Coffee fuels a lot of creative activity. Think of the all-nighters and brainstorming sessions it lubricates. But it’s often treated like a commodity. Daniele Foti, vice president of marketing at Lavazza North America, has strong opinions on this.
“Coffee becomes a commodity when the brand is not strong. So when the brand disappears, then the only thing which stays on the table is the commodity aspect,” he says. Lavazza is a brand that has focused its story and branding around the fact that coffee is connected with memorable experiences, he explains.
The Italian coffee has made arts and cinema a big part of its positioning around cultural occasions. The brand participates in a number of film industry events; it is the official coffee of the Independent Spirit Awards and Toronto International Film Festival is and sponsor of the Italian Contemporary Film Festival. It is a sponsor of the annual Art Basel Miami art fair and last December led a takeover to introduce its collaboration with photographer Alex Webb on an art calendar.
Lavazza also sponsors sports-related events, such as the U.S. Open tennis tournament, but some recent promotions have added to its film career. It recently expanded its collaboration with the Oscar-winning director Martin Scorsese, started in 2025 with a partnership with the Martin Scorsese Virtual Production Center at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. This month, it launched “Family Blend,” a five-episode web series by his daughter, filmmaker Francesca Scorsese. The short films show father and daughter relating over coffee in iconic New York locations.
Lavazza wasn’t looking for a celebrity or ambassador when the brand and the director were connected by agency RDL Worldwide, but connecting with the Scorseses and NYU Tisch made sense, said Foti. Lavazza is a supporting partner of Tribeca X, the New York film festival’s platform. It recently activated that sponsorship and the Scorsese partnership to launch its Tabli coffee machine at an event at the Tisch school where Francesca Scorsese demonstrated the product.
This is only part of a larger narrative, said Foti. “Ultimately, the objective is to be relevant for whomever approaches the brand,” he said.
Brand Innovators caught up with Foti to discuss the new partnership. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
How did you come to work with Martin Scorsese? Did he need to be convinced?
He’s actually absolutely into coffee and this was a common connection with us. An agency working with us told us and him at the same time: “I think you guys should talk to each other and have some sort of conversation.”
His background is really about not only being Italian, but he has a big passion for coffee. He has a lot of memories he talked about. When we started a collaboration with NYU Tisch in October, that was pretty much his kickoff speech. He has a lot of connection with coffee, with his history when he started in Sicily — about his family, his grandma, preparing coffee and having this environment that was extremely inspiring for him.
It started with a couple of dots which were connected, but to us in the end, it’s a wider project. What we have been trying to do is not just about having a single campaign or a single collaboration. It’s more about building a full narrative.
It’s not just a matter of connecting our equity to some other big personality or anything like that. The idea is not just to place ourselves and position ourselves close to someone. It’s a matter of finding partnerships that help us in telling a story, because that’s how at the end you can be successful with consumers.
It’s a matter of building an entire narrative, which to me makes a huge difference, especially with consumers. I always say marketeers love campaigns, consumers get the narrative, which is a huge difference.
Why target the arts, not some other passion point like food or sports?
In the end, coffee is related to and is linked to culture overall. Coffee intuitively, easily connects with moments of connection between people. If you think about the product itself, it’s not just about the product, but it’s about the moment when you actually drink coffee. If you think about where this happens, we are talking about culture in general.
We also partner with sport or top gastronomy, but with a common point, which is these culturally-relevant occasions. Again, why? Because the underlying idea is that coffee resonates well when there is some true, meaningful connection among people.
We are building this narrative, which has to be spontaneous. This is really important. It shouldn’t be fake. It has to be reasonable in terms of common values, in moments in which we can tell our story of coffee as a connector.
You’ve had upscale activations like Art Basel Miami. Are you trying to reposition coffee as a luxury, aspirational product?
Coffee is not just about drinking the product. it’s a matter of creating what I always repeat: meaningful moments and nice memories for consumers. If you think about how Scorsese talks about coffee, he always connects. He doesn’t talk about the product itself, but he always refers to coffee as his childhood in Sicily with his grandma and people on the street enjoying a small cup of espresso, etc.
That tells you that at the end, the product itself becomes a commodity if you don’t have that storytelling. The value for people, that’s what is important. I wouldn’t say that we are trying to position the product. What we are trying to do is to create and show that Lavazza is relevant for people.
And that’s why we look for this sort of partnership. Because, at the end, there’s a matter of building a narrative.
If I’m bringing Lavazza during Art Basel and bringing a project like the calendar – if I’m present in any sort of cultural, artistic event – it’s because coffee naturally fits in there. I’m not just making a product placement, I’m creating that connection with consumers, with the artistic moment. Having this switch on for consumers and say: “Okay, I’m having a good time related to this environment. And guess what? I’m drinking coffee here.” That’s what we are building: really meaningful memories and meaningful moments for people. That’s the idea.
And where do you see as this narrative going? May there be other artists, media that would lend themselves to this kind of treatment?
No, we are not chasing the celebrity value. It’s more a matter of building this long story, always creating an enduring narrative, as I was saying. Something that is going to last.
We will give continuity to this, with the ultimate objective of being consistent to this goal. Consistency creates that sort of familiarity that then will bring loyalty and make connection to the consumers, which is what we need in terms of being relevant.
But if Robert De Niro wanted to have a coffee with his friend Marty, you wouldn’t object?
For sure I wouldn’t. And again, it would be consistent to what I was mentioning. It’s a natural to me. The presence of coffee in certain contexts is natural. A premium Italian coffee, like Lavazza, in this sort of conversation is naturally so.
It’s always important to understand that, and that’s what we try to do: Not to chase the campaign, but try to build a narrative. In order to do that, it’s really important to have this sort of connection in terms of common values, because it gives credibility. Because at the end, consumers spot if something is only made for the sake of connecting a brand with an important asset if you are missing those values. It’s crucial to connect the values, because otherwise, you are not able to build a sustainable narrative.
it’s not just a matter of looking premium. It’s a matter of becoming meaningful. Those are, in a nutshell, the key points that we always focus on to build our brand.
