Nespresso

Engagement Details

[I]

Cultivating ‘customer closeness’ for a leading household brand through internal training programmes for their R&D Teams.

[II]

Investigating the role of coffee in people’s lives beyond its functional properties across EMEA markets, to uncover their emotional, physical, and social needs.

[III]

Conducting ethnographic research to reveal personal coffee rituals and rich insights to help inspire product and service innovation.

The Challenge

The Nestlé Nespresso R&D team consists of expert technologists and engineers responsible for shaping the future product development roadmap across categories. To drive business growth, Nespresso recognised the need to adopt a more customer-focused culture, enabling the creation of successful product innovations and minimising risks for future investments. Strategically shifting to ensure that Nespresso maintains its leadership in the at-home coffee industry by deeply understanding its customer.

The Approach

Through our consultancy, we designed a 10 week programme to bring to life people’s everyday coffee rituals and experiences, enabling the Nespresso R&D team to experience first-hand a customer-centric insight process. To elevate the training, we worked on a ‘live’ target audience of Next Gen European Coffee Drinkers that could feed into the 2030 project roadmap. We looked to answer core questions around attitudes towards coffee and personal rituals, as well as to coaching the R&D team on the importance ethnographic research and how to extract meaningful insights.

The Outcome

After a close-knit collaboration conducting customer interviews and in-home visits across the UK, Finland, and Germany, the R&D team gained valuable behavioural insights and feedback to enhance ideas for future product development. Equipped with an Insights Toolkit—complete with frameworks, methodologies, and structured approaches—the Nespresso R&D team received comprehensive training on how to conduct effective primary research for additional audiences and markets. This transformation empowered the team to embrace customer closeness, enabling them to leverage valuable insights for future projects and brand ambitions independently.

Brand Positioning

Brand Design

Digital Commerce

Overview

Synonymous with excellence and innovation, Nestlé Nespresso has been honing the art of exceptional coffee experiences for nearly four decades, not only through their premium machines and diverse range of capsules but through the brand itself. Their dedication extends beyond flavour, with a strong focus on sustainability through initiatives like the AAA Sustainable Quality™ Program and innovative collaborations with the likes of Hublot and Mammut, reflecting a hyper-responsible approach to business through remarkable means.

The definition of category leaders, Nestlé Nespresso’s commitment to quality is second to none; a meticulous selection of coffee beans and cutting-edge brewing technology ensures every cup is a delight to the senses. And their global teams are continuously working to level up the experience further.