Coffee is not a drug

Together with the Chernyi (Black) Cooperative – pioneers in specialty coffee in Moscow – we have launched a campaign to fight against stereotypes by launch of the first online shop that sells legal products on the DarkNet.

Objective

To develop a fresh approach to such familiar product as coffee by breaking stereotypes about coffee being a drug and the DarkNet being a platform that exists only for drug trafficking.

Insight

How many cups of coffee a day can a person drink until he or she gets addicted? What amount of caffeine is harmful to health? Is coffee a drug, or is it a common misconception? The Chernyi (Black) Cooperative tries to get rid of these prejudices and confronts the stereotype about coffee with the stereotype about the DarkNet to prove that coffee is not a drug and the Tor is not only a platform for the sale of illegal products.

Idea

We have launched an advertising campaign to turn the stereotype about coffee upside down. On the eve of the start, more than 1,000 stickers with the .onion domain name appeared in the most populated places and clubs of Moscow, encouraging to order the product. On 24 October, we launched an online store at cherniy23xtbnjqd.onion, accessible only through the Tor DarkNet browser. The design of the Web site and coffee purchasing process are stylized to fit the gloomy atmosphere of the “dark” part of the Internet. One can buy coffee by a method usual for anonymous marketplaces – through Bitcoins and Qiwi payment system – and then a user receives an e-mail with the coordinates of the “stash” where a purchased product can be found. On the same day at 4:20 PM, we released a video teaser shot in the locations familiar to the audience of Chernyi.

Result

Sales increase by 300%
PR Value – $ 1 million
Media budget – $ 0
180 publications in 10 languages throughout the world
The world’s first online store selling legal products on the DarkNet