Design Experience – RTD Coffee
Turning Everyday Coffee Into an On-the-Go Brand Experience
The Ready-to-Drink (RTD) coffee market is one of the most dynamic and fast-growing categories in beverages. It combines the ritual and energy of coffee with the convenience today’s consumers expect, creating a product that is both functional and lifestyle-driven. For brands, this means packaging design plays a critical role—not only in grabbing attention on crowded shelves, but also in shaping how consumers perceive quality, taste, and authenticity.
At Imaginity, we bring deep experience in RTD coffee packaging design and branding, helping products stand out and resonate with different consumer needs. Our work demonstrates that packaging is not just a container but a powerful brand touchpoint—turning an everyday drink into a memorable brand experience that consumers want to keep coming back to.
Crafting a Flexible Brand System
For Café Olé, one of the leading brands in RTD coffee, we developed a visual identity system that could stretch across multiple needs and occasions. The core range demanded clarity and appetite appeal, with designs that combine bold typography, rich coffee cues, and vibrant color coding to make each flavor instantly recognizable. By blending tradition with a modern look, we helped the brand feel both authentic and relevant to a younger, on-the-go audience.
This flexible system was designed to work across bottles, cans, multipacks, and promotional formats, ensuring consistency at every consumer touchpoint. At the same time, it provided room for creative variation—allowing the brand to surprise its audience while remaining true to its DNA. This balance of cohesion and adaptability is essential in RTD coffee packaging design, where brands need both reliability and the ability to innovate.
Building Excitement with Special Editions
In the competitive RTD coffee space, novelty is a key driver of sales and engagement. With Café Olé, we extended the brand beyond its everyday packs into a world of special editions and seasonal releases. Each design became an opportunity to tell a story—whether through festive graphics, playful cultural references, or bold limited runs that created a sense of collectability. These designs generated buzz, encouraged repeat purchases, and positioned Café Olé as a brand that consumers love to follow.
By making packaging itself a conversation starter, we helped Café Olé connect with consumers on an emotional level. Seasonal and limited-edition designs made the brand feel fresh, fun, and part of cultural moments, ensuring visibility not only on shelf but also in social sharing and consumer word of mouth. This approach reinforced the role of RTD coffee branding as a long-term growth lever.
Packaging as a Growth Engine
RTD coffee packaging must accomplish much more than simple shelf presence. It needs to communicate convenience and portability instantly, reassuring consumers that the product fits seamlessly into their on-the-go lifestyles. At the same time, packaging must help shoppers easily differentiate flavors and variants, providing clarity in a fast decision-making environment.
Equally important, design should capture the dual nature of coffee as both energizing and indulgent—appealing to different consumption occasions throughout the day. When executed well, RTD coffee packaging becomes more than functional; it transforms into something desirable and shareable. This blend of practicality, appetite appeal, and emotional connection is what makes packaging a true growth engine for RTD coffee brands.
From Daily Rituals to Lifestyle Connection
RTD coffee is more than a beverage—it’s part of how people express themselves, whether it’s a quick energy boost in the morning, a mid-afternoon indulgence, or a social moment with friends. At Imaginity, we design packaging that reflects this diversity of occasions and moods, turning every product into an invitation into the brand world.
Our long-term collaboration with Café Olé shows how thoughtful RTD coffee packaging design can build both immediate sales and enduring loyalty. By creating designs that feel functional, exciting, and worth sharing, we help brands transform coffee from a daily ritual into a lifestyle connection—one that keeps consumers engaged today and invested in the brand for years to come.
