Coffee is still a growing category in Pakistan, most people being accustomed to their traditional cup of chai. However, things are changing, albeit at a gradual pace.

A coffee culture has been developing over the last few years, with several cafés and coffee shops opening in the major metros. Added to this, foreign and local coffee brands – other than the ubiquitous Nescafé – have started appearing on supermarket shelves, and the most recent addition to the coffee category is Cappuccino Primo (CP), launched in November 2011.

A three-in-one (instant coffee, creamer and sugar) powdered cappuccino, CP is a product of King Beverages Industries (KBI), which was established in 2007 and is produced in Poland by Garland Bridge (KBIs parent company). KBIs product portfolio includes an energy drink (Power Full), a fruit juice (Fruiti) and a flavoured milk (MilkoVita), all of which are produced in Pakistan.

CP is not the first three-in-one coffee product to be available in Pakistan. The two other players in this limited sub-category include Brazo and Nescafé, with the latter as the indisputable market leader. According to an April 2011 Report on Coffee in Pakistan by Euromonitor, Nescafé had a retail volume share of 49% in 2010. Brazo,

a relatively new brand in this segment, was introduced by Benlays (the company that introduced Doodh Patti Chai and Sugarine).

####A three-in-one (instant coffee, creamer and sugar) powdered cappuccino, CP is a product of King Beverages Industries (KBI), which was established in 2007 and is produced in Poland by Garland Bridge (KBIs parent company).

CP is distinct from the competition in that it is available (only) in a hazelnut flavour. However, considering that the overall coffee category grew by a mere four percent in 2010 (Euromonitor), the introduction of a new three-in-one product in a flavour that is not particularly well known in the market comes across as somewhat risky.

Kamran Nazir, Director Operations, King Beverages, believes that is it precisely because the market is so small that there is a lot of ‘growth potential’, particularly when it comes to converting tea drinkers (an approximately one billion dollar market) to coffee. Thus the target market is “every tea drinker” in Pakistan. The idea, according to Nazir, is to invest in category growth rather than focus on what the competition is doing, although there are plans to launch a plain variant soon.

The other initiative to grow the market involves changing the widespread Pakistani perception that coffee is best consumed in the winter only, and to this end CP is using a strategy similar to the one Wall’s deployed to promote ice-cream consumption in all seasons; CP’s campaign message is ‘Aik khoobsurat din kay liye garmi ho yah sardi, Cappuccino Primo,’ meaning that CP can be consumed at any time of year.

Faisal Anwar, formerly Executive Director,

M Communications (who worked on CP’s launch campaign) explains the strategy.

“Our short term strategy was to induce trial through celebrity endorsement [Faisal Qureshi is the brand ambassador], but at the same time we wanted to convey the message from

the get go that this is a drink

for all seasons.”

Nazir adds that “we are planning to launch an aggressive media campaign accompanied by in-store free tasting activities in the summer. The message will be that when you are exhausted, CP will kick-start the energy that gets you back on your feet.”

However, CP’s strategy both in terms of converting tea drinkers to coffee as well as trying to change the perception that coffee is a winter drink is not a new one altogether. Maria Patel, Creative Manager, Orientm McCann Erickson (who worked on the Nescafé account) says that Nescafé has also tried to counter these challenges in the past with BTL activities in colleges and universities, ensuring that coffee is available all year round.

Patel says, “We have made some progress in terms of converting tea drinkers to coffee and changing their perception towards it,” but nevertheless she says that this is an ongoing process.

Interestingly, CP’s launch coincided with Nescafé’s fairly aggressive return to the electronic media (after an absence of two years) with its own three-in-one brand, which is strongly positioned towards the youth market, with a view towards developing brand loyalty at the age when consumers are more impressionable and flexible.

Given Nescafé’s persistent media messaging, CP would be well advised not to ignore the competition altogether. For the moment, CP has several short and long term objectives, not least among them to establish a brand from scratch, deal with the competition and take on the mammoth task of targeting ‘every tea drinker’.