Nescafé: Brewing coffee culture in tea-drinking India

Jitender Dabas, Ankit Vohra, Trishla Jhaveri

Source: WARC Awards for Effectiveness, Gold, APAC, Long-Term
Growth, 2024
Downloaded from WARC

Coffee brand Nescafé targeted Indian teens with a campaign to create a generation of coffee-drinkers,
drive household penetration, sales and share.

Tea was India's most popular drink; decades of marketing had failed to popularise coffee or grow
the brand.
The insight was that Nescafé needed to reach consumers before they formed a tea-drinking habit;
this led to targeting older teens.
Coffee was positioned as fuel for the new chapter of their lives; television was used to create
mass awareness, while targeted digital and social communications created engagement; on-
ground activations boosted consideration.
As a result, household penetration reached 40%, a 200% increase, and market share grew by
3.3%.

Campaign details
Brand: Nescafé
Brand owner: Nestlé
Entrant company: McCANN WORLDGROUP, India
Idea creation: McCann Gurugram
Market: India
Sector: Hot drinks
Media channels: Social media, Websites & microsites, Product sampling, Merchandise & free gifts, Point-of-
purchase, in-store, Outdoor, out-of-home
Budget: 1 - 3 million

Executive summary
This is the story of how Nescafé changed the beverage habits of India.

India is a tea drinking country. For every one cup of coffee Indians drink, they drink 60 cups of chai(tea).

Nescafé, since 1963, had tried and said everything to get Indians to give up tea and switch to coffee. But it was
never able to get true mass usage.

We realized that once Indians started drinking tea, they were lost to Nescafé forever.

So, to win, Nescafé decided to stop trying to convert tea drinkers, and decided to create a coffee generation. It
spoke to the only consumer cohort not yet drinking tea: late-teens.

And seeded the coffee habit during the most stressful inflection-point in their lives: the move from high school to
college.

The problem was, these teens thought that coffee was “too strong”, and something that “doesn’t let you sleep at
night”. Nescafé told them to drink coffee not despite those qualities, but precisely because of them. We built
coffee’s relevance by pitching Nescafé as the step-change fuel.

Household penetration went from ~13% to 40.8%, it commands ~80% market share and mind metric is at an all-
time high: 91.

Jay Chiat and Effie India beckon.

Why the entry is relevant for this category

This case is an excellent example of what it takes for a brand to change the consumer habits of a country.

Since 2017, Nescafé has been on the journey of creating a coffee-generation in a tea drinking country.
Changing the beverage habits of an entire generation is not easy – especially when the country is India, which
has a near addiction to tea.

Creating a generation requires consistent brand efforts. Over the last six years, brand efforts haven’t been
limited to a campaign, an ad film, or an activation. It activated all media across all touchpoints – from TVCs to
sampling to retail innovation. Each year it focused on seeding the coffee habit, driving frequency, and building
brand equity across urban and small towns.

Market background & objectives

What’s it like being a coffee brand in a tea drinking country?

The ultimate challenge for any beverage brand is to become a daily habit. And only one beverage enjoyed that
privilege in India – TEA (or chai as it’s called here!)

Indians have a near-addiction to chai. We drink it in the morning to wake up, and in the evening to wind-down.
We drink it in the winters when its freezing, in the monsoon when its pouring, and even in the sweltering summer
when its 40 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit) outside. We drink it alone, and with friends. We drink it in sleek
drawing rooms, we drink it in roadside chai-tapris. (tea stalls).

It is a big part of Indian pop-culture – be it as a part of songs in movies or Indian matchmaking rituals being
centred around chai time.

Nescafé’s efforts since 1963

Nescafé wasn’t new to the market. It had been in India since 1963 and had tried all manner of arguments to get
Indians to give up tea and switch to coffee.

Coffee had an ‘international’ vibe in India. Café chains like Barista and Coffee Day had sprung up all over urban
India and had introduced Indians to cappuccinos and espressos. Coffee was at a premium price compared to
tea. It made sense to talk to those who could afford it.

Hence Nescafé had tried to pitch itself as a modern progressive lifestyle choice in the mid-90s for the neo
middle-class who was adopting new habits. Didn’t work!

