Food & Beverage / Specialty Coffee · Vietnam · 2024
Highland Coffee: From Specialty to Mainstream: How Highland Coffee Won Vietnam's Gen Z Café Culture
AKA Digital activated a KOL-first social strategy for Highland Coffee — positioning the brand at the centre of Vietnam's thriving specialty coffee movement through authentic creator partnerships and TikTok-native content that drove new customer discovery.
The Challenge
Highland Coffee was entering a hyper-competitive Vietnamese specialty coffee market dominated by established chains. They needed to build authentic brand distinctiveness among Gen Z and millennial urban consumers — without resorting to promotions or price competition that would dilute brand equity.
Our Approach
AKA Digital curated a two-tier KOL strategy using SocialMind: lifestyle and food micro-KOLs (50K–200K followers) on Instagram and TikTok created authentic café-visit content, supplemented by macro travel and lifestyle influencers for broader brand authority. Content was built around the specialty coffee experience — ambience, craft, and personal moments — rather than product specs. Each creator brief was tailored to feel organic, not sponsored.
The Outcome
Highland Coffee's TikTok became their primary new-customer discovery channel during the campaign, with KOL-generated content continuing to circulate organically months after the paid period ended. The brand's social following grew significantly, and in-store traffic tracked measurably from influencer promo codes.
Technologies Used
AKA Digital Solutions Deployed
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