• drench is a new bottled water offering “smarter hydration”
• Brains from Thunderbirds drinks drench to demonstrate its power
• Sales rose 107% and Drench was valued as a £4.3m brand

The challenge

Britvic was entering the water market for the first time and was looking for rapid success. The challenge was to build mass awareness and mass distribution for drench as quickly as possible.

Research revealed that the brain is 75% water and needs hydration to perform well. Focusing on this message – in contrast to rivals’ concentration on purity – gave drench the space to standout from brands such as Evian, Buxton, Volvic, Vittel and Highland Spring.

While all waters – branded and tap – can provide the hydration the brain needs, research showed that consumers believed that drench with its positioning of “smarter hydration” would be seriously good at providing this benefit.

The TV solution

Britvic hired Brains from Thunderbirds as the front man for an integrated campaign that crossed from TV, digital, in-store and PR.
A 90-second long film showed Brains, moving in the classic jerky style of a string puppet before drinking drench and then dancing smoothly in every sense to 90s pop classic Rhythm is a Dancer.

The film, created using a mix of puppetry, choreography and CGI, ran on terrestrial and multichannel TV for three weeks in spots designed to reach ABC1 adults. Both 90 second and 60-second executions were used.

A making-of film was released for YouTube and Facebook communities to build buzz around the campaign, while an online dance game tested people’s mental skills and hand/eye co-ordination.

Consumers were driven to the website – staydrenched.co.uk – via online advertising and 10-second TV spots. Once at the site, consumers could also download the ad soundtrack as a free ringtone.

Results

The TV ad achieved 136 ratings during the three weeks, equating to a reach of over 13m ABC1 adults, helping to create a buzz around the new brand. The song from the ad entered the top 40 as consumers started doing and filming their own Brains’ drench dances

More than 2.5m people sought out the ad to watch it again on YouTube, with more than 140,000 people watching the ad and playing the game at staydrenched.co.uk.

Thousands joined the brand’s fan groups on Facebook and research by Hall & Partners showed the Brains ad to be Britivic’s most highly engaging ad.
Within four weeks, drench was outselling Evian in Woolworths and Tesco had given the brand priority at the front of store. Sales were up 107% and drench had become a £4.3m brand.

“This advertising has been astonishingly successful in helping us create a differentiated water brand, drive distribution and quadruple our rate of sale.”

Cameron Davidson, Senior Brand Manager, Britvic