Is Nespresso who still use George Clooney to flog their coffee machines struggling to attract Gen X coffee drinkers, who we are told appear to want a cold drop of coffee to kick start their day over the hot stuff.

The brand that is synonymous with middle-aged coffee drinkers and an ageing George Clooney now wants to attract younger Gen X drinkers and their thirst for cold coffee Vs hot.

According to researcher Gen X are more at home with a milky glass of cold coffee which is why Nespresso are changing their strategy with the roll out of coffee pods that can be poured over cold milk.

According to the Wall Street Journal Nespresso’s latest 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-coloured global ad campaign will serve the Gen Z appetite for ’90s nostalgia.

Later this year the Company is set to release two limited-edition Nespresso flavours specifically designed to be served over ice.

“The Weeknd isn’t replacing George,” said Jessica Padula, a Nespresso vice president of marketing and head of sustainability, “but helping us reach new audiences that George maybe isn’t reaching today..”

In Australia consumers are investing heavily in bean coffee machines with pod sales declining.

A survey by the World Coffee Portal revealed that in some markets including the USA a quarter of U.S. respondents said they drank iced coffee daily.

The 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 appears to be tip toeing into this market having sold their first iced coffee pod back in 2017.

Then 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 colourful Vertuo Pop machine for smaller kitchens, and introduced cutesy accessories like tumblers and ice cube moulds to appeal to the TikTok generation.

The problem for Nespresso is brand equity with their brand which is linked with an ageing George Clooney seen as being more for hot coffee drinkers.

The coffee maker has worked hard to make sure any capsules they designed for ice matched the same quality as they deliver for hot coffee drinkers.

It appears that their US executives had to convince Nestlé’s Swiss headquarters that iced coffee, which took off in the USA and is popular in Australia before it did in Europe, was more than a fad.

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..”

last week the brand 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 US$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%.

According to the WSJ 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.