Nescafé is a brand of instant coffee made by Nestlé. It comes in many different product forms. The name is a portmanteau of the words "Nestlé" and "café".Nestlé's flagship powdered coffee product was introduced in Switzerland on April 1, 1938 after being developed for seven or eight years by Max Morgenthaler.

 

Branding and marketing

Nescafé, a brand introduced by the Nestlé company, can be traced back to the 1930s. In the United States, the Nescafé name was used on its products until the 1960s. Later, Nestlé introduced a new brand in the US called "Taster's Choice", which supplanted Nescafé for many years. Taster's Choice was also introduced into Canada at the same time, and continues to be sold as a separate product, branded as superior to Nescafé, and is higher priced.

 

In the United Kingdom, a television advertisement campaign, the Gold Blend couple starring Anthony Head and Sharon Maughan ran in 12 installments between 1987 and 1993.The first 11 episodes were released as a promotional compilation video called Love Over Gold in 1993. A novelisation of the same name written by Susan Moody (under the pseudonym Susannah James) was released in the same year.

 

In 2003, the company reintroduced the Nescafé brand in the US, and the product is now known as Nescafé Taster's Choice. It is sold in US supermarkets in both glass and plastic packaging.

 

While the Nescafé brand was created for soluble coffee, it has subsequently been used as an umbrella brand on a number of instant coffee products, including, in the UK, Gold Blend and Blend 37 freeze-dried coffees.

 

In 2006, Nescafé launched the new coffee machine system "Dolce Gusto" ("sweet taste" in Italian). The system allows consumers to make various styles of coffees themselves (cappuccino, latte macchiato, espresso, lungo, etc.). Additionally, hot chocolate and cold drinks can be prepared with the machine. The machines are now sold in more than 60 countries worldwide. Unlike other Nescafé products, most Dolce Gusto beverages use roasted and ground coffee, instead of instant coffee.

 

Other marketing activity included experiential marketing/relationship marketing, which led Nescafé to become the headline sponsor of Good Food Show 2008 at Birmingham NEC as part of their campaign to drive awareness of the increased Nescafé collection. About 95% of consumers at this popular event rated the Nescafé Collection stand the best at the show. Nescafé used advanced 3D technology to engage their consumers, led by iD Experiential.

 

In the UK in August 2009, Nescafé unveiled a £43 m ad campaign for Nescafé, focusing on the purity of its coffee and featuring the strapline "Coffee at its brightest".

 

Lawsuits

In February 2005, the Associated Press reported Nestlé lost a lawsuit and was ordered to pay $15.6 million US to Russell Christoff for using an image of him without his permission on their Taster's Choice label for approximately five years (1998–2003). The $15.6 million judgment was subsequently reversed in its entirety by the California Court of Appeal. On 31 October 2007, the California Supreme Court, with a vote of 6–0, granted review. On 17 August 2009, the court reversed the judgment (opinion S155242) and remanded the case to the trial court to consider whether the ad campaign covered a "single publication", which would have prevented Christoff from suing because the statute of limitations would have lapsed, or multiple publications.

 

English band Muse successfully sued Nescafé in 2003 when its song "Feeling Good" was used in a television ad without permission, donating the £500,000 compensation to Oxfam.