Nestlé’s Coffee Marketing Strategy in Japan: A Case Study in Brand Psychology

Why childhood imprints matter more than products, and how your brand can borrow the move.

“Sometimes the best customers are the ones who don’t yet exist.”

— Strategy whisper from a candy bar

The Scene: Japan, Coffee & a Big Miss

Back in the 1970s, Japan had a problem. Not a small one. A cultural one.

Nescafé (Nestlé’s instant coffee brand) was trying to carve a place in a market deeply rooted in tea tradition. Yet despite packaging, pricing, and promotion, coffee just wouldn’t stick.

According to multiple sources, Japanese consumers lacked the emotional or cultural connection to coffee that existed elsewhere — no early memories, no daily rituals, no taste imprint. 

Nestlé could have kept doubling down on ads, offers, and discounts, but instead, they made a bold pivot. They brought in Clotaire Rapaille (described as a psychoanalyst/child psychologist) to crack the code. 

Rapaille found the crux:

Coffee = no childhood memories in Japan.

Tea = embedded cultural ritual, memory, comfort.

So his advice: if you want a nation to drink coffee, you don’t start with adults. You start way younger. 

The Strategy: Candy, Connection & the Long Game

Here’s the play:

• Introduce coffee flavor via candy, sweets and desserts for kids.
  (Think: coffee‑flavoured KitKats, coffees in desserts.)

• Let the childhood taste imprint bloom into habitual adult behavior: kids grow up → coffee now tastes familiar → purchasing begins.

• Cultivate the brand connection before the product even becomes primary.
  

According to the 2020 Mashed article:

“The Ingenious Way Nestlé Convinced People In Japan To Drink Coffee… By the time these young consumers were older, the familiarity with coffee flavour was embedded.” 

This wasn’t just a marketing tactic. It was a brand‑strategy move that leaned into memory, psychology & culture.

Brand Lesson for You

Okay, so you’re not Nestlé (and you probably don’t have decades to wait). But the underlying logic? Very applicable. Here’s what you can take away, then apply.

1. Emotional Imprint > Product Specs

People don’t buy specs; they buy feeling, trust, recognition. If your offering lacks an emotional anchor, you’re competing on features, and that’s a race to the bottom.

2. Start Sooner Than Later

Nestlé started building associations before the big coffee rush. For you: invest in brand identity, clarity, and emotional resonance now, so when the growth wave hits, you’re ready to ride it, not scrambling to catch it.

3. Think Long‑Game, Not Just Quick Wins

The candy route wasn’t about selling candy for candy’s sake; it was future‑proofing coffee sales. For your brand: consider what you’re building for next year, not just this quarter.

4. Design the Entry Point Smartly

If your audience doesn’t already ‘get’ what you do, make the entry friction low. Nestlé introduced sweets before coffee. You could introduce a low‑commitment offer, a micro‑session, or a fun asset that introduces your brand.

5. Culture & Memory Are Real Channels

Your brand isn’t just what you sell, it’s the stories people tell about it. The impressions your visuals, messaging, and touchpoints leave need to feel consistent, not one-off promotional bursts.

Final Thought

Nestlé didn’t just sell coffee in Japan; they sold memory, familiarity, and emotional connection.

Your brand’s opportunity isn’t just in what you do, but how you make people feel over time.

If you build that, you don’t just win a sale.

You begin to own the story.