself, with access to discovery-rich destinations along Europe’s western coastlines. This new positioning came to life through a new logo and visual identity we created, alongside a reimagined onboard experience on its latest ships—designed to fully embody the brand’s promise.
BAKKAVOR
Reimagining the future of ready meals
Bakkavor set out to create a distinctive new brand in the competitive ready meals category without relying on retail or celebrity cues.
We combined deep category insight with consumer and expert perspectives to define a clear innovation opportunity, then took it end-to-end; from strategy through to concept, naming, design and launch.
The result was a multi-SKU range built to cut through at shelf and unlock new growth.
JABRA
Leading the future of the workplace
Jabra sits at the forefront of workplace innovation, navigating rapid shifts in technology, behaviour and environments.
We partnered with Jabra to explore what’s next; from the impact of AI to hybrid working and wellbeing, translating emerging trends into clear innovation opportunities.
Our work helped shape product and proposition development, ensuring Jabra continues to lead the category and unlock future growth.
SKY
Reframing the brand for a new era
Sky needed to shift consumer perception and reappraise its role in people’s lives.
We provided strategic guidance to define a new creative platform – grounding the brand in a more emotional, distinctive space that could cut through and resonate at scale.
This thinking became the foundation for the award-winning “That Sky Feeling” campaign, helping to reframe the brand and drive renewed relevance with audiences.
STARBUCKS
Rebuilding the Starbucks Reserve brand
Starbucks Reserve launched in EMEA to strengthen coffee authority, but underdelivered on awareness and engagement.
We redefined the brand’s strategic role and growth potential across key markets, developing and testing future brand territories with 2CV. This enabled us to prioritise the strongest opportunities and deliver a clear, commercially grounded roadmap, which identified must-win battles and where to focus investment into the areas with the greatest potential to drive growth.
TIKTOK
Embedding the audience growth strategy in TikTok
A segmentation framework only creates value if it’s adopted. After developing a global audience segmentation, we partnered with teams to bring it to life across the organisation.
From a high-impact launch event and leadership-led content to personalised tools and assets, we created a shared language and made the framework easy to use day-to-day.
By embedding it across content, product and communications, the work helped unlock a clear path to more than 500 million new users.
UNILEVER
Future-proofing hair styling innovation
Unilever needed to understand how hair styling had evolved post-pandemic and define a future-facing innovation roadmap.
We combined global research, expert input and deep consumer immersion to uncover emerging needs and identify six high-potential innovation territories. Through collaborative ideation and testing, we refined a focused set of concepts.
The result was a clear pipeline of next-generation products and the confidence to move forward in a rapidly evolving category.