Brand
Barista Coffee
#BrewingCoffeeIndustry
In 2000, Barista introduced the country to the idea of sitting in a café for sheer pleasure of it, and became part of a generation's dating history, breakup rituals, and job interview prep routines.
Then the category exploded with the likes of Starbucks and Blue Tokai pulling the artisanal crowd. And Barista, India's original café, found itself fighting to stay relevant in the very segment it had created.
Media visibility had dropped sharply. The brand was innovating, expanding aggressively, and launching new formats, but no one was really talking about it. Our job was to fix that.
Campaign gallery
The idea
We built a multi-track PR campaign '#BrewingCoffeeIndustry', to work on 3 levels simultaneously. First, re-establish Barista's credentials as the pioneer of India's café culture. Second, make the expansion story loud enough that franchisees, investors, and consumers all sat up. Third, make CEO Rajat Agrawal a genuine voice in the QSR and food service industry.
Running parallel to all of this was an influencer and social strategy aimed squarely at the youth segment, who had grown up hearing about Barista from their parents but needed their own reasons to walk in.
Execution
We broke the campaign into many clear streams.
Long-format leadership interviews were our entry point. We placed Rajat Agrawal in The Hindu Business Line, Economic Times Retail, AFAQS, and other tier-one business publications. Stories covered Barista's international expansion ambitions of opening 500 stores in Middle East & Maldives.
Every new café opening became a media moment. We worked with CAT A food and lifestyle publications to generate reviews, outlet features, and opening stories. NDTV Food covered the iconic Defence Colony outlet revival. Economic Times Hospitality covered the 400th outlet milestone at Rajiv Chowk Metro Station, New Delhi, a genuinely newsworthy milestone that we made sure landed properly.
We secured speaker opportunities for the CEO at multiple industry awards and roundtable conferences. This placed Barista & its leadership in conversations about the future of QSR, not just coffee. Stories about doubling retail presence to 800 outlets in 5 years ran on ET Retail. AFAQS covered the brand's core business strategy. Press Trust of India did a video story. Financial Express put Barista on the front page.
We ran engagement campaigns with 50+ national and regional influencers across festive launches, store visits, and product reveals. Barista Diner, the brand's new dining format with a live kitchen, got a dedicated push through reviews, community collaborations, and influencer storytelling.
We also did an unexpected tie-up with a leading age-tech startup, bringing senior citizens together at a Barista outlet. It generated warmth in coverage and reinforced the brand's community angle in a way no press release ever could.
Results
- Media visibility went up 300%.
- 65% of all articles carried Barista's name directly in the headline.
- 150+ coverages in a single year, with 200+ journalists engaged across PAN India activities.
- 50+ industry stories covering the coffee category, leadership vision, and trend-led narratives.
- 50+ influencers were activated across campaigns.
- The CEO went from rarely quoted to one of QSR's more recognisable voices
- Sales went up 40% without any negative stories. Not one. In a category where brands get picked apart constantly, where one bad review can spiral, Barista ran a full year of aggressive PR activity and came out with a completely clean slate.
300%
Media visibility uplift
150+
Coverages in one year
40%
Sales uplift
