NESCAFÉ – FROM TIANYI WITH LOVE

TitleNESCAFÉ – FROM TIANYI WITH LOVE
BrandNESTLÉ
Product / ServiceNESTLÉ SMOOVLATTÉ
CategoryE05. Influencer / Talent
EntrantMINDSHARE CHINA Shanghai, CHINA
Idea Creation MINDSHARE CHINA Shanghai, CHINA
Media Placement MINDSHARE CHINA Shanghai, CHINA
Production THSTARS Shanghai, CHINA

Credits

Name Company Position
Echo He Mindshare Associate Director
Candy Gao Mindshare Manager
Sherry Zhao Mindshare Senior Executive
Candy Huang thstars Chief Operating Director

Background

In China, bottled coffee is losing ground with younger audiences. Its key advantages - convenience and flavor - are losing appeal to the newest viral bubble tea drinks that can be delivered in 30 minutes or less. Among our 15-25 years old target audience, bottled coffee category growth is 30% slower than amongst older consumers (Source: CNRS). On top of this, Nescafé, with its long history in China, has been struggling to be seen as trendy brand with younger audiences, despite massive brand awareness amongst consumers. Objective: To revitalize young audiences’ love for Nescafé, we needed to demonstrate Nescafé’s innovation and understanding of youth culture. Key performance measurement areas: 1. Sales 2. Brand love 3. Media Impression 4. Digital Content Engagement

Describe the creative idea

To win young people’s love, Nescafé cooperated with China’s most beloved virtual idol, Luo Tianyi, and created a customized and personal mobile and social experience for young coffee drinkers with their idol. To make the experience desirable and easy to use for our young target audience, we invested in mobile, building a H5 mini-program on WeChat, as well as an augmented reality experience with Luo Tianyi. To make the experience highly personal, we adopted big data technology to customize the experience. To unlock the experience with Luo Tianyi, consumers would need to purchase and scan the Smoovlatté bottle, which in turn would activate the mini-program. (NB: WeChat mini-programs are H5 experiences that function like mobile websites/apps within China's biggest all-in-one social platform, WeChat.)

Describe the strategy

Target Audience Insight: The key segment for Nescafé to win over was the post 95 generation. Not only is Nescafé currently underperforming in this segment, but they also have strong spending power. The post 95 generation spend 45% more on food and beverage every month than their older counterparts, and plan to increase spending in this category in the coming years (Source: Nielsen). This target audience represents the second generation since China’s one-child policy launched in the 1980s. This means they grew up alone, with no cousins. They long for companionship. In their solitude, they have been captivated by virtual idols, or vocaloids. Vocaloids are anime-like characters, with singing voices synthesized by computers. This makes vocaloids truly open source. Fans of vocaloids can upload any song they want at any time, and vocaloids can perform for them on demand.

Describe the execution

After scanning a purchased Smoovlatté bottle, fans were instantly greeted with a personalised greeting from Luo Tianyi, before entering a dedicated mini-program (H5 page) incorporating augmented reality technology within WeChat, inviting consumers to interact with her. Within the page, fans were able to unlock personalised message from Luo Tianyi’s - fully customized based on the fan's location, weather, mood, horoscope and time of the day. To further amplify the campaign on social, fans could share their personalized greetings on WeChat, China’s top social platform – encouraging posts and discussions with friends. On Douyin (TikTok), China’s top short video app, we created a filter with Luo Tianyi’s music videos, encouraging fans to interact with her 'in person' thanks to AR technology. Finally, we targeted Luo Tianyi’s fans through China’s biggest youth culture website, Bilibili, and aired a bespoke Luo Tianyi Nescafé video during Double 11, China’s largest shopping festival.

List the results

In this traditionally celebrity-heavy category, other bottled and chain coffee brands stuck to hiring celebrity spokespeople. But by working with China’s number one VIRTUAL idol, Luo Tianyi, we injected innovation into the conversation, creating innovative and personalised content that brought audiences together. The campaign reached almost 87 million fans on Weibo, China’s top micro-blogging site, because of a personalized experience powered by data and culture. Our branded song’s impressions hit 4 million views in just in two days, with 240 branded emojis downloaded. The December 2018 Brand Health Tracking report revealed that Nescafé’s brand image increased +5% YOY with young consumers. Nielsen data shows that Nescafé Smoovlatté achieved double digit growth following the campaign, with +1.7% market share. The fantastic results of the partnership with a virtual idol encouraged Nescafé to keep up with digital innovation and take risks to connect with China's youth.

Links

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