Task

1: One cup of coffee for you - one for humanity

At Baresso, we believe in spreading the joy of good coffee, which is why we are introducing a new
concept: suspended coffees.

The concept of suspended coffees is not new; it originated in Naples, Italy, in times where there
was more poverty than wealth. The principle of suspended coffee is that a customer would en-
ter a coffee house and buy a cup of coffee for himself, and an extra cup a cup of suspended cof-
fee. This cup of suspended coffee would then be noted down by the barista, and when a person
in need would enter the coffee house and ask if there were any suspended coffees available, he
or she would be served a hot cup of coffee completely free of charge.

This concept has spread across Europe, as well as the United States of America, Canada and Aus-
tralia, and now it has come to Denmark. Baressos CEO, Kenneth Luciani, is very fond of this con-
cepts spreading and hopes that the Danes would embrace the idea of suspended coffees; It is
with great joy that I can introduce the concept of suspended coffees at Baresso this is a way of
helping others in need and making their day easier by providing them with a freshly brewed cup
of good coffee he says enthusiastically.

The concept of suspended coffees will be implemented in Baressos coffee houses across the
entire country. With more than 30 stores in Denmark, customers from all parts of the country
will be able to donate a cup of coffee and thereby help others who are in need. A cup of suspend-
ed coffee will cost 20 DKK, which makes it easy and affordable for everybody to make donations.
At Baresso, we care about our customers, and we strongly encourage them to adapt this concept
of suspended coffees, because with every cup of suspended coffee bought, we will match this
donation by an additional cup; together we can make a difference.

There are no limitations in terms of who can receive a cup of suspended coffee, and this is
something that is very important according to Kenneth Luciani, who says: We have decided not
to put any restriction on the suspended coffees, because it can sometimes be difficult to see
with the naked eye if a person is in need or not. We believe in honesty of people and that faith in
humanity will prevail over the possibility of free coffee.

With the implementation of suspended coffees, we at Baresso hope that our loyal and valuable
customers will help others by providing them with a cup of quality coffee from one of our coffee
houses.

- Baresso Coffee

Task 2: Product evaluation

Newsletters have become increasingly important in todays organisations. Newsletters are not
similar to regular news articles or to press releases; they are not news in the sense that they are
trying to inform the reader or catch the attention of the editor. Newsletters are a marketing tool,
which a company can choose to use in order to persuade the audience to think or act in a specific
manner (Abbot 2001b: 38). This is also the purpose of the newsletter provided for Baresso; the
aim is to make the target audience change their attitude and their behaviour towards the concept
of suspended coffee.
A way to persuade the readers and thereby change their behaviour and attitude is by capturing
their attention; the first step is by writing a headline, which will intrigue the reader and awaken
his or hers interest in the subject, and this is why the headline of this newsletter states One cup
of coffee for you one for humanity; this headline indicates that something is about to happen at
Baresso, but the reader cannot specifically tell what it is unless he or she reads the article. Fur-
thermore, this headline indicates that it has something to do with coffee and with the reader, but
again the headline does not offer the clear link immediately. The choice of words in the headline
has also been considered, because by using words with a more emotional appeal, it is also possi-
ble to affect and persuade the reader to do something good for others, which is the purpose of the
newsletter.
The next section of the newsletter is the introduction, which in this case consists of one sentence.
The introduction of this newsletter article is traditional in the sense that the sentence is clear,
and it is written with a purpose: to inform the reader that a new type product/service will soon
be launched (Hicks et al. 2008: 14-15) The sentence is short and only states that Baresso will
launch a new type of product/service, but not what this product/service is about; this is a strate-
gic move, because if the reader is not familiar of the concept of suspended coffees, he or she will
be inclined to continue reading the newsletter. Furthermore, this newsletter article has an intro-
duction where the focus is on who and what performs the action stated. This choice has been
made because the element of who as well as what is essential for the story and the information
given in the newsletter (Hicks et al. 2008: 16). To define the latter elements in the introduction, it
is Baresso and thereby the personal pronoun we, who performs the action of introducing the
concept of suspended coffees. Although the introduction in this newsletter informs the reader
of what is going to happen, it also has another function; it has implemented the vision and mis-
sion of Baresso, which is to create better coffee experiences by spreading the joy of good coffee
(Baresso n.d.), and thereby it is aligning the newsletter with the organisational purpose and in-
creasing the chance of success (Abbot 2001b: 38).
This article has also implemented quotations in the newsletter; there are two quotations by
Baressos CEO, Kenneth Luciani. In accordance to Hicks et al. (2008: 68), the use of quotes allows
an article to become vivid, and the authoritative voice, which is implemented in the newsletter,

