Oct 21–27 · Case study

Bialetti Moka Express

The Moka Express, sold to everyone still making coffee in somebody else's pot.

Start to finish
1 h
Launched
Tue 9:04am
Posts read
12,776
Meetings
0
Film · Case study, 2:18

Photos by owners on r/mokapot, permission pending. Narration, score, sound, the cartoon and two settings made with AI.

What we heard

12,776 posts and comments · 6 platforms
  1. Love it, want one
  2. Technique worries and questions1,059, the loudest worry
  3. Versus machines, pods and cafés
  4. Price
  5. Making it for someone
  6. Taste
  7. Cleaning and care folklore
  8. Morning ritual
  9. Aluminium, explosions and safety
  10. Breaks, gaskets and handles
  11. Collabs
  12. Design and the look
  13. Inherited, passed down, decades old310, the deepest
  14. Home, homeland and the smell
  15. Not made like they used to be

Technique was the loudest worry. Pots handed down for decades were the deepest. So that's where we went.

Ten photos of old moka pots posted by owners on r/mokapot: a pot burned brown on a tiled counter, a pot held over a sink, a pot with the Omino on a marble counter, a pot on a wooden table, a scorched pot on an electric coil, a Bialetti on a kitchen table, three pots on a cupboard shelf, the inside of a base stamped 1976, a worn filter basket in a hand and a close up of a Moka Express Made in Italy
What owners post on r/mokapot: dented, burned, decades old and still on the stove.

In their words

“He taught me how to make coffee on the stove top with that pot and so now it's passed on to me. Someday I'll teach my kids”

u/Dopey32 on r/mokapot, about their grandfather's Bialetti. About 310 people told some version of it.

The insight

The people go. The pot stays.

A moka is rarely just bought. It's inherited, packed in a suitcase or given when someone leaves home, then it keeps making coffee for decades with nothing new but the seal. We keep the things our people used every day, because using them keeps those people close.

The idea

It runs in the family.

Owners said all three readings of the line first: it gets passed down, it keeps on running and family is whoever gave it to you. So every piece shows a real owner's pot, cut out and printed like a 1950s Bialetti ad, with one line about that pot. The Omino and the cartoon come from Bialetti's own Carosello years.

An old aluminium Moka Express on a butcher block counter, its finish scuffed and spotted, the Omino printed on the side of the base
Nearly 50 years and still going strong!

u/SeveralMummies, in their own words

Why the Moka Express gets to say it

€4,70

Three seals and a filter plate on bialetti.com. The seal is the one part the manual says to replace, at least once a year. The rest is the same eight sides Alfonso Bialetti drew in 1933, so a few euros keep a pot in the family for another few years.

The spot

Film · 0:15, The Mustache

Animation, announcer, jingle and sound made with AI, from Bialetti's Omino and Paul Campani's 1958 strip. The irises and end card were made by hand.

The work

10 pieces
Poster: Our worst customer. A 1976 Moka Express printed as halftone on a red slab, a hand note pointing to its stamp, stamped 1976. The Omino points up. It runs in the family. MOKA EXPRESS | BIALETTI
Poster · 24 × 36 in

Photo by u/SeveralMummies. The headline is a draft.

Poster: Two careful owners. An old Moka Express printed as halftone on a red slab, a hand note pointing to its plate, still says Made in Italy. The Omino points up. It runs in the family. MOKA EXPRESS | BIALETTI
Poster · 24 × 36 in

Photo by u/_souvlaki. The headline is a draft.

Poster: Not for sale. A family snapshot of Grandma's Moka Express held in black album corners over a red slab. The Omino points up. It runs in the family. MOKA EXPRESS | BIALETTI
Poster · 24 × 36 in

Photo by u/Hutcherdun. The headline is a draft.

A wide screen: a 1976 Moka Express printed as halftone on a red panel, then It runs in the family. in red script, MOKA EXPRESS | BIALETTI and the Omino pointing up
Out-of-home · Arrivals hall screen

Photo by u/SeveralMummies

The screen over the doors of an airport arrivals hall reading It runs in the family. while families wait at the rail and travelers walk out with suitcases
Out-of-home · Arrivals hall, in place

Photo by u/SeveralMummies. The arrivals hall is made with AI; the art isn't.

The Our worst customer. poster framed on a brick wall beside a café on a wet street, a woman walking past
Out-of-home · Wall poster, in place

Photo by u/SeveralMummies. The street is made with AI; the poster isn't.

A moving box in an empty apartment sealed with red Bialetti tape that reads It runs in the family. PACK THE POT LAST. with the Omino pointing up as THIS SIDE UP
Ident · Moving box tape

The room and the box are made with AI; the tape art isn't.

The campaign site: When did yours come home? A year field set to 1976 and 18,561 mornings since 1976. Whose were they? An Add your pot button, a halftone Moka Express on red, four steps ending Only the seal is new and The Family Register with three owners' pots
Site · bialetti.nonextsteps.com

Photos by u/SeveralMummies, u/_souvlaki and u/Hutcherdun. A design, not live yet.

How the week went

No regroups were held
  1. Wed

    Research

    Quiet

  2. Thu

    Research

    Quiet

  3. Fri

    Idea

    Quiet

  4. Sat

    Work

    Quiet

  5. Sun

    Work

    Quiet

  6. Mon

    Work

    1 hours

    0.5 h research, 0.5 h ideas

  7. Tue

    Ship

    Quiet

    Launched at 9:04am.

The owners

Every pot here belongs to the owner who posted it on r/mokapot. Permission is still pending from all eight, and the headlines are drafts until each owner writes their own. The cartoon, voices, music, sound and the arrivals hall, street and moving box settings are made with AI; the photographs and type aren't. Spec work by No Next Steps, not affiliated with or endorsed by Bialetti.