Nesvita

NESTLÉ NESVITA Cereal Milk Drink

By Ma. Cristina Villanueva

INTRODUCTION

In 1994, NESTLÉ launched the first of its kind instant cereal beverage under the brand NESVITA

in the Philippines. This was the first product launched by NESTLÉ under the NESVITA brand name.

NESTLÉ NESVITA Cereal Milk Drink truly was a revolutionary product back then since it was harping

towards the benefits of convenience and healthy nutrition.

Since 1994 until the late 90’s, NESTLÉ NESVITA Cereal Milk Drink was the only instant cereal

beverage in the market. The NESVITA brand name has been synonymous already with instant cereal

beverage similar to that of Coca-Cola (or Coke) to soft drinks. However in recent years, other

manufacturers started to challenge NESVITA Cereal Milk Drink, low-priced brands targeted to different

age groups as well as different Socio Economic Class (SEC) of the market.

One of the biggest threats of the product, PT Kakao’s Energen, has been gaining a lot of

momentum in terms of market share due to its positioning as well as pricing. The product was initially

distributed to sari-sari stores, market stalls as well as small groceries in Visayas and Mindanao but is

now slowly being introduced to the supermarkets, groceries, conveniences stores as well, channels

wherein NESVITA Cereal Milk Drink is currently present1.

NESTLÉ recognized the emerging threat of Energen to its NESVITA business but also realized that

NESVITA may not be the right brand to challenge Energen due to its positioning and pricing strategy.

This was the reason why in March 2008, NESTLÉ launched a low-priced cereal beverage under the mega

brand BEAR BRAND called Busog Lusog Cereal Drink which is targeted to lower SEC’s as well as the

whole family.

The entry of BEAR BRAND Busog Lusog Cereal Drink proved to be a great strategy in challenging

Energen in the bottom of the pyramid consumers since it was distributed in channels where Energen is.

The primarily role of the brand is to...