SITUATION

Since its launch in 1989, Maxim Mocha Gold has been part of everyday life for Koreans. Over the past year, the brand sold approximately 5.3 billion units cumulatively, roughly 170 units per second, and has maintained a dominant market share.

As the ways people drink coffee have diversified with the spread of low-priced coffee franchises and the growth of the home café market, this campaign aimed to redefine Maxim Mocha Gold’s irreplaceable core competitiveness: the “taste memory imprinted on the body.”

SOLUTION

The campaign defined the taste that every Korean knows as “the taste the soul knows,” and intuitively conveyed the idea of “Korean soul coffee” through the image of a cup of Mocha Gold, which has long symbolized the daily lives of Koreans in K-content.

The campaign opened with the question, “Iced Americano is nice, but the real thing is something else,” introducing the most distinctly Korean coffee that Maxim Mocha Gold wants to talk about. The tiger character that appears afterward, along with the message “Since the days when tigers drank coffee, our happiness has been Maxim,” expressed the brand heritage in a direct and witty way. (“The days when tigers drank coffee” is derived from the Korean idiom “the days when tigers smoked,” a phrase meaning “once upon a time,”)

The “ha~” sound that escapes with a cup of Mocha Gold was intended to go beyond a simple exclamation and become the signature of “soul coffee” that every Korean can relate to. At the same time, the campaign lined up moments of enjoying a cup of Mocha Gold in everyday life, intuitively showing the small moments of happiness the brand wants to convey.

RESULTS

According to consumer research, brand favorability among ad viewers rose to 80%. The campaign’s Korean-sentiment-driven execution also outperformed the industry average on creative indicators such as branding and credibility. In addition, positive responses continued to emerge, such as “The real soul coffee is Mocha Gold” and “Maxim is finally acting like Maxim again.” The brand value built over a long time met the new language of “soul,” reaffirming Maxim Mocha Gold as Korea’s soul coffee.