Kicking Horse Coffee’s Personality Quiz Pairs You with Unique Blends

Following last year’s adrenaline-fuelled 'Kickstart Your Heart' campaign (you know, the one with the donkey on a motorcycle), Kicking Horse Coffee and Lifelong Crush are bringing some personality to the coffee aisle. By mapping out the caffeine-fuelled personas of their 11 existing blends, they're giving drinkers a fresh way to connect with what's in their cup.

Kicking Horse Coffee’s iconic black packaging and vibrant accent colours have long made it a standout on the shelf. Now, a bold new national campaign brings these distinctive design elements to life. Each of the 11 blend-defining icons has been reimagined as a 'blend sign' to reflect the diverse personalities of the caffeine lovers who choose Kicking Horse every day.

From the spiritually aligned, low-key wild aura of Three Sisters, to the audacious, unhinged-in-the-best-way energy of Kick Ass, each blend sign embodies a set of qualities that wild-hearted, high-achieving Kicking Horse Coffee drinkers possess.

“Our blends have always had strong personalities, and so do our consumers,” says Lori Hatcher-Hillier, CMO at Kicking Horse Coffee. “This campaign is about honouring what makes each person unique, and building a deeper, more personal bond with their coffee through storytelling. Our current drinkers are ride or die for their favourite blends. They feel so strongly about it they debate in our social media comments.”

“People wear their coffee like a badge, just like their star sign,” adds Christina Yu, chief creative officer at Lifelong Crush. “This idea hit because it taps into something universal: we all want to be seen, understood, and part of something. And when your coffee gets you that well, you stick with it.”

The platform is rooted in an interactive blend sign quiz, where Canadians can discover their perfect match. Through OLVs, contextual OOH, and social content, the campaign brings each blend’s personality to life, playfully tapping into familiar archetypes and inviting consumers to see themselves (and everyone they know) in the line up.

“Categorising ourselves is part of how we make sense of the world,” says Geoff Gingerich, SVP strategy at Lifelong Crush. “Whether it’s horoscopes, Hogwarts houses, or coffee blends. The point is connection. This campaign invites people to explore the full line up of blends, but more importantly, to see themselves in it.”

Blend Signs marks a more intimate next step in the evolution of Kicking Horse Coffee’s newly established brand platform, bringing Canadians deeper into their hyper-caffeinated universe by asking: “what’s your blend sign?”

The campaign was created by Lifelong Crush, with media planning and buying by Epitaph, and public relations by Agnostic and XM by Agnostic Exchange. In addition to the blend sign quiz, the campaign spans OOH, social, OLV, and even features a pop-up where people can get their blend sign tattooed on them for free.