Nestlé Was Confused

In the 1970s, they were trying to sell instant coffee into Japan with limited success. I'd be confused too — and I assure you, my enthusiasm for caffeine (which is Latin for addiction) isn't clouding my judgement all.

French marketing consultant Clotaire Rapaille (he's not a fictional character, even though he sounds like it) conducted three-hour sessions with ordinary Japanese people to try and understand their cultural relationship with coffee.

They didn't have one.

Japanese culture is steeped in tea (pun fully intended), and it has a strong emotional imprint; meanwhile, coffee had a superficial/non-existent imprint on the Japanese people.

"Under these circumstances, Nestlé's strategy of getting these consumers to switch from tea to coffee could only fail." — C. Rapaille, The Culture Code.

It's like I asked you to switch from McDonald's to Gurwinder's Shawarma Palace — it's not that you wouldn't like GSP if you tried it, but the McDonald's PlayPlace has a special place in your heart.

Children Are the Future

You're telling me the market has no cultural imprint of your product? No problem.

Just build one.

Nestlé shifted gears. Instead of convincing Japan to join the dark (roast) side, they started making (caffeine-free) coffee-flavoured desserts for kids.

Most children love candy and dessert, and Japanese kids were no different — no culture issue there. Fifty years later, Japan spends $22 billion on instant coffee, more than any other country.

And guess who leads in terms of market share?

We're All Just Big Baby Geese

In the 1930s, Konrad Lorenz investigated imprinting, the quick and instinctive learning that happens during specific critical periods of life.

He took a batch of goose eggs and had half of them hatch under the mother goose, while the other half hatched in an incubator where Lorenz was the first moving thing they would see.

The first group followed the mama goose, while the second one followed Lorenz. Even after letting the goslings mix, they would still separate into their respective groups — with half going to Lorenz.

We generally imprint on our parents at birth so we can learn behaviours from them, but we develop relationships with brands and products as well — childhood is a critical period for this.

When Nestlé made coffee-flavoured desserts, they were able to positively imprint on Japanese children. This grew into a strong emotional resonance with coffee in Japanese culture and a huge market for Nescafé to tap into and monetize.

Key Takeaways for Your Business

1. Everyone knows this but it bears repeating: Know the culture of your market before building your brand strategy.
2. If you're as big as Nestlé, you can afford to Jedi-mind-trick an entire nation into loving your product — if you're not, just switch to making tea (i.e., a product the market already likes) or just pick another market.
3. Don't be afraid to play the long game — invest now for big returns in the future, as Nestlé did with their coffee-flavoured desserts.

Next Steps

• Defeat your enemies
• Call a friend
• Have a great day

Thanks!