Nescafé is a brand of coffee made by Nestlé. It comes in many different forms. The name is a portmanteau of the words "Nestlé" and "café". Nestlé first introduced their flagship coffee brand in Switzerland on 1 April 1938.
History
Nestlé began developing a coffee brand in 1930, at the initiative of the Brazilian government, to help to preserve the substantial surplus of the annual Brazilian coffee harvest. Max Morgenthaler led the development project. Nestlé introduced the new product under the brand name "Nescafé" on 1 April 1938. Nescafé is a soluble powdered coffee that became an American staple during World War II. In 1965, Nestlé introduced a freeze-dried coffee brand called "Nescafé Gold" in Europe. In 1966, Nestlé developed a freeze-dried coffee brand under the name Taster's Choice.
Marketing
In the United States, Nestlé used the Nescafé name on its products until the late 1960s. Later, Nestlé introduced a new brand in Canada and the US called Taster's Choice, which supplanted Nescafé for many years. The company continues to sell Taster's Choice as a separate product, branded as superior to Nescafé and 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 was released in the same year. In 2003, the company reintroduced the Nescafé brand in Canada and the US, and the product is now known as Nescafé Taster's Choice. It is sold in North American 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". The system allows consumers to make various styles of coffees themselves. Additionally, hot chocolate and cold drinks can be prepared with the machine. The machines are now sold in more than 60 countries. Unlike other Nescafé products, most Dolce Gusto beverages use roasted and ground coffee beans, instead of instant coffee. In the UK in August 2009, Nescafé unveiled a £43 million ad campaign for Nescafé, focusing on the purity of its coffee and featuring the strapline "Coffee at its brightest". Nescafé was ranked 153rd among India's most trusted brands according to the Brand Trust Report 2012, a study conducted by Trust Research Advisory. In the Brand Trust Report 2013, Nescafé was ranked 230th among India's most trusted brands and subsequently, according to the Brand Trust Report 2014, Nescafé was ranked 209th among India's most trusted brands. Nestle India has branded instant coffee as Nescafe Classic and the 70:30 mix of instant coffee and chicory as Sunrise. In Pakistan, Nescafe launched an annual music show based on the same theme as of Coke Studio, named Nescafe Basement.
Lawsuits
In February 2005, the Associated Press reported Nestlé lost a lawsuit and was ordered to pay US$15.6 million to Russell Christoff for using an image of him without his permission on their Taster's Choice label for approximately five years. 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 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.
Due to the enormous popularity of Nescafé, during the Second World War, "all the production of the American plant was reserved only for the use of the military".
In Ecuador, a Boeing 737-200 from the AeroGal company was painted red to promote the brand.
In Chile, since 2009 the brand has sponsored and helped to restore a well-known Chilean theater that was in decline, making it the First Nescafé Theater in the World and naming it the Nescafé Theater of the Arts. In previous years, the brand was sponsoring different stars of Canal 13, such as Esta Noche Fiesta and Tuesday 13, the 123 Nescafé competition and was for some time the sponsor of different campaigns of the Chilean Telethon, returning as sponsor to the campaign in 2011. In turn, its variant Nescafé Dolca, was sponsor of Una Vez Más de Canal 13.
English band Muse successfully sued Nescafé in 2003 when their song "Feeling Good" was used in a television adwithout permission, and donated the £500,000 compensation to Oxfam.
