Australian fashion label SABA is meeting customers on their morning routines this week, launching a three-day café activation across Sydney and Melbourne to mark 60 years in business.
Running from May 26 to 28, the "SABA In The City" initiative sees the brand partner with three inner-city café destinations — Stitch Coffee at Sydney's Queen Victoria Building, Bench Coffee Co on Collins Street, and Saint Dreux at Emporium Melbourne.
The activation offers 100 free coffees per day at both the QVB and Collins Street locations for customers who sign up to the SABA database, while Saint Dreux will offer a limited-time "SABA Blanc" as a new menu item available for purchase.
The activation coincides with new and refurbished SABA stores at Collins Street, Emporium, and its Sydney flagship at the Queen Victoria Building, designed in collaboration with Arent & Pyke.
General manager Lucinda Grice said the initiative was about reaching customers in their existing routines.
"This activation was really about meeting our customer where they already are and creating a brand experience that felt relevant to their everyday life,” Grice said. “We know our customer is busy and social, balancing multiple parts of life and increasingly looking for connection and experiences, not just transactions."
Grice said the brand is prioritising physical experiences alongside its digital presence. She said the focus is on building community and creating in-person touchpoints that extend beyond the screen.
"While digital remains important, we're seeing more value than ever in creating meaningful physical experiences that feel welcoming and genuinely useful to our customer, while also connecting back to our beautiful new stores."
She added that activations of this kind would form a growing part of SABA's approach going forward.
"I do think moments like this will continue to become a bigger part of the brand moving forward, particularly in ways that feel authentic to SABA. While there is space for both, we see more value in a customer event than an influencer dinner, for example."