It then tried to pitch coffee as the ‘social’ drink – break the ice with neighbours/ invite the girl next door for a
coffee. Didn’t work!

It also tried to pitch coffee as the perfect way to start one’s day. (As if Indians were ever going to give up their
morning-tea!)

For all these efforts, even by 2016-17 Nescafé penetration in the Chai-strongholds of North-East-West (NEW)
was just ~13%. After 53 years.

Strategic challenge

How could Nescafé drive mass adoption for coffee when chai has a near universal appeal in India?

Business & marketing objectives

Nescafé’s business landscape

1. Stagnant penetration in N.E.W. (North-East West) markets up until 2017

2. N.E.W markets – the tea drinking areas offer the biggest potential regions for creating a coffee generation
3. Business and marketing objectives have been to expand the category in N.E.W

Key objectives

1. Increase HH penetration & market share for Nescafé

2. Drive frequency of consumption
3. Penetrate small towns as they are the pillars of future growth
4. Build equity for Nescafé

Insight & strategic thinking

Nescafé realized that tea was more than a beverage in India. It was a deeply ingrained habit.

Insight

Once Indians started drinking tea, they were lost to Nescafé forever, making it impossible to break the tea-habit.

Nescafé decided that it needed to find new consumers who hadn’t formed the tea drinking habit yet.

Strategy

Nescafé decided to stop trying to convert tea drinkers.

To win, it had to create a coffee generation.

This unfolded through two strategic choices:

1. Finding the right target audience

Nescafé shifted its focus to the only consumer segment whose beverage habits hadn’t been formed yet.

The Indian late teen.

Their beverage habits were still getting moulded. They might have had chai or even coffee occasionally but not
regularly.

2. Finding the right inflection point in the teens’ lives:

The move from high school to college and the change it brings along in the pace, pressure and complexity of
life. It’s their first foray into independence and responsibility. They’re delving head straight into a land of firsts –
making their own decisions, figuring out their career, defining their identity.

Unfortunately for Nescafé there was a problem here as well. Teens didn’t like drinking coffee!

They thought coffee was “too strong”, and something that “doesn’t let you sleep at night”.

Nescafé told them to drink coffee not inspite of those barriers, but precisely because of them.

The Big Idea

Nescafé pitched the strength of coffee as the step change fuel.

It positioned the brand as the teen’s rite-of-passage, and best-friend, all rolled into one strong cup of Nescafé.
The time when they’ll need all the coffee qualities they had been rejecting.

Implementation
Phase 1 – 2017
Campaign launch

Seeded the coffee habit and made it the rite of passage

"Coffee Ki Aadat Daal Do" (Get into the coffee habit!)

Kicked it off with a TVC that showed a father teaching his young son that his life was about to change, he was
going to need to stay up all night, so he needed a strong cup of Nescafé.

The purpose was to start chipping away at all those strong coffee qualities that teens were averse to and make
them the whole reason they needed to consume them in the first place and that ‘Gentle Won’t Do’ (gentle taste
of tea, gentle action, gentle stimulation)

Phase 2 – 2018 and 2019

Drove frequency of consumption

Won over students across urban and small towns.

“Ek Nescafé Aur Chadha” (Grab another Nescafé!)

Once the habit was seeded and the brand had become part of their lives it was time to drive the consumption.

A new TV spot was released around ‘badal life ki raftaar’ (pick up the pace)

It showed young college kids busy from dawn-to-dusk and so in need of the strong stimulation of Nescafé
throughout the day.

By telling them “Ek Nescafé aur chadaa” (put one more Nescafé on the kettle) we ensured that Nescafé wasn’t
just an occasional drink but a constant companion.

We also embedded ourselves in every stage of college life from posts during admission to a college ‘get started
kit’.

Digital immersion

The digital team analyzed macro-data to study who was at what stage of the admission process. Targeted posts
on Insta, Twitter and FB wished students all the best, kept their morale up, and congratulated them when they
got into college, reminding them that they were entering a new phase of their lives where ‘Gentle won’t do’.

