Advertising Age, April 8, 1991, by Judann Dagnoli & Elena Bowes
"A brewing romance: Sexy duo perks up Taster's Choice ads"
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The format isn't new. The concept isn't new. Even the 
creative isn't new.

So what is it that keeps tongues wagging over those soap 
opera-style commercials for Nestle Beverage Co.'s Taster's 
Choice?

"I really don't know why everyone jumped when they saw the 
second episode in the series,"said Irwin Warren, exec VP-
group creative director on the campaign at McCann-Erickson 
Worldwide, New York. "I just think everyone's interested in 
what's going to happen next. It's the commercial equivalent 
of "Who shot J.R.?""

An initial spot broke in November; the second execution 
began airing March 4.

The campaign is virtually identical to one that's run in the 
U.K. for four years for Gold Blend coffee, the British 
Taster's Choice. McCann's London office created those ads; 
seven episodes have appeared there so far.

The commercials feature two neighbors, Sharon and Tony 
(British actors Sharon Maughan and Tony Head). The coffee 
plays a background role to the barely concealed romantic 
tension between the two. The series started off with her 
borrowing Taster's Choice from him.

The first two episodes were the same in both countries, but 
Mr. Warren said the third U.S. episode, scheduled to break 
this fall, will be different.

Despite the campaign's success in the U.K., the suddenness 
of its popularity in the U.S. has surprised both the client 
and its agency. There have been write-ups in the New York 
Times and USA Today, and Nestle Beverage's headquarters in 
San Francisco has been swamped with complimentary letters.

"I've received more letters than I have in the past 15 
years," said Tony Adamich, VP-marketing for Taster's Choice 
and MJB, another Nestle coffee brand.

"The concept of continuing characters is as old as 
advertising itself," Mr. Warren conceded. But what makes 
this campaign different is what Mr. Warren calls "the 
Hepburn-Tracy-esque" interplay between the actors.

Judith Langer, president of research company Langer & 
Associates and a veteran trend watcher, put it more 
succinctly.

"It's sexy," she said.

The element of surprise adds to the appeal, said Dave 
Vadehra, president of Video Storyboard Tests.

Allen Allbeury, public relations manager for Nestle SA in 
London, said Gold Blend coffee sales jumped 20% in the U.K. 
within 18 months after the spots were introduced in 1987. 
The brand had slightly more than an 8% share of the U.K. 
instant coffee market in 1987; its share jumped to 11% in 
1988, he said.

But Paul Twivy, managing director of Still Price-Lintas, 
which handles rival Unilever's Brooke Bond Foods' Red 
Mountain, said Gold Blend's growth hasn't continued. He said 
Nielsen figures show that Gold Blend dropped to an 8.1% 
market share in 1989 and 8.5% in 1990.

Nestle Beverage's Mr. Adamich said the U.S. strategy is 
aimed at allaying this country's perceptions of coffee as a 
commodity.

"We're trying to involve consumers in the advertising and 
emotionally in the product," he said.

But the campaign may have some way to go before it develops 
a following as avid as ithas in the U.K. There, the tabloids 
follow the series, viewers write in asking for autographs of 
the actors and they even send in script suggestions and 
drafts.

The U.K.'s seventh episode broke in December. But the whole 
country is waiting for No.8, which is believed to show the 
pair's wedding.

Nestle is mum on the subject. Sharon Maughan "has a vision 
of it all ending with her in the world's most expensive 
wedding dress," said Mr. Allbeury, declining further 
comment.



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