Recently, Nescafé became the first global brand to announce that they were moving their website over from a traditional dot-com webpage to a Tumblr blog page.
We used our unique platform not only to assess the reasons behind this strategic decision behind such a popular brand, and also to identify public opinion on the matter.
‘Dot-com is dead’
The Verge were one of the first to release an article on the fusion between Nescafé and Tumblr on the 15th September. In doing so, they revealed the primary motive behind the move, that Nescafé deemed the dot-com method “dead”.
This follows from the major rebranding exercise that Nescafé embarked upon last summer, meaning they have been looking to rejuvenate the brand and do something entirely new.
Common opinion amongst many is that this shift from dot-com website to blog format marks a transition from formal, direct marketing to marketing as more of a conversation between producer and consumer. This format better suits the current digital era we are in, therefore we can expect to see much more if this.
What encouraged Nescafé to make this move?
Nescafe have stated that the primary reason for this shift is simply to reach a wider audience. In shifting the website to Tumblr, Nescafe believes it will embrace millennials, engaging the younger audience of coffee lovers with the brand.
After all, Tumblr epitomises everything millennials love about digital; the social media aspect, the ability for open, free conversations between consumer and producer, and the availability of content. The idea is that the new Nescafé page will do all of these things, as well as being mobile-friendly, and super hot on its SEO.
What do the public think?
This is where our platform came in handy. Upon using our software, we found that conversation reached 2,556 posts across a variety of social media channels, demonstrating the reach and interest of the brand’s decision across different social channel audiences.
However, delving deeper allows us to get to the core of social conversation, drawing conclusions based upon information people have been sharing.
Our data revealed that the majority of posts were simply people sharing or retweeting news declaring that dot-com is dead (38%). Importantly though, there was some opinion within the larger discussion.
As the data shows, the majority of the public hold a positive opinion on the subject (36%) which is extremely good news for Nescafé themselves. It indicates they have made the right move in terms of connecting with new audiences.
Secondly, the data shows that the majority of people are in favour of the move by referring to its innovative appeal (16%). Again, this is good for Nescafé, highlighting that they have indeed done the right thing in terms of rejuvenating the brand.
Overall then, one might refer to this as a success story! Although, this is not to suggest that this new style of top-tier branding will hold in the long run, or that it would work for every brand. It will be interesting to see how this brand continues to develop their strategy over the next few months, or even years.
For deeper insights into building a global marketing strategy, read our use case analysis on Nespresso and how this major brand can use social insights to reach audiences on a global scale.
