Schweppes has long been the adult sparkling beverage of choice for New Zealanders, however in recent years had lost its sparkle as adults felt that having a Schweppes wasn’t special, the way it used to be.

Despite the rich heritage and long history in the segment, Schweppes brand metrics were flat and sales were being impacted. Old fashioned Britishness and ‘Schweppervesence’ were no longer relevant and this lack of sparkle had seen boutique brands East Imperial and Fever Tree burst into the category with an expanded flavour portfolio, smaller pack sizes and beautiful bottle design attracting a younger sophisticated audience, making Schweppes look old fashioned and mainstream.

Our challenge; to re-establish Schweppes as the premium sparkling brand for the adult occasion and give a new reason for consumers to drink Schweppes again.

Our idea; to reinvent the traditional television classifications; a non-commercial environment where we could build meaningfulness around moments of character using standard programme classifications as our media channel.

The adult sparkling drink category had seen a resurgence as consumer taste and preference had shifted towards low/no alcohol beverages with a refined taste. Research showed the audience who were driving growth were progressive, sociable, open minded, confident adults aged 25-49 years.

They had strong tendencies towards individualism and a desire to keep growing manifesting itself to seeking out and enriching their lives through ‘lived experiences’ such as travelling, arts and food. Through these lived experiences our audience were trading up with a willingness to spend on quality and design; all leading to the emergence of premium masstige.

Our insight: This acquired and collected taste came from their experiences. With age comes experience, and it takes experience and character to appreciate Schweppes.

Schweppes is a brand for adults who have experienced life. With the insight based on the value of experience, we saw an opportunity to build meaningfulness around moments of character.

Our strategy; To premiumise moments that require character.

Firstly, to re-establish Schweppes as the premium adult sparkling to drive brand re-appraisal we would need to tell the story at scale.

Secondly, to persuade them that Schweppes is an acquired taste we have to build meaningful brand exposures/experiences at times of receptivity.

To do this we needed a vehicle and channel that could deliver an emotive story and build upon the value of experience, premium cues and moments of character associations.

Our research revealed our audience as having a close affinity with their favourite premium drama. In particular, certain programming can help build and embed brand cues as a programmes personality rubs off on a brands personality helping to build attributes.

Partnering with TVNZ we developed an ‘Evening with Schweppes’; a platform that welcomed adults into the evening by creating a premium zone around contextually relevant programming designed to cut-through, drive reach and relevance in a refreshing Schweppes way.

For 9 months, Schweppes took over the AO and PGR programme classifications on TVNZ’s premium shows on air and OnDemand. In the solus break between programmes and pre-roll, where a standard AO or PGR classification message would run, we created bespoke Schweppes versions that ran in its place.

To create these uniquely Schweppes AO and PGR Warnings we enlisted the help of a mature New Zealander, one who has experienced life and has his own sense of character; Robbie Magasiva. The casting of Robbie Magasiva also helped us move Schweppes away from the old heritage of Britishness and into a more contemporary New Zealand era.

And the results speak for themselves:

Both brand metrics and sales volume of tonic water swung back into growth over the campaign period. This was no easy feat given the size of the market and limited investment.

Volume Results:

Schweppes Tonic Water saw 145% increase on YOY volume target.

Brand Health:

The Schweppes brand over the campaign period increased across all key metrics compared to the same period YoY.

• ‘is a brand leader’ (135% increase on target)

• ‘is very refreshing’ (75% increase on target)

• ‘is great tasting’ (65% increase on target)

• ‘is always doing new things’ (20% increase on target)

And from the client:

“An Evening with Schweppes” was a great local success capturing the attention of the global Coke system. The clever creative solution was built off a strong insight and strategy, and the excellent collaboration with TVNZ drove exceptional results.”