The specialty coffee category can be intimidating to the uninitiated. Seán McLoughlin (known to fans as Jacksepticeye) has amassed more than 52 million followers across social media – with 29M subscribers and nearly 16 billion views on YouTube alone. He is also an avid coffee drinker. Having had some success with his existing coffee brand, Top of the Mornin’, McLoughlin wanted to expand the brands appeal to a new generation of drinkers and create a gateway coffee for those stepping into the category.
The aim being to create a brand with stand-alone value in coffee, while being authentic and true to McLoughlin’s values and personality. A brand with the ability to cut through as a YouTube thumbnail and in the future stand out in traditional retail. Earthling Studio’s team worked in close collaboration with McLoughlin, placing a big focus on listening and understanding his motivations and where the love of coffee came from, in combination with sharing visual stimulus to help inform the direction of the future design work.
“The Earthling team spent time to really understand the motivation behind Top of the Mornin’ and craft this into something iconic and memorable. It’s felt like a true partnership from day 1 and we’re excited to continueto collaborate in the future.”Seán McLoughlin
The key things that stood out were McLoughlin’s uplifting positivity, inclusivity, and irreverent, slightly absurd humour, underpinned by a sincere and genuine passion to create great quality coffee.
“If all the good things in the world came together and made a baby it would be Top of the Mornin’ Coffee.”Seán McLoughlin
McLoughlin’s commitment to philanthropy and fostering positive youth mental health also meant there was a desire to give back, opening the opportunity for Earthling to realign the brand with a meaningful charity partner that McLoughlin had long been a supporter of. 1% of sales on TopoftheMorninCoffee.com will go directly to the Crisis Text Line, providing free 24/7 high quality text based mental health support and crisis intervention.
The team landed on the brand idea of “absurd positivity”, a platform that brings tomfoolery, playfulness, light relief, and a positive start to the day in an uncertain world. All underpinned by a genuine passion to always deliver “absurdly good coffee” experiences. “The world feels very heavy right now, so we set out to create a brand with as much absurdity and positivity as its founder. We worked closely with Jack to deliver a brand that brings people in and shuts nobody out.”Stephen McDavid – Creative Partner, Earthling Studio.
Earthling developed a new icon for the brand, inspired by the idea that Top of the Mornin’ tastes like a cup of sunshine. The accompanying wordmark has a bold 3D quality to deliver great stand out. To accompany the new logo there is a cast of new characters, led by their absurdly positive leader Sonny, a true ray of sunshine. The hero mascot is accompanied by a shamrock called Lucky inspired by Seán’s Irish roots, a down to earth
Cup of Joe and an inclusive rainbow character called Raye. A new world, Planet Positivity, has also been developed, where the absurdly positive vibes truly blossom.
The brand palette is a vibrant mix of golden yellow, inspired by sunny mornings, a bold blue to represent the sky and pop of hot pink to add some intrigue. Each variant of coffee also has its own unique hue, inspired by the different times of day. The brand uses a complimentary mix of friendly fonts, with a lead headline treatment that jumps off the page with as much energy and positivity as Jack himself.
The bold new packaging brings a ray of positive sunshine to the traditionally dark world of specialty coffee. This new look aims to bring accessibility to a whole new generation of coffee drinkers, delivering a delicate balance of quality while having bags of positivity and optimism appealing to the seasoned coffee drinker and the curious alike.
A new tone of voice rooted in enthusiasm has also been developed bringing infectious joy, inclusivity, and a touch of weirdness. The copy packs a punch, with short sentences, lots of alliteration and an extra shot of absurdity to keep things interesting. The lead line ‘coffee so good it’s absurd’ talks to Jack’s passion to create absurdly good products but also his mission to provide some light relief with his unique playfully positive
personality.
‘Working with the Earthling team on the brand creation process was a pleasure. Like any collaborative and creative process, Earthling stretch the design and produce brave iconic work, whilst listening and developing with the founders’ vision in mind. The attention to detail and craft is second to none, and in my opinion, the work as iconic as anything out there right now. We believe this rebrand provides a platform for future growth
and we have plans to shake up specialty coffee and beyond.’
Hugh Thomas, CEO, Top of the Mornin’ LLC
The launch will be US centric featuring an absurdly good range of sustainably sourced coffees, teas, hot chocolates, merchandise, and apparel. These will be available exclusively on TopoftheMorninCoffee.com and shipping globally.