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Nescafe RTD: Coffee that ‘hits different’

CLOSE YOUR EYES and imagine a cup of coffee. For many people that image may have a few differences – you may imagine a demitasse cup, white and ceramic, held with a tiny saucer and filled to the brim with black, strong coffee; or you may imagine a large cappuccino cup full of creamy, frothy goodness. One thing that most people would have in common in the image they conjure is that it is a hot, steamy drink with a powerful and distinct aroma, flavour and taste profile. But that image is slowly changing as the culture around coffee changes. As people become more urbanised and younger generations seek the same kick coffee can give without the strength of coffee’s traditional taste, they are leaning toward ready-to-drink options. Nescafe RTD, launched in local and regional markets on July 23, aims to hit that sweet spot, giving people coffee that “hits different.” Coffee is one of the more popular hot drinks in the world. Business executive officer of food and coffee Juan Rico told Business Day that more than 5,000 cups of Nescafe coffee is drunk per second around the world. In TT, coffee is also widely popular, with head of marketing and communication Siti Jones-Gordon noting that coffee is drunk in 88 per cent of homes. But as senior consumer marketing manager Keri Bailey explained, in TT, coffee may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it has become a more trending beverage over the years. “In my family, we never drank coffee,” she said. “I think TT has historically been a tea market. But in terms of where Trinidad and that market is going, it's definitely trending. And coffee is trending globally.” She said it is specifically trending with younger consumers, who are reaching for colder cups. “One perfect way to understand a category is just by standing in front of a shelf at your average supermarket,” Rico added. “If you look at the shelves in groceries in TT, you have a huge shelf with tea and the coffee shelf, I think, is growing, but it's not that big.” RTD coffee is also brewing significant attention in the global markets. According to Statista, RTD markets are growing as customers increasingly seek convenience and on-the-go options for beverages. It said the growth of the RTD coffee market is also being driven by underlying macroeconomic factors such as rising disposable incomes and increasing urbanisation. Growing popularity of coffee shops and cafes have also contributed to the growth of the RTD market as they allow consumers to enjoy their favorite coffee flavours outside of the traditional coffee shop settings. Grand Review Research, a US-based company that does market intelligence studies, estimated the global RTD coffee market at US$29.4 billion in 2024 and projected it to reach US$42.46 billion by 2030. Rico told Business Day that its Nescafe RTD products, available in mocha and vanilla, is just another innovation in a world of changing tastes and products in the beverage industry. “At the end of the day we are not just in a coffee world or coffee category, we are in a beverage category,” he said. “So we are looking at the beverage world where you will find different options for every person at every moment. [caption id="attachment_1173355" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Cassandra Ramdin, left, Jada Jordan and Vishala Mungal, enjoy Nescafe's new ready-to-drink coffee during it's launch at Nestle Compound, Churchill Roosevelt Highway, Valsayn on July 23.[/caption] “Depending on the moment you will drink a different coffee. The RTD cold brew coffee is something that you will drink for refreshment, rather than something you will take in the morning to wake up or in the afternoon to share with friends. But at the end of the day there are different moments for different drinks and the idea of Nescafe RTD is to find the best time for you to enjoy it.” A new generation of coffee drinkers Rico said while Nescafe’s RTD products will make a mark on the TT market today, the intention of this innovation in coffee is to secure the tastes and attention of the future generations of coffee drinkers. “When we start looking at new generations, you start them with brand, and that is where we are looking at developing the category,” Rico said. “But we are doing it with long-term thinking. Being in a tea market, to find a way to move people from tea to coffee would be possible, but it would be a challenge, because they grew up with tea and the taste, the profile and the history is different. “But if you start with younger generations and ensure they learn the coffee’s credentials, flavour, aroma and so on, that is a way to build the coffee category for the future. “Yes, we will sell a lot now, but it will only be a small part of our business today. However, I can tell you that it is going to be at least half the business in ten years.” He said for this brand the coffee flavour may not necessarily be that strong, because coffee is an acquired taste. “To get used to coffee flavours and the aroma may take some time,” he said. “You will see people that like a lot sugar and milk in their coffee, or you may find people who like the strong coffee flavour. That is why we started with this mix and this kind of RTD option where people could find the perfect balance between milk, sugar and coffee and other flavours to give the final taste.” Bailey said Nescafe’s plan to market its RTD coffee to Gen Zs gave Nescafe the opportunity to reach a market that doesn’t regularly go to the grocery store. She said Nescafe is marketing the brand to youths as something that “hits different” – something with a taste profile nutritional makeup and flavour that is just for them. She said in their efforts to target the youngest generation of consumers they went to different events and engaged with them and encouraged them to like and share on their social pages, but the interest in the younger generation raised a certain amount of curiosity. “When we targeted the Gen Zs that were in this type of consumption and we went to different events and observed them, the questions they had for us was we know Nescafe, it is a big brand, but what do they want with us? We are just regular people. Why does Nescafe want us to be part of their story? “Reaching Gen Zs with the strategy of ‘It Hits Different’ is almost a celebration of this generation and type of personality. This is totally their language. “Gen Zs are misunderstood, and they are looking at big brands and seeing that they know Nescafe from their grannies and moms and dads, but now there is a product just for them.” You may not taste it, but Bailey said a lot of blood, sweat and tears went into the creation of Nestle’s RTD products. She said Nescafe took painstaking efforts to ensure that the brand would reach its intended targets and beyond. “It involved mobilising teams and getting the best of what we needed. We were going through the process of determining a market. We did different trials. We looked at different flavours. We could get anything we wanted we could launch any flavour but we asked ourselves, is the market ready for an exotic innovation, or should we go with what we know?” She said the company was able to use adjacent categories to understand the insights but the best insight came from the youths themselves. “We work with a lot of young people and I will never forget I was typing on my computer and one of the young people I work with said ‘we want the hit of the coffee without the taste.’” “She was explaining what they wanted in her own language and the research couldn’t speak more clearly. “So now there is a Nescafe for everybody in the home. We know Gen Zs are not going to the grocery stores. Their parents shop for them. So when you go to the grocery and you pick up what you want as a parent they can ask for a six pack of something that ‘hits different’.”   The post Nescafe RTD: Coffee that ‘hits different’ appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.