Building a brand community: two different strategies

Coffee lovers taking a bath

Today, brands are well aware of the power of consumers. With blogs or social networks, consumers are able to connect, to discuss and to challenge brand's legitimacy.
We are now going to analyse what are the strategies of our two premium regarding brand communities, do they have full control upon it? Are they able to answers consumers concerns?

Nespresso exclusive club:
Nespresso strategy is clearly to control their consumers, to make them feel part of an elite group. Indeed, once you buy a Nespresso machine, a number is attributed to you and you become part of the club. Then special dedicated events invitations or promotions are sent to you, everything is made to make you feel important for the brand. This strategy is very efficient, it enables Nespresso to know precisely its consumers and to target them in a relevant way.

Nespresso facebook page

Another part of their brand community strategy is their facebook page. On it, consumers can express themselves, post photos or directly address the brand. For instance, Nespresso promotes jewelry made with used Nespresso coffee pads by a Facebook fan.

Concerning Lavazza the feeling of brand community belonging may be less powerful. The brand has no such thing a "Lavazza club". Lavazza tries more to derive a brand community feeling through social media. They have on their website a dedicated page to "Community" which is an interactive platform in between the brand and its consumers. This page clearly enhance consumers to "express" themselves by posting questions, liking the Lavazza facebook page or suscribing to Lavazza youtube channel.

Eventually, it seems that Lavazza and Nespresso have two different positioning regarding their brand communities. Meanwhile Nespresso tries to be in total control of its customers, Lavazza leave space for the community to express itself.

Nespresso's brand endorsement strategy goes on

A new icon will embody Nespresso brand values. This time, it is a European actress promoting cappuccino. This slight change is meant to appeal American consumers (who fancy more coffee with milk)

source: http://theadsmag.com/penelope-cruz-the-new-face-of-nespresso/

Competitive war : a tight market competition environment

An interesting article about the present war going on between Nespresso and Ethical Coffee Company (which sues Nespresso for smear campaign and unfair competition practices) http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-05/nespresso-sued-in-paris-by-ethical-coffee-for-smear-campaign.html

Coffee at the working place : a different target, a different branding strategy

We seen before that both Lavazza and Nespresso play on senses and emotions when targeting their usual consumers. However this emotional branding strategy is changing when these two brands attempt to reach BtoB market (to sell machines and coffee pads to companies).

Indeed coffee (outside of work) is associated with coolness, going to a cosy bar in the city, but above all having a good time at home after lunch. Indeed the initial idea of Nespresso was to give the opportunity to consumers to have at home an expresso of the same quality of the ones that are delivered in restaurant or specialized places.

Coffee at the work is thus linked with very different ideas in consumers' mind. It is not about taking its time, enjoying a peaceful moment at home, but more about having a small break, little chat with colleagues in a stressful environment. We see well that the nonchalance of Georges Clooney in Nespresso ads is not really compatible with the common associated ideas of the workplace.

We are now going to see how do these brands address themselves to professionals and they are able to change their identity without loosing their premium attributes.
First of all, concerning Nespresso, it is interesting to see that they have a dedicated website for professionals (entitled "business solutions"), it is not a sub-part of their general website but a real other website.

Nespresso professionals dedicated website

The website is really simple and sober, the colors used are in line with the global visual identity of Nespresso. However we do not get that feeling of exclusiveness and classiness. The global atmosphere of the website is much more neutral. We cannot find any emotional elements usually linked to the brand (Signature: "What's else?" or Georges Clooney pictures)


It appears thus that Nespresso choose to use functional branding instead of emotional branding when targeting the professional market.

Lavazza professionals dedicated page

Concerning Lavazza even if they have not a dedicated website for professional, they instaure in their website very different ambiance according to the place where coffee is taken. In their page at work, we can see that all the codes of the working environment are used: the smart guy in a suit, standing up near the coffee machine gives an impression of dynamism and efficiency which far from the home cosiness feeling.

Nespresso shop & consumer insights

Interviews of two Nespresso consumers at the Nespresso shop in Lille :

Is recycling a touchy topic about Nespresso’s and Lavazza’s coffee pads?

