Sprite just launched a new marketing campaign using the tagline "There's nothing soft about it", targeting teens (my guess urban teens). The campaign is built around the product's "intensity" and the first ad even starts with the line "This is way more intense than I was expecting!"
While I understand the want to have a brand equity built around being intense and bold - especially for an urban teen consumer target, I think it's a bit of a strange place to take Sprite because the product profile doesn't seem to match the positioning. Is it me, or is Sprite one of the most vanilla of beverages in terms of the flavor profile being very traditional vs. edgy?
Given the fit with the product taste profile is a big question, I have bigger doubts on the impact of the message - just because you say your intense doesn't mean people will believe it. The other issue I see with this new positioning is it seems to conflict with the historical brand position of being ultra refreshing. Intense might be good in consumers' minds, but I doubt there is much overlapping association between intense and refreshing. Net-net, I might be proven wrong in the long-run, but I think this rebranding is just a poor fit and consumers will struggle to give Sprite permission to play as an "intense" brand.
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