Nescafe is the first but I don't think they are very happy about it!

by chee Leng (on coffee makers)
(Singapore)

Words has been going around in the coffee industry that Nescafe is the first to do a product placement since UK relaxed and allowed product placement on TV>

Nescafe Doce Gusto was the very first product on the TV program ITV this morning show hosted by Holly Willoughby and Philip Schifield.

There was no mentioned nor usage of Dolce Gusto and the screen time is probably a few minutes at most. Look at the image above, can you see the Dolce Gusto? If you cannot, check out the movie below and you probably can see it better.

Nescafe supposedly paid 100 000 pounds for this exposure (if that can be considered as exposure) for a 3 month period.

I am pretty sure if the "exposure" carries on to be in this manner, Nescafe would definitely not sign on a new "exposure" contract.

Lets say even if the Dolce Gusto is featured throughout the show, what good would it do? Viewers would see the Dolce Gusto and then suddenly rush out and get one?

Using it and explaining how to use them would of course be a better approach but that would be so commercial right?

I do not know what is the viewership for this, but in my opinion, this is another case of wasted funds. With that amount of money, it is better spend on their community (which Nescafe Dolce Gusto) already has a very strong presence on Facebook.

Execute stuff like contests, giveaways, sweepstakes to grow your message virally. One can even invite fans to load their own cooking videos or photos.

That amount of money probably can last for at least 6-9 months of campaign that is trackable, measurable and viral.

It probably would not gather as much news as splashing it on prime time TV, but in the end, unless the objective is not about selling more Dolce Gusto, if it is, I suspect a longer tenure, with more reach and better frequency should sell more Dolce Gusto, don't you agree?

My $0.02.