Nescafe
wake up and smell the coffee by Ian Cocoran July 23, 2001
Nescafé believe they make “The World’s Favorite Coffee,” stating that up to 3,000 cups of their valuable brand are sipped every second by bean-junkies from “Miami to Murmansk.” So what about their website? Will it prove to be an instant hit along the lines of their soluble granules, or will it leave a bitter aftertaste for fans of the World Wide Web?
The initial reaction on accessing the homepage is one of anticipation as you’re greeted by Nescafé’s latest advertising campaign in all its audible glory, before being escorted to the company’s main portal where a multitude of choices await. Once there, you can “open up” one of 5 different homepages depending upon your country of choice and also checkout the “Getting Together” section, which is Nescafé’s cause-related proposition.
A major weakness of the site are the “About Nescafé” pages, which contain a somewhat limited background on the company’s evolution and also have a subsection entitled “brand,” which unfortunately tells you nothing about it. On the upside however, are the “Coffee People” and “Coffee World” sections, which contain everything that you’d want to know in terms of satisfying your addiction to a particular blend of choice. Another informative area is the FAQ page, which concentrates on such sleep-depriving conundrums as “How do they decaffeinate coffee?” an also explains the caffeine levels and calorific values associated with your average daily dose.
If at the end of all of this your craving still isn’t satisfied then take a quick peak at the “Downloads” section. Here you can grab the Nescafé screensaver or the latest desktop theme and personalize your PC to reflect your taste in coffee.
Ian Cocoran is an Operations Director with one of the world's largest chemical distributors. He has an MBA in Marketing from the Buckinghamshire Business School and lives in Glasgow, Scotland, with his wife Kate and daughter Lucy.
*Due to the constantly changing environment of websites, some reviews may no longer reflect the current website for this brand.