Portland’s Deadstock Coffee has been serving “snob-free” coffee for about a decade, developing its identity and place in the community through the elements of space, design, beverage offering, and flavor. Founder Ian Williams’ “sharp focus on accessibility” throughout the company’s growth and history offers us a case study in what it means to move beyond a singular sense of “specialty.”

Join Cheryl Hung, Vice President at Dig Insights, a full service market research consultancy on the importance of understanding coffee consumers through data and story-telling. What do the numbers say about what we’ve collectively survived in the last three years? More than ever, Cheryl weaves a compelling narrative on why we should be paying attention to the data beyond helping the business’ bottom line.

We begin our second session right where we left off: the shifting landscape of consumption. In this plenary talk, Bill Durrant will outline the current advertising and media landscape for beverages and offer insights from Exverus' recent research into the upcoming generation of consumers, before offering a glimpse of emerging technology likely to impact business' ability to connect with customers in the future.

Once we have a sense of the overall terrain, we will begin to hone in on the details of what these concepts mean for specialty coffee, right now. Who will come on this journey with us? In this session, we’ll explore connections between consumers and community, attributes and identities. If we are no longer focused on a “singular” narrative of what specialty is–or could be–what range of experiences is currently being valued? By examining case studies, contextualized with market research, this session will help us to create a map of possibilities we’ll draw from later in the day.