Circle K - The cup
Each year, approximately 20 million refills of the "Circle K Cup" occur in Norway.
The first thermos mug created by IDÉ House of Brands for what was then known as Statoil was a mug intended to be given to gold customers. The following year, it was launched as the “Breakfast Club Cup”! For five consecutive years, new mugs were produced each year in collaboration with different partners.
From 2009 to 2013, Statoil strengthened the popular concept, taking both the mugs and campaigns to new levels in close collaboration with IDÉ House of Brands. Several “limited editions” were developed with great success. Some of these variants have even become collector’s items. The concept involves offering customers the opportunity to refill the mug with free coffee at the stations for an entire year. This creates customer loyalty, drives store traffic, and increases sales of both fuel and store products.
In 2014, Statoil wanted to try a different partner, but with less success, as customers did not show much enthusiasm for the new mugs. However, the “Cup” concept survived through various reclamation solutions and product improvements.
In 2019, IDÉ House of Brands and Circle K entered into a new collaboration. This time with new design and functionality for the mugs. For Circle K, quality was of the utmost priority. With 35 years of industry experience, IDÉ House of Brands has valuable expertise in thermos mugs, production, and brands. For this project, Aladdin was chosen as the production partner—a well-known quality brand for over 100 years.
Our project team is developing summer variants, limited editions, and premium versions of the thermos mug in close collaboration with the Senior Category Manager at Circle K.
We are very proud and excited to be part of this exciting journey with Circle K.
“It is especially important for Circle K to have a partner who understands how crucial the ‘Cup’ is to our customers and to us as a company. The mug and the coffee agreement are very popular and highly valued. Therefore, the stakes are high if we do not meet our customers' expectations and needs. IDÉ House of Brands has demonstrated that they understand and manage this – while also playing an active role in continuing to develop the concept around the Circle K Cup to meet the needs of tomorrow's customers.”
Jeanette Amara
Senior Category Manager
The Circle K cup – Loved, hated, and criticized for over 15 years!