Ads appeared on coffee sleeves almost as soon as the paper sheaths were first wrapped around designer coffee. Now graphics and text can move, disappear and change color as customers grab their cups.

To find out how to get your client’s message into the hands of consumers sipping coffee in upscale outlets, read on.

This is one in a Media Life series on buying the new out-of-home venues. They appear weekly.

Fast Facts

What
Innovations in coffee-sleeve advertising include using lenticular technology and thermocromic inks to create moving images.

Who
Encompass Media Group, headquartered in New York.

How it works
Two new twists to coffee sleeve advertising have expanded the options available to advertisers. Lenticular and heat-sensitive sleeves produce images that change with movement and heat.

Lenticular effects include:
-3-D graphics where images seem to float on top of detailed backgrounds
-Images and text can seem to flip over. These can appear in small scale on up to three places on a single coffee sleeve.
-Images can zoom in and out and seem to appear and disappear.

Heat-sensitive sleeves utilize thermochromic inks to make images appear or change color when they come in contact with the hot cup.

“The eye is focused on any one part of the sleeve at one time,” says creative and production director Benjy Kile. “So, for example, Jeep used different effects in three different places.”

“The sleeve is black and then when you put it on the cup an image or message appears,” says president Adam Pierce. “We did a holiday promotion for General Motors last year where snowflakes and a holiday message emerged.”

Inks can be mixed to react to different temperatures, including body heat. Both sleeve types provide the same level of heat resistance as normal sleeves.

Distribution is through coffee shops, delis, bagel shops, convenience stores, coffee carts and other targeted venues where designer coffee is sold, and advertisers can target by market or buy the network.

Markets
The program is available in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Boston, Atlanta, Detroit, Seattle, Phoenix, Minneapolis, Denver, Sacramento, St. Louis, Baltimore, Portland, San Diego, Vancouver and Washington, D.C.

Numbers
The lenticular coffee sleeve program launched in August with a run of one million sleeves distributed in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago featuring the new Jeep Compass.

How it is measured
Encompass estimates eight impressions per sleeve based on consumer interviews their staff conducts on so-called free coffee days, when a cup of java is exchanged for participation in their informal survey.

“Sleeves go back to the office, sleeves end up on mass transit,” Pierce says. “Sleeves are removed from cups and kept on hand when advertisers use them to advertise sports schedules or television line-ups.”

What product categories do well
Automotive and entertainment are top categories.

Demographics
Generally coffee sleeves are used in upscale outlets, Pierce says. They’re also more common in northern or cooler markets. Specific groups can be targeted by designated market area, zip code or venue.

Making the buy
Lead time is five to six weeks for lenticular or heat-sensitive sleeves and three weeks for standard sleeves.

Factors that affect cost include number of pieces and markets. Printing using lenticular technology increases the cost. Heat sensitive is also an added cost, though less costly than lenticular. The key factor for heat-sensitive sleeves is how much thermocromic ink is used.

Flights are typically one month. The minimum buy is 250,000 pieces.

Who’s already on coffee sleeves
Jeep ran a lenticular coffee sleeve program in August and G.M. used heat sensitive sleeves for a holiday campaign.

What they’re saying
“You can have a head bobble, have one person’s head morph into another or spin in and out, can have a car move or zoom in and out, have text appear and disappear, have images flip or change color.” – Benjy Kile, director of creative and production at Encompass.

Web site info
Encompass Media Group at www.encompassmediagroup.com