In the domain of recycling, the aim of Nespresso is to facilitate as much as possible the collect of used coffee pads. However, the firm had to establish different ways according to the country. In Germany and Sweden, pads are considerated as household wastes and thrown with this kind of wastes. On the contrary, in most of European countries (like France, Spain, Belgium), Nespresso tries to collect and get back used pads to recycle them through a special system. To set up this system, Nespresso consumers can bring their used pads in Nespresso shops since 2008.

Nespresso had also improved in the recycling of the pads, particularly in France because small aluminium wastes are not always recycled (and are burnt): they create a system of magnet which permits to gather aluminium coffee pads but also small aluminium wastes (like cans). This way, consumers don’t have to bring their coffee pads to shops and can throw them with household wastes. This technical is implemented in few departments of France.

When coffee pads are collected in shops or special place, recycling starts with the separation of aluminium and the coffee grounds. Then, the last one is used to make compost and the aluminium is reused after becoming aluminium again.

By this way, Nespresso directly implies consumer in the recycling of the pads. The firm testes new system less restricting for customers and innovates by making consumer able to throw the pads with household wastes. But by getting back the coffee pads, the firm can send the used aluminium to specialized firms and earns money. This money represents 5% of the cost of this recycling system. And in an environmental way, recycling aluminium is more sustainable than the production of primary aluminium.

The main objective for Nespresso is to recycle 75% of sold pads in 2013.

On the other side, Lavazza proposes pads composed of aluminum, polyester and polyethylene which are not recycled neither reused. Those pads are burnt in incenerators.

In both case, one of the main brake in consuming coffee by pads is the ecological impact: indeed, coffee bean is really less pollutant than coffee pads.

Nespresso in particular is accused of greenwashing about the recycling.

The Ethical Coffee Company explained that Nespresso insists on the fact that they recycle pads so they reuse aluminium. However, in a global way, it is more pollutant recycling pads than just throwing them with other wastes. The Ethical Coffee Company wants the consumer be conscious that recycling includes also transporting pads to the right place, separating coffee grounds from aluminium... all those steps produce more CO2  than just burning pads.

The firm accuses Nespresso of greenwashing and challenges Nespresso to submit the pads to a strict control about recycling. The Company asks Nespresso to get the ADEME label which takes into account all the steps of recycling to calculate the generated CO2 and which guarantees that technical used by Nespresso is really positive in an environmental way.

In fact, Nespresso built up a strong communication strategy (called ECOLABORATION) about recycling whereas it is not a topic in Lavazza website: Does Nespresso want to hid the reality about its environmental impact?

Press Articles

Two very interessting articles to read in CB News (January 2012) :

Le café noir du désir à la dosette, pourquoi la relation avec le café est passée d'une liaison corsée, sensuelle à grands coups de volutes et de velours, à...la quête du temps. (étude de cas)

Le café promu grand cru, la responsable de la com' Nespresso France revient sur la valeur émotionnelle du café. (interview)

Lavazza Vs Nespresso in TV ads

Since 1995, Lavazza has been using heaven as a theme for all its TV ads.  In 2009, its main competitor Nespresso launched a TV ads with the exact same theme. Lavazza asked for the ads to be removed and accused Nespresso of plagiarism. 

Then in 2010, Lavazza featured Julia Roberts in its ads to compete with the famous “What else?” of George Clooney. With George Clooney fronting Nespresso and now Julia Roberts endorsing Lavazza, one can expect more coffee companies to get high profile actors and actress to be their brand spokesperson ...

For sure, the image war between the two coffee brands  is declared on !

Coffee drinkers profile

Targeting the same premium segment... with different advertising strategies

Nespresso Print Campaign

Lavazza Print Campaign

The analysis of these two ads above will enable us to understand the different branding strategies of the two premium brands: Lavazza and Nespresso

First of all, what is striking in these two ads is that they seem to advert for a luxury good. Whether the black and sophisticated atmosphere of the Nespresso ad, or the historical and arty references of the Lavazza one, both ads tell us that we are dealing with a classy and prestigious product. This, could seem surprising, coffee is common, affordable and available everywhere which are the exact opposite values conveyed by luxury goods (beyond price, rare, reserved to selected places). So why choosing these specific codes? 

