By Katie Deighton

Coffee-machine maker Nespresso wants younger Americans to know that it gets them -- and their obsession with ice.

The Nestlé unit has spent more than a decade in the U.S. evangelizing hot espresso-based drinks with ad campaigns targeting older adults by evoking European sophistication and starring actor George Clooney. Cups in its ads were always steaming, bucking the burgeoning trend toward big, milky glasses of cold coffee.

In contrast, Nespresso's latest U.S. marketing push revolves around millennial pop star The Weeknd, whose forthcoming coffee collection with Nespresso is shown served over ice in dreamlike commercials. A new pastel-colored global ad campaign running throughout the summer will serve the Gen Z appetite for '90s nostalgia . And two limited-edition Nespresso flavors released this month are specifically designed to be served over ice.

"The Weeknd isn't replacing George," said Jessica Padula, Nespresso USA's vice president of marketing and head of sustainability, "but helping us reach new audiences that George maybe isn't reaching today."

The move is necessary: Americans overall have been gradually pivoting from hot mugs of drip to iced inventions served in clear glasses since Nespresso arrived in the U.S. in 2014. Nearly a quarter of U.S. respondents in a survey from the World Coffee Portal said they drank iced coffee daily in 2023, up from 7% in 2022. But that trend has been spearheaded by the taste preferences of Gen Z, more than half of whom drink an iced beverage as their first entry into the world of coffee, according to Padula.

Nespresso has responded cautiously, building up its iced offering without shouting about it. The company first sold capsules to brew over ice in 2017 and in 2023 added a "click twice for ice mode" to some of its machines, letting consumers brew a more concentrated coffee extraction that connoisseurs say goes better with ice. It has since run influencer campaigns on social media showcasing iced offerings, developed the compact and colorful Vertuo Pop machine for smaller kitchens, and introduced cutesy accessories like tumblers and ice cube molds to appeal to the TikTok generation.

But its mass marketing largely continued as before. When a 2023 commercial showed a cup of iced coffee in Clooney's hand, it was both unprecedented and imperceptible to most viewers.

Nespresso marketers moved slowly because they were wary of accidentally dismantling any of the brand equity it had built up among hot coffee drinkers, who skew older than cold coffee fans, Padula said. Its coffee makers also wanted to make sure any capsules they designed for ice matched their usual quality. And U.S. executives had to convince their colleagues in Nestlé's Switzerland headquarters that iced coffee, which took off in America before it did in Europe, was more than a fad.

"We're a distant market in some ways -- they think a Big Gulp at 7-Eleven is crazy," Padula said. "We couldn't just flip the switch. It was a little bit more like slowly turning the dial up to get to where we are now."

Nespresso's rivals have noticed the same trend. Last year Keurig Dr Pepper introduced a machine that can both brew and chill coffee in under three minutes. Drip coffee stalwart Mr. Coffee around that time unveiled an all-in-one contraption that makes cold brew as well as hot and iced coffee. Brands from Starbucks to 7-Eleven are also rushing to develop canned, chilled and often-sweetened ready-to-drink coffees; Nespresso introduced its first entry into that category last year.

More than 50% of Nespresso's marketing budget in the U.S. goes toward marketing its iced coffee, a proportion that has increased gradually throughout the past few years. Its sales target for iced producers has doubled since last year, Padula said.

The brand this year will serve as the headline sponsor of The Weeknd's coming tour, promising to serve "exclusive experiences" to fans in stadiums. Teaser videos for its partnership with the Canadian singer evoke blissed-out surrealism, featuring shots of a rising sun, oversize droplets of coffee and blooming puffs of mocha clouds.

The brand last week also erected a pop-up, pistachio-green beach deck cafe at the Cannes Film Festival -- serving up pistachio iced coffee to match.

Global Nespresso sales increased 5.7% to 1.6 billion Swiss francs or around $1.9 billion in the three months to March 31 compared with the year prior, topping the parent company's overall sales growth of 2.8%. Company executives said Nespresso's gains were driven by double-digit growth in the U.S.

Around half of American Nespresso customers are now using their machines to brew cold coffee, Padula said, citing internal research.

The company still wants to be known as the purveyor of a black, Italian espresso, and the sophisticated brand developed to promote it will remain as Nespresso's foundation, Padula said.

"But it should give us a springboard, from which we can launch and move towards something that is more experiential, more playful," she said.

Write to Katie Deighton at katie.deighton@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 27, 2025 06:00 ET (10:00 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.