Thursday, 10 July 2025

A useful & learning forward :

A useful & learning forward : After World War II, Nestlé wanted to enter the Japanese market. Their goal was to create a new market for coffee. But no matter how much advertising they did, coffee sales remained dismally low. Nestlé had perfected their product: Excellent taste Affordable price Attractive packaging But all of that was in vain, because coffee simply didn’t have a place in people’s daily lives. Traditional marketing methods failed because they focused only on product features—not on the emotional makeup of consumers. Instead of throwing more money into advertising, Nestlé made a bold decision. They hired Clotaire Rapaille, a French psychoanalyst and marketing expert. His task was to discover the root reason why Japanese people weren’t drinking coffee. Rapaille’s research revealed something crucial: people form emotional bonds with foods and drinks they experience in childhood. In Japan, there were no childhood memories related to coffee. Traditional Japanese culture was dominated by tea and other beverages. Coffee had no historical or emotional presence. Rapaille suggested a highly innovative solution: stop trying to sell coffee to adults and instead focus on coffee-flavored sweet products for children. This was a daring strategy because it went against conventional marketing wisdom. Following Rapaille’s advice, Nestlé introduced products like: Coffee-flavored candies Coffee jelly-like desserts Coffee-infused chocolate Sweet treats with hints of coffee All these products had a single purpose—to introduce the taste of coffee to children. It was a long-term strategy, and its results wouldn’t be immediate. By the 1980s, those children had grown up and entered the workforce. They were already familiar with the taste of coffee, and now they genuinely needed caffeine. With the stress of work and fast-paced lifestyles, they began to require caffeine to stay energized. Nestlé reintroduced instant coffee to the Japanese market—and this time, it was a massive success. By 2014, coffee consumption in Japan had reached record levels. Today, Japan imports more than 500,000 tons of coffee every year, and Nestlé is the undisputed market leader there. Nestlé’s success story in Japan is considered a milestone in the business world. Today, Japan is a nation of coffee lovers. Changing the cultural habits of an entire country became possible due to the insight of a psychologist who understood that childhood experiences shape lifelong preferences. This is why we must be very mindful about what we teach children—what language they learn, what foods we give them, what experiences we expose them to—because these things ultimately shape their culture. For those looking to culturally influence others, a child's mind is the real battlefield! Have you realized this has already happened to us? For example, the idea that "Cake = Celebration" has been so deeply ingrained in our minds since childhood that today we order cakes for everything—not just birthdays, but also exam success, weddings, promotions, retirements, and so on. A hundred years ago, 90% of Indians didn’t even know what cake was! Today, when we go to McDonald's with our kids to celebrate something, or order pizza and Coke/Pepsi, we are creating lasting childhood memories for them… and in the process, we are unknowingly creating lifelong customers for these companies.

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