Canada’s Kicking Horse Coffee appoints first agency of record, Lifelong Crush

Kicking Horse Coffee’s first flagship café at its Invermere headquarters | Photo credit: Lavazza

Lavazza-owned specialty coffee roaster Kicking Horse Coffee has appointed Lifelong Crush as its first ever Agency of Record (AOR) as it seeks to develop its brand identity across Canada and the US. 
 

Selected following a five-agency competitive pitch process, Lifelong Crush will support Kicking Horse Coffee shift from a focus on individual product sales to develop a broader brand marketing strategy which will drive greater brand affinity. 

The first creative work of the partnership is expected to launch in the third quarter of 2024. 

“Lifelong Crush really understood the essence of our brand and history and that showed up in a strong creative strategy and truly nailing the tone of voice. The way the agency was able to play with our brand and show us examples of how far we could go was awesome,” said Lori Hatcher, Chief Marketing Officer, Kicking Horse Coffee. 

“We’re an agency full of unconstrained thinkers that seek to break with convention, so to be able to collaborate with a similar team at Kicking Horse to shake up a sleepy coffee industry, ‘buck’ the trends and ignite what already exists in the Kicking Horse Coffee DNA really excites us,” said Christina Yu, Chief Creative Officer, Lifelong Crush. 

Kicking Horse Coffee named Cédric Malaga as its new CEO in June 2023, with Hatcher-Hillier joining as Chief Marketing Officer the following November. 
 

Founded in 1996, Kicking Horse Coffee is one of Canada’s leading coffee roasters, distributing to cafés across North American grocery stores and direct-to-consumers via its online store. The specialty coffee roaster, which was acquired by Italian coffee roaster Lavazza in May 2017, opened its first flagship café at its Invermere headquarters in October 2023.