Coffee brands use prize games to win consumers

Although coffee is still one of the most popular products, in the recent period the market contracted significantly. Despite this trend Beatrix Pálvölgyi, Sara Lee Hungary Zrt.’s PR manager is convinced that coffee is still an integral part of people’s lives. Because of the recession people drink coffee less frequently, which constitutes a challenge for branded product manufacturers – the importance of brand communication is growing. At the moment consumers want value for money and they often find such products among private labels. According to Ágnes Szijjártó, Tchibo Budapest Kft.’s PR coordinator the proportion of 1-kg packaging grew in the ground roasted segment, largely because of strong promotion activity by hypermarkets. Boglárka Kerek, Nestlé Hungária Kft.’s brand manager spoke about instant coffees: – Packagings larger than 100 g strengthened their position. Despite the growth of private labels strong manufacturer brands preserved their market share and NESCAFÉ even managed to grow. Maspex Olympos is a key player among specialties on the instant coffee market with its La Festa brand.

Brand manager Eszter Beraki opines that specialties (cappuccino and 3in1) were hit hard by the crisis. Both branded product and private label sales plunged, but La Festa Cappuccino remained market leader. Data by Nielsen indicate that decline was smaller in the instant coffee segment than among ground roasted coffees – this is the reason why the former managed to increase its proportion of sales.

László Kaszás, the managing director of Valdo Cafe System Kft. sees three reasons behind this trend: 1. the same good quality of instants as that of whole bean coffees, for instance Valdo Premium Arabica coffees are made without additives or preservatives; 2. instant coffee is faster and easier to make; 3. more simple and less expensive coffee makers are needed. Modern coffee machines are conquering our homes. János Fehér, NESCAFÉ’s Dolce Gusto business manager told us that capsule coffee is in an early period of development, therefore strong innovation work and lots of new entries can be expected. Taking present trends into consideration, capsule coffee constitutes the biggest growth potential in the category. At the same time, demand for high quality whole bean coffee is growing as well. Tchibo will soon enter the market with Tchibo Espresso Milano Style and Tchibo Espresso Sicilia Style. Below the premium category it is very difficult break through with innovations – the focus is on brand communication instead. Douwe Egberts Omnia also renewed its communication strategy.

This autumn Tchibo Budapest will relaunch the 100 percent arabica Tchibo Exclusive in ground roasted and instant versions. A prize game will support the launch. Nestlé Hungária focuses on NESCAFÉ 3in1 this year: new packaging, new recipe and new communication try to call the attention of consumers. Maspex Olympos will launch a prize game and a communication campaign around TV2’s talent search programme Megasztár 5. Besides coffee specialties, other instant products (Ekland instant tea, Brumi instant cocoa powder, Coffeetea coffee cream powder and Inka cereal coffee mix) also take part; the main prize is HUF 1 million. Most of Valdo’s partners work in the field of catering.

This year the company concentrates on San Remo, its most versatile machine that offers professional quality at a low price. With their advertisements they focus on printed trade press and online communication, they have a prize game and they are about to strengthen their PR and CSR activities too. Douwe Egberts Omnia supported its premium-category instant products with distributing free samples in the summer months – in the Opera, at festivals and workplaces; the campaign continues in September.