STUMPTOWN COFFEE- BRAND EXTENSION

SLOW POUR

Music, coffee and community: A platform for slowing down and enjoying the simple pleasures in life

Case Study- Concept Development, 2025

Western society has been sold an idea of “rise and grind” our whole lives. The harder we work, the faster we move, the more we spend or do, the better life will be. The key to success is to optimize everything.

But there is a quiet rebellion happening. It looks like the same coffee shop every morning, the same local faces, a slow pour instead of a grab-and-go. Indulging in a daily ritual.

A generation told to hustle is discovering that slowness is not laziness - it is how you start a day right. It’s possible to build a life this way, a different version on the hustle our parents sold to us.

Stumptown was founded on craft and patience. Slow Pour is a return to what the brand has always believed: good things take time.

The opportunity

Stumptown built its reputation on craft- meticulous sourcing, precise roasting and a refusal to rush the process. But as specialty coffee has become mainstream, the brand’s disctinction has softened. The question: what’s the next territory Stumptown can own?

The Insight

Stumptown’s real production isn’t coffee- it’s a vibe. A way of moving through the world that resists the “optimize everything” mindset. The brand extension has to embody that, not just say it.

Slow Pour positions Stumptown not just as a coffee company, but as a gathering point for music, comunity and intentional slowness.

The Challenge

Brand extensions can dilute what made the original special. The challenge was threefold: maintain coherence across three distinct pillars, create visual identity that feels handmade (not corporate), and develop a tagline that earns its place.

Stumptown’s audience rejects anything too polished, this had to feel analog, literally.

The Platform

Three Pillars (or Rituals)

  • A music, coffee, and community platform built around three rituals: the morning that sets your day, the evening that closes it, and the people you share both with.

  • Intimate live performances hosted in Stumptown cafes. Lo-fi DJs, acoustic sets, experimental jazz, local artists. Think Tiny Desk, but smaller—just an artist, a room, and a cup of coffee. Filmed on film. Released slowly.

  • Part playlist, part subscription, part community. Free tier gets morning and evening radio show with old-school radio host patter. Paid tier adds monthly batch brew delivery, vinyl from featured artists, and early access to everything.

  • A limited-edition nitro cold brew stout made in collaboration with local craft breweries. Coffee meets pub culture (inspired by UK culture). Artist-designed packaging, pitched as a wind-down ritual in a can.

“Grind less, taste more.”

The tagline works on three levels: product (Stumptown’s roasting philosophy priotizes flavor over extraction efficiency), lifestyle (a counter-message to hustle culture), and platform (the Slow Pour experience is about tasting- music, community, collaboration- not just consuming).

Visual Direction

Shot on 35 mm film.

Warm grain, soft light, golden hours. Fog and stillness.

Figures small in frame, unhurried.

The aesthetic says: there's nowhere else to be right now, be present and enjoy the little things in life.

Visual Identity
Mark Explorations

The visual identity is designed to feel handmade, warm, and distinctly Pacific Northwest- consistent with Stumptown’s existing brand equity while carving out new territory. All explorations use various muted greens and warm cream palette, with hand-drawn line work that resists corporate polish

The Brew- Two Hands

One hand pouring into a cup held by another, coffee as connection, not consumption

The Sessions- Figure with Carafe

Whimsical illustration of a person dwarfed by an oversized pour- playful, memorable

The Radio Club- Single Hand

A solitary pour into a cup on saucer- elegant, refined, ritual- focused

Sample Content

Instagram Mockups

A brand system only works if it translates to real touchpoints.

These applications show how Slow Pour would live across social, events, and merchandise —

each pillar with its own voice, unified by the platform.

  • Series Launch

    Slow Pour series… Grind Less, Taste more. Coming soon 👀

  • Live Session V.1

    Slow Pour Sessions Vol. 1. Live from Stumptown. Free entry. DJ sets from 8 am- 10 am. Come sip and start your day slowly.

  • Radio Launch

    Slow Pour Radio Club, morning edition. Press play, pour slow. Link in bio to subscribe.

  • Brew Launch

    Slow Pour x Local Brewery. Nitro cold brew stout. Limited artist designed cans available.

Limited Edition Merch

Limited Edition Merch

Local artist collaborations for limited-run merch extends the Slow Pour world — vinyl pressings, old fashioned diner mugs, reusable tumblrs, hoodies, totes, and pint glasses for Brew releases.

Deliverables

What Was Made

Strategy

  • Platform concept defining three pillars

  • Tagline development: “Grind less, taste more”

  • Positioning rationale and brand strategy

  • Brand manifesto and cultural positioning

Identity

  • Visual direction (film photography)

  • Primary mark explorations (three directions)

  • Color palette and illustration style

  • Proposed pillar mark system

Applications

  • Sessions event poster

  • Radio Club cassette mockup

  • Brew collaboration social post

  • Tote bag merchandise mockup

Potential Impact

Why It Works

Positions Stumptown as a cultural brand, not just a coffee company

Creates owned content, community, and recurring revenue

Drives foot traffic to cafes through Sessions

Expands into evening occasions with The Brew

Generates earned media through artist and brewery collaborations

Reinforces brand values: craft, patience, people, Portland

This concept is built for Stumptown's national presence, but the model scales down too—it could work for independent roasters like Dose Coffee in Revelstoke or Sweet Bloom in Colorado, starting with a single cafe and one local brewery partnership.

Measuring success

How We’d Know It’s Working

Brand extensions fail when they dilute the original, but succeed when they deepen it- giving existing fancs new ways to engage while attracting new audiences. Here’s how we’d evaluate Slow Pour’s success:

The Sessions

Success means the performances feel like a reason to visit, not background noise.

  • Attendance relative to capacity

  • Dwell time on Sessions mornings vs. regular mornings

  • Cafe sales on Sessions mornings vs. regular mornings

  • Social sharing without prompting

  • Artist inbound interest over time

The Radio Club

A membership program only works if it feels like joining something, not just paying for something.

  • Signup rate from existing vs new customers

  • Retention and renewal rates

  • Playlist engagement (streams, saves, shares)

  • Community signarls- are members connecting?

The Brew

The collaboration should feel inevitable, not confusing, “Of course Stumptown would do this”.

  • Sell-through velocity on limited releases

  • Audience crossover in both directions

  • Brewery partner sentiment

  • Earned media pickup

Overall Brand Health

The biggest question: does Slow Pour shift how people percieve Stumptown as a whole?

  • Brand association shifts (“community”, “culture”)

  • Social engagement rate on pillar content

  • New audience acquisition via Slow Pour

  • Internal alignment- does this feel right?