Viennese coffee brand Julius Meinl launched its sixth CSR initiative tied to its world-renowned annual ‘Pay With a Poem’ campaign to fight illiteracy.

This year, the coffee brand worked with global education charity Worldreader, and over 1,000 restaurant, cafes and hotel customers register to participate in the ‘World Poetry Day’ event where every poem written by a customer counts towards the 100,000 poems donation target in support of global literacy projects.

The campaign, which took place on World Poetry Day on 21 March, rolled out in over 40 countries worldwide including Austria, the United States, Russia and the U.K, where the coffee brand collaborated with poet and spoken word artist Telixia Inico. As 14% of the global population is illiterate, Julius Meinl says the initiative will contribute to global efforts to eliminate poverty, reduce inequality and improve prosperity around the world.

To further incentivise consumers to take part in the campaign, Worldreader hosted the most inspiring poetic submissions globally for millions to read and enjoy.

The campaign comes in light of studies that have shown how consumers, especially Millennials, have become increasingly active and want to know what organisations are doing to make the world a better place and are more likely to support businesses that have a positive impact on issues they care about.