Nescafé China Promotes 'Real Connections' with Smartphone Case & Smart Watch App

Nescafé China, the world’s leading coffee brand, demonstrated its leadership in innovation today with the beta launch of Moodlock, a phone case that, when activated by an app on another person’s smart watch, locks the screen. The brand hopes that this playful, social-by-design innovation, the centrepiece of a wider digital campaign highlighting the brand’s role in enabling “real connections,” will encourage more people to spend quality time together.

A video to promote the device on social media introduces Nescafé Moodlock and invites consumers to join beta testing of the technology. Ogilvy & Mather China helped to bring the case to life and plan consumer communications.

“No matter if it’s through our products or communications, Nescafé enables and promotes real connections – Nescafé Moodlock is just another example of this,” explained Altug Guven, Senior Vice President, Coffee Business Unit, Nestlé China. “Through this campaign we highlight the brand’s role in our consumers’ lives and re-iterate Nescafé’s passion for innovation and true human connection.”

According to a recent study published in the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences’ Journal of Marriage and Family Psychology, 60% of couples in China claim their relationships are being seriously damaged by excessive smartphone usage. The campaign, built around an innovation that reminds people to put down smartphones when on a date, hopes to address this trend in a playful way. In doing so, the campaign promotes a core consumer benefit: “Real connection starts with Nescafé”.

The beta version of Nescafé Moodlock, the star of a 2.5 minute video aimed at starting a conversation with consumers online, was developed over a period of three months thanks to a cooperative effort from creative, social and tech teams. The innovation uses Bluetooth technology to connect the smart watch to the phone case and relies on “smart glass” that turns opaque once an electric current passes through.

Coco Kou, Head of One Brand Orchestration and Communication, Coffee Business Unit, Nestlé China, explains the communications context: “We’ll see more and more brands innovating like this, first to demonstrate the value they have beyond their core products, and secondly to put out work that cuts through the increasingly cluttered content landscape.”