In 2014, Rusagro decided to re-position the ?haikofsky sugar brand and attract a new audience. They revamped the product with new packaging and a re-positioning as a “source of pure energy” (based on research that sugar gives you half your daily energy requirements).

But sugar re-branding don’t make headlines so we decided to show that Russia, an oil & gas powerhouse, could become a “sugar superpower”.

Taking cues from ?haikofsky’s packaging, we created a research institute, the Centre for Sugar Research (CSR) and invited the media to meet the centre’s charismatic director.

His ambition to popularize sugar as an energy source caught their attention with major nationals publishing stories detailing how the new fuel could melt frozen Siberian rivers and even power spaceflight. As prominent website Echo Moskvy put it, Russia was heading “From oil dependency to a sweet economy”. On the peak of its popularity Centre for Sugar Research added ?haikofsky to its name giving the brand exposure to an audience of millions.

Excitement grew as a TV mockumentary on CSR by a top investigative reporter showed the potential of sugar. Advertisement supported the message, encouraging customers to pre order ready-to-use packs of sugar fuel on CSR’s website and download the blueprint for a sugar-powered computer.

By the time we confirmed Rusagro were behind the campaign, sugar had truly changed it’s image with 65% of the audience now adamant that it was the future of energy. And ?haikofsky’s brand awareness was up by 20pp to 54% and purchase intent had reached 71%.

We created a website, Wikipedia page and social media accounts for CSR, represented by charismatic director Yuris Kharitonovs, a ex-governmental scientist charged with developing sugar as a bio fuel (played by an actor).

We started at grassroots level with lectures on sugar’s potential at universities. Then CSR started to promote its research through videos on sugar-fuel, sugar-fueled computers and sugar-propelled rockets.

Soon CSR made headlines with plans to melt Siberian rivers with sugar fuel and power space flight with sugar energy and an official consultation to the Russian Olympic Committee on daily sugar consumption for athletes. On the peak of its popularity CSR added ?haikofsky to its name giving the brand exposure to an audience of millions through media and hype in YouTube and Facebook.

A TV mockumentary about the ?haikofsky Centre for Sugar Research led by a top investigative reporter showed the potential of sugar as a source of energy.

1. The overall reach of the campaign topped 25 million people.

2. Total YouTube views topped 3.5 million.

3. We gained 15k friends and followers for the brand

4. Spontaneous brand awareness grew by 20pp to 54%

5. 65% of respondents said they believed sugar power was the future of energy

6. The campaign inspired scores of article, interviews and retweets from excited journalists and bloggers without a single paid placement.