Summary
Brewing India's New Beverage Habit
Challenge
WHAT'S IT LIKE TO BE A COFFEE BRAND IN INDIA? We Indians have a near-addiction to tea. We drink it in the morning to wake up, and in the evening to wind-down. We drink it in the winters when its freezing, in the monsoon when its pouring, and even in the sweltering summer when its 40 degrees Celsius outside. We drink it alone, and with friends. We drink it in sleek drawing rooms, we drink it in roadside chai-tapris. Even our matchmaking rituals are tea-centric! (Mummy ne chai pe bulaya hai!) To imagine what Nescafé had to contend with, know that; For every 1 cup of coffee Indians drink, we drink 60 cups of chai. NESCAFE HAD SAID EVERYTHING AND TRIED EVERYTHING It's not as if Nescafé was the new kid on the beverage block. It had been in India since 1963 and had tried all manner of arguments to get Indians to give up tea and switch to coffee. STRATEGIC CHALLENGE: HOW COULD NESCAFÉ DRIVE MASS ADOPTION FOR COFFEE WHEN INDIANS HAVE A NEAR ADDICTION TO THEIR BELOVED CHAI? Objective: Expand the category in the N.E.W regions (north-east-west, the tea drinking areas(TDA) to reach the teens
Objective
This is the story of how Nescafé changed the beverage habits of an entire country. It realized that since it wasn't possible to break the tea habit in India, it would have to create its own coffee-generation by winning over the late-teens, the only segment not (yet) drinking tea. But theys thought that coffee was "too strong" and something that "keeps you up all night". Nescafé took a bold step- told them to drink coffee for those exact reasons. From 12.9% category penetration in 2017(pre-campaign), to 34.3% penetration today, in just 6 years. Jay Chiat Awards2023 - National Strategy(silver) beckons.
Strategy
Nescafe realized that tea was more than a beverage. It was a deeply ingrained habit. INSIGHT: ONCE INDIANS STARTED DRINKING TEA, THEY WERE LOST TO NESCAFÉ FOREVER, MAKING IT IMPOSSIBLE TO BREAK THE TEA-HABIT. How does a brand deal with this fact? It needed to find consumers who didn't have this habit. Which is why Nescafe started speaking to the only consumer segment whose beverage habit hadn't been formed yet. THE INDIAN LATE TEEN. Our challenge with late teens was that they thought coffee was "too strong", and something that "doesn't let you sleep at night". We told them to drink not inspite of these qualities, but precisely because of them. Nescafe pitched the strength of coffee as their partner in the most crucial inflection point: The move from high school to college. Nescafe built coffee's relevance by pitching itself as the step-change fuel and made it the rite of passage. A time when they need all the qualities of coffee they were rejecting. CREATING A COFFEE GENERATION - BECOMING TEENS' BEVERAGE PARTNER Nescafe as the step-change fuel: TVCs and digital films: seeding the coffee habit "coffee ki aadat daal do", driving frequency "Ek Nescafe aur chadha", and cementing it as the cup of resolve Digital Immersion: Social media posts to keep up the morale during competitive exams. Retail innovation: a college-get started kit for their dorm rooms sold on E-commerce sites. Product Innovation: All-in-one powder that made it easy for the youth to adopt the coffee habit. On-ground sampling across 400+ college campuses to build coffee education.
Data
Our strategy remains focused on relentlessly converting equity to usage, hence building equity is of paramount importance.
Solution
Results
Business results: NESCAFE SEEDED THE COFFEE HABIT WITH PHENOMENAL GROWTH IN HH PENETRATION. NESCAFE MARKET SHARE: MAT JUNE 2023: 79.8% (INCREASE BY +300bps) Marketing results: NESCAFE WON OVER THE SMALL TOWN ASPIRING YOUNG STUDENTS NESCAFE BECAME THE BEVERAGE PARTNER DURING PRE COLLEGE PHASE - WHEN THEY NEED THE STRENGTH OF COFFEE TO KEEP UP WITH THE NEW BEGINNINGS 34.3% - HIGHEST EVER penetration for Nescafe in the tea strongholds of North-West-East India Spikes in penetration across small towns - Asansol (18.7%), Kanpur (10.4%), Ludhiana (53%) A staggering summer (admission phase) penetration of 16.2% making Nescafe the beverage partner of the new generation Top of Mind scores: From 80 in 2018 to 88 in 2023 Most often consumed brand: From 72 in 2018 to 88 in 2023