As we have seen in some part of our overall market analysis, the demand for coffee is evolving, more and more consumers want a coffee which is unique, tasty and of high quality. This trend has been well understood by premium brands : they have to target their segment with specific and new codes that are far from the common and down-to-earth image of coffee. 

However there are also striking differences in these two ads. Nespresso chooses a well-know and admired actor: Georges Clooney is staring at us with a cup of coffee. He seems at ease and natural, he embodies coolness and classiness and so does the coffee he is drinking. The baseline "what else?" is simple and short and is meant to tell the consumer "this coffee is unique, you do not need to go any further, to test any other product" . The global atmosphere of the ad is thus simple, classy and very efficient. The promise is easy to get and the consumer tends to believe it because of the celebrity endorsement strategy (which acts as a proof). 

Meanwhile Lavazza gives us a really different approach. The sophistication of the ad is not derived from a personnality or a catchy baseline but by a cultural universe that is strong enough to evocate values such as : italian quality, high-quality savoir-faire. Lavazza base his all its promise on the fact that they product italian coffee. As Leonard Da Vinci is great italian artist, worldwide recognized, Lavazza coffee is meant to be prestigious. Lavazza use a cultural endorsement strategy. 

It appears thus that we have too different strategies but delivering the same promise : "our coffee is unique". 

Coffee rituals... All around the world

         It has been said many times that coffee is a common beverage, drunk all over the world. In Western countries, coffee is mainly associated with the morning ritual : waking up, having breakfast and starting a new day. However we have no idea of all the different ways of drinking coffee all over the world.
Let us do a quick travel in the world of coffee!

        According to the website of the coffee brand "Illy", we can observe diverse ways of drinking coffee.

- In Italy, for instance coffe is part of the cultural legacy, coffee is taken seriously. In 1645, the first

"house of coffee" has been inaugurated in Venizia. Coffee is often taken at a "bar" (invented as well in Italy) in the morning. 

- Meanwhile in France, coffee is really appreciated in the morning at home, and softer than in Italy. 

- In the US, the context in which you drink coffee is less important: you can drink it whenever you want, wherever you want in paper cup or big mugs. 

- In Turkey, coffee play an important an important role in the social, political and religious spheres. For instance, women will be judgent before marriage to prepare a good coffee.

 - In Japan, coffee is considered for its physical virtues. Japanese people use to drink it cold in small cans.  

- In Sweden, coffee is associated to a relaxing and sharing moment called "fikka". During a fikka, either at school or at work, swedes have to drink coffee and to eat a piece of cake or "cannelbulla". It is a ritual of socialization and you cannot escape it unless you will be considered as rude by yours collegues. 

       All these histories and habits around coffee show us well that depending on the national or social background, coffee means differents things: energy, coolness, classiness, cosiness, moment of sharing. 

These associated words and ideas to coffee are important for a brand while implementing its strategy. Premium brands such as Nespresso or Lavazza tends for instance to regard coffee as a sacred and sophitiscated product, like it has been looked at, in the Italian tradition. 

Coffee, first worldwide commodity

Before taking a close look to our premium brands (Lavazza and Nespresso), we want to have an idea of the global framework in which these two brands evolve.

Coffee is present in our everyday life: while taking our breakfast, at work with colleagues, after having lunch, in the afternoon with friends etc.… In short, it is a common good that rhythms our day.

Despite all cultural habits and differences existing, coffee is massively consumed worldwide. Indeed it is the second consumed beverage after water: 2 out of 3 people in the world are coffee drinkers.

These simple facts and figures give us a good idea of the huge potential that coffee market can represent for brands.

However, this is not an easy market to enter. Prices are very volatile and coffee production is hard to forecast (due to climate change for instance).

Coffee Importation in 2005

Also the coffee consumption has evolved a lot since World War II.  Geographically speaking USA are still the biggest coffee consumers, however Europe has become the first continent in terms of consumption by inhabitants

Now that we have seen the major trends in terms of ‘quantitative’ consumption we are going to take a look at ‘qualitative’ consumption trends. Consumers are nowadays more demanding on new varieties and tasting. In order to get the best coffee, more and more consumers choose to invest in pod coffee machines, which insure a great quality. 

For coffee brands it is thus important to listen to these consumer’s desire, to keep on innovating and not to take coffee market as an ever-growing market (whatever the quality of the product delivered).