134. NESCAFE, “Great Cities of the World” Campaign, 1979-1980

NESCAFÉ’s most successful campaigns in the 1980s was, without a doubt,  the "Great Cities of the World", conceived by the all-Filipino agency, Advertising and Marketing Associates in 1979. In fact, the “Great Cities” campaign turned out to be a pre-cursor of another major NESCAFÉ hit—the “One World of Nescafe” , launched in 1983. But that is getting ahead of the story.

The “Great Cities” campaign was actually NESCAFÉ’s response to the claim of Blend 45 that “everyday, millions of cups are served all over the Philippines”.  Blend 45 then was NESCAFÉ’s chief competitor, primarily because of economics (it was cheaper),with a taste that’s “good enough” (although research shows that if the consumer respondent had money, he would go for Nescafe).

Research also showed that the positive image of NESCAFÉ was being driven by perceptions that it was an “international” and “imported” brand—which are often equated to “higher quality” in a time when colonial mentality was still prevalent in the Philippines.

The “internationality” of NESCAFÉ vs. the local Blend 45 thus became the basis of the campaign’s proposition, articulated by the consumers themselves: “We prefer NESCAFÉ because of its superior taste and quality, being an internationally-accepted brand”.

The next step was for creative chief Greg Macabenta to write the thematic line for the campaign, which he summed up as “NESCAFÉ…enjoyed in the great cities of the world.”  Nestle, represented by marketing head, Mr. Levi Castillo, approved the campaign.

TV commercials were immediately produced, with foreign footages supplied by the McCann-Erickson ad agency, which was shooting similar commercials for Nestle Japan. Scenes of people enjoying NESCAFÉ in Madrid, Rome, Paris and other European cities were featured in print ads, and of course, the campaign  was highlighted by a Manila version of the successful commercial series.

The campaign ran for three years until 1983, when the same concept was reincarnated into the equally-acclaimed launches of  "A Classic Taste The World Enjoys" and “One World of NESCAFÉ" extension campaigns.

SOURCE:

Macabenta, Greg B., ”How to Make a Benta - Anecdotes, Lectures & Articles from the Advertising Wars”. pp. 88-89. March 2011