Press release -
Costa Coffee and Co-op open the doors on Weatherfield stores as landmark partnership gets underway on Coronation Street
- Costa Coffee and Co-op store facades will be seen on screen for the first time this Friday (27th April)
Tuesday, 24 April: Senior stakeholders from Costa Coffee and Co-op hosted an event on set at Coronation Street last week to celebrate the start of the innovative product placement deal. The event marked the ribbon cuttings of both brands’ store facades as they open up to residents of Weatherfield. The store façades will be first seen on screens on Friday 27th April.
The event was attended by senior stakeholders from both businesses, including Costa Coffee’s Managing Director for the UK and Ireland, Jason Cotta; Commercial Marketing Director, Eric Tavoukdjian; Head of Operations, John Kerslake and UK Construction Director, Steve Challis. From Co-op, attendees included: Retail CEO, Jo Whitfield; Chief Operating Officer, Chris Whitfield; MD Co-op Property, David Roberts; Customer Director, Ali Jones; Director of Format, Mark Pettigrew and Director of Marketing Communications, Amanda Jennings.
The landmark deal with Coronation Street will see Costa Coffee and Co-op store fronts appear on screens from 27th April as part of the new extended Weatherfield set. As well as the shop fronts, viewers will see other branded assets such as posters, bags and cups integrated across the iconic soap.
Eric Tavoukdjian, Commercial Marketing Director at Costa Coffee commented: “This innovative partnership with ITV has been in the making for some time and we are thrilled to see the shop front looking fantastic on the iconic cobbles of Coronation Street. As the nation’s favourite coffee shop with a presence on the UK high street for more than 40 years, it’s a great fit to have a place on one of Britain’s favourite and most iconic soap.”
Alison Jones, Customer Director at Co-op said: “Our partnership with ITV has been an exciting time for the whole team and we are delighted to officially unveil our Weatherfield Co-op store. Coronation Street is all about community life and the Co-op is a retailer at the heart of local life and being close to the customer and we are delighted to be able to serve the residents of this iconic street.”
Winners of internal competitions from both Co-op and Costa Coffee became managers for the day of the Weatherfield respective brands’ stores and took part in the ribbon cutting with bosses.
Honorary Co-op Weatherfield store manager for the day, Josh McNaboe from the Sovereign Square Co-op store in Leeds, said: “Everyone at Co-op is really excited to see the Co-op store and bags on the street. I am a big Coronation Street fan and I am so excited to be part of this moment and help with the official ribbon cutting.”
Honorary Weatherfield store manager for the day, Kayley Atherton, store manager from the Middlebrook Costa Coffee store in Bolton added: “Everyone at Costa Coffee is so excited to see our famous cups and store front on Coronation Street. I am a big fan of the show and hugely passionate about Costa Coffee, so I was thrilled to be the one to cut the ribbon and officially open the store!”
Mark Trinder, ITV Sales Director, said: "This is the biggest product placement partnership ever on British TV and I'm really excited for it to be unveiled on screen to viewers as part of Coronation Street's new set extension. The storefronts look incredible thanks to the work of both Costa and Co-op and Coronation Street's fantastic prop and production teams."
John Whiston, ITV Managing Director of Continuing Drama said: "We're delighted to be welcoming Costa and Co-op to Weatherfield, though in fictional terms they've probably been there for a good few years. It's just that now we can actually see our characters wander down Victoria Street and do some shopping at the Co-op and pick up a coffee at Costa. Very handy! Having the presence of such iconic brands in Weatherfield will add to the credibility of the show and will be a great back drop for some great drama in years to come."
Look out for the store facades appearing on Coronation Street this Friday night at 7.30pm.
Topics
- Lifestyle
Categories
- our brand
From more information from Costa Coffee, please contact the press office:
costateam@onegreenbean.com / 020 3196 9673
From more information from Co-op, please contact Kristy Rushby:
Kirsty.rushby@coop.co.uk / 07834 090 014
For any ITV related enquiries please contact Laura Wootton:
Laura.wootton@itv.com / 020 7157 3056
About Costa Coffee
Founded in London by Italian brothers Sergio and Bruno Costa in 1971, Costa is now part of Whitbread PLC, which this year celebrates its 275th Anniversary as a great British business.
With over 2,200 coffee shops in the UK and more than 1,200 in 29 international markets we are the fastest growing coffee shop business in the UK and are proud to be the UK’s favourite coffee shop, having been awarded “Best Branded Coffee Shop Chain in the UK and Ireland" by Allegra Strategies for seven years running (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 & 2015, 2016 and 2017).
Looking after coffee growers is extremely important to us, which is why we established The Costa Foundation, a registered charity with the aim to relieve poverty, advance education and the health and environment of coffee-growing communities around the world. So far, The Costa Foundation has funded the building of 72 schools and improved the social and economic welfare of coffee-growing communities.
About Co-op
The Co-op, one of the world’s largest consumer co-operatives with interests across food, funerals, insurance, electrical and legal services, has a clear purpose of championing a better way of doing business for you and your communities. Owned by millions of UK consumers, The Co-op operates 2,500 food stores and over 1,000 funeral homes, with more than 63,000 colleagues and an annual revenue of £9.5bn.
About ITV
ITV is an integrated producer broadcaster and the largest commercial television network in the UK. It is the home of popular television from the biggest entertainment events, to original drama, major sport, landmark factual series and independent news. It operates a family of channels including ITV, ITVBe, ITV2, ITV3 and ITV4 and CITV, which are broadcast free-to-air. ITV is also focused on delivering its programming via the ITV Hub, mobile devices, video on demand and third party platforms.
ITV Studios is a global production business, creating and selling programmes and formats from offices in the UK, US, Australia, France, Germany, the Nordics and the Netherlands. It is the largest and most successful commercial production company in the UK, the largest independent non-scripted indie in the US and ITV Studios Global Entertainment is a leading international distribution businesses.
