Peet’s Coffee added a unique twist to the launch of its first drive-through location in the UAE, rolling out a socially driven activation that quickly went viral and translated digital engagement into long queues of cars on the ground.
The campaign generated more than 1 million views and 57,000 shares within a two-day burst, while also driving significant on-ground demand at the new drive-through site, with customers travelling from across Dubai and neighbouring emirates to participate.
Executed by Mumkin Marketing Management, the activation was built around a simple mechanic: customers received a discount equivalent to the last two digits of their vehicle number plate. A plate ending in 56, for example, unlocked a 56 perr cent discount — a straightforward idea that proved highly shareable and easy to activate.
At the core of the campaign was a culturally grounded insight, tapping into two deeply embedded UAE passions: coffee culture and the cultural significance of vehicle number plates. By bringing these together, the brand created an activation that felt instantly local, highly relevant, and primed for social amplification.
As Savia Vaz, Regional Head of Marketing at Peet’s Coffee, explained, the objective was to spark meaningful engagement around the launch rather than rely on traditional promotion. “As we launched our first drive-thrus, our objective was simple: to engage people and get them talking about Peet’s in a meaningful way,” she said. “We built the campaign around a strong, simple idea that we believed would resonate locally and partnered with Mumkin to bring it to life with the right creators and amplification. We anticipated strong neighbourhood excitement — though not quite the traffic jams it created. The response was overwhelming, and the campaign delivered exactly what we had set out to achieve.”
The campaign was rolled out as a short, high-impact burst across Instagram and TikTok, leveraging influencer content alongside Peet’s owned channels to generate rapid awareness. With just nine creators activated over two days, early posts quickly sparked momentum, pushing the campaign beyond its initial paid amplification.
One of the key drivers of success was the immediacy of influencer engagement and its ability to translate online interest into physical footfall. “From an influencer marketing perspective, the goal was to ensure the campaign reached the right audiences quickly and sparked conversations online,” said Jharna Parwani, Assistant Influencer Marketing Manager at Mumkin. “The creators generated strong traction with high shares and engagement across platforms. Being physically present at the drive-through and seeing the queues firsthand truly reinforced my belief in the power of influencer marketing to turn online excitement into real-world action.”
Content from creators including Zehra Askari (@z.blogs) helped accelerate reach, with early posts generating significant engagement and setting off a chain reaction of shares and user participation. Reflecting on the response, Askari said: “The response for the Peet’s campaign was outstanding. I knew it’s going to go viral because no one had done it before and it was such a cool and interactive concept. Mumkin also gave me creative freedom while filming and were open to ideas, which is another reason it was successful!”
Beyond digital metrics, the activation translated strongly on-ground, with visible queues forming at the drive-through and customers actively referencing influencer content at the point of purchase. The campaign also generated a wave of user-generated content, further extending its organic reach and reinforcing its cultural relevance.
According to Nikita Phulwani, Managing Director at Mumkin, the virality was driven by the campaign’s cultural alignment. “The campaign quickly gained momentum through word-of-mouth, tapping into culturally relevant conversation points in the UAE,” she said. “By blending a global brand with distinctly local nuances – cars, number plates, and coffee – three passion points that strongly resonate with audiences in the Emirates, the activation created immediate relatability. Combined with agile execution and the right mix of creators, the concept successfully translated into authentic cultural traction.”
Overall, the activation demonstrates how a simple, insight-led idea — amplified through creators and executed at speed — can drive both digital virality and real-world behaviour, turning a drive-through launch into a widely shared cultural moment.
