V Energy Drinks are serving up a big dose of the positive feels the world needs right now, with a new campaign from Clemenger BBDO Sydney.
Moving away from the traditional association of energy drinks and extreme sports, the relaunch campaign spreads positive energy instead, with the tagline ‘Can you feel it?’.
The campaign sees the evolution of the ‘Bugs’ from the iconic TVC spots from the early 2000’s. In the new 30-second TV spot, the now human-sized bugs – Muzza, Kaz, Roz and Pook – personify energy, social connection and fun as they sing along to iconic upbeat soundtrack, Wham’s “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” on a road trip.
Working with multi-award winning production powerhouse Psyop has proven a winning combination, with the company’s best-in-class expertise of blurring the lines between advertising and entertainment clearly apparent in this campaign.
Frucor Suntory head of energy Jonny Croft spoke to B&T about the campaign.
“The bugs are living V history,” he said. “You probably saw them in the early 2000s. And there’s huge latent memory structure around the bugs as well, particularly with the consumers in New Zealand, some of the slightly older consumers.”
“The older consumers really did the bugs [and] I think the younger consumers also really love them as well, because that kind of visual style is really culturally relevant, even with the younger adults.”
“I think we can all do with some positive energy in everyday moments, and I think that V is a great way to add a bit of fun energy and good vibes to your day. That’s really what we want consumers to take out.”
Clemenger BBDO Sydney executive creative director Darren Wright said, “with the help of the amazingly talented crew at Psyop, we put four random bugs in a car and got them to sing along to the incredibly infectious “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” by Wham. It’s the perfect embodiment of V’s positive energy – and a fun way to launch the new positioning of ‘Can you feel it.’”
Speaking about the Clemenger BBDO partnership, Croft said, “we work really well together. It’s a very collaborative, very tight partnership, and it’s one where we constantly challenge ourselves on the work to make sure that we are really putting the consumer at the centre of our thought.”
“[We’re also] really thinking about how we do things differently to stay culturally relevant, and really keep moving the brand onwards.”
“It’s a relationship where…we have a lot of trust.”
The fully integrated campaign has launched across TV, cinema, digital/social and radio and will be followed by a TikTok campaign for Gen Z.
Croft reflected on the TikTok campaign, saying, “TikTok is a vehicle which is just getting so much traction, particularly with that younger adult demographic, and you can find consumers there [that] we might have trouble finding other places.”
“It’s different, right? Because it’s so much more about the one to one experience, and very much about entertainment…it’s a really different way of thinking about things.”
