You have to give it to Nestle -they are good!

by chee Leng (on coffee makers)
(Singapore)

A recent conversation I have with a Friend goes like this:

My friend: "I am planning to buy a Nespresso coffee machine, which model would you recommend"

Me: "Why Nespresso? They are so many brands around?"

My friend: " There are? No, I think Nespresso taste better.".

Do note that my friend has never tried a Nespresso before, and cannot differentiate a cappuccino from a latte. But, she thinks Nespresso rocks!

That is the power of branding and positioning. In my country, when it comes to home domestic coffee machine, I wouldn't too far off to say that Nespresso probably occupied 90% of the mindshare.

The sleek boutique, the beautiful people (think George Clooney) are doing their jobs very well. And recently, they are upping the ante with their Dolce Gusto.

They ran event "Coffee convention", spend on prime time slots on TV, centerfold in Newspaper, magazines etc. Then, they compliment it with social media assets, such as Facebook, did aggressive pay per click advert.

Then, they list into all possible distribution network. Suddenly, you would find Dolce Gusto in all major electronic stores and even supermarkets!

For marketing students looking for meaning in the term integrated marketing communication -this is what Nestle is executing and doing it very well.

Regardless which media platform you are on, you would see them.

A mere 6 months ago, nobody ever heard of Dolce Gusto, and who knows what is a Krups. Now, people are thinking whether to buy the $199 promotional model or the nicer $289 model for Christmas.

This is the power of their marketing push and personally I think they are doing it right.

My $0.02

1. They are effectively harnessing the reach of ABTL media to push the eyeballs to their social media assets, i.e. Facebook.

2. All their communication direct people to their facebook page.

3. Their pay per click campaign covers all and any coffee keywords that you can think of. So, if you are someone searching for a office coffee machine, you would see that ad. And with such low pricing, why don't you just buy the machine?

4. They don't even bother selling their machine on their facebook asset (which is great!). This is the one thing that I really have to give them the thumbs up.

After spending so much money on advertisement, the temptation is so great to just sell. But, for their Dolce Gusto facebook page, they build relationship.

This would improves the lifetime value of the fan and probably create plenty of buying and re-buying situation moving forward.

I think the coffee from Nescafe is good, but what is really great is this marketing campaign. If they carry on this push, by next Christmas, Dolce Gusto should be a household name and the market leader for the lower price tier coffee machine.

Do you agree with my thoughts, share your thoughts on this too...