Erdmannpeisker: Inspiring fruits

The fruit juice market is changing. In contrast to other beverage categories, it is a valuable segment, but the dominance of retailers' own brands is putting pressure on prices, as Andrys Aardema, Head of Marketing at Rivella, explains. Nevertheless, the company has achieved steady growth with Michel in recent years, says Aardema.

Differentiation is necessary to ensure that this remains the case in a highly competitive market. "All suppliers communicate with functional attributes and celebrate health and the ideal world of fruit juice," says Aardema. "That's why it's all the more important to stand out from this 'uniformity'." The new brand image should make the difference. "The key question is why someone should buy a Michel fruit juice product instead of another premium juice. We are convinced that we have found an answer to this with the new positioning and campaign."

Product benefits emotionally anchored

Erdmannpeisker has based the new positioning on a core message that complements the functional side of the brand with a strong emotional component. "We want to position the brand beyond the pure product benefit of 'healthy energy for the day' and anchor it emotionally," explains Creative Director and agency co-founder Gabriel Peisker. "Michel has an inspiring effect, which leads to more positive drive in everyday life."

The result is the new claim "inspired by fruits". According to Peisker, it works on two levels: "On the first, explicit level, we communicate that Michel is not only made from fruit, but was also inspired by it - to create a wide variety of fruit juices and combinations." On a second, implicit level, we show with a wink that fruit can have an inspiring effect and make the subliminal promise that Michel consumers can also experience this inspiration.

Hip staging

A TV commercial produced by Markenfilm was developed as the basis, showing the inspiring world of Michel in everyday life. People shake a leg in the meeting room. The commercial has been airing since April 2016 - and is certainly polarizing due to the eye-catching music and dance moves? "Surprisingly less than expected," says Peisker. No market research results are yet available on the effect. "But we are receiving very good feedback across the board," says the Creative Director, who, together with agency partner Sybille Erdmann, has overall responsibility for the new Michel campaign.

The campaign is complemented by print subjects. It shows hip people in everyday fruit life. Has the target group been shifted from the well-behaved breakfast table family to urban trendsetters? Peisker waves it off: "It's nice that it comes across that way. We're actually showing normal people in everyday office life. I think it's mainly the way they are staged that makes them appear hip. This will also be evident in the next commercial." This has already been shot, is about to be broadcast and shows a family having breakfast.

Thomas Häusermann

This article comes from the current Werbewoche 10/16 from June 3, 2016. To the subscriptions.