Nguyen Coffee Supply

Outstanding Social Media Finalist

Part of Nguyen Coffee Supply’s growth is a testament to their social media initiatives and building a real community behind the brand. In the early days of launching, the company spent zero dollars on marketing and paid media due to being a scrappy company growing out of the Founder’s Brooklyn apartment. Fortunately, the founder, Sahra, had an extensive creative career in writing and filmmaking, leveraging her natural abilities in storytelling to amplify the brand’s story and rally an audience around their mission. The brand has built a prominent presence online due to its unique approach to storytelling which lives at the intersection of challenging dominant norms, reframing perspectives and writing a new narrative in a way that invites everyone to be a part of the change. Instead of standard product promotion, Nguyen Coffee Supply appeals to wider audiences by creating captivating content that’s personal, educational and inspiring. With 57.6K followers at time of writing, the brand posts everything from recipes with the products, to trips to Vietnam where they source their beans, to educational content and more. One of the more unique sides of their presence is how relatable and personal the company announces news. For example, instead of sticking with a standard/scripted expansion announcement, founder Sahra Nguyen made a heartwarming Instagram reel taking her parents to her home grocery store to buy her coffee, humanizing the brand.

With a mission to completely rewrite the narrative about Vietnamese coffee and robusta beans, the brand has a relentless commitment to original content creation. The educational content is especially prominent on the brand’s YouTube, with over 1.2M collective views. It does more than diversify the brand’s posts: educational videos also help consumers understand that Nguyen Coffee Supply is selling more than a product, but rather, they’re selling a mission and a lifestyle that’s rooted in inclusivity and community empowerment. Celebrating Vietnamese coffee and inclusion of diverse cultures is at the heart of the business, and by dispelling myths about robusta beans, elevating Vietnamese farmers, and educating the masses on how to use a phin filter, etc., consumers know they are supporting something beyond a tasty coffee. By following Nguyen Coffee Supply and purchasing their products, they’re participating in a movement that is challenging a system that historically marginalized coffee producers and positively impacting Vietnamese farmers and robusta growing communities worldwide.

Notably, founder Sahra Nguyen has intertwined her identity as an influencer / founder, promoting the brand across her socials, as well as in the press. Sahra’s own Instagram account (at time of writing) has 25.7K followers, where she promotes her brand, her press initiatives, and gives followers a peek into her personal life (that often aligns with Nguyen Coffee Supply’s values).

For example, Sahra promoted a New York Times article that ran on her special wedding (multiple special wedding days). Sahra had three ceremonies: one courthouse wedding in the city flaunting a white suit fit for a CEO, one Vietnamese ceremony at her parent’s house in a traditional traditional Vietnamese red áo dài dress and headpiece, and a classic ceremony and reception in the South of France wearing an elegant designer white-dress — all three mirroring her multifaceted identity.

In fact, Sahra is often in the press and is highlighted as a Vietnamese coffee expert. Frequently, Sahra promotes news articles and awards across her channels, but especially on LinkedIn, where she also has 15.5K followers at time of writing.

It’s this unwavering support from Sahra that led Modern Retail to interview her for their feature piece with the headline “The rise of the founder-influencer.”

Additional Links/Notes: Nguyen Coffee Supply Press Clips
Sahra Instagram
Sahra LinkedIn
Recipe Example Instagram Post
Trip To Vietnam Instagram Post
Educational Content Example YouTube Videos
Sahra’s Whole Foods / Parent Reel

Visit the Nguyen Coffee Supply YouTube page.
Visit the Nguyen Coffee Supply LinkedIn page.
Visit the Nguyen Coffee Supply Instagram page.
Visit the official Nguyen Coffee Supply website.
Vote for Nguyen Coffee Supply here.

Night Swim Coffee

Outstanding Social Media Finalist

The aim of Night Swim Coffee is to connect people to where their coffee comes from. In tandem, we also operate 13 cafes/retail spaces. Our social media is coffee-focused, but we reserve a portion of our feed for cafe related content as well. We like to focus on good design, good photography, and educational content, with the intent on telling the stories of the coffees that we source, roast, and serve. We also collaborate with local artist, content creators, and coffee folks to create meaningful imagery and videos.

Visit the Night Swim Coffee Instagram page.
Visit the official Night Swim Coffee website.
Vote for Night Swim Coffee here.

Verve Coffee

Outstanding Social Media Finalist

Verve’s social media strategy aims to inspire its followers to experience the brand’s famous coffee along its journey while also offering insight into the life of a barista in a playful way. Verve takes trending sounds and pop culture moments that are taking off on TikTok and quickly applies them to their unique barista culture giving its followers a behind the scenes glimpse into what it’s like to be a part of the Verve team. By focusing on the internal monologue of the barista as the common theme, Verve is able to poke fun at themselves while exposing the universality of what it’s like to be in the service industry and a general coffee enthusiast.
Once Verve expanded its social media content to TikTok at the beginning of 2023, its followers and engagement expanded. By bridging the content between TikTok and IG Reels Verve has received millions of views coupled with an 8% increase in its Instagram following. Verve has also seen steady growth across all our social media channels including a 14% increase in engagement.

Visit the Verve Coffee Instagram page.
Visit the Verve Coffee TikTok page.
Visit the official Verve Coffee website.
Vote for Verve Coffee here.