Three images which show the re-invention of Nescafé as a beverage with the kind of presence usually associated with soft drinks. An iconic red accent dramatizes wakefulness. An internet lounge in Tokyo. Some of the series of simple digital conversation starters which helped bring the brand to life again. The design agency, cba, transformed an untidy hodgepodge of different visual identities and replaced them with a stylish red accent to the word mark and a modern red mug: icons made for the digital age. It took more courage than you might imagine to jettison the baggage: but, once done, it immediately signified that Nescafé was competing in a very different world of all beverages, including soft drinks. The Nescafé creative platform consolidated around the idea of “it all starts with a Nescafé”. We consume 6,000 cups of it a second, which means half a billion a day. But these consumption moments are very different from those of soft drinks or beer. They are often much more intimate – conversational moments in themselves. But how to turn inspiration into consumption? That became the task of our office in Germany. They have created a flow of Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat posts, disseminated in multiple languages to Nestlé markets around the world which give the brand a voice – and which encourage conversations. At the same time, Nescafé has become the first major brand to move its online presence to Tumblr, de-