Coffee and lifestyle collabs: match made in marketing heaven?

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The coffee and lifestyle worlds are closer than ever before, thanks to a series of recent major brand partnerships. Lavazza and La Marzocco reveal why these strategic collaborations are an essential marketing tool.   

What do coffee and sports cars have in common? Despite one industry serving more than one billion of the eight billion people on the planet and the other catering to the top one per cent, the teams at Lavazza and La Marzocco believe there’s more common ground than you might expect.

In the past year, both prominent Italian coffee brands have partnered with well-known sports car manufacturers. In June 2024, Lavazza signed an exclusive deal with Lamborghini, while in October the same year La Marzocco announced a partnership with Porsche Design, which saw the release of two exclusive Porsche x La Marzocco Linea Micra espresso machines and a matching La Marzocco Pico grinder.

For Carlo Colpo, Marketing Communication Director and Brand Home Director of Lavazza Group, the luxury sports car brand was a natural companion for the coffee roaster.

“Automobili Lamborghini is an iconic brand that shares with us the same values of Italian heritage and excellence,” he says.

“Lifestyle brand partnerships are vital for Lavazza as they amplify our global visibility and connect us with diverse audiences. These collaborations allow us to reinforce our presence in strategic markets while showcasing our core values.”

Yet this trend goes beyond cars, with Lavazza choosing to partner with companies outside the circle of other long-standing Italian brands. Brand partnerships have long been a string to its marketing bow, with sport – specifically tennis – a particular focus.

“We consider sport an ideal platform to convey our passion for excellence: the combination of tennis and coffee is indeed a perfect blend, allowing us to spread our culture, characterised by sociability, fair play, service-oriented capabilities, and impeccable quality,” says Colpo.

Since 2011, Lavazza has partnered with a series of tennis competitions including Wimbledon, Roland-Garros, US Open, ATP Finals, Shanghai Masters, and Madrid Open.

“The tournaments offer more than just brand exposure: they are the experiential drivers,” he says. “We give a special importance to create immersive experiences that engage tournament visitors in activities that go beyond simple coffee consumption and can convey our brand’s story and spread the true culture of Italian coffee worldwide.”

The roaster’s work with sports events and car manufacturers, among other partnerships including fashion brands and television shows, exemplify coffee’s shift from basic grocery item to lifestyle product. Colpo says Lavazza aligns with partners that share its essence of “a premium brand with a touch of modernity and positivity”.

“Coffee has transcended its role as a mere beverage to become a central element of daily rituals and social experiences,” he says. “This evolution highlights coffee’s place in fostering conviviality and connection, positioning it as a lifestyle product. Lavazza embraces this vision by integrating coffee into broader cultural and lifestyle contexts.”

While the ultimate goal of Lavazza’s collaborations is to showcase its core values and introduce more consumers to its products – a market it has long interacted with – for equipment manufacturer La Marzocco its recent lifestyle partnerships are part of a new drive to connect directly with consumers.

“We have only fairly recently entered the consumer space, so our journey is quite different to Lavazza’s,” says Chris Salierno, Chief Marketing Officer of La Marzocco.

“For us, the opportunity lies in widening our audience, from the coffee community to a larger group of people that might not know us because we’re a specialist brand. These partnerships provide the chance for visibility and to engage with new audiences.”

Choosing the right partner for your brand is key. La Marzocco only works with companies that share its values and work philosophies, and Salierno says its partnerships to date, such as that with Porsche, have all been “very organic”.

“For the Porsche project, our Head Designer Stefano Della Pietra sat down with the design team at Porsche to create the two special-edition espresso machines and a grinder,” says Salierno.

“We took inspiration from some of the iconic Porsche cars, specifically the Martini racing car that won the Targa Florio race in 1973. It provided a great story to also be able to tie in another classic Italian brand.”

Alongside these mutually beneficial collaborations with other well-known companies, the machine manufacturer also works with small-scale craftspeople to create a curated collection of La Marzocco Lifestyle products, which includes the likes of skateboards, surfboards, and apparel.

“Culturally, we connect with the café community and that often overlaps with other artisans in lifestyle communities,” says Paul Kelly, La Marzocco Sales Director for Europe, Africa, and India.

“When we look at what we’re doing, it’s nice to be able to extend that to other industries and see that they have the same DNA as us. Through these organic collaborations, we’re able to connect with a broader range of creative communities.”

Coffee has long shared connections with other subcultures such as cycling and skating. Both Kelly and Salierno say the La Marzocco Lifestyle products celebrate these established connections and the craftsmanship of individuals in the industries.

“These aren’t a financial driver. We’re not making the surfboards or skateboards industrially; they are crafted by another artisan like us who’s a master of their craft,” says Salierno.

“Since we’ve launched the home entity of La Marzocco, we’ve really got to know our audience. The people who have an emotional connection with our brand love outdoor sports and travelling, they value quality and artistry, and are interested in food and fashion trends. Therefore, we cater to those needs by providing this selection of things that aren’t coffee machines, but that reflect the lifestyle we also embody.”

He also highlights that as a marketer, these organic crossovers make for a more enjoyable experience.

“It creates much more interesting content than just talking through a product – for both you and your audience,” he says.

“La Marzocco has always been a disrupter. We started on the fringes of a very formal industry and we really pushed that idea of creating a subculture and an environment that supported baristas. Disruptors have now become culturally important in terms of their marketing styles, and I think that’s why brands such as Porsche have been interested in working with us.”

Both La Marzocco and Lavazza believe partnerships will continue to play a key role in their marketing strategies over the next few years.

“The best partnerships aren’t forced: they are driven by common vision, common values, and common ground,” says Salierno.

“If they’re not sincere, your audience will see that. It’s very important to keep the authenticity of the relationship. It’s a bit like dating: it’s a process of getting to know each other and figuring out if it will work in the long term.”

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