US coffee brand happy has launched a limited-edition range of ready-to-drink (RTD) coffee cans created in collaboration with Disney's Marvel Studios, timed ahead of the theatrical release of Avengers: Doomsday on Friday 18 December.

The collection was introduced by happy co-founders Robert Downey Jr. and Craig Dubitsky. It features eight can designs inspired by characters from the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Black Panther, Captain America, Gambit, Mister Fantastic, Mystique, The Thing, Thor, and Doctor Doom — the villain portrayed by Downey in the upcoming film. For Downey, the casting marks a return to the franchise in which he spent more than a decade as Iron Man.

"Doomsday is coming. We brought coffee," Downey says. "Eight cans, eight characters, zero spoilers."

The lineup spans four of happy's RTD coffee products: classic cold brew, Tahitian vanilla cold brew, vanilla latte, and chocolatey chip latte. Each drink comes in an 11-ounce (approximately 325ml) can decorated with high-resolution, graphics of the film's characters.

Film tie-ins of this kind are a long-standing feature of studio marketing, and for younger consumer brands they offer a route to mass-market visibility in a ready-to-drink coffee category that now counts both established coffee names and newer entrants among its competitors.

Disney's Vice-President of Global Marketing Partnerships and Promotions, Holly Franks, says the collaboration is designed to give fans a way to connect their love of coffee with the upcoming film.

"When the stakes are this high, every hero needs the right fuel," Franks says. "As fans gear up to see Avengers: Doomsday in theatres, happy is giving them a fun way to get charged up and ready for their next adventure."

Dubitsky says the partnership pairs the brand's focus on creating positive experiences with the anticipation that surrounds major film releases.

"A company called happy collaborating with a movie called Doomsday felt too perfect to pass up," he says. "Great films like this create anticipation, participation, connection and, ultimately, joy. That's the business we're in, too. Coffee is our first delivery system, with plenty more ways to deliver that feeling ahead."

The special-edition cans are rolling out at selected major retailers across the US, including Albertsons banners, Amazon, H-E-B, Kroger, pOpshelf, Raley's Supermarkets, Schnuks and Sheetz, as well as selected CVS and Target locations. With distribution spanning mainstream grocery, e-commerce and convenience channels as the film heads into its 18 December opening, the rollout puts the young brand on mass-market shelves during the peak of the film's promotional cycle — and Dubitsky's "first delivery system" framing indicates coffee will not be the end of happy's product plans.

Source: Global Coffee Report