Carte Noire is France’s leading coffee brand. In 2013, it decided to offer digital mums what they all want online – recipes.

Not the most novel brief, given the sheer number of brands vying for a slice of the big recipes cake. So how could we stand out from the crowd?

Answer: a pinch of porn. Well, food porn to be precise.

Introducing COULEUR CAFÉ. Four films turning everyday tutorials into a physical yearning for cooking.

The first port of call was Carte Noire’s ecosystem. Emails were sent via its CRM program to 700 thousand people. All were invited to discover mouth-watering recipes on the Carte Noire YouTube channel.

There was absolutely no media investment, but it proved no hindrance. Within days of launch bloggers shared the videos across social media. Some even made their own edits of the films, with open source publishing on Vimeo, Dailymotion and tumblr.

A liberalized PR policy meant each time a user published a video or wrote an article, we simply asked them to credit the brand and add a link to the Carte Noire You Tube Channel.

This one-to-one process has been ongoing since the launch of the films. And it’s been productive too, having recently picked up an Adweek ‘Ad of the week’ Award (28th March 2014).

From its inception, the process was intended to be adaptive. So when people decided to edit and publish their own versions online, we gave them total freedom. The only request made on our part was the addition of a link to the Carte Noire You Tube Channel.

This proved a resounding success and transcended national boundaries. As a testament to the campaign’s impressive longevity, the videos even picked up an Adweek ‘Ad of the Week’ Award almost an entire year after the launch of the film (28th March 2014).

. 3 million views on YouTube for the series

. More than 7 million views across all video platforms.

. 20,000 new subscribers to the Carte Noire YouTube channel, topping Nespresso (Carte Noire’s direct competitor

. Social networks were brought to the boil

. More than 800 articles, transcending national borders

. An Adweek ‘Ad of the week’ Award on March 2014

. Most impressively of all, people took the time to edit and publish their own versions of the films

This was how Carte Noire declared war on ugly internet recipe sites, and won.