High Point was a brand of instant
decaffeinated coffee marketed and distributed by The
Folger Coffee Company, a subsidiary of
Procter & Gamble
The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/consumer hea ...
. The production technique was created by Dennis Grubbs, an employee of Procter & Gamble at the time. It was introduced on a test basis in 1975. In 1980, the product was launched nationally as a competitor to
Kraft Foods
The second incarnation of Kraft Foods is an American food manufacturing and processing conglomerate, split from Kraft Foods Inc. in 2012 and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It became part of Kraft Heinz in 2015.
A merger with Heinz, arra ...
'
Sanka
Sanka is a brand of instant decaffeinated coffee, sold around the world, and was one of the earliest decaffeinated varieties. Sanka is distributed in the United States by Kraft Heinz.
History
Decaffeinated coffee was developed in 1903 by a team ...
.
The coffee was advertised as being "97% caffeine free."
Procter & Gamble's national launch of the beverage received a heavy marketing push with print ads and national TV advertisements, some featured prominently on P&G's
soap operas
A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...
. High Point is mainly known today by its television advertisements. Initial marketing centered on the slogan "Decaffeinate the ones you love." A year later, the campaign was ditched in favor of a
celebrity endorsement
Celebrity branding or celebrity endorsement is a form of advertising campaign or marketing strategy which uses a celebrity's fame or social status to promote a product, brand or service, or to raise awareness about an issue. Marketers use celebr ...
. Several famous TV spots featured
Lauren Bacall
Lauren Bacall (; born Betty Joan Perske; September 16, 1924 – August 12, 2014) was an American actress. She was named the 20th-greatest female star of classic Hollywood cinema by the American Film Institute and received an Academy Honorary Aw ...
extolling the virtues of the decaffeinated brew. Bacall claimed that High Point was "a coffee-lover's dream" due to its special way of "capturing flavor - deep brewed flavor." Another commercial featured the actress in the back of a limo, saying that "Rushing for an eight 'o clock curtain every night means giving up a lot of things - but coffee ISN'T ONE OF 'EM!" One memorable ad featured Bacall backstage at rehearsal, commenting that "Around here, we don't LIKE coffee - we LOVE it!"
Subsequent ads did not feature Bacall, but instead focused on homemakers and female executives who wanted coffee without the caffeine and the bitterness.
Initial sales of the product were good, and P&G made a serious push to unseat Sanka.
The product was given a packaging redesign in the mid-1980s. The label changed from bold orange and brown coloring to a more homestyle look featuring greens and tans.
High Point coffee was discontinued by P&G in 1993.
Procter & Gamble still retains the rights to the brand.
References
{{Reflist
Coffee brands
Former Procter & Gamble brands