If you’re reading this entry while drinking coffee you’d be in the minority in China, where the coffee category is in its infancy at just three cups per person per year.

NESCAFÉ, as a China market leader in soluble coffee, simultaneously faces huge opportunity and a big threat:

• Growing very low coffee category penetration in China – or inviting new users in through the “front door”, and

• Having a big target on their back for new and existing competition – or losing consumers through the “back door”.

Our brief from NESCAFÉ was to maximize the front door opportunity, prevent share loss from the back door challenge, and celebrate the brand’s 75th anniversary.

Our response was the social content marketing campaign: “There is no boundary in the world with a cup of coffee.” This campaign demonstrated NESCAFE´'s leading image worldwide as an enabler of coffee's global popularity and successfully motivated more Chinese consumers to drink coffee to connect with the world.

Our campaign achieved double digit NESCAFÉ sales growth over the prior year period for two successive months, outperforming the category’s single digit growth. Market share grew 1.7% over the campaign period. A campaign evaluation showed double digit uplift in brand metrics among those exposed to the campaign from a previous declining trend. Non-coffee drinkers’ purchase intent was 2.3% higher than coffee drinkers proving we had expanded the category.

We needed to attract non-coffee drinkers to try NESCAFÉ and improve NESCAFÉ’s brand appeal as an international coffee expert among drinkers and non-drinkers alike.

Our business objective was to maintain market share at the same level as last year (market share reduced by 2.3% last June compared with previous year). Our marketing objective was to attract non-coffee drinkers to try NESCAFÉ with a purchase intent increase of 5%. Our communication objective was to improve NESCAFÉ’s brand appeal as an international coffee expert, specifically concerning brand equity perceptions on taste and quality.

Our campaign achieved double digit NESCAFÉ sales growth over the prior year period for two successive months, while market share grew 1.7% over the campaign period, reversing previous competitive gains.

A post-campaign measurement study revealed that among consumers exposed to this campaign, NESCAFÉ purchase intent was 2.3% higher among non-coffee drinkers compared to coffee drinkers.

NESCAFÉ brand favourability and purchase intent improved by 21.1% and 6.8% respectively among consumers exposed to the content.

These results were achieved through brand fame achieved through social media engagement:

• The NESCAFÉ World Coffee Tour documentary generated 35 million views.

• NESCAFÉ Sina Weibo fans grew 150% from 327,000 to 818,000; NESCAFÉ Sina Weibo’s engagement rate was 8.1% at peak, 1.01% on average, significantly outperforming NESCAFÉ’s global online community KPI of 0.5%.

• The fun app attracted 70,000 participants.

• Seeding on other SNS platforms generated 5.5 million impressions.

Our documentaries featured opinion leader, Han Han, as an "explorer" discovering the rich culture of coffee and the NESCAFE´ brand. The films showed the lives, human values, and emotions attached to coffee as a “borderless language".

Each film highlighted a significant place for global coffee culture and NESCAFÉ:

• Brazil: The world’s largest coffee producer,

• France & Italy: The holy lands of coffee culture for Chinese consumers,

• Switzerland: The home of Nestlé’s headquarters,

• Yunnan: A coffee-producing province in western China.

Surrounding the content was a thorough publishing ecosystem:

• Reach: Promote the videos on China’s key video platforms: Youku, Sina, Iqiyi,

• Engage: Campaign page on Sina Weibo to engage with consumers through interactive online games; motivate consumer participation through daily tweets,

• Enrich: Create product relevance through a PC/mobile APP,

• Amplify: Extend campaign influence to other influential SNS platforms.

Entering the country 20 years ago, NESCAFÉ was the first coffee brand in China. It worked hard to localize and achieved big success. Yet today the foreign identity of coffee has become a new selling point. NESCAFÉ’s rivals in China are demonstrating a more foreign look and feel to compete with the objective to position their brands as being premium, authentic, and high quality.

The changing dynamic has lead to NESCAFÉ suffering from a consumer misconception that it is not “real” coffee. The localized marketing strategy that led to our success is turning into our downfall as consumer preferences change.

The key insight from our research was that growing affluence is fuelling the desire for authentic international experiences, especially with coffee.

Thus, our communication strategy was to employ in-depth storytelling on the origins of NESCAFÉ through credible advocates to build authenticity and international imagery. A mini documentary format was selected as the core creative vehicle. Four short films explored the globe to uncover the rich world of coffee and NESCAFÉ’s history.

Our target audience was 18-35 year-olds, divided into two groups to maximize the campaign’s effectiveness:

Coffee drinkers: NESCAFÉ is a household name for this group, but they desire more than a household name as coffee becomes not just a beverage, but the symbol of a sophisticated lifestyle.

Non-coffee drinkers: Since few consumers have developed a coffee drinking habit, we need to tempt them with the perceived lifestyle benefits of coffee culture.