Advertising Age, February 3, 1992, by Bradley Johnson and Joe Mandese 
"Nestle, ABC strike Taster's Choice deal"
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ABC will soon unveil the next episode of the Sharon and Tony 
melodrama, but it's not a TV show. This is a commercial for 
Taster's Choice. 

Nestle Beverage Co. signed an agreement making ABC the lead 
network for the next of the coffee spots, featuring the 
coquettish carryings-on of two neighbors played by Sharon 
Maughan and Anthony Head. 

The fourth spot in the much-publicized series will make its 
debut the last week of February or first week of March, 
depending on ABC's movie schedules, said Stuart Klein, VP-
management representative at Taster's Choice agency McCann-
Erickson Worldwide, New York. 

ABC will promote the spot on its two soap opera 900-numbers 
and run an ad at a discounted rate in Episodes, its soap 
every-other-monthly, Mr. Klein said. 

Nestle, in turn, will plug ABC through supermarket point-of-
purchase displays, ads in TV Guide and a public relations 
campaign hyping the spot, he said. This will be the third 
time the Taster's Choice spots have received "tune-in" 
support in TV Guide. 

The deal is based on Nestle's commitment to an incremental 
ad buy on ABC for the rest of the 1991-92 TV season, said 
Harry Factor, ABC's VP-promotional sales. 

"We will work together on some other ideas throughout 1992 
that will bring the consumer closer to Tony and Sharon," he 
said. But ABC plans no on-air component beyond the ad time 
bought for Taster's Choice. 

ABC will get the lion's share of TV spending for Taster's 
Choice through summer, and that's likely to be the case 
again next fall when the fifth spot is unveiled, Mr. Klein 
said. 

Nestle went with ABC after hearing proposals from the three 
major networks. However, Mr. Klein said the network didn't 
cut its rates to get the business. 

ABC ranks third in the overall network ratings but has the 
biggest female audience in early morning and daytime 
programs, key targets for Taster's Choice. 

The effort is adapted from a campaign created by McCann's 
London office for Nestle's Brown Gold coffee in the U.K. 

In the last spot seen in the U.S., Tony runs into Sharon at 
a dinner party. The new episode just might be a date with 
destiny, or at least Sharon. But Mr. Klein isn't about to 
spill the beans just yet. 

Photo: Picture, Will the Taster's Choice neighbors get 
together? Viewers will find out on ABC



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