Free and open media is a wonderful thing. It opens the doors for free flowing news, innovation, and thought. There is no doubt the nature of media is changing with the rise of social media platforms, but for the purposes of this post, I will be referring to traditional media. Specialty coffee has been blessed to have received of late a vast amount of press coverage from newspapers, magazines, trade journals, and television shows. Unfortunately, much of this coverage has a patronizing tone to it focusing on novelty gadgets, shiny new and expensive equipment, and high priced brews, thus trivializing it. Why should people take specialty coffee seriously if it is nothing but the newest gadget? As an industry, we have failed to convey our message to the rest of the world in a cohesive manner. The press we receive has a direct effect on the way the general public will perceive our work. We can either make people reconsider coffee as a complex and lively product, meriting our enthusiasm, thus being viewed as true artisans, or we can miss the boat and be viewed as pretentious, trend chasing uber geeks. Here are some tips I’ve learned from experience when you are given the opportunity to interact with the press:
1.) Know your audience. When a writer walks in the door, find out what kind of audience you will be speaking to. Is it a trade magazine, or a magazine geared for young moms? The answer to this will shape your message, and how technical you can get. Remember that you are speaking to thousands, if not millions of people who have never stepped into your shop, and may have never had any direct experience with specialty coffee. Start simple, ask lots of questions, gauge your audience based on the writer’s own level of coffee knowledge.
2.) Find a message, and control it. I know, this is pretty basic, but in the social media age of lightning fast interaction and very little control over your message, we have forgotten that in print media, this is still very important. Decide what message you want to see in print more than anything, and make sure it gets in there. Keep it simple, keep it accessible. Don’t be afraid of being redundant. For example, someone wants to do a write up about your manual brewing program for your local newspaper, and you decide that the message you want to portray is, “Good coffee is lively and complex. We believe that coffee tastes best when it is brewed carefully and precisely. We make brewing coffee into a ritual because we believe it is worth it, and that by slowing down to savor the process and the result, it can make our lives a bit better. Rituals make us appreciate the best things in life.” There. It’s simple, it’s accessible, and it shows you care and are doing something different. People can relate to that and it will pique their interest. It’s your job to make sure the writer knows your message. Say it, then say it again, say the same thing in a different way, brew them a cup, have them taste it, then say it again until there is no possible way that they won’t get your point. Making sure your message gets into print is not the writer’s job, they’re just an observer, it’s yours. I’m always looking for parallels in other industries, and I can think of no better example than Anthony Bourdain. Anthony Bourdain is a chef, turned writer, turned television host. He was exactly the kind of guy that the mainstream wanted to hate: a chain smoking, snarky, intellectual type. How he got a television show, I’ll never know, but from the first episode, it was clear that Anthony Bourdain had a message. That message was that meat was really good, pork above all, especially the “nasty bits,” and that America could learn something from the culinary traditions of the rest of the world, especially the poorest. That in our homogenized, fast paced, efficiency crazed food culture we had lost something important about ourselves. There is no way unless you are asleep that you cannot get this message if you watch a few episodes of this show. You watch clip after clip of pork gluttony, and sermonettes that would border on the absurd if it wasn’t clear that he was so passionate. You don’t watch the show to see a chef walk you through a recipe for the perfect tenderloin, you watch it to see someone really enjoying pork, and you know what? It worked. Suddenly, a whole new generation of young and food-curious folks were clammering to try pork belly, bone marrow, and tripe. It wasn’t like chefs hadn’t been saying this stuff for ages, it was just that Bourdain was better at conveying the message.
3.) Don’t get too technical. The first time someone wanted to interview me about coffee I was giddy. It was my turn to educate the public about how great coffee could be. I yammered on about ethical sourcing, varietals, processing, roast levels, preferred brewing methods, and notes of lavender and meyer lemon. When the article was printed it basically said something to the effect of ,”These guys are coffee snobs, they have lots of brewing equipment, this is a place for serious coffee drinkers.” I was floored. I couldn’t believe with all of the great information I had given them, that this is what got printed. What I didn’t realize is that information overload does not impress most people, and technicalities won’t convince most people to change their view of coffee. Avoid industry jargon, don’t talk about extraction percentages, and stay on message. Remember that the more technical you are, the more likely you are to get misquoted, or even worse, ignored. It’s the writers job to pen an article that is accessible to their readers, so it should be your job to make this as easy as possible for them by providing relevant and interesting material.
4.) Don’t diss your competition. This is a tough one. The obvious question most will ask is, “If you’re claiming to do something differently, who are you doing it differently than?” Don’t fall into this trap. It is so easy to invoke the horrors of giant dark roasting factories, greedily brewing commodity coffee by the gallon in thousands of locations, but don’t do it. It’s tacky, and it brings unnecessary attention to them. When Apple releases a new product it doesn’t start by listing off the flaws of its competition, it presents the product as something that is beautiful, innovative, and will make their lives better. It is impossible to be seen as innovative and reactionary at the same time. We have to be seen as something more than a reaction to our competition.
5.) Show your passion. When you are excited about something, it’s easy to get people on board. Excitement is contagious because everyone is looking for something to get excited about. We are a passionate industry, no doubt about this, but how often do we show it to the public? Do we keep our happiness about a great coffee in the cupping room, while taking a stoic approach with customers? One great example of excitement in coffee is Steve Leighton of HasBean. This guy loves coffee, and it’s very obvious. From his blogs, to his podcasts, to his video blogs you get a sense of pure joy and enthusiasm from him about coffee. I think we can all learn to swallow some pride, let our hair down, and not be afraid of looking silly because we’re so excited about coffee.
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