The document analyzes the language strategies used in Nescafe advertisements in China and Spain. It summarizes Nescafe's Chinese campaign, which uses the slogan "Live out your boldness" translated into Chinese. It then compares this campaign to Nescafe's Spanish campaign, noting similarities like promoting a lifestyle, but also differences in the slogans' contents and target audiences due to cultural and social factors between the countries. In conclusion, Nescafe adapts its slogans and messaging to suit each market's language conventions, culture, and situations.

1. Nescafe
1. Introduction
The report is designed to analyze the language issues of Nescafe in its
advertisement campaigns. The author will focus on Nescafe slogans of its
internet advertisements in China and Spain. And there are mainly three
sections in the report.
Firstly, an analysis of Nescafe’s Chinese campaign will be presented.
Secondly, a piece of Nescafe’s Spanish advertisement campaign will be
compared with the Chinese one, and some similarities and differences
between the two campaigns will be analyzed. Finally, a conclusion according
to the analysis above will be put forward.
1

2. Nescafe
2. Analysis of Nescafe’s Chinese campaign
2.1 Brief description of Nescafe’s Chinese campaign
Nescafe’s Chinese advertisement campaign tells a story of boldness. In the
campaign, Han Han, a popular young writer and an influential opinion leader
in China, starts his writing trip alone by motorcycle. On his way, he meets
different kinds of young people including a wheelchair athlete, a street
performer and a group of volunteers working in the poor western China.
These young people share their bravery, dream and hope with Han Han,
which makes him quite touched. Han’s mental activities through the trip are
expressed in the way of soliloquy. In the end, Han Han tells the slogan, “Live
out your boldness, Nescafe.”
2.2 Language strategy of the slogan
“Live out your boldness” is an English item translated from the original
Chinese slogan “huo chu gan xing” which has only four characters. Firstly, the
four-character slogan fits Chinese people’s linguistic tradition. Chinese idioms,
which are also in the form of four-character, are still popularly used in Chinese
people’s daily life. Then, the similarity between the slogan and Chinese idiom
may make Chinese customers consider Nescafe friendly and trustworthy. Zeff
and Aronson (1999, p.286), the authors of the book Advertising on the
Internet, also asserts that it is helpful to generate sales by developing an
advertising campaign that resonates to a specific tradition. In addition, many
successful brands in China use four-character items as their slogans, such as
“Tian ran tian di” for Yili Milk, “liu shen you zhu” for Liushen Insect Repellent
and “jin xiang si hua” for Dove Chocolate. Secondly, a concise slogan is easy
for customers to memorize the brand which represents a relative new kind of
drink (coffee) in China.
However, as a slogan, “live out your boldness” may have its weakness. The
2

3. Nescafe
author doubts that the slogan is unduly masculine. According to the report
named Chinese drink coffee for social life (Li 2005) in People Web, Chinese
people know little about coffee itself, and what they want is sitting down and
experiencing the western culture. So the masculine slogan which advocates
brave struggle may lead to a loss of customers who drink coffee simply to
seek these leisurely feelings.
3

4. Nescafe
3. Comparison between the Chinese and the Spanish
campaigns
3.1 Introduction to the Spanish campaign
The Spanish advertisement campaign for Nescafe tells a story of hypnotism.
Under the control of a hypnotist, city people are stopped to find the beautiful
things they have missed in a hurry. Then the Spanish slogan comes out,
“despierta a la vida”, which means “wake up to life”.
3.2 Similarity
Both the two slogans are advertising a kind of lifestyle instead of the product
itself. Because Nescafe is a well-established international brand which has a
history of 70 years (Nescafe brand history 2013), people have already
recognized the Nescafe coffee. Then the marketing strategies are shifted to
endow the brand with different connotation in related to lifestyles in different
regions.
3.3 Differences
3.3.1 Difference in slogan content
Although Nescafe makes all their campaigns lifestyle-driven now, the specific
content for each country differs. The content of the Spanish slogan is comfort,
which encourages people to wake up from rush and anxiety to re-see the
beauties in life. The language used in the slogan can appeal to the upset
citizens in Spain because Spanish people are negatively influenced by the
2012 European Debt Crisis (Cong& Zhang 2012).
On the other hand, the Chinese slogan “live out your boldness” expresses a
courageous and innovative life attitude. The idea is closely connected with
Chinese social state. According to Liu Zhiqin (2012, p.45) from Chinese
4

