Most brand campaigns begin with a product. Nespresso’s latest effort begins with the soil beneath it. The coffee brand has partnered with creative agency Lucas + Carroll around Groundswell, a documentary exploring how regenerative agriculture could help reshape the future of food systems.
The film, created by activist filmmakers Josh Tickell and Rebecca Harrell Tickell of Big Picture Ranch Studios, recently received the Golden Globes Prize for Documentary at the 79th Cannes Film Festival and made its global debut on Amazon Prime Video on June 5.
Rather than simply sponsoring the project, Nespresso became part of the story itself. One of the film’s key stops takes viewers to Colombia, where the filmmakers spent time with Don Ruben, a coffee grower who has been associated with the Nespresso Sustainable Quality Program for two decades. Today, the company works with more than 130,000 coffee farmers worldwide, supporting the transition toward regenerative practices.
Narrated and executive produced by Demi Moore and Woody Harrelson, Groundswell travels across five continents, bringing together farmers, scientists and Indigenous communities who are rethinking how agriculture and ecosystems can coexist.
Lucas + Carroll, which helped bring the partnership together, also created a dedicated film edit for Nespresso titled Where Exceptional Coffee Begins. The shorter piece follows the journey from healthy soil to resilient coffee farming, extending the themes of the documentary into the brand’s own storytelling.
But perhaps the more interesting extension lies beyond the film.
To support the release, Nespresso launched a social initiative called Climate is Culture: BTS of Groundswell in collaboration with Vandy Studio. Four young voices from the worlds of climate advocacy and digital culture — Wawa Gatheru, Jerome Foster II, James Stewart and Dylan Page, better known to millions of followers as NewsDaddy — were invited to Colombia to experience the story firsthand.
Their perspectives became part of the campaign and even found a place within Nespresso’s annual sustainability report, giving younger climate voices a seat at the table of one of the world’s largest food and beverage companies.
Created with Lucas + Carroll, the campaign blurs the lines between documentary, brand communication and creator storytelling. Instead of positioning sustainability as a corporate message, it attempts to make it a cultural conversation — one rooted in the people growing the coffee in the first place.
And that may be what makes the effort stand out. In an era where environmental messaging often feels abstract, Nespresso chose to tell the story from the ground up.
