Eternally bubbling ideas

With the current campaign by Erdmannpeisker, Rivella is returning to the tone of the old advertising. This has already made advertising history several times. "Athletes drink Rivella" became the claim in 1971, wittily supplemented four years later with "but so does everyone else." In 1977, for example, it was "The preferred beverage of the Swiss national ski team". Now, in 2012, Rivella has become the "official thirst quencher of the Swiss..." and specifies various "target groups" in the subtitle, such as Swiss rowers, footballers or even "Gümmeler". The new appearance was developed by Erdmannpeisker. In 2009, the Biel-based agency won Rivella's prestigious budget in a pitch. After the "Rivellutionary", the "official thirst quencher" is now the second campaign. With the previous one, there have been various discussions. How far should a 60-year-old traditional brand go out on a limb for a young audience?

For CD Gabriel Peisker, the "rivellutionaries " were clearly targeting teenagers. "It was a very pointed campaign and this went down very well in the target segment. But if you're the big Swiss thirst quencher and you want to appeal to young people, maybe it's not quite right to do it right away at campaign level." In this sense, the repositioning has helped a lot: back to the roots. Rivella is once again an enjoyable, Swiss thirst quencher. And the target groups also became much broader again. "This suddenly made everything extremely logical, which we now had to do," Peisker sums up.

In Rothrist, too, they are very happy with the new appearance: "I like the fact that we are now much more on the product performance again. Thirst quencher is fitting for Rivella. This helps with the objective of generating more consumption," analyzes Cornelia Marending, Head of Marketing.

TV as the main medium
In the current campaign, four TV spots are the main medium. The media mix is rounded off by two national billboard campaigns, including e-boards, and a comprehensive online campaign. In August, a cross-media activity was implemented for the launch.

In this introductory promo together with Radio NRJ, the audience was asked, "Does your job make you sweat?" To do this, people could call into the newsroom, whereupon a red VW bus with the "official Rivella thirst quencher team" visited radio listeners at their workplace. These visits were of course accompanied by the media. "We played the campaign very broadly on print, radio, online and Facebook," summarizes Marending. The TV and poster campaign was also realized "differently" according to Rivella. "We made the creation of the campaign a permanent event," explains Peisker. In the run-up, a casting call was issued. "We were literally overrun by people who wanted to take part. We then filmed this casting. From this material, e-boards were created first and later, in a different style, the spots and the posters." The cast "thirsty people" became actors for the spots and posters. Cross-medially, the casting could be followed live on www. rivella.ch. The making-of and various other films about the campaign can also be viewed there.

This campaign is now the new appearance, the setting of the whole and can also be further developed with new posters or spots at a later date. "With the new media, social media or small promotions, we can address the young people separately. And also pick them up in a different place than just with posters and TV. With social media, we can also go bolder and dare to do things that not all of Switzerland has to see," Peisker and Marending agree. Rivella is also very active with advertising abroad. Beyond the national border, sales grew again in 2011 by almost 10 percent, giving Rivella AG the best foreign result in its 60-year history. In 2012, the brand is even ahead of plan. Germany is being promoted by the Jung von Matt/Limmat agency. After Emil, the figurehead is now Michael Mittermeier. And Rivella "yellow"? While this line extension with soy serum has been discontinued in Switzerland, the other Rivella is still being given a chance abroad.

Otherwise, Rothrist is open to developments with the establishment of its own innovation community on the Atizo crowdsourcing portal. More than 500 people have already uploaded 2,000 new product ideas here. Marending: "The extremely large response clearly shows that consumers' thirst for innovations from Rivella is far from quenched."
 

"Rivella is the clear No. 2 in soft drinks. There's nothing to do but reminisce."

Cornelia Marending, Head of Marketing at Rivella, explains together with Gabriel Peisker, CD at Erdmannpeisker in Biel, the strategy and creative demands of a new advertisement for the "Swiss national drink".

