Advertising Age, November 29, 1993, by Laurel Wentz
"New coffee romance; same old problem"
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London--While viewers elsewhere wait to see whether the 
Taster's Choice coffee couple's long-running romance will 
end, Nestle has wrapped up that soap opera-style ad campaign 
in the U.K. and started another one last week--complete with 
new characters who hint at a menage a trois.

In the new campaign, girlfriend seems tempted to add a young 
artiste to her more straight-laced boyfriend.

In the U.K., where Taster's Choice is called Gold Blend, the 
soap opera featuring two neighbors who initially had nothing 
in common stretched for six years and twelve episodes. As 
their romance heated up and thrilled viewers, Gold Blend's 
sales soared by 40% and the brand overtook Kraft General 
Foods' Maxwell House as the U.K.'s No. 2 instant coffee.

The campaign's success inspired Nestle and McCann-Erickson 
Worldwide to take the ads to the U.S., Canada, Chile and 
Australia. The old drama has also launched in New Zealand, 
and a Japanese version is being considered.

If you like outside the U.K. and don't want to know whether-
-or how--the current Taster's Choice couple makes it, read 
no further. For those who must know, the first coffee saga 
ends with the couple driving happily off into the Sunset in 
a Mercedes as Sharon reveals that she has left the new 
tenant of her apartment a little present--a jar of Gold 
Blend and two cups.

"Why two cups?" Tony asks. "You never know," she responds.

Back at the empty apartment, a young man drinks a cup of 
Gold Blend and the doorbell rings...

Jerry Green, the McCann London creative director who penned 
the first romance, also created the new saga. U.K. 
newspapers last week carried the first episode among their 
regular TV listings.

The story so far: The new Gold Blend woman opens the door of 
her boyfriend's apartment to a handsome young man who 
appears to be an expected caterer. After the party, the man, 
who turns out to be not the caterer but a stranger filling 
in for the caterer, asks the woman who is taking her home. 
Her protective boyfriend appears and asks for another cup of 
coffee. She offers to get it and dismissed the mysterious 
stranger--for now.



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