Tully’s hires Lane, attempts to alter company story in '06

The company, which has 350 locations in Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, and Arizona, has selected Portland, OR-based Lane as its new agency.

The agency will help tout Tully's heritage as a small, handcrafted coffee roaster with a "quality over quantity" message.

Lane will also focus on raising the visibility of Tully's executive team, and talking about the company's move to a more sound business strategy, said Kristen Siefkin, a supervisor with Lane.

For the past few years, the company made headlines for its business woes, including a string of financial losses, a scuttled IPO, and executive turnover.

But Robert Martin, VP merchandising and production said, via email, that with a new executive team focused on turning the company around, Tully's is renewing its focus on consumers.

"It's our job to make sure [consumers] know that Tully's truly is different," he said.

He said Tully's selected Lane for its expertise in the food and beverage industries.

Tully's previously worked with Richmond Public Relations. Richmond CEO Louis Richmond said the firm was "upset" to learn the company was changing agencies, but understood the new executive team wanted to make a change.

This article was first published on PR Week USA