ESPRO French Presses

From Canadian Challenger to U.S. Category Leader

When ESPRO partnered with Hudson West, it had built an exceptional product but faced a formidable challenge: positioning a Canadian brand as the very best French press in the United States, in a fiercely competitive category literally invented in Europe and dominated by long-established European brands.

ESPRO needed more than awareness. It needed to outperform legacy competitors in credibility, visibility and consumer trust, giving U.S. consumers and media a compelling reason to view ESPRO as the new gold standard for French press brewing.

Our objective went far beyond generating press coverage. We set out to make ESPRO “the best” French press U.S. consumers discover, trust and choose first when researching brewing equipment, building lasting editorial authority that would continue influencing search, discovery and sales long after each story was published.

Strategy

Rather than pursuing one-off product placements, Hudson West developed a sustained earned media strategy focused on search authority, third-party credibility, and consistent visibility.

We identified the publications consumers trust most when researching coffee equipment, from major national lifestyle outlets to specialty coffee and culinary media, and secured editorial placements that positioned ESPRO alongside, and ultimately ahead of, the industry's biggest names.

Every placement was designed to deliver multiple layers of value:

Build brand awareness through consistent national media exposure
Establish third-party credibility through trusted editorial recommendations and “Best French Press” rankings
Increase SEO and organic search authority through earned media citations and high-quality backlinks
Strengthen GEO and AI search visibility by creating a deep footprint of authoritative third-party sources validating ESPRO and its products
Influence purchase decisions and drive sales by ensuring ESPRO appeared where consumers were actively researching what to buy

Results

Market Leadership:

Helped transform ESPRO from a little-known Canadian brand into one of the most visible, trusted and highly recommended premium French press brands in the U.S.

Search Authority:

Earned hundreds of high-quality backlinks and editorial citations from authoritative national publications, and dramatically strengthened it’s visibility across high-intent searches including “best French press” and “best coffee press” and other purchase-driven terms.

National Media Coverage:

Secured consistent placements in leading food, beverage, lifestyle, and consumer publications that introduced millions of consumers to the brand.

Sustained Visibility:

Built an earned media engine that compounded year after year. Generated 306 editorial placements across 2023 and 2024 alone, demonstrating the lasting value of a sustained consumer product PR strategy versus one-off publicity wins.

Massive, Efficient Reach:

Generated 154+ million estimated views and 29 billion in combined potential audience reach over the partnership—including more than 77 million estimated views in 2023–2024 alone, while maintaining an average CPM below $2.

GEO Value:

Created a powerful ecosystem of independent, authoritative third-party content validating ESPRO across the web, building the type of earned media footprint that strengthens SEO, Google search rankings, GEO and AI-powered brand discovery long after the original coverage appears.

Business Impact:

Hudson West remained ESPRO's Agency of Record through three company acquisitions, underscoring the long-term value of strategic PR in supporting brand visibility, credibility, and growth.