2023 Winner

CASE SUMMARY

In a steadily declining category down by 2%, 1 Dr Pepper had remained silent for almost 40 years and found itself surrounded by industry giants – the top 2 of which held 60%2 of the sales volume. How could they change the habits of consumers who were loyal to their high-profile brands? The challenge of reviving Dr Pepper was significant: They needed to ensure its future in Canada despite a declining category undergoing a major transformation. Many consumers are currently rethinking their consumption of carbonated soft drinks (CSD) and are turning to other increasingly popular beverages: energy drinks (+83%), iced coffee (+85%), coconut water (+75%), enhanced water (+14%), etc.

This change in attitude by Canadians has led to a drop in consumption and has forced the category to review its offering, reduce its sizes, and integrate less sweetened options with fewer ingredients.

Their objectives are to increase sales volume by 5%. increase market shares by 0.5 pts, increase market penetration by 0.4 pts, and strengthen brand equity by increasing differentiation by 4 pts according to Kantar’s Brand Power model.

You don’t win with minimalism. You actually lose more. The minimalist mainstream mindset is against everything Dr Pepper and its target consumers believe and stand for. This insight is based on a product truth that no other brand in the category can match. Not only is this truth unique, but it also enables the company to take a stand and align itself with consumers who have a different take on trends. Forever a marginal brand, Dr Pepper encouraged its unconventional niche consumers to push back on mainstream minimalism:
less isn’t more.

“More is More.” It’s about full flavour and owning the unique blend of 23 flavours. This idea guided and informed their strategic approach: they wouldn’t win with minimalism. They couldn’t gain shares by surfing mainstream trends, they needed to focus on their niche target. True to its DNA, Dr Pepper relied on its differential strength to counter the giants in the category.

Dr Pepper’s core niche consumers don’t recognize themselves in this popular era of minimalism and restriction, especially when it comes to food. The phrase “less is more” is totally out of sync with their interests and viewpoints on life. Their interests are more marginal and niche: video games such as Call of Duty and NHL, social media, comedy TV series, and sports content on YouTube.

In addition to their strong tagline, “More is More”, they embraced the unconventional nature of their target audience by incorporating niche appeal into the creative. The video formats featured different characters: a wrestler, a rockstar, and a man with a sled dog. The tone used was intense and energetic, with a voice that definitely stands out from the crowd and fully owns it. The goal was to build an ecosystem that would celebrate the brand’s new viewpoint with complementary tactics.

The videos were broadcast on several platforms in order to reach their target audience in the best possible environments. Some of the platforms include 3 15s videos on connected TV, YouTube, Twitch, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, organic social, paid social, Twitch activation with a Twitch influencer, and Website.

The first campaign flight really focused on building brand awareness back up through reach objectives. For the second flight, some of their social channels were optimized towards a video view objective to help drive affinity. To remain top of mind and move consumers to trial, product, and short-form ads were used as a remarketing tactic to drive frequency, complimenting their brand-building. The website was also redesigned to support and sustain interest in “More is More”. The brand used SEO to capture its target and reorganized its content to maximize its online presence.

“More is More” revitalized the brand and delivered a double impact: Dr Pepper increased sales in its declining category and the brand stood out from the category giants. Dr Pepper was able to authentically reconnect with a core, securing its future in the Canadian market. The results surpassed expectations. Sales volume was up 9.8%, despite a category decline of 2.4% they increased market share in dollars by 28.5%, from 2 pts to 2.57 pts (vs. goal of +0.5 pts), increased market penetration by 0.4 pts in Canada (vs. goal of 0.4 pts) and has an 8-pt. increase in differentiation in Kantar’s Brand Power model.

Credits

[Company Credits]
CREATIVE AGENCY: LG2
CLIENT: Keurig Dr Pepper Company Canada
PRODUCTION COMPANY: Les Enfants
POST-PRODUCTION COMPANY: Mathematic
SOUND STUDIO / ENGINEERING: Circonflex
MEDIA AGENCY: Havas Média

[Individual Credits - Agency - LG2]
CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICERS: Marc Fortin, Luc du Sault
VICE-PRESIDENT, EXECUTIVE CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Marilou Aubin, Nicolas Baldovini
VICE-PRESIDENT, STRATEGY: Sophie-Annick Vallée
VICE-PRESIDENT, ACCOUNT SERVICES: Marie-Christine Cayer, Julie Pilon
EXECUTIVE CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Nick Paget
CREATIVE DIRECTION: Alexandre Jourdain, Marc-André Dandurand
COPYWRITING: Darrel Knight, Gabrielle Godbout, Jocelyn Leroy, Stéphanie Verge
ART DIRECTION: Hang Tan Tang, Max Perone, Quentin Renaud, Stéphanie Verge
STRATEGIC PLANNING: : William Labelle, Laura Danino, Pier-Olivier Léonard, Laurence Landry-Leduc
UX DESIGNER: Léna Massé
UI DESIGNER: Quentin Renaud
PERFORMANCE ANALYST: Jean François Picard
ACCOUNT SERVICES: Virginie Wérotte, Vincent Paradis, Claudia Trudeau, Adrienne Auclair Bédard,
Frédérique Lafrance, Victoria Huynh
TECHNICAL DIRECTION: Romain Prache
DEVELOPERS: Adrien Vanderpotte, Jean-Simon Bondaz, Zoé Jeulin
QA SPECIALIST: Marc-Antoine Leclerc
AGENCY PRODUCTION: Stéphanie Gagné, Vincent Boivent
EDITING: Ivan Grbovic

[Individual Credits - Production Company - Les Enfants]
PRODUCER: Guillaume Arsenault

[Individual Credits - Client - DR Pepper]
Cameron Butt, Parul Verma