‘Have the Rennie Ready’ is about how suffering from heartburn can ruin moments, unless you have Rennie to hand. To cut through and create relevance, our creative strategy is situational comedy. Audio provides the ideal canvas for this approach as we can supercharge super humorous, overly dramatic scenarios in a way that isn’t possible on other channels. Our primary creative vehicle is our nonchalant narrator, whose dry wit gives the brand instant personality and creates intimacy with the audience. This is essential given our strategic task is to put Rennie back on the map and make it remembered again

Rennie is a global brand, born in the UK. The UK remains its most important market, so one where it is essential to win. To relaunch the brand and revive those latent brand associations, we wanted to recreate the brand personality in a way that was consistent with Rennie’s UK, down-to-Earth roots. We therefore took inspiration from British comedy, such as Peep Show (Mitchell and Webb) and chose a classically British voice, dripping with dry humour. To connect to our UK 25-44 audience, we used relevant scenarios to their daily lives, be it going out with mates, participating in a parent event like a fun run or doing a work presentation. Like any good comedian, we then laced the stories with familiar, cultural references that a British audience will get tickled by, be it Teletubbies (a popular pre-school show) or the pub (arguably the UK’s most beloved institution) or curry (frequently proclaimed as the UK’s most popular dish). By mining the UK’s rich cultural heritage, the ads resurrect a great British brand in a way that connects with a modern British audience.

Heartburn can come at any moment and in any place. That inner pain makes impossible to listen or focus on anything that’s happening around us. We wanted to over dramatize that inner pain in different moments to highlight the role of Rennie as the easy and convenient saviour of the day.

Rennie has been fixing heartburn for 90 years. However, limited marketing and innovation meant Rennie was forgotten. Instead, all heartburn sufferers could think of was Gaviscon, a Goliath of a competitor, who did not just have the bigger innovations and budgets but the highly recognisable ‘firemen’. Whatever we did, we needed to do something different. Our idea ‘Have the Rennie Ready’ was created to put Rennie back on the map, driving salience and brand differentiation. Using Rennie’s long-held point of difference of being a convenient, pocketable format to answer the insight that our audience of 25-44 yo heartburn sufferers miss out on social moments due to the discomfort caused by it, we showed Rennie was essential for any social occasion. We brought back from the archives Rennie’s trademark humour to create stand out and engagement in a low interest category, giving the brand instant personality.

These ads were used as a pre-launch test for the fuller 360 campaign launch in the UK. It has enabled us to play with our creative strategy before we extend the campaign’s reach. The full campaign will be released in July, when we could measure brand perception.

‘Mrs Jenkins’

SFX: An elderly woman giving us instructions, which begin to fade, into a silent vacuum.

VO: Oh Steve, you’re in a pickle. ‘Yes, Mrs. Jenkins. I will look after your house, while you’re away. No problem.’ Everybody needs good neighbours, right? And she’ll probably pay a decent whack for your help.

But, right now, you can’t focus on a single word that’s coming from her octogenarian mouth. There’s a sizzling pain. Numbing your senses. And your chest is the bullseye.

The cause? Last night’s visit to ‘Raj's Tandoori Palace’. Their spicy little dishes are on repeat right now, making each and every instruction, she’s giving you, sound like radio static: ‘Iron the lawn?’ ‘Water the dog?’ What is she saying?

Just nod, Steve. Keep nodding. Grit your teeth. She’ll think you’re smiling. And try not to burp. Your breath could strip her flock wallpaper.

Stick to the ‘big crisps’ and the ‘yoghurty dip’ next time, eh?

VO: If heartburn hits, have the Rennie ready.

SFX SONIC: The close-up sound of a tablet of Rennie, being popped from a blister pack.

VO: Rennie Peppermint. Always read the label.