Coffee continues to be a functional carrier

We’ve often find ourselves framing a lot around coffee, and the question we keep coming back to is: what exactly is driving innovation in this topical area? Of course, coffee is deeply habitual, but beyond that, its presence across the OOH channel means both awareness and relevance already exist at scale.

Increasingly, coffee is being reframed less as a standalone beverage and more as a functional carrier system onto which brands can layer entirely new benefit frameworks. And it’s precisely why we’re continuing to see so many coffee-adjacent propositions emerge.

One of the clearest examples is coffee becoming a carrier for performance. Take Dialed Coffee and its Performance Cold Brew, which brings together coffee and cognition in a single proposition. The brand layers citicoline, ashwagandha and rhodiola onto a smooth Colombian cold brew, creating a hybrid formulation that extends beyond the familiar caffeine-led energy narrative.

Framed around “everyday performance”, Dialed is designed to help consumers get a competitive edge and, quite literally, get ‘dialed’ in. So if you fancy dialing up your cognition, the range is available in Original Black, Toasted Vanilla and Smooth Mocha as the brand transforms recognisable coffeehouse beverages into targeted performance-oriented propositions. Coffee remains the familiar foundation, the carrier so to speak, while cognition and performance become the differentiating functional layers.

Meanwhile, Spacegoods is entering the RTD conversation by transferring its established powdered mushroom coffee proposition into convenient Oat Mushroom Latte cans. Designed to help consumers “feel sharp, focused and calm from the very first sip” – the formulation combines natural caffeine [from spray-dried coffee] with lion's mane, maca root and KSM-66 ashwagandha.

It's an interesting evolution for the brand, as the familiar mushroom coffee proposition moves beyond the tub and into the can. After all, a functional sip a day might just keep the doctor away…