WW: What do you like about Erdmannpeisker's new campaign?
Cornelia Marending: We are very happy with the new campaign. The concept gets to the heart of our brand values. We communicate the product performance as well as the brand's fun-loving anchoring. Rivella has an awareness level of 98 percent and is one of the top 20 brands in Switzerland. That's why we want to position Rivella as what it has always been in the hearts of the Swiss: the official thirst quencher of Switzerland. This is staged with a wink in the films and images.

The "official thirst quencher of Switzerland" seems right to me. Can it also be proven?
Gabriel Peisker: Of course, it's important that we see this with a twinkle in our eyes. The official thirst quencher sounds a bit unwieldy, which is intentional. This stamp is intended to contrast with the images, which are quite relaxed about this "official". The advertising used to say "athletes drink Rivella. For athletes, there are now isotonic drinks in addition to Rivella. That's why we're opening up our approach and targeting the active Swiss population more broadly.
Marending: Our statement is supported by a broad-based consumer survey that we conducted in advance. Consumers confirmed that this positioning is relevant and credible for Rivella. We really are perceived as "the thirst quencher of the Swiss population".

Is the campaign designed for a longer period of time?
Marending: Yes. At Rivella, we're always looking for a main message that should last for a really long time. For us, a claim should last ten years. In the current campaign, we're not necessarily talking about a classic claim. When we were working on the core message, we realized that you can't really say anything new about Rivella. Because the Swiss have known the brand for 60 years, "Rivell... ahhh" is simple and self-explanatory.
Peisker: That's why we picked up on the fine taste and tried to stage Rivella as the enjoyable thirst quencher. A great many ideas can still be derived from the term "official thirst quencher". Active Switzerland can do anything. We have other campaigns in our quiver where the thirst quencher can be played in a completely different way.

After 60 years, is it a problem to make a new advertisement?
Marending: One can only recall. That's an important point. Rivella has 98 percent awareness, but not 98 percent of the Swiss drink Rivella when they are thirsty. So advertising must lead to consumption.

There is a strong fragmentation in the market with energy drinks and isotonic drinks. How can you reach a young audience in this environment?
Marending: Here, it helps that we are an extremely strong brand. Rivella is the clear number 2 in soft drinks. In addition to this brand awareness, we also have almost 100 percent distribution. That also gives us very high visibility. That also helps us with young people. There are a lot of impulse purchases there. Our presence at the POS helps us there.

What is the most important target group for Rivella: Everyone?
Marending: We are actively working on two target segments in acquisition. On the one hand, we address active young people between the ages of 20 and 30, and on the other, young families who are active in their leisure time. With a balanced media mix from classic to online, we build up the necessary reach and achieve a specific target group approach.

It is obvious that advertising in Germany must once again appear differently than in Switzerland. What are strategic marketing considerations here?
Marending: The starting position in Germany is quite different from that in Switzerland. In Switzerland, we benefit from 60 years of market presence. In Germany, we are still at the very beginning. Here, the first step is primarily to make the Rivella brand known in the first place, to build up distribution, and to bring consumers into contact with the product for the first time, for example through tastings, samplings, and promotions. In addition, building up the market in Germany is a long-term task for us, in which we are proceeding step by step.

Why is Jung von Matt/Limmat a different agency for Germany than for the Swiss market?
Marending: For the foreign markets, a good network of the agency in the center of Europe was an important condition. For example, we worked with Jung von Matt in Hamburg to have our current Rivella campaign with Michael Mittermeier assessed for cultural and legal suitability. For advertising abroad, you need people who come from the local market.

In Switzerland, there are numerous agencies that would like to work for Rivella. How many already finished concepts do you get per week?
Marending: Every week we have at least two agency requests for an appointment. And recently, a well-known Swiss chart-topper actually presented us with a ready-made idea, including a storyboard, for a TV spot. But we are very happy with our current agency and the new campaign.

Interview: Andreas Panzeri