Melitta USA is bringing a taste of Europe to Philadelphia for the next six weeks, and may tour a slate of U.S. cities in 2007.

The coffee marketer is testing the Melitta Euro Café from April 21 to June 6 at 21 locations throughout Philadelphia. Euro Café will give away eight-ounce samples of Melitta coffee and fresh pastries in an upscale setting, with outdoor tables and umbrellas surrounding the coffee-making counter. A plasma screen TV plays a mood-enhancing tape loop, with classical music in the background. The Café sets up in high-traffic areas around Philadelphia to lure commuters, then piggybacks local festivals and tourist sites on weekends.

Visitors get a CD sampler of classical music, with a coupon for $2 off Melitta ground coffee at supermarkets. A sweepstakes overlay will award one grand-prize trip of the winner's choice: to Paris, Rome and Florence, or Berlin. Consumers enter the sweeps online or at the Euro Café; the CD premiums carry an entry form. The sweeps runs through June 12.

A tie-in with soft-rock radio station WBEB-FM targets women, and will include a live-remote broadcast from the café. Euro RSCG Impact, Atlanta, handles the Euro Café Tour for Clearwater, FL-based Melitta.

Euro Café extends Melitta's tagline, "Treat yourself a little every day," and boosts awareness of ground coffee, since Melitta is best known for coffeemakers and filters. The campaign leverages Melitta's European roots for an upscale positioning. If the Philly test succeeds, Melitta is expected to tour one or two other markets this fall, then set a slate of cities for 2007.

Earlier this month, Melitta launched two new flavors, Extra Dark European Roast and Classic Lite, rolling into supermarkets in late spring throughout the Northeast and Southern California. A Melitta World Harvest organic decaf, Tranquility, rolls into supermarkets in the Northeast, Southern California and the Midwest early this summer. Melitta also sells its coffee, and appliances, online.

For more stories on event marketing
For more stories on coupons
For more stories on sampling