Des Moines Register, January 17, 1993, by  Rose DeWolf
"The never-ending story: Will they or won't they? Nestle has 
commissioned an English romance novelist to write a book 
about the pair"
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The strange man in her apartment was her brother.  Do you 
feel better now? 

Viewers of ABC's "Home Improvement" learned during a  
commercial break last Wednesday that romance continues to 
percolate  between the neighbors who first met when she 
borrowed his Taster's  Choice coffee. 

The new commercial is the sixth in a series that has perked  
the public's interest for two years and has increased the 
sales of  Taster's Choice coffee by 10 percent over the 
period. 

In the previous 45-second interlude, the series' hero was  
dismayed when the door to his lovely neighbor's apartment 
opened to  reveal a good-looking guy who seemed only too 
comfortable being  there. Matters were not helped by the 
fact that this mysterious  stranger didn't bother to reveal 
his identity. 

Now McCann-Erickson, the New York advertising agency that  
handles Taster's Choice advertising for Nestle Corp., has 
ended the  suspense. 

As the latest installment starts, the hero is waiting to get  
on the apartment building's elevator. He is obviously going 
away  because he is carrying two suitcases. 

When the elevator doors open, our heroine is there. 

"Hi," she says. And, looking at the suitcases, she adds, 
"Was  it something I said?" 

"No, just business," he replies. 

He is obviously uncomfortable. 

Finally, he blurts, "I came over last night . . . you had  
company." 

And she replies: "You mean my brother. He just loves my  
coffee." 

He sighs, "Your brother . . . " as the elevator door closes. 

Gosh. 

The story isn't over yet. 

Nestle and McCann-Erickson plan to keep this romance -- and  
these commercials -- going. 

They are well aware that a similar advertising campaign,  
starring the same actors, has been running in Britain for 
four  years now and is still enormously popular. There, the 
ads push a  Nestle's instant coffee called "Gold Blend." 

There have been 12 Gold Blend ads -- and in the most recent,  
the hero played by actor Tony Head confesses true love for 
the  heroine, played by Sharon Maughan, who, according to 
the trade  magazine Advertising Age "melts in response." 

Ad Age reports that this was such big news last month, it  
upstaged the royal family. The highest circulation daily, 
Rupert  Murdoch's Sun, ran the Gold Blend romance on Page 1, 
shunting  Princess Anne's wedding announcement to a side 
column. 

And Nestle has commissioned an English romance novelist to  
write a 300-page book about the pair, who, in the 
commercials, do  not have names. Corgi Books, a subsidiary 
of Bantam Doubleday Dell,  will be the publisher. 

Plans call for the book -- to be called "Love Over Gold" --  
to go on sale in Britain in February, but, so far, says Ad 
Age,  there are no plans to publish it in the United States. 

But, most likely, just like the affection growing between 
the  neighbors, a book called "Love Over Taster's Choice" is 
only a  matter of time. 

And speaking of time: the elevator episode will also air  
during CBS's "60 Minutes" on Jan. 24. 



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