5. Nescafe
Academy of Social Sciences, after the reform and opening up in China,
Chinese people, especially the young, are gradually getting rid of conventions
and are seeking for self-breakthrough. So, the slogan tries to strike
responsive chord with these people.
3.3.2 Difference in target customer
The Spanish advertisement with different aged people and the slogan “wake
up to life” can speak to people in different ages and positions. The main
reasons why Nescafe can create a slogan to target all-aged people in Spain
are as followings. According to Rasmussen R. Kent (2010, p.335), coffee was
introduced to Europe early in the 17th
century. This means coffee is not a new
product for people whoever young or elder in Spain. In fact, according to a
report named Coffee in Spain (Coffee in Spain 2013), most Spanish people
are heavy coffee-drinkers. Then, it is reasonable to create a slogan to target a
wide range of people.
However, Creating the Chinese slogan “live out your boldness”, Nescafe aims
to speak to Chinese young consumers, especially the university students and
the white-collars, according to He Wenlong, Nescafe business director of
greater China (Li 2010, p.80). And Nescafe has the reason to target the young
generation in China. Firstly, instead of coffee, the traditional older generation
prefers tea which has a history of more than 2000 years in China (Cheng
2008, p.8) Secondly, considering the cultural dimension of Hofstede’s theory,
the uncertainty avoidance index of China is 20 (Ahlstrom & Bruton 2010,
p.51), which means relative high uncertainty avoidance. This means Chinese
older people are less willing to accept the foreign coffee which is relatively
unknown to them. In this way, because it seems to be difficult to persuade the
older people in China to buy Nescafe products, it is wiser to target the
younger generation who has influenced a lot by the western culture. And that
5

6. Nescafe
can also explain why the people appearing in the piece of advertisement are
all young people.
4. Conclusion
In conclusion, Nescafe pays much attention on its language issues in
advertising in China. Firstly, in the language code, Nescafe adapts its slogan
to Chinese language conventions. Secondly, as to the content, the Chinese
slogan is created to coincide with Chinese culture and the current situation.
Lastly, there exist similarities and differences in Nescafe’s language strategies
in slogan between China and the western country Spain due to the cultural
and social aspects.
(1092)
6

7. Nescafe
5. Reference list
Ahlstrom, D& Bruton, D 2010, International Management, South-Western
Cengage Learning, UN.
Cheng, Q K 2008, ‘The history and future of China’s tea culture’, China Tea,
Vol 15-07-2008, p.8, accessed 21 October 2013 from CNKI.
Coffee in Spain 2013, accessed 21 October 2013,
<http://www.companiesandmarkets.com/Market/Food-and-Drink/Market-
Research/Coffee-Spain/RPT803105>
Cong, D H& Zhang, Z F 2012, ‘Spain becomes a new focus of the European
Debt Crisis’, Xinhua News, 8th
April 2012, accessed 29 October 2013,
< http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2012-04/08/c_111750315.htm>
Kent, R 2010, Agriculture in History, Salem Press, California & New Jersey,
accessed 20 October 2013,
<http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/nlebk_291678_AN?
sid=6eb46c96-48a8-4ad0-a8d9-
2140cfb3d584@sessionmgr4&vid=15&format=EB&ppid=p p_335>
Li, H W 2005, ‘Chinese drink coffee for social life’, Global Times, 15th
July
2005, accessed 29 October 2013,
< http://www.people.com.cn/GB/paper68/15230/1350613.html>.
Li, M 2010, ‘Nescafe China, marketing coffee culture’, Admen, Vol. 15-01-
7

8. Nescafe
2010, p.80, accessed 22 October 2013 from CNKI.
Liu, Z Q 2012, ‘The awakening of Chinese life consciousness’, Hebei
Academic Journal, Vol. 32, no. 3, p.45, accessed 20 October 2013 from
CNKI.
Nescafe band history 2013, accessed 29 October 2013,
< http://www.nescafe.com.cn/brandhistory.html>
Tech-Food 2005, accessed 22 October 2013, <http://www.tech-
food.com/kndata/1001/0003165.htm>
Zeff, R& Aronson, B 1999, Advertising on the Internet, 2nd
edn, John Wiley&
Sons. Inc, New York, accessed 20 October 2013,
<http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/nlebk_26108_AN?
sid=6eb46c96-48a8-4ad0-a8d9-
2140cfb3d584@sessionmgr4&vid=9&format=EB&rid=3>
8