Nespresso Strategic Marketing Management

Strategic Marketing Management

Reflective Essay comparing Nespresso’s and H&M’s celebrity endorsements

The presentation about Nespresso captured several aspects of Nestle’s strategic marketing management. Nestle tries to raise awareness of the functional benefits which their patented brewing machine offers in terms of convenience and ease of use. This can be associated to Gillette’s razor blades since Nespresso and Gillette both use patents to enhance their product and at the same time make profits by requiring customers to keep on purchasing refills for their respective products. Furthermore, Nestle is increasing brand loyalty by offering customers club memberships in their Nespresso community, and thereby using the direct access to their customers for further marketing purposes. Finally, another important strategy is celebrity endorsement. In my opinion, celebrity endorsement is the most successful marketing strategy utilized by Nestle since it has significant impact on brand perception and the overall positioning of the product.

Another firm that uses celebrity endorsement to make their brand more attractive to potential customers is H&M. While Nespresso partnered with George Clooney to upgrade their instant brew coffee from a mass product to the new champagne, H&M has a long history of celebrity endorsements with the goal to make their brand more appealing to fashionistas featuring Naomi Campbell, Pamela Anderson, David Beckham, Madonna, Karl Lagerfeld and Vanessa Paradis. Even though Nespresso communicates that its coffee is premium quality, Nestle and H&M have similar reasoning behind their celebrity endorsement strategy, both are regarded as manufacturers of cheap mass products and want to add value to their brand as well as to increase their customer base with the objective to increase sales. The main question is: How successful are Nestle and H&M with their celebrity endorsement campaigns?  First of all, I want to argue that believability is an important factor. Personally, I could believe that George Clooney might sip a cup or two of Nespresso if he is in a rush but the thought of Karl Lagerfeld showing up in a H&M outfit seems less likely to me.  Secondly, complementation can be a key component, and might lead to a closer partnership that goes beyond just a mere business relationship. George Clooney and Nespresso are such a good fit because of the feel they give to the audience, a sophisticated touch paired with wits and glamour. On the other hand, Karl Lagerfeld or Naomi Campbell will never be able to be as committed to H&M’s cause as desired by H&M’s marketing department. It looks much more like a business transaction were both parties are looking for financial benefits than a long-lasting partnership with shared values and the ability to fully stand behind the product from the celebrities’ point of view. There is no doubt, that in some cases H&M has done very well in choosing a good partner, for example David Beckham but more often than wanted they have selected the wrong celebrities for. Anyways, sales might have increased but that was most likely caused by their existing customers who are intrigued by the idea to get cheap clothes designed by fashion icons. At the same time, Nespresso took their brand to the next level and with the help of clever celebrity endorsement have widened their reach to a larger audience who perceive Nespresso as a chic alternative to the preparation of up-scale coffee.[pic 1][pic 2]