Viennese family-owned coffee company Julius Meinl is celebrating this year’s World Poetry Day on March 21st with its fourth annual ‘Pay With A Poem’ initiative. Popular London establishments such as St James’ Theatre, Beaufort House Members Club, Manna Dew and The Pearson Room are confirmed to join the popular campaign.
Participating partner locations worldwide will offer consumers the chance to pay for a hot beverage with a handwritten poem. For 2017, the brand hopes to surpass the almost 100,000 people who put pen to paper during last year’s campaign.
Already, Julius Meinl-supplied cafés in 34 countries are on board, with the Netherlands and Singapore set to take part for the first time.
Speaking ahead of the launch, Julius Meinl’s CEO, Marcel Löffler added: “Pay With A Poem continues to grow year-on-year and so too does our commitment to poetry. It’s motivating to see so many of our partners in cafés, restaurants and hotels getting involved and experiencing the positive benefits of this initiative.”
Participating locations will be supported by a global integrated marketing campaign including dedicated digital, social, PR and experiential efforts. To drive maximum consumer impact, the brand has also developed an app featuring all participating locations. Registered partners will also receive flyers, door stickers and posters to announce the campaign.
The offer is being promoted on Julius Meinl’s Facebook page, and consumers are being encouraged to follow the initiative on social media via the hashtags #PayWithAPoem and #PoetryForChange.
Julius Meinl, established in 1862, is a fifth generation Austrian family company and positions itself as the global ambassador of Vienna’s coffee house culture for more than 150 years. It supplies restaurants and business customers in more than 70 countries and has 700 employees worldwide with total sales of €160million. Julius Meinl ranks among the top three premium coffee brands in over 40 countries and the company is the market leader in supplying hotels, restaurants and cafes in Austria, Central and Eastern Europe, the Adriatic coutries, Russia and Dubai.
World Poetry Day was established by UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) in 1999. The purpose of the day is to promote the reading, writing, publishing and teaching of poetry throughout the world and, as UNESCO says, to “give fresh recognition and impetus to national, regional and international poetry movements.”