might contribute to the purpose of convincing the reader in changing behaviour and attitude to-
wards this new concept.
Before introducing this concept, Baresso posted the question on their Facebook-page in order to
see, if there was a demand for this type of concept (Baresso 2013). It turned out that there was,
and therefore they decided on producing a newsletter; some of the demand factors present in
this situation are described by Abbot (2001a: 32). One of the most prominent demand factors for
this newsletter can be argued to be the complexity of issues; this factor argues that there is a
need for newsletter because of the changes in technology or in social structure in this case it is
changes in the social structure, which is a striking demand factor, but this change in social struc-
ture, would never have occurred without the development of technology; the social networks
have been the biggest contributor in the issue of raising awareness of this concept (Sarah Morri-
son 2013). Thus, a demand for this newsletter and product has occurred due the social medias
ability to the increase the knowledge of suspended coffee among people across the globe. An-
other important demand factor, as proposed by Abbot (2001a: 32) to consider in the develop-
ment of this newsletter is new expectations; this factor states that stakeholders expect to be in-
formed about events that can affect them. Furthermore, these stakeholders expect to be consult-
ed about such events. This is what Baresso attempted to do on their Facebook-page they in-
volved the customers, by asking them if the idea of suspended coffee would be a success, and
whether it would be supported by the customers (Baresso 2013). When the demand factors for a
newsletter are present, then the company should produce it, and this is why this newsletter for
Baresso has been produced.
Looking at the objectives of this newsletter, Baresso wants their customers to obtain a positive
attitude towards the concept of suspended coffees; they want to change the behaviour of their
customers, and thereby making them contribute to the concept. The latter is also consistent with
the objectives of a newsletter as provided by Abbot (2001b: 38). The newsletter written for
Baresso has two clear purposes: one is to promote Baresso as a brand, where humanity and car-
ing for others means much. The other purpose is to increase the sales by convincing their cus-
tomers to buy these extra cups of coffee. The purpose of this newsletter indicates that Baresso
are seeking to change the attitude and the behaviour of the customers (Abbot 2001b: 40).
The above is done through persuasion, which is, as stated earlier in this evaluation, a very im-
portant part of newsletters. Persuasion is a tool for guiding people to do something specific it is
a tool for making people adopt a certain attitude or behaviour (Abbot 2001a: 29), and therefore it
can be seen as a guideline, and not a way of manipulating others. Persuasion is important in to-
days society; without persuasion many companies would not be where they are today. People
need to be persuaded in order to do or buy something in order to make things happen in society.
Persuasion happens by appealing to others through reason or emotion (Abbot 2001a: 29), which
is also the case in the newsletter by Baresso the customers need to be emotionally persuaded to
buy suspended coffees in order to help others in need, as well to increase the sales of Baressos

coffee products. Without this persuasion, it is most likely that the concept in question would be
far from successful, and Baresso would achieve nothing with it. Persuasion through a newsletter
can help build a trustworthy relationship between Baresso and its customers; as Mller et al.
(2008: 469) argue that subscribers of a newsletter are more likely to change their behaviour in
accordance with the message of the newsletter. By having a personal tone in the newsletter,
Baresso is able to construct this relationship quicker, and become more familiar with the cus-
tomers.
There are both pros and cons of newsletters; they are ideal when it comes to reaching an audi-
ence consisting of a small target group, because they can convey a short factual message (New-
bold and Scholes 1997:134). The strengths of an e-mail newsletter are that they can be send out
fast, and the subscribers would receive the message instantly. They are not expensive when it
comes to production, since there is no need to print it or use a long amount of time on editing. If
written correctly, it targets a specific audience, with the intention of persuading a change or rein-
forcement of attitude or behaviour. However, there are also elements, which the company must
be aware of, otherwise the newsletter will turn out a failure. If the newsletter is poorly construct-
ed, then this might influence the reader in a negative direction. As mentioned, the newsletter
usually conveys a short piece of factual information, and it is therefore difficult to go into depth
with a subject, in which case the company must turn to a press releases. The future of newsletters
needs to be considered; the emerging technology and online media such as Facebook, Twitter,
and LinkedIn are pages where most people receive almost all of their information on friends and
companies. Online media platforms, especially the ones with a social purpose, are becoming the
major attributes in distributing knowledge among people from different countries knowledge
travels must faster now than ten years ago, and trends emerge just as quickly. People tend to fo-
cus more on social media than on newsletters in terms of receiving information about companies,
events and emerging products/services. However, there is still a future for the newsletter in its
current e-mail form; the push strategy of communication will always be needed in order to make
sure that the customers receive the information relevant (Kounalakis et al. 1999: 65), but with
the era of online media, so comes the era of the pull-strategy; it is the responsibility of the audi-
ence to extract the information needed from websites or other channels (Kounalakis et al. 1999:
65). It might be difficult for the audience to extract information about specific events or products,
in times where the audience is facing a constant flow of information. This constant flow of availa-
ble information implies that specific information about a specific company might be lost, and
therefore it is relevant to send out a newsletter via e-mail, which ensures the company that the
target group has been made specifically aware about the progress of the company and its prod-
ucts. As long as there is a demand for newsletters, there will be newsletters.

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