A fine-tasting collaboration
Nescafé and Starbucks

Prepare high-quality coffee easily and conveniently at home: This has been the recipe for the success of the Nespresso system since 1986, with portioned coffee packaged in aluminium capsules and the right machine. Nescafé Farmers Origins is a Nestlé coffee capsule line launched in 2022 that places particular emphasis on sustainability, transparency and direct support for coffee farmers worldwide. Starbucks coffee capsules have been produced by Nestlé in Switzerland since 2018 and are sold in the retail sector under the name “Starbucks by Nespresso”.

In keeping with the claim “Make it yours at home”, Nestlé wanted to bring Nespresso-compatible capsules and the coffee experience directly to coffee lovers. Because home is the ideal place to enjoy coffee and try out new varieties. In spring 2025, Nestlé implemented a Switzerland-wide campaign with a customized PromoPost product sample mailing in cooperation with Post Advertising. Thanks to delivery by letter mail, product samples attract a great deal of attention from persons receptive to advertising – and are unbeatable for food products. Christophe Girardet, Brand Business Lead for STARBUCKS & NABs at Nestlé Suisse SA, emphasizes: “With Swiss Post’s private letter box sample campaigns, we can bring our ranges of coffee capsules closer to a large number of consumers throughout Switzerland. We are proud of the quality of our coffee and there is nothing more convincing than giving potential new customers the opportunity to try it in peace at home.”

Two-stage campaign for increased visibility

The sampling campaign was carried out in two stages. With the first shipment in March 2025, Nestlé sent out 200,000 product samples, each with two coffee capsules plus flyers from the Nescafé Farmers Origins line. This is part of Nestlé’s commitment to making sustainable coffee consumption accessible to a wider audience, including via the retail sector. For this reason, the company opted for a broad collaboration with several supermarkets for the campaign. “Our retail partners appreciate these sorts of campaigns, which not only present our products, but also provide additional information about the product range, such as the recycling of capsules, via a flyer,” says Christophe Girardet.

During the second sample campaign in May 2025, 260,000 samples with two coffee capsules each and flyers from the Starbucks by Nespresso line made it to the private letter boxes of urban Swiss households. Starbucks by Nespresso is a premium line that was marketed exclusively in collaboration with Coop as part of the campaign. Christophe Girardet explains: “We decided to enclose a discount coupon in order to encourage consumers to discover other coffee varieties in shops.” The coupon included a 30 percent discount for a limited time on all Starbucks by Nespresso capsules in all Coop supermarkets and Coop City department stores.

Largest Swiss localities as the distribution zone

When sending product samples by PromoPost, the distribution zone can be defined as desired. Nestlé chose the largest localities in Switzerland’s eight largest metropolitan areas. Christophe Girardet: “We focused on large city centres since that’s where our target group is and where the density of retailers is highest. Thanks to the expertise of Post Advertising, we were able to get our coffee samples to exactly where our target group would enjoy them the most: in the comfort of their own homes.” The experts at Post Advertising selected the relevant areas and Swiss Post distributed the product samples to the private letter boxes of all advertising-friendly households without a “No advertising” sticker. Nestlé noted a positive effect of the PromoPost campaign on the visibility of its two Nespresso-compatible product ranges.