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Nestle is putting £10m into new advertising for its Nescafe

Original brand, as part of a total £30m investment aimed at

strengthening its relationship with younger consumers and boosting the

flagging hot beverages market.

The brand has ditched its use of celebrities such as Denise van Outen

and Martin Clunes in favour of more quirky executions in the new work

from McCann-Erickson.

It shows animated coffee beans being interrogated and tortured, with the

strapline, 'Getting more from the bean for a great full flavour'.

Posters, breaking this week, depict the beans in sticky situations - one

is shown strapped down 'James Bond-style' with a laser beam aimed at it.

Another is tied to a medieval stretching device. The campaign also

comprises TV, radio and bus ads. Media planning and buying is by

Universal McCann.

Magdalena Teare, Nestle's in-home coffee category marketing director,

says Nescafe aims to harness a younger market by increasing the brand's

relevance to them. She said: "We have been looking at the broader

context of the hot beverage category, and it's no longer a growing

market. Our focus is how we can stay relevant to young people's lives as

we have done in the past.

"We felt the existing properties and use of celebrities didn't give us

enough scope to get our message across, so we have made the product into

the hero and brought in a more youthful tone."

In addition to the advertising, Nescafe has spent £20m on product

research and a curvy jar created by Design Bridge. Teare said: "Our

brief was to create a new icon that kept the Nescafe heritage, but

brought modernity to it."

The shape should also make the product stand out on shop shelves, and

deter copy-cat brands from stealing shares of its annual sales of £332m.

Teare claims the £30m spend is the most significant amount Nestle

has committed to the Nescafe brand, and will drive long-term growth in

the instant-coffee market. "We believe the relaunch will be a catalyst

to change perceptions of the category."

According to Marketing's 2001 Biggest Brands survey, Nestle was the

third-biggest brand behind Coca-Cola and Walkers, but had experienced a

decline in sales of 6.7% in 2000. Kenco's sales had dropped by 0.1%,

while Maxwell House suffered a decline of 17%.

COMMENT

With younger consumers turning to the increasing number of energy drinks

for their caffeine kicks, Nescafe has a tough job ahead of it to try to

lure this audience back to instant coffee.

It does, however, have a foot wedged firmly in the door, with its £3m sponsorship of US sitcom Friends and chain of coffee bars on

university and college campuses.

There is little doubt that the coffee giant will remain market leader in

its category, but it remains to be seen whether the new approach will

revive the stagnant market in which it sits.