A nice juice store
Beverage Marketing: For Rivella’s fruit juice brand Michel, Sulzer Sutter created a new brand identity using sitcom-style TV commercials.
Beverage marketing Sulzer Sutter created a new brand world for Rivella's Michel fruit juice brand with sitcom-style TV commercials to wake Michel fruit juices from their slumber. Almost every bartender in Switzerland uses them to spice up their cocktail creations. The fruity thirst quenchers are also available on the drinks shelves of supermarkets. However, the brand owner, beverage multinational Rivella in Rothrist, was not satisfied with the market share. Product Manager Ana Labella wants to change that. "We were looking for an umbrella brand presence that could be used across all media in the long term," she explains. The aim of the advertising campaign across the nation's screens was to make the Michel brand appear younger and more dynamic. In addition to the three soft drinks red, blue and green, Rivella already markets 15 different types of fruit juice under the Michel label. The Sulzer Sutter advertising agency has now developed a basic concept that will "open up a world of its own for Michel fruit juices in the long term", as CD Felix Dammann explains. The idea is implemented via a character called Michel. This likeable young man not only embodies the brand, but is also the owner of a fruit juice store of the same name. The agency has various sitcom commercials filmed there. Four episodes were filmed in the first season. In the commercial "The Autograph", Michel is established as a personality when two boys ask him for an autograph. In "The Trick", a juggler shows how he can juggle three different fruits. Michel can of course offer this much more easily as a mix in a small bottle. In "Questions about questions", someone wants to know the difference between a peach and a nectarine. And in "The sight", Michel's store is visited by Japanese tourists as a Swiss sight.
Mais oui, Michel is Swiss
All of the films were shot by Condor Communications in Winterthur's "Café Alltag". The location will also serve as a backdrop in the future, as Sulzer Sutter hopes that the sitcom series will "continue over the next few years". Actor Christian Weber slipped into the role of Michel. The aim of the commercials is to make consumers realize that Michel is a genuine Swiss brand, as Ana Labella explains. "Most people assume a French product from the name." The only thing that is true is the linguistic proximity: The label goes back to the Michel family, who pioneered the bottling of fruit juices in portions in glass bottles for the hospitality industry in western Switzerland back in 1929. Following the takeover by Rivella, these juices can now benefit from an extensive distribution network. So far, however, the logo of the parent company Rivella can only be seen in small letters on the Michel bottles. "We are still discussing how to illustrate the link more prominently in future," says Labella. In contrast to Rivella, which is sold in countries close to the border (Vorarlberg, Burgundy or southern Germany) as well as in Holland and Luxembourg, the Michel brand will initially only be available in Switzerland. As soon as the brand is strong enough, it will make forays abroad.
The logo of the parent company Rivella is to be even more clearly recognizable on Michel bottles.
Rivella advertises with a store for Michel juices.
Andreas Panzeri
Mais oui, Michel is Swiss
All of the films were shot by Condor Communications in Winterthur's "Café Alltag". The location will also serve as a backdrop in the future, as Sulzer Sutter hopes that the sitcom series will "continue over the next few years". Actor Christian Weber slipped into the role of Michel. The aim of the commercials is to make consumers realize that Michel is a genuine Swiss brand, as Ana Labella explains. "Most people assume a French product from the name." The only thing that is true is the linguistic proximity: The label goes back to the Michel family, who pioneered the bottling of fruit juices in portions in glass bottles for the hospitality industry in western Switzerland back in 1929. Following the takeover by Rivella, these juices can now benefit from an extensive distribution network. So far, however, the logo of the parent company Rivella can only be seen in small letters on the Michel bottles. "We are still discussing how to illustrate the link more prominently in future," says Labella. In contrast to Rivella, which is sold in countries close to the border (Vorarlberg, Burgundy or southern Germany) as well as in Holland and Luxembourg, the Michel brand will initially only be available in Switzerland. As soon as the brand is strong enough, it will make forays abroad.
The logo of the parent company Rivella is to be even more clearly recognizable on Michel bottles.
Rivella advertises with a store for Michel juices.
Andreas Panzeri
