With a £30m expenditure on its Nescafé ¢rand, Nestlé ¬eads a spirited fightback by coffee suppliers. Lisa Riley reports
It has been a busy year for coffee manufacturers who have tried to breathe life into a mature, but flagging, market with a number of initiatives and investments in brands.
The hot beverages category as a whole remains at a steady £1.3bn but while about half (£602m) of the overall value is based on coffee, figures from ACNielsen show that UK coffee drinking is down 0.3% in volume and 3.6% in value. Figures from Taylor Nelson Sofres (see Research Notes) make equally unpleasant reading.
Encouraging younger and lapsed users into the market is a major issue for every sector and to this end Douwe Egberts, which specialises in roast and ground coffee, is preparing to launch a new organic range next month. The roast and ground organic range is a blend of high quality medium roast Arabica and the instant product comes as a medium roast, freeze-dried coffee.
Kraft Foods recently gave Mellow Bird's a facelift, while Percol also opted for a new look as part of a range relaunch. Earlier in the year Kraft also introduced Expresso and decaffeinated variants to its Carte Noire roast ground coffee. The Maxwell House coffee brand was also given a makeover while Tchibo Coffee International took things a step further with The Coffee Concept  to fill the niche carved by the branded coffee shop market.
One recent trend has been the emergence of the male consumer as a shopper in his own right and Kraft Foods aims to cash in on this with Kenco Really Dark. Trading controller, Easton Millar, says: "Men's needs have not really been catered for in the instant coffee market as research shows they prefer a darker coffee to women and are more likely to opt for the ground coffee taste."
But if there's one manufacturer that has proved it is in no doubt about the challenges ahead then it's Nestlé ·hich has pumped £30m behind its Nescafé ¿riginal brand in the last year. The impressive sum included a subtle change to the product, a new glass jar and a multi-media advertising campaign blitzed across Britain. In short, the brand meant business.
Yet any reward for its efforts appears to be slow in coming with the latest figures from Information Resources recording a continuing dip in the brand's fortunes. Sales in multiple retailers in the 52 weeks to July 14 fell to £145m, more than 7% down from £156m recorded over the previous year.
Brand strategy marketing manager Simon Thong says: "Turning around the long term decline in hot beverages is a Goliath task. Our message was about getting impact, and then maintaining it through a more youthful campaign."
So far the gameplan has seen a series of "getting more out of the bean" ads and a more youthful campaign based on a Ford Cortina-driving coffee fan with an Afro hairstyle. Thong insists it has paid dividends. "Our research shows that 2 million more households bought Original during the advertising period."
Another problem which must be addressed, maintains Thong, is the amount of coffee sold on promotion.
About one-third of all instant coffee is sold that way but he insists the game is far from up for instant. "Ninety per cent of all coffee drunk at home is instant," he says. "This is where opportunities lie."
So it is fair to assume that coffee bar-style products for the home are here to stay and Thong promises further NPD is in the pipeline.
So, watch out Starbucks!
{{FOCUS ON }}
It has been a busy year for coffee manufacturers who have tried to breathe life into a mature, but flagging, market with a number of initiatives and investments in brands.
The hot beverages category as a whole remains at a steady £1.3bn but while about half (£602m) of the overall value is based on coffee, figures from ACNielsen show that UK coffee drinking is down 0.3% in volume and 3.6% in value. Figures from Taylor Nelson Sofres (see Research Notes) make equally unpleasant reading.
Encouraging younger and lapsed users into the market is a major issue for every sector and to this end Douwe Egberts, which specialises in roast and ground coffee, is preparing to launch a new organic range next month. The roast and ground organic range is a blend of high quality medium roast Arabica and the instant product comes as a medium roast, freeze-dried coffee.
Kraft Foods recently gave Mellow Bird's a facelift, while Percol also opted for a new look as part of a range relaunch. Earlier in the year Kraft also introduced Expresso and decaffeinated variants to its Carte Noire roast ground coffee. The Maxwell House coffee brand was also given a makeover while Tchibo Coffee International took things a step further with The Coffee Concept  to fill the niche carved by the branded coffee shop market.
One recent trend has been the emergence of the male consumer as a shopper in his own right and Kraft Foods aims to cash in on this with Kenco Really Dark. Trading controller, Easton Millar, says: "Men's needs have not really been catered for in the instant coffee market as research shows they prefer a darker coffee to women and are more likely to opt for the ground coffee taste."
But if there's one manufacturer that has proved it is in no doubt about the challenges ahead then it's Nestlé ·hich has pumped £30m behind its Nescafé ¿riginal brand in the last year. The impressive sum included a subtle change to the product, a new glass jar and a multi-media advertising campaign blitzed across Britain. In short, the brand meant business.
Yet any reward for its efforts appears to be slow in coming with the latest figures from Information Resources recording a continuing dip in the brand's fortunes. Sales in multiple retailers in the 52 weeks to July 14 fell to £145m, more than 7% down from £156m recorded over the previous year.
Brand strategy marketing manager Simon Thong says: "Turning around the long term decline in hot beverages is a Goliath task. Our message was about getting impact, and then maintaining it through a more youthful campaign."
So far the gameplan has seen a series of "getting more out of the bean" ads and a more youthful campaign based on a Ford Cortina-driving coffee fan with an Afro hairstyle. Thong insists it has paid dividends. "Our research shows that 2 million more households bought Original during the advertising period."
Another problem which must be addressed, maintains Thong, is the amount of coffee sold on promotion.
About one-third of all instant coffee is sold that way but he insists the game is far from up for instant. "Ninety per cent of all coffee drunk at home is instant," he says. "This is where opportunities lie."
So it is fair to assume that coffee bar-style products for the home are here to stay and Thong promises further NPD is in the pipeline.
So, watch out Starbucks!
{{FOCUS ON }}
No comments yet