Since its launch at the start of 2007, Nestlé Heaven has faced a thankless task: to break into the already highly saturated block chocolate market. Almost two years on, it has apparently failed.
It is understood that the brand will now withdraw from the convenience sector after struggling to make an impact against category heavyweights Cadbury Dairy Milk and Galaxy, both of which have gained share.
Moreover, in what is hardly a show of faith, Nestlé has slashed marketing spend on the brand, from £3.7m in 2007 to under £400,000 this year.
The brand asks consumers to 'indulge in a little piece of heaven' and positions itself as a premium product. Its website attempts to reflect this, stating that the Heaven factory, set in the picturesque village of Broc in the Swiss Alps, has more than 100 years of history in the chocolate industry. A video on the website follows the chocolate-making process, showing just a handful of factory workers monitoring big, brash machines. The individual care and attention associated with a premium product seems somewhat lacking.
It was always going to be a difficult task to compete with the big players but some will question why Nestlé appears to have given up the fight already.
What next for Nestlé Heaven? We asked Adrian Goldthorpe, head of consumer strategy and innovation at FutureBrand, who works on Cadbury Schweppes, and Alice Salisbury, senior planner at ad agency Albion, whose clients include Innocent Drinks.
Adrian Goldthorpe head of consumer strategy, FutureBrand
Nestlé faces a difficult challenge in resuscitating the Heaven premium chocolate brand not least because there are many subsets of premium, from mass premium to premium to super premium to luxury. And while Nestlé hasn't defined which area it is playing in, one thing is certain: luxury it isn't.
By targeting a young female audience with an emotionally charged proposition, Nestlé has gone after a potentially lucrative consumer group. However, it is a territory dominated by the successful Galaxy, which has a level of indulgence that satisfies many. Unfortunately, by implicitly evoking the cliché 'chocolate is more important than men', Nestlé Heaven faces an uphill struggle.
One issue is that the Nestlé brand is rooted in the everyday in the UK, while in contrast the 'Heaven' name is more at home on the retail counter than the conventions of premium brand naming.
Furthermore, the reasons to believe in the brand are not clear. The benefits of Swiss chocolate do not come through strongly enough, and many consumers are not swayed to buy truffles, either because they do not understand what they are, or are alienated by their 'foreign' association.
Remedy
- Review the brand in light of the portfolio, and evaluate other Nestlé premium brands such as Cailler.
- Focus distribution on the multiple sector, where more considered purchases are made, before developing an offer for the independents.
- Follow Nespresso branding as best practice and make the Nestlé brand an almost-invisible endorser.
- Create a distinct language that communicates the essence of the brand.
Alice Salisbury senior planner, Albion
Ten years ago, if anyone had said Kit Kat - the ultimate pre-teen lunchbox snack - would be making ripples in female confectionery, you'd have been forgiven for raising an eyebrow. Its success is evidence that Nestlé understands the value of doing the unexpected, which makes the creation of Heaven a mystery.
The rationale for its launch seemed to be no deeper than 'our competitors are doing it, so we should, too'. When launching a product into a crowded market, companies and their agencies must be honest with themselves about how different their version really is.
From the perspective of an over-catered-for chocolate eater, functionally, Heaven offers little discernible novelty, versus established favourites. Plus the packaging, name and communication make it feel like a brand that has been gathering dust for a decade, not a fresh challenger in a post-'Gorilla' era.
Given that the product itself doesn't represent a mini-revolution in the world of choc-treats, the brief for the branding should have been to work extra hard at making Heaven feel new.
Remedy
- Change the packaging for greater - indeed, any - on-shelf personality.
- In the absence of an easily distinguishable product difference, marketing must establish a unique, even provocative, category stance. Look to brands such as Dove and Burger King for guidance.
- Press and outdoor are the competition's home turf; £368,000 would go much further in digital. Chocolate mania is one of the few things women share. Imagine the awesome power a brand could yield using digital communities to harness our collective lust.