The love affair that kept the nation on the edge of its sofa in the late 1980s is being rekindled for the 21st century.

Nestlé's famous Nescafé Gold Blend TV campaign, which starred a pair of love-lorn neighbours in a will-they-won't-they romance, ran from 1987 until 1992, when future Buffy the Vampire star Anthony Head declared his love for the woman (played by Sharon Maughan).

This week, Nestlé unveiled a modern update of the campaign, as part of a £5m relaunch of Gold Blend, Nescafé's premium instant coffee range.

Breaking at the start of May, the four-week campaign will continue the spark theme of its Coffee At Its Brightest push. Viewers will see a young man on a balcony and a young woman reading a book on another balcony. Suddenly the spark that featured in the Coffee At Its Brightest ads streaks between the pair and the buildings they are in move toward each other before the spark returns to a jar of Gold Blend. The ad finishes with the new strapline 'Blended to spark something special'. "As with the original Gold Blend adverts, viewers will be left with a will-they-won't-they situation," said Katy Hilditch, Nescafé's marketing head. "It's bringing the talkability factor back to the brand. The couple are quite young and funky, because we are reaching out to younger people who don't remember the ads from the 80s."

As well as a new ad, Nestlé has revamped the jar to feature a more sophisticated design with golden imagery. "We want to stand out better against Kenco and Douwe Egberts," said Hilditch. "We know ours is the best-tasting instant coffee so we need to reflect that on pack."

Sales of Nescafé Gold Blend have jumped 15.5% to £98.4m over the past year [IRI 52w/e 27 March 2010]. The £5m campaign is part of a £43m spend invested in Nescafé since the brand relaunched in September, supported by the new Coffee at its Brightest campaign (Nestlé pumps record ad spend into Nescafé, The Grocer, 29 August 2009).