Nestlé launches pop-up café campaign
Nestlé opened a café inside a downtown Toronto Loblaws last month as part of a national sampling campaign in grocery stores to launch the Nescafé Gold brand in Canada.
The idea behind the “Coffee shop in an instant” campaign is that Nescafé Gold, available in both instant/soluble and Keurig K cups, tastes good enough to pass for coffee shop quality. The campaign saw 40 “barista” sampling teams presenting a high-end coffee shop experience in grocery stores.
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The idea was taken to its fullest extent with the café erected in the Maple Leaf Gardens Loblaws for a week in mid April that included elegant gold water taps and baristas to assist customers and answer questions.
“We really showed customers that you can get a café quality coffee with a lot of convenience,” said Ryan Saunders, vice-president marketing, coffee and beverages
Nestlé Canada Inc.
Starting late last year, Nestlé relaunched Nescafé Gold in Europe where it has grown into a large and successful brand, though it had not been available in Canada until now. “It was something that had a lot of proven success and we felt it was time to bring it here,” said Saunders. “Believe it or not, the instant category is growing in Canada." Citing Nielsen research, the soluble coffee market grew 4% in the last year and now represents 11% of total coffee sales in that period, he said.
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Nestlé took a number of steps to improve the Nescafé Gold product for the relaunch. “We’ve improved the blends of the coffee we are using,” he said. Specifically, the beans are higher quality than in the past and the blend includes micro grains of Arabica coffee ground 10 times finer than ordinary ground coffee, which enhances both the taste and aroma.
The Canadian campaign actually started with a variation of the pop-up concept in a mall, where the café was quickly erected around surprised customers who could try the new Nescafé Gold. Video from that stunt is being used in paid media advertising.