Retail innovation

Nescafé then focused on changing the actual way they interacted with the brand via a college ‘get started kit’
which contained all the college essentials – a jar of Nescafé, stationery, key chains, mousepads and so on. This
created a new way of using the brand beyond the cup.

Phase 3 – 2020
Covid year – restart fuel

During Covid, Nescafé had to make a quick pivot. Because its an office/hostel/college beverage, there is no
widespread category behaviour to stock coffee at home, there its only tea.

And with no end to the pandemic in sight, Nescafé had to quickly change itself from the ‘Start’ Fuel… to the
‘Restart’ fuel.

Phase 4 – 2021-2022

Nescafé as the cup of resolve

When in person college admission season restarted, Nescafé was right there reminding students of the need to
stick to their dreams.

This was done via a new TV spot with a strong gender subtext. It showed a young girl explaining to her reluctant
father why she had to move to another city.

On-ground activation: sampling across 400+ college campuses to build coffee education.

Phase 5 – 2023

Product innovation: made coffee making easy

The all-in-one powder format made it easy for the youth to adopt the coffee habit.

And that was how Nescafé was able to create a coffee-generation in a chai-country.
Business Effects
Business results

Objective: Expand the category in North-East-West India, the strong tea-holds of India across urban metros and
small towns

Results:

In the last seven years, Nescafé has added more households than it did in 53 years since its inception in India.

In the years 2016-17 to 2023, Nescafé expanded its presence in N.E.W. – including the small towns every single
year.

1. HH penetration

2016-2017: 13%
2023: 40.8%

Representing 214% growth and addition of 24mn+ households in the last six years.

2. Market share

MAT July 2017: 76.5%

MAT July 2023: 79.8%
vs. market share of competitor Brand Bru – their market share dropped from 19.2% in 2017 to 13.2% in 2023.

3. New triers recruitment across town classes proved that coffee wasn’t just an urban phenomenon

51% – Mega, metro

24% – Tier 1
25% – Tier 2–Tier 6

Marketing results

Objectives:

1. Drive frequency to build coffee drinking habit during the most stressful inflection point (from high school to
college)
2. Build equity for Nescafé

Results:

1. Nescafé ensured that it wasn’t just an occasional drink but a beverage companion – especially during the
admission phase – reflected in the monumental increase in summer penetration.

Summer HH penetration:

From 2016: 2.8%

to 2023: 16.2%
16.2% – HIGHEST EVER penetration for Nescafé in the summer months

2. To change beverage habits, seed the coffee habit, drive frequency, and build it as the beverage partner of a
new generation, Nescafé needed to have equity associations with the TG.

Highest ever brand health metrics for Nescafé:

Mind metric (Top of mind): 91 (+11 delta over 2018)

Consumption metric (MOCB): 87 (+15 delta over 2018)
Lessons learned
This case is a great example of how Nescafé identified the right target audience and the right entry point in the
consumer’s lives, that helped the brand change the beverage habits of an entire generation.

1. Identifying the right target audience

Nescafé, since its inception in India, had been trying to convert staunch tea drinkers to coffee. But beverage
habits once formed, are hard to break. Especially in a tea-drinking nation. Nescafé realised this, and started
speaking to a new cohort whose beverage habits were still being formed – late teens. Nescafé saw an
opportunity to leverage the most stressful inflection point – the move from high school to college. And pitched
coffee as the step-change fuel to keep up with the pace of life during those years.

Instead of changing the audience, it simply changed the audience. This strategic decision made all the
difference – Nescafé added more houses in the last 6-7 years than it did in the previous 50 years.

Not only did Nescafé identify the right target audience, but it found the perfect product role in their lives.

2. Changing consumer habits – creating a coffee generation

Nescafé’s ambition of creating a coffee generation involved multifold objectives:

1. Seeding the coffee habit and product role in the audience’s lives
2. Driving frequency across urban and small towns
3. Building coffee equity to ensure advocacy
4. Becoming a beverage companion to truly enter the cultural fabric

This behaviour change was achieved through consistent brand efforts over the years starting in 2017. It involved
consumer engagement across all touch points – mass media, digital, on-ground activations, retail innovations.

Sources
Internal client data

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