In the 1970s, Nestlé, the world’s largest food company at the time, envisioned an opportunity to capture value from Japan’s booming economy and growing market. Evidently, the company utilised its superstar player to enter the market, Nescafe. 

Japan was a blue ocean; it was large and growing. Nestlé cautiously vetted before jumping in. Every research they had done reflected that its coffee would engross the market. Focus groups, interviews, as well as secondary research were conducted, proving Nestlé’s predetermined success in the Japanese market. 

Nestlé shifted into high gear, and put Nescafé on every shelf in Japan. 

They did not sell. 

As Clotaire Rapaille persistently believes: “People can’t tell you what they really want.” He believed that the desires that drove human behaviour were unconscious, and very few people possessed the self-awareness to understand them, let alone express them. 

The Japanese consumer did not connect with coffee. They grew up watching their elderlies drinking tea, lived with the smell of tea in the air, and ate tea cake. Tea was directly linked to honour, history, prestige, religion. 

Hence, when they were presented with Tea or Coffee? They chose the drink they grew up, one that connects with their roots. A past over future decision. 

Nestlé then decided to play the long game and have a vision. They switched their strategy to targeting kids who would become consumers in not less than 10-years. They introduced “Coffee Candies.”

The barrier to entry was significantly lower in the candy industry as compared to the beverage industry. Thus, Nestlé launched multiple varieties of coffee-flavoured candy, under the name of KitKat. A brand name loosely transliterated to positivity and good luck. All of a sudden, kids began to discover the taste of coffee. 

From there, Nestlé moved on to cold sugary coffee-flavoured drinks, to lattes, and then eventually routed back to Nescafé Coffee.

Rama Zoughali
Amoux Company