How Coffee Mate & The White Lotus Stole the Show on Retail Media

Coffee Mate Got Tropical with a White Lotus Collab

In March, Coffee Mate tapped into the buzz of HBO’s The White Lotus, releasing two tropical-inspired flavors, Piña Colada and Thai Iced Coffee, to celebrate the show’s latest Thailand-based season. No spoilers here, but the Coffee Mate marketing team was surprised to see piña coladas play a role in the season finale, which they acknowledged with a tongue-in-cheek “Well this is awkward” post on Instagram, adding a bit of levity to the launch. Coffee Mate’s limited-time flavors followed in the footsteps of other travel-themed White Lotus collaborations, including a Banana Republic capsule collection, Away’s custom travel gear, and CB2’s vacation-ready home décor.

The Launch Fueled a Broader Coffee Mate Retail Media Blitz

While The White Lotus launch helped grab attention, it was just one piece of Coffee Mate’s massive retail media push in March. The brand’s impressions jumped 4x MoM as they rolled out multiple campaigns, including an Easter-themed activation at Walmart and the debut of a new Cold Foam product line. Across all efforts, Coffee Mate emphasized bold flavor & creativity, encouraging shoppers to experiment with café-style drinks at home.

Coffee Mate Dominated the Competition on Retail Media

To illustrate the impressive scale of Coffee Mate’s Retail Media blitz, the chart below adds some competitive context. As shown, the brand generated significantly more Retail Media impressions than any other coffee creamer in March. When it comes to product innovation, cold foam creamers were a major focus across the category, a trend that was highlighted by Dunkin’ ads at Kroger and a multi-brand campaign at Target.

Coffee Mate’s White Lotus Launch Focused on Walmart and Target

To promote their limited-time White Lotus flavors, Coffee Mate partnered exclusively with Walmart and Target, where nearly all 20M impressions occurred on Facebook. At both retailers, ads featured the playful message “Need a vacation? Coffee Mate gets you close,” tying the exotic flavors to the show’s travel theme. At Target, Facebook ads promoted a “2 for $7” promotion to help drive conversion.

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