Amidst the category being attacked over artificial sweeteners and chemicals, we needed a sweet distraction. We could think of no one better play our tiny pop star than Justin Guarini, the runner-up from season 1 of famed U.S. television show American Idol. Justin’s revived cultural cache was exactly what we needed to propel Lil’ Sweet beyond advertising into mainstream fame.

Armed with the creative strategy of encouraging people to treat themselves to something a little bit sweet, we created a character to embody those very traits. Introducing Lil’ Sweet. A tiny pop star with the voice of an angel, tight leather pants, and an endless supply of zero-calorie sweetness: Diet Dr Pepper.

During the first year of the campaign, Lil’ Sweet sought out people who wanted a sweet treat without all the calories. From the workplace to birthday parties, our lil’ guy made big entrances, Diet Dr Pepper in-hand.

The next year and beyond, Lil’ Sweet moved away from satisfying sweet teeth, to rewarding people for completing household chores with the sweet reward of a Diet Dr Pepper.

In the end, in a declining category, sales were up every year—and our tiny pop star had a big impact.

Diet soda drinkers are incredibly promiscuous, mindlessly reaching for the Diet Cokes and Pepsi’s of the world. The only way to create active consideration for Diet Dr Pepper was to nail a sharp point of difference and lean in on occasions that make it matter. So we set out to identify what makes Diet Dr Pepper different.

“Diet Dr Pepper is a sweet reward,” said one man in focus groups who fancied himself a diet cola sommelier. “The taste feels like I’m having a sweet treat and I’m rewarding myself.”

He wasn’t alone. “Everybody gets a trophy” wasn’t just a colloquialism, in 2014, it was a way of life. Everyone felt like they should reward themselves for every little thing. The best reward? A little something sweet.

So we decided to stop thinking of Diet Dr Pepper as just a soda and positioned it as “The Sweet One.” To give even more license to grab one in year two, we evolved the campaign to position Diet Dr Pepper as a sweet reward on the other side of any little mundane thing you do. We just needed an ambassador to invite America to the sweet treat of a Diet Dr Pepper.

We surpassed our goal of halving our -8.3% decline and reduced losses to -3.5%. This 5.1% growth beat our competitors, while they outspent us 2:1.

We outperformed category volume measures by 54% when we had previously been underperforming by 18%. August 2015 was Diet Dr Pepper’s best performance month in nearly two years.

Indicating campaign longevity, we achieved a $1.70 ROI, the highest in company history.

Since campaign launch, Diet Dr Pepper dollar has grown each year, while Diet Coke declined an average of 3.1% over the past 4 years and Diet Pepsi an average of 1.3%. It also grew in volume from 2015-2018, while Diet Coke was down an average of -3.6% and Diet Pepsi an average of -1.1%. More recently, 1 of every 2 losses in 2017 for Diet Pepsi started going to Diet Dr Pepper.