Better To The Last Drop - Kraft Foods Inc. and Chock Full O'Nuts Corp. offer new gourmet coffee products - Product Information - Brief Article

Brandweek,  Oct 26, 1998  by Stephanie Thompson,  Gerry Khermouch

Tags: Kraft Foods Inc., product information

• E-mail
• Print
• Link

Mainstream coffee players Kraft Foods and Chock full o'Nuts both think they have a way to lure mass brand coffee drinkers into higher-end territory ... in the bag. Looking to exploit the gourmet perceptions surrounding bagged packaging, Kraft in January launches a year-long, two-market test of a new bagged line called Maxwell House Premium Cup Collection, even as Chock readies a restage of its Cafe Blend canned line and is set to roll a whole-bean bagged line early next year.

Both Kraft and Chock full o'Nuts will be aiming to capitalize on the growth in the gourmet grocery coffee segment. With the companies looking both to give retailers a higher-margin end of the category and head off possible flight of more mainline coffee drinkers to more gourmet coffees, both products are aimed at consumers who are somewhere between instant Maxwell House and superpremium Starbucks, the Seattle chain with whom Kraft just struck a sales, marketing and distribution alliance for bagged grocery blends.

According to Kraft research, the gourmet grocery coffee segment grew 16% in 1997 and 22% for the year to date, "and obviously we're hoping to build on that" with the first foray into the segment since an unsuccessful one in the early 1980s, said a company rep. Overall, the $2.8 billion take-home coffee segment is up only in single digits.

Starting in January, Kraft will launch a test in Boston and Chicago of the Maxwell House Premium Cup Collection, an 8-SKU lineup of 100% Arabica gourmet coffees in 10.5-oz. foil bags with freshness valves that will retail between $4.29-4.79, which is a few dollars higher than the base Maxwell House brand tins and well below Starbucks' $7 pricetag for a comparable-size bag.

The line, which includes ground and whole-bean versions of Columbian Select and Hazelnut varieties and ground-only versions of Supreme French Roast, Lighter Side Roast, Custom Blend Decaffeinated and Vanilla, will be supported in the two test markets with consumer and trade promotions as well as dedicated TV and print, via Ogilvy & Mather, NY, likely beginning in March. Like the new line's packaging, which features the signature cup-and-drop icon, advertising will build on the Maxwell House equity, likely by using the well-known "Good to the last drop" theme.

CFON's bagged entry will follow a restage set for next month of its high-end Cafe Blend of 100% Arabica ground coffees, which get new cans via Smith Design Associates, Glen Ridge, N.J., that meld CFON's traditional Checkerboard motif with a upscale look for bolder shelf presence than stylish earlier packs. Also new will be radio campaign in East Coast markets featuring a bossa nova rendition of the venerable "heavenly coffee" jingle to tout the Dark European Roast flavor Agency is Lord Group, N.Y.

The stage thus set, CFON early next year introduces the whole-bean versions in 12-oz. and 2-lb. bags in six flavors, including a Heavenly Hazelnut flavor to be added to the ground-coffee line and a whole-bean-only Morning Roast. The line also includes regular and decaf European Roast, plus Colombian and French Roast in bags with freshness seals.

"There are consumers who don't think it's coffee unless they grind it themselves," said CFON marketing vp Andrea Bass, explaining the whole-bean thrust.

CFON's push comes as the brand steps up its marketing across the board. Coming next month: a promo with MGM Home Entertainment that offers a $5 rebate on over 20 Screen Epics videos with the purchase of three CFON products. Backed by a Nov. 15 FSI, the promo should strike a chord in the mass merchandisers that are important to CFON's national availability and that carry both the coffee and videos, Bass said. "It creates a huge register ring for them," she said.

COPYRIGHT 1998 BPI Communications, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2000 Gale Group