Carte Noire's multimillion dollar marketing push to support its launch in Australia is designed to disrupt the market and wake Aussies from the 'coffee coma', according to Mondelez Food MD Darren O'Brien.
O'Brien, who heads up foods brands at Mondelez, the company that was spun out of Kraft Foods last year, says there has been a lack of innovation in the market which means when Australians shop for coffee they are in a “coma”.
Mondelez hopes its Carte Noire brand, which is the biggest selling coffee brand in France and the fastest growing in the UK, can disrupt that and entice shoppers. It has deliberately steered clear of common cliches in coffee advertising like kitchen scenes or reminiscing about childhood, instead opting for an action-style ad to get consumers' attention.
The fire and ice ad that launched over the weekend will be the centre point of communications to showcase its roasting technique as what differentiates it from other brands but sampling is a key part of the marketing push to drive the taste message and encourage trial.
Carte Noire is sending half a million targeted sample packs to households it has identified as its “hotspots” and part of the range includes a pack of 10 single-serve stick packs designed as a lower price point introductory pack to encourage trial.
Mondelez is making a multimillion dollar investment over the next three months, which will be increased and continued over the next three years as the company bids to grow both its share, and the category.
O'Brien adds that the marketing assault will achieve the same share of voice as its two biggest competitor Nescafe and Moccona, although its market share will be much smaller at launch.
He said: “We think we need to do that because we've got to break the coma but we also think that once people try Carte Noire they will stay with us because it is the best tasting instant coffee and [our own internal] sensory research shows that. People put it on a par with their most premium coffee, but you've got to get the trial.”
Carte Noire wants to position itself as offering a barista style coffee experience in the home for when people don't want to use a pod machine, like Nespresso.
Australian coffee drinkers, he says, chose which type of coffee they consume depending on the occasion so will use pods, machines or takeaways as well as instant. Carte Noire will market around these occasions in an effort to extend people’s usage of premium coffee to treat themselves.
It will also roll out a range of further product innovations over the next 12 months and adapt marketing messages around these.
O'Brien said: “There's a preconception that sales of instant coffee is on the decline," but claimed that 60% of the time when people drink coffee, it is instant. Volume and value growth is on the up, "but we're [also] seeing growth in the premiumisation of the market.”
The brand wants to replicate its rapid rise in the UK and its global number two positioning in this market.
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