Scaling a Loyalty Ecosystem Across Three Markets Through Human-Centered Service Design
Founded in 1895 in Turin, Lavazza is one of Italy's most iconic coffee brands, with over 125 years of heritage and a presence in more than 140 countries worldwide. Following the success of "Piacere Lavazza" — the Italian loyalty program — Lavazza partnered with Kettydo+ to scale its engagement ecosystem simultaneously across three markets: Italy, the UK, and France.
As Service Design Lead, I orchestrated end-to-end service design across all three countries — leading customer research, designing strategic prototypes, and coordinating cross-functional collaboration across IT, CRM, Marketing, and Retail Operations. The initial assumption from the IT team was to simply replicate the Italian model, but the design team stepped in to challenge this approach, asking critical questions about cultural differences, coffee rituals, and what "loyalty" truly means in each market.
Scaling without replicating: The Italian loyalty model was proven, but scaling services requires governance and local adaptation — not simple replication. Each market had fundamentally different relationships with coffee and brand loyalty.
Three markets, three cultures: Operating simultaneously in Italy, the UK, and France meant understanding how coffee culture, brand perception, and emotional connection varied dramatically across each country.
Cross-functional alignment: Coordinating across IT, CRM, Marketing, and Retail Operations in three countries required a shared framework for decision-making and service rollout.
From transactions to relationships: Coffee operates as a sensory and emotional ritual, not just a functional purchase — meaning engagement strategies needed to amplify experience rather than incentivize transactions.
The project followed a double-diamond design framework — moving from quantitative research through qualitative research, into solutions development and implementation:
The project followed a Service Design Lead framework, integrating qualitative research, co-creation, and scalable strategy development across all three markets simultaneously:
Coffee operates as a sensory and emotional ritual, not just a functional purchase, meaning engagement strategies needed to amplify experience rather than incentivize transactions.