Nescafe coffee made by Nestle

Nescafe is a brand of instant coffee made by Nestle. It comes in many different product forms. The name is a portmanteau of the words "Nestle" and "cafe". Nestle's flagship powdered coffee product was introduced in Switzerland on April 1, 1938 after being developed for seven or eight years by Max Morgenthaler and Vernon Chapman.

Branding and marketing

Nescafe, a brand introduced by the Nestle company, can be traced back to the 1930s. In the United States, the Nescafe name was used on its products until the 1960s.

Later, Nestle introduced a new brand in the US called "Taster's Choice", which supplanted Nescafe for many years. Taster's Choice was also introduced into Canada at the same time, and continues to be sold as a separate product, branded as superior to Nescafe, and is higher priced.

In the United Kingdom, a television advertisement campaign starring Anthony Head and Sharon Maughan ran in 12 installments between 1987 and 1993.

The first 11 episodes were released as a promotional compilation video called Love Over Gold in 1993. A novelisation of the same name written by Susan Moody (under the pseudonym Susannah James) was released in the same year. In 2003, the company reintroduced the Nescafe brand in the US, and the product is now known as Nescafe Taster's Choice. It is sold in US supermarkets in both glass and plastic packaging.

While the Nescafe brand was created for soluble coffee, it has subsequently been used as an umbrella brand on a number of instant coffee products, including, in the UK, Gold Blend and Blend 37 freeze-dried coffees.

In 2006, Nescafe launched the new coffee machine system "Dolce Gusto" ("sweet taste" in Italian). The system allows consumers to make various styles of coffees themselves (cappuccino, latte macchiato, espresso, lungo, etc.).

Additionally, hot chocolate and cold drinks can be prepared with the machine. The machines are now sold in more than 60 countries worldwide. Unlike other Nescafe products, most Dolce Gusto beverages use roasted and ground coffee, instead of instant coffee.

Other marketing activity included experiential marketing/relationship marketing, which led Nescafe to become the headline sponsor of Good Food Show 2008 at Birmingham NEC as part of their campaign to drive awareness of the increased Nescafe collection.

About 95% of consumers at this popular event rated the Nescafe Collection stand the best at the show. Nescafé used advanced 3D technology to engage their consumers, led by iD Experiential. In the UK in August 2009, Nescafe unveiled a £43 m ad campaign for Nescafe, focusing on the purity of its coffee and featuring the strapline "Coffee at its brightest".

NESCAFE milestones:

1938: NESCAFE introduced in Switzerland

1965: NESCAFE achieved an important breakthrough with the launch of the first freeze-dried coffee in Europe - NESCAFE GOLD.

1980: NESCAFE launches the first gourmet soluble coffees - NESCAFE President in Japan, NESCAFE ALTA RICA and NESCAFE CAP COLOMBIE in France.

1984: NESCAFE launched trendy coffee products such as coffee mixes, coffee mixtures, ready-to-drink coffee and flavored soluble coffees. Instead of asking “Would you like a coffee?” the question became “which coffee would you like?”

Nestle invests in US medical food for Alzheimer's patients

Nestle has bought a stake in US firm Accera to support the rollout of a medical food brand for Alzheimer's patients, as the world's biggest food group seeks to expand in the health and nutrition business.

Nestle Health Science, set up last year to profit from the growing overlap between food and pharmaceuticals, said on Thursday it had taken an unspecified stake in Accera, as well as a seat on its board, but declined to disclose financial details. Accera is a privately-held company whose main brand, Axona, is already prescribed to up to 30,000 people in the United States suffering from mild to moderate Alzheimer's.

Nestle said Axona provides an alternative energy source for Alzheimer's patients, whose brains become less able to use glucose, resulting in improved memory and cognitive function, according to ongoing clinical trials. Better known as the maker of Nescafe coffee, KitKat chocolate bars and Maggi soup, Nestle said its investment will allow the collection of more extensive clinical data on Axona.

Switzerland-based Nestle said last year it would invest about 500 million francs in a new health science institute to research nutrition over the next decade and last month opened a new clinical development unit to conduct trials.