UPDATE: Could 8, 2024: Sprite has launched a 30-second spot that includes Sha’Carri Richardson as she says “Nah” to obeying sizzling takes, photos and strain, however says sure to obeying her mama, her huge mama and her thirst.
Sprite in the present day (April 18) revived its iconic “Obey Your Thirst” tagline with a marketing campaign that pays homage to the unique 1994 effort that established the model’s ethos. The Coca-Cola model’s newest marketing campaign enlists NBA participant Anthony Edwards and sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson — the model’s first girl athlete accomplice — and spans TV spots, packaging, sports activities partnerships and a digital expertise.
Within the lead spot, Minnesota Timberwolves star Edwards is seen consuming Sprite and making a dunk. When an onlooker — shocked at Edwards’ beverage alternative — sips Sprite and tries to make the identical dunk, he clangs it into the rim and falls dramatically to the court docket.
“You need to hoop like Anthony Edwards? Follow. You desire a refreshing drink? Obey your thirst,” NBA Corridor of Famer Grant Hill says in voiceover.
The brand new spot immediately references the unique 1994 marketing campaign, which starred Hill in the identical position as Edwards. Three a long time on, calling again to the primary “Obey Your Thirst” spot — a part of a platform that was supplanted by the “Thirst for Yours” marketing campaign in 2019 — is the newest step in Sprite’s “journey” to achieve a brand new era of younger customers, in response to Brian Rogers, senior director of name advertising and marketing for Sprite.
“Strategically, the viewers that we’ve been after since 1994 has been experiencing an increasing number of pressures,” the manager stated. “You consider the youth of in the present day, and the quantity of strain that they are below — cultural strain, strain to be like everybody else — we felt like ‘Obey Your Thirst’ and what it means was proper for this second for that client.”
The marketing campaign comes as Sprite seems to take care of its place in a crowded smooth drink market, which has seen elevated advertising and marketing exercise from PepsiCo’s lemon-lime Starry beverage and better-for-you entrants like Olipop. Starry, which changed Sierra Mist within the PepsiCo lineup final yr, has made a big advert push, together with a Tremendous Bowl business this yr, round each hip-hop and basketball — two areas which have traditionally been central to Sprite’s “Obey Your Thirst” advertising and marketing.
“There’ll all the time be opponents to enter this area,” Rogers stated of the market. “I believe we’ve an extended heritage of chatting with this particular viewers with what it means to be Sprite. ‘Obey your Thirst’ means loads of issues to millennials, and we’ve a chance to reintroduce it to a brand new era of Sprite drinkers.”
Together with the Edwards spot, the marketing campaign features a forthcoming spot starring world’s-fastest-woman Richardson, a presenting sponsorship for the Timberwolves’ first two playoff rounds and limited-edition packaging that features a QR code-powered digital expertise, “Obey Days,” that rounds out the multichannel effort.
“’Obey Days’ is all about encouraging customers to ‘Obey Your Thirst,’” Rogers defined. “So if you happen to scan the QR code, you get the chance to register and each Thursday you can log in and see the message from A.E. or from somebody related to Sprite about … be your self, be genuine in your life in